There are many ways of seeing. Images around us differ in what they may mean from one person to another. John Berger explores this concept in depth in the book Ways of Seeing. He clearly emphasizes the different aspects of art throughout history and its impact on human life as we know it. The book’s general approach, organization, argument structure, images, the book’s value, and personal opinions of it are all important aspects that must be analyzed.
The author’s general approach is quite straight forward. He takes the basis of the reader’s understanding as minimal, and explains his theories from scratch as if the reader has never experienced art in his or her life. He then broadens the vocabulary of his piece gradually as the chapters’ progress. There is a clear emphasis on the many ways of seeing that different people have throughout his writing and how it pertains to the specific topic in discussion. The book’s organization has been developed by five different writers. There are seven numbered essays that either contain pictures or pictures and writing. These pictures serve their purpose very well in context to alluring the reader into intrigue, and visualizing various topics. The reader finds himself lo
The arguments build on the points mentioned earlier through each chapter in relation to the topic discussed. The first chapter serves mostly as an introduction for the title of the book. It delegates the importance to the reader that different people in different cultures have a unique perspective on what art is and how it is applied in various occasions. It also explains the orientation of art before cameras were invented. It shows the reader that painting a portrait was a formal process and the different aspects of how a person was portrayed gives off a certain allure as to what the particular person’s personality was like. The first chapter also speaks of how God does not merely situate himself in one place and therefore has no need for perspective. This then led to advances in the way paintings were created and played with. Paintings capture a moment in time that cannot be recreated. There is a sense that reproduction of a work of art reduces the original work’s value as it can be available for many people around the world. The second chapter is one of images. The pictures here are all female. Furthermore the females are all nude. This exposure gives an erotic sense of sexuality and is striking for the reader. There are various images either painted or photographed to depict a feeling of wonder and excitement in most cases for the reader. The second chapter is an introduction to the third chapter which is composed mainly of sexual implications in art. Namely, it specifies that women are seen as objects in a painting. Objects that are usually facing the viewer exposed to add to the art’s theme. This exposure by women speaks of sexual desire; when this is seen, the viewer of the work is always assumed to be male. There is a sense of passiveness with women in art which is a stark contrast as that of men; who are regularly seen in positions of power and give the viewer the
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