The original painting is not very large, housed in a glass case that must be ogled at from behind the heads of hundreds of other tourists. He says that “It is no longer what its image shows that strikes one as unique its first meaning is no longer to be found in what its says, but what it is.” For example, today “art patrons” and tourists line up for hours to catch a glimpse of the “original” Mona Lisa. I also whole-heartedly agreed with his scrutiny of the respect for “original works”.
Thus the commissioning of great modern art works or buildings like the cathedrals of old are becoming obsolete because the value of community, camaraderie, and unity is declining. It’s also sad because the pursuit of money and comfort is a very individual (and oftentimes even selfish) thing. I am not religious, but I think that it is very sad that the largest or most significant “living force” is capitalism, commerce, or money and comfort or whatever term one wishes to use. Because of the reproduction possibilities created through the development of photography the “value” of art is now determined by its “rarity” and therefore its price in the market.īerger’s analysis of our society also depressed me very much because he says that neither magic nor religion are “living forces”. I really enjoyed and agreed with Berger’s analysis on the value of art and how it has changed drastically over the centuries. The simultaneous simplicity and complexity of the first half of the chapter overwhelmed me, but as I continued to read his examples become more detailed and reflective of the more philosophical arguments that he made. On the surface Ways of Seeing seems simple, short, and basic, but in reality every sentence or statement (though it may seem obvious) causes the reader to re-examine his or her entire association with what they ever thought about any kind of art. I expected to read the first chapter of Ways of Seeing, by John Berger, in forty minutes or less, however, in the end it took about three hours.
But I “know” that the one in my room is a “couch” because of what that definition has come to mean to me throughout my experiences. I could have used chair, sofa, recliner, arm-chair, rocking chair etc because even though all of these objects more or less share the same purpose- a place in to sit in.
This is obviously true, for example, when I look around my room and see a small couch, I make the distinction of using the word “couch”.
Berger says that “the way we see things is affected by what we know or believe”. Ways of Seeing was written by BBC News Correspondent, John Berger, in an attempt to analyze the ways in which sight has influenced or created our beliefs and thoughts.
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