Ways of seeing - John Berger

Throughout one of John Berger’s most influential, remarkable and insightful publication ‘ways of seeing’, he confronts and mainly focuses on several aspect of art and how the art subjects are observed and perceived differently by varied people in different time and space. In addition, he also challenges the traditional western aesthetic views and questions the meaning of reality in the modern world. To illustrate and enhance his views, he utilises oil painting as an example to explain how art is related to and influenced by sexuality, realism and capitalism.

Berger makes an argument that social and political forces are responsible for shaping the values and ideology in artwork. In a world full of reproductions, the currency of art is so much a part of our culture that we barely notice it. In some sense, the oil paintings are a chose in possession which can be traded in the market. This therefore suggests that art is tightly connected with the development of capitalism as capitalism is based on the production of products for trading.

In the fifth chapter, John Berger detailedly illuminates the symbolisation of sexuality in paintings are deeply penetrated by power. He suggests that nudity isn’t necessarily the starting point of a painting, but the method of viewing it achieves. In the ordinary European nude paintings, the main characters (often assumed as male) will never appear on the canvas as they are the appreciator. According to Berger’s argument, the representation of nudity can almost be seen as an invitational gesture and the female characters in the paintings are passive and powerless, which therefore proves the penetration of power and gender inequality in these traditional paintings.

In my opinion, ‘ways of seeing’ itself is a remarkable and sensational piece of art. It not only contains brilliant insights into our perceptions of the things around us, it also criticizes the traditional concepts in art and how art con be influenced by various factors in our society. As one of the most influential art critic, Berger precisely and directly pointed out the relationship between vision and culture and the hidden ideologies in visual images. As can be observed, ways of seeing has used the most delicate and subtle language to address many complicated issues which includes politics, literacy, art, media and capitalism. Personally, I believe that ‘ways of seeing’ has completely altered my views towards observation and has widened my vision. It encourages me to observe art in various aspects and certainly raised some intricate questions in my mind. When representation is simply reproducing the world, what should we choose to observe? How can reality and imagination be distinguished from each other? And why politics and social hierarchy are extremely influential in terms of art.