Ways of Seeing
Product ID: 76513405
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Based on the BBC television series, John Berger's Ways of Seeing is a unique look at the way we view art, published as part of the Penguin on Design series in Penguin Modern Classics. 'Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.' 'But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but word can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.' John Berger's Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and influential books on art in any language. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the Sunday Times critic commented: 'This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings . . . he will almost certainly change the way you look at pictures.' By now he has. John Berger (b. 1926) is an art critic, painter and novelist.born in Hackney, London. His novel G. (1972) won both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Booker Prize. If you enjoyed Ways of Seeing , you might like Susan Sontag's On Photography , also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'Berger has the ability to cut right through the mystification of professional art critics ... he is a liberator of images: and once we have allowed the paintings to work on us directly, we are in a much better position to make a meaningful evaluation' Peter Fuller, Arts Review 'The influence of the series and the book ... was enormous ... It opened up for general attention areas of cultural study that are now commonplace' Geoff Dyer in Ways of Telling 'One of the most influential intellectuals of our time' Observer Review: Must read - A must read for artists and art lovers. Literally shows the ways to look at art. A gem to keep. Small lightweight handy book. Full of fascinating perspectives and visuals. Review: Must Read, Must View, Do Understand - Highly suggest getting the hardcover or the colour print copy, the essays however far exceed justifying the price for Mass Market Paperback if just reading the book is your goal. I did not expect this to pack such a strong punch in such a small book.
| Best Sellers Rank | #2,412 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1 in Photography Books #3 in Antiques & Collectables (Books) #7 in Theory & Criticism |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 3,252 Reviews |
A**R
Must read
A must read for artists and art lovers. Literally shows the ways to look at art. A gem to keep. Small lightweight handy book. Full of fascinating perspectives and visuals.
S**H
Must Read, Must View, Do Understand
Highly suggest getting the hardcover or the colour print copy, the essays however far exceed justifying the price for Mass Market Paperback if just reading the book is your goal. I did not expect this to pack such a strong punch in such a small book.
P**L
Interesting.
Gives new perspectives.
M**J
The BBC documentary of this book could be more useful
However, the bbc documentary of the same books could be more appealing, rather than reading the book. As the book is black and white, the colored photographs are not visible. Also the quality of the photographs are not good. In the documentary the author has decribed in more details with simultaneous photographs or paintings. Essesnce of misic, which is another important aspect of ways of seeing that the author could describe in the video, can not be explained in the book.
N**Y
A great introduction
I loved reading this book. It is an introduction for amateurs trying to understand art. It primarily talks about literally "seeing" how we see what's before us and how what we see affects us. It also says a great deal about oil paintings, their impact and their evolution, everything is introductory not in detail. Nevertheless a good place to start.
H**H
New perspective
Book is about prespective. And it will change yours, once you read it. It’s about how we interpret art and how we ought to depend on our sensibilities in interpreting it.
C**K
Bad finishing
Not good print neither good paper quality
B**E
Quality
Typical Mass Market Paperback
C**.
Perfect
Great book, fast shipping. Thank you
G**B
Love this!
Especially since I think I was supposed to read it in Art School thirty years ago. In fact I thought I had read it, and I was just buying it to show a student. Read it myself. Slow going at the beginning.
A**L
Solider Klassiker 👌
Ways of Seeing von John Berger ist schnell lesbar und hat mir echt die Augen geöffnet. Er erklärt, wie wir Kunst und Medien wahrnehmen und manipuliert werden, ohne kompliziert zu werden. Besonders das Kapitel über den „male gaze“ war stark – regt zum Nachdenken an. Ist jetzt nicht die absolute Bibel, aber definitiv ein Buch, das man mal gelesen haben sollte, wenn man Kunst und ihre Wirkung besser checken will. Klare Empfehlung!
Q**M
Visual Culture!
I had been on the lookout for a good book on visual culture, and after a long search , I decided to buy this one, as it is a classic. A classic in the non-fiction genre means that latest books on the subject have stolen the main themes from the classic text-which may be very short-and then added verbosity and lots of pictures to make thick and expensive books. This book may seem like a small book full of pictures, but it propounds big ideas. For me it was a quick read, I finished it in a few hours, possibly more so due to the fact that the main ideas were thoughts already scattered in my head; Berger compiled them, stated them way more eloquently, and then some. As is often the case, this book took me back to Qur'anic verses, as it seemed to be tied to the main themes of the Islamic scripture. The section on the female nude, could very well have been a summary of a dissertation on the veil in Islam. A detailed discussion is beyond the scope of this review. Having just read Chomsky's "How the world works," it was quite intriguing to read Berger making the same connections of capitalism with envy, covetousness and social apathy. Just like Chomsky, his identification of capitalism as a roadblock to democracy was also equally intriguing. It was almost the same points being stated, except that this time the thesis was based on marketing and the visual arts. (less)
S**J
size matters
i got this size to carry it around but should have gotten one in a bigger size. there are b&w photos inside and they are too small to analyze in order to understand Berger's point(s). in short this size is not right if you want to enjoy this book. be warned :)
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