John berger ways of seeing summary chapter 7

JOHN BERGER WAYS OF SEEING SUMMARY CHAPTER 7 SERIES

We are so accustomed to this that we barely register the vast majority of these images.

JOHN BERGER WAYS OF SEEING SUMMARY CHAPTER 7 SERIES

Based on the BBC television series with John Berger. Images that either try to convince us to believe in or buy something are the images that we see most frequently. Episode 2, Women in Art BBC Television Series.

The more we think about what we are seeing the closer we will come to our own ideas and thoughts about an image. When we give ourselves time we can think about how the image relates to history. Our habits and conventions, according to John, go beyond just what the eye sees at the moment. He makes this argument by explaining we are conditioned to see the world in a different perspective than people over one hundred years ago because of photography and technology. This is one example of how he invites us to think about what we are вЂreallyвЂ™ seeing when we look at an image.ДЄ glance at a painting or photograph gives us only a small idea of what is being вЂsaid.вЂ™ If we give our eye enough time to look we can perceive a different message with more time we can analyze our own perceptions and why we have those particular perceptions. John Berger states that the act of seeing is not as objective as we think. He then offers an argument that is very eye-opening on how men and women are seen differently based on gender and how this is not a new phenomena. In Episode 2, вЂњWomen in ArtвЂќ Berger starts by noting that men look at women and women look at themselves in order to see what men see (Ways of Seeing). When we compare compositions of oil paintings with mythological themes we can see that color photography, especially in advertising mimics the same themes and even the same composition. Then we are able to give ourselves a chance to discern how we feel about a painting based on what we see and on our own personal thoughts as we try to shrug off other influences.Д«erger wrote that вЂњAccording to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome, the social presence of a woman is different in kind from that of a manвЂќ (p. When we give ourselves time to view and think about what we are seeing, we can recognize how our habits and our contemporary culture are leading us to a particular assessment of the piece of art whether it is a painting or color photography. Our perception changes when we give ourselves a chance to quietly study a painting. Berger notes that what we see is a вЂњfunction of habit and conventionвЂќ (BBC Episode 2). Some of our perceptions of what we see are conscious and some are sub-conscious. If we stop and gaze at the art though, the longer we observe the painting, the more time our eye has to understand the painting. If we glance at the oil painting as we walk by then we have one understanding of the painting. When we view an oil painting the oil painting stays the same. I suggest that a color photograph, just as with an oil painting, is seen differently the longer we allow ourselves to view the image. Modern technology has given us color photography which is perhaps the modern substitute for oil paintings.

When we view art museum paintings created in the last half of the twentieth century we see something different than a viewer of that time would have seen. John Berger is an artist and art critic who helps us think about the different ways art is вЂseenвЂ™ or perceived.

John berger ways of seeing summary chapter 7