If it's outdated now, it's because it opened a new era, 16 Sep 2008
'Ways of Seeing' is a book which some readers may find a bit puzzling. The ads reproduced in its pages look naive to us, in their unsophisticated emphasis on luxury and glamour, and Berger's commentary on advertising may seem a bit simple, but if so it's because he was one of the first and best critics to compare the effects and uses of advertising and fine art. The main difference between him and most contemporary commentators is that Berger had an independent perspective that they lack; his analysis has far more steel and indignation than the work of someone like Peter York, who comments on ads from the insider's perspective of "Is it effective or not?" Berger refuses to be seduced into talking about ads on their own terms. While the specific tactics used in advertising may be different now from what they were when this book was originally published, the basic strategy is still the same as it will ever be: to sell us not a product but a lifestyle.

Anyone who has travelled in a less-well-off country that has a functioning advertising industry (Greece, for instance) will have noticed that billboard ads there tend to be like early 70s ads in richer countries: they promote a dream of luxury, wealth and sophistication. Ads in the UK and Ireland are aimed at people who already think of themselves as reasonably wealthy and sophisticated, and so UK and Irish ads tend to promote an idea of the consumer as being rootsy, down-to-earth, unpretentious, sensible - all the things that we secretly fear we aren't. The tactic is different, but the strategy (to play on the consumer's hopes and fears about what kind of person they are) is the same.

Berger's work is hardly full of undigested chunks of Marxist doctrine, unlike the far more impenetrable and far less useful work of (e.g.) the Art & Language group. If you come across his work when you're young or ignorant enough, he is one of the most liberating writers around. He teaches you not to agree with him, but how to be critical in the first place; he provokes you into wondering if and how he could be right, which is a gift from a writer to a reader.

This is a relatively entry-level Berger. The early novels are not really very good, except for the first one, "A Painter of our Time". The Booker-winning "G" is a masterpiece, and the more recent fiction has been equally excellent but different in tone and method. The book-length non-fiction, such as "A Fortunate Man", "A Seventh Man", "Another Way of Telling", is all superb. He is one of the best English writers and as he passes 80, his work shows no sign of declining in quality or intensity.

It should be stated that this is only the accompanying book of a TV series which, shamefully, isn't available on DVD. "Ways of Seeing" the programme is still pretty mind-blowing, right from the cheeky opening sequence where Berger appears to cut up an actual Botticelli. The whole show is, or used to be, available in bits on YouTube. I would rather sit through a TV show by Berger than the whole of Kenneth Clark's contemporary and far more expensive "Civilisation", which has been released on DVD.

Thought provoking..., 20 Feb 2008
I recently had to read this as the basis for an essay, but was pleasantly surprised. It is an interesting snippet questioning our view of art and if it has changed throughout history. I found a few of the assumptions a little irritating, such as that Reubens would not have been aware of the device of depicting the human body in an anatomically incorrect pose in order to give the impression of movement. (Particularly as this is something that was well known among artists for hundreds of years and had been used by Leonardo da Vinci for example).

However, if you are looking for a thought provoking, unusual look at how images have been used throughout history, give it a go. Its not a long book and some of the chapters are purely visual to allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions.

Essential reading for any kind of visual artist, 10 Feb 2008
This compact, easy to read pictoral/text book is a great aid to understanding the semantics of visual conception. You may think some of it obvious, and some of it a bit cooky, for example its marxist angles on the reasons why we see things the way we have come to, but it does get the student of all things visual thinking hard about it all. Whilst not being a specific aid to any particular field, it is an essential general reader for anyone studying the visual arts, from graphic design to theatre design, and from architecture to photography, and it's why it is still a standard first year college issue on so many courses.

Confounding seeing with perception., 27 Sep 2007
Berger's book is a typical leftist product of the period. He is so desperate to bring class war into the topic that he comes across as faintly absurd. For example - and there are many such - he talks of "..the esoteric approach of a few specialised experts who are the clerks of the nostalgia of a ruling class in decline." when criticising other art critics. I often found myself laughing aloud at such pompous absurdities.

When it comes to his "seeing comes before words" he shows he does not understand the difference between 'seeing' and 'perception' which he muddles turn and turn about. He suggests we drop our assumptions of form, status, taste when viewing an artwork as these are 'mystifications' and we should instead 'see' the art in unencumbered form, as it were. He proceeds to suggest we 'Study this evidence and judge for yourself'. But how could we apply thought to our 'seeing' and avoid it becoming a perception? For that is what he is asking us to do. How could we differentiate what we see without perception? All he does is to introduce his own view of how we should look at art and claim it is better than a different (capitalist?) way.

His views on the representation of women will fascinate archeologists of sociology. He appears oblivious of the fact that women have always been able to view images of men sexually.

Some sound ideas, but out-of-date and prejudiced, 23 Sep 2007
A short beginner's guide to the philosophy of art, John Berger's 1972 book "Ways Of Seeing" is often talked about as being a seminal piece of critical writing about art, but it lacks the relevance and profundity that it may have been credited with on its first publication 35 years ago.

The principles that Berger details about the viewer and the subject in imagery are simple but sound. All too often Berger is either stating the obvious or making rather questionable generalisations (for example "All publicity works on anxiety. The sum of everything is money, to get money is to overcome anxiety.")

It is, though other reviewers disagree, definitely dated. Image production and manipulation has developed too far, and become too international, in the last 35 years for "Ways Of Seeing" to even hope to be relevant. It is inherently bigoted, fixated by the English upper classes, and also for example gives some importance to the 'recent' arrival of colour photography as being an important influence on advertising.

Berger seems to particularly enjoy writing chapter 3 (one of the longest chapters), about nude women, which makes very few points about the form and seems like a cheap excuse to reproduce various images of undressed ladies...

A big drawback is that the typography of this book is awful. Considering that its subject matter is that of images, I am staggered that whoever arranged it decided it would be a good idea to put the entire text in BOLD type with expanded line spacing, which leaves limited room for the reproductions of the images, many of which are reproduced far too small and with poor print quality so that you can't make out the details that Berger is actually referring to.

If it's outdated now, it's because it opened a new era, 16 Sep 2008
'Ways of Seeing' is a book which some readers may find a bit puzzling. The ads reproduced in its pages look naive to us, in their unsophisticated emphasis on luxury and glamour, and Berger's commentary on advertising may seem a bit simple, but if so it's because he was one of the first and best critics to compare the effects and uses of advertising and fine art. The main difference between him and most contemporary commentators is that Berger had an independent perspective that they lack; his analysis has far more steel and indignation than the work of someone like Peter York, who comments on ads from the insider's perspective of "Is it effective or not?" Berger refuses to be seduced into talking about ads on their own terms. While the specific tactics used in advertising may be different now from what they were when this book was originally published, the basic strategy is still the same as it will ever be: to sell us not a product but a lifestyle.

Anyone who has travelled in a less-well-off country that has a functioning advertising industry (Greece, for instance) will have noticed that billboard ads there tend to be like early 70s ads in richer countries: they promote a dream of luxury, wealth and sophistication. Ads in the UK and Ireland are aimed at people who already think of themselves as reasonably wealthy and sophisticated, and so UK and Irish ads tend to promote an idea of the consumer as being rootsy, down-to-earth, unpretentious, sensible - all the things that we secretly fear we aren't. The tactic is different, but the strategy (to play on the consumer's hopes and fears about what kind of person they are) is the same.

Berger's work is hardly full of undigested chunks of Marxist doctrine, unlike the far more impenetrable and far less useful work of (e.g.) the Art & Language group. If you come across his work when you're young or ignorant enough, he is one of the most liberating writers around. He teaches you not to agree with him, but how to be critical in the first place; he provokes you into wondering if and how he could be right, which is a gift from a writer to a reader.

This is a relatively entry-level Berger. The early novels are not really very good, except for the first one, "A Painter of our Time". The Booker-winning "G" is a masterpiece, and the more recent fiction has been equally excellent but different in tone and method. The book-length non-fiction, such as "A Fortunate Man", "A Seventh Man", "Another Way of Telling", is all superb. He is one of the best English writers and as he passes 80, his work shows no sign of declining in quality or intensity.

It should be stated that this is only the accompanying book of a TV series which, shamefully, isn't available on DVD. "Ways of Seeing" the programme is still pretty mind-blowing, right from the cheeky opening sequence where Berger appears to cut up an actual Botticelli. The whole show is, or used to be, available in bits on YouTube. I would rather sit through a TV show by Berger than the whole of Kenneth Clark's contemporary and far more expensive "Civilisation", which has been released on DVD.

Thought provoking..., 20 Feb 2008
I recently had to read this as the basis for an essay, but was pleasantly surprised. It is an interesting snippet questioning our view of art and if it has changed throughout history. I found a few of the assumptions a little irritating, such as that Reubens would not have been aware of the device of depicting the human body in an anatomically incorrect pose in order to give the impression of movement. (Particularly as this is something that was well known among artists for hundreds of years and had been used by Leonardo da Vinci for example).

However, if you are looking for a thought provoking, unusual look at how images have been used throughout history, give it a go. Its not a long book and some of the chapters are purely visual to allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions.

Essential reading for any kind of visual artist, 10 Feb 2008
This compact, easy to read pictoral/text book is a great aid to understanding the semantics of visual conception. You may think some of it obvious, and some of it a bit cooky, for example its marxist angles on the reasons why we see things the way we have come to, but it does get the student of all things visual thinking hard about it all. Whilst not being a specific aid to any particular field, it is an essential general reader for anyone studying the visual arts, from graphic design to theatre design, and from architecture to photography, and it's why it is still a standard first year college issue on so many courses.

Confounding seeing with perception., 27 Sep 2007
Berger's book is a typical leftist product of the period. He is so desperate to bring class war into the topic that he comes across as faintly absurd. For example - and there are many such - he talks of "..the esoteric approach of a few specialised experts who are the clerks of the nostalgia of a ruling class in decline." when criticising other art critics. I often found myself laughing aloud at such pompous absurdities.

When it comes to his "seeing comes before words" he shows he does not understand the difference between 'seeing' and 'perception' which he muddles turn and turn about. He suggests we drop our assumptions of form, status, taste when viewing an artwork as these are 'mystifications' and we should instead 'see' the art in unencumbered form, as it were. He proceeds to suggest we 'Study this evidence and judge for yourself'. But how could we apply thought to our 'seeing' and avoid it becoming a perception? For that is what he is asking us to do. How could we differentiate what we see without perception? All he does is to introduce his own view of how we should look at art and claim it is better than a different (capitalist?) way.

His views on the representation of women will fascinate archeologists of sociology. He appears oblivious of the fact that women have always been able to view images of men sexually.

Some sound ideas, but out-of-date and prejudiced, 23 Sep 2007
A short beginner's guide to the philosophy of art, John Berger's 1972 book "Ways Of Seeing" is often talked about as being a seminal piece of critical writing about art, but it lacks the relevance and profundity that it may have been credited with on its first publication 35 years ago.

The principles that Berger details about the viewer and the subject in imagery are simple but sound. All too often Berger is either stating the obvious or making rather questionable generalisations (for example "All publicity works on anxiety. The sum of everything is money, to get money is to overcome anxiety.")

It is, though other reviewers disagree, definitely dated. Image production and manipulation has developed too far, and become too international, in the last 35 years for "Ways Of Seeing" to even hope to be relevant. It is inherently bigoted, fixated by the English upper classes, and also for example gives some importance to the 'recent' arrival of colour photography as being an important influence on advertising.

Berger seems to particularly enjoy writing chapter 3 (one of the longest chapters), about nude women, which makes very few points about the form and seems like a cheap excuse to reproduce various images of undressed ladies...

A big drawback is that the typography of this book is awful. Considering that its subject matter is that of images, I am staggered that whoever arranged it decided it would be a good idea to put the entire text in BOLD type with expanded line spacing, which leaves limited room for the reproductions of the images, many of which are reproduced far too small and with poor print quality so that you can't make out the details that Berger is actually referring to.

If it's outdated now, it's because it opened a new era, 16 Sep 2008
'Ways of Seeing' is a book which some readers may find a bit puzzling. The ads reproduced in its pages look naive to us, in their unsophisticated emphasis on luxury and glamour, and Berger's commentary on advertising may seem a bit simple, but if so it's because he was one of the first and best critics to compare the effects and uses of advertising and fine art. The main difference between him and most contemporary commentators is that Berger had an independent perspective that they lack; his analysis has far more steel and indignation than the work of someone like Peter York, who comments on ads from the insider's perspective of "Is it effective or not?" Berger refuses to be seduced into talking about ads on their own terms. While the specific tactics used in advertising may be different now from what they were when this book was originally published, the basic strategy is still the same as it will ever be: to sell us not a product but a lifestyle.

Anyone who has travelled in a less-well-off country that has a functioning advertising industry (Greece, for instance) will have noticed that billboard ads there tend to be like early 70s ads in richer countries: they promote a dream of luxury, wealth and sophistication. Ads in the UK and Ireland are aimed at people who already think of themselves as reasonably wealthy and sophisticated, and so UK and Irish ads tend to promote an idea of the consumer as being rootsy, down-to-earth, unpretentious, sensible - all the things that we secretly fear we aren't. The tactic is different, but the strategy (to play on the consumer's hopes and fears about what kind of person they are) is the same.

Berger's work is hardly full of undigested chunks of Marxist doctrine, unlike the far more impenetrable and far less useful work of (e.g.) the Art & Language group. If you come across his work when you're young or ignorant enough, he is one of the most liberating writers around. He teaches you not to agree with him, but how to be critical in the first place; he provokes you into wondering if and how he could be right, which is a gift from a writer to a reader.

This is a relatively entry-level Berger. The early novels are not really very good, except for the first one, "A Painter of our Time". The Booker-winning "G" is a masterpiece, and the more recent fiction has been equally excellent but different in tone and method. The book-length non-fiction, such as "A Fortunate Man", "A Seventh Man", "Another Way of Telling", is all superb. He is one of the best English writers and as he passes 80, his work shows no sign of declining in quality or intensity.

It should be stated that this is only the accompanying book of a TV series which, shamefully, isn't available on DVD. "Ways of Seeing" the programme is still pretty mind-blowing, right from the cheeky opening sequence where Berger appears to cut up an actual Botticelli. The whole show is, or used to be, available in bits on YouTube. I would rather sit through a TV show by Berger than the whole of Kenneth Clark's contemporary and far more expensive "Civilisation", which has been released on DVD.

Thought provoking..., 20 Feb 2008
I recently had to read this as the basis for an essay, but was pleasantly surprised. It is an interesting snippet questioning our view of art and if it has changed throughout history. I found a few of the assumptions a little irritating, such as that Reubens would not have been aware of the device of depicting the human body in an anatomically incorrect pose in order to give the impression of movement. (Particularly as this is something that was well known among artists for hundreds of years and had been used by Leonardo da Vinci for example).

However, if you are looking for a thought provoking, unusual look at how images have been used throughout history, give it a go. Its not a long book and some of the chapters are purely visual to allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions.

Essential reading for any kind of visual artist, 10 Feb 2008
This compact, easy to read pictoral/text book is a great aid to understanding the semantics of visual conception. You may think some of it obvious, and some of it a bit cooky, for example its marxist angles on the reasons why we see things the way we have come to, but it does get the student of all things visual thinking hard about it all. Whilst not being a specific aid to any particular field, it is an essential general reader for anyone studying the visual arts, from graphic design to theatre design, and from architecture to photography, and it's why it is still a standard first year college issue on so many courses.

Confounding seeing with perception., 27 Sep 2007
Berger's book is a typical leftist product of the period. He is so desperate to bring class war into the topic that he comes across as faintly absurd. For example - and there are many such - he talks of "..the esoteric approach of a few specialised experts who are the clerks of the nostalgia of a ruling class in decline." when criticising other art critics. I often found myself laughing aloud at such pompous absurdities.

When it comes to his "seeing comes before words" he shows he does not understand the difference between 'seeing' and 'perception' which he muddles turn and turn about. He suggests we drop our assumptions of form, status, taste when viewing an artwork as these are 'mystifications' and we should instead 'see' the art in unencumbered form, as it were. He proceeds to suggest we 'Study this evidence and judge for yourself'. But how could we apply thought to our 'seeing' and avoid it becoming a perception? For that is what he is asking us to do. How could we differentiate what we see without perception? All he does is to introduce his own view of how we should look at art and claim it is better than a different (capitalist?) way.

His views on the representation of women will fascinate archeologists of sociology. He appears oblivious of the fact that women have always been able to view images of men sexually.

Some sound ideas, but out-of-date and prejudiced, 23 Sep 2007
A short beginner's guide to the philosophy of art, John Berger's 1972 book "Ways Of Seeing" is often talked about as being a seminal piece of critical writing about art, but it lacks the relevance and profundity that it may have been credited with on its first publication 35 years ago.

The principles that Berger details about the viewer and the subject in imagery are simple but sound. All too often Berger is either stating the obvious or making rather questionable generalisations (for example "All publicity works on anxiety. The sum of everything is money, to get money is to overcome anxiety.")

It is, though other reviewers disagree, definitely dated. Image production and manipulation has developed too far, and become too international, in the last 35 years for "Ways Of Seeing" to even hope to be relevant. It is inherently bigoted, fixated by the English upper classes, and also for example gives some importance to the 'recent' arrival of colour photography as being an important influence on advertising.

Berger seems to particularly enjoy writing chapter 3 (one of the longest chapters), about nude women, which makes very few points about the form and seems like a cheap excuse to reproduce various images of undressed ladies...

A big drawback is that the typography of this book is awful. Considering that its subject matter is that of images, I am staggered that whoever arranged it decided it would be a good idea to put the entire text in BOLD type with expanded line spacing, which leaves limited room for the reproductions of the images, many of which are reproduced far too small and with poor print quality so that you can't make out the details that Berger is actually referring to.

If it's outdated now, it's because it opened a new era, 16 Sep 2008
'Ways of Seeing' is a book which some readers may find a bit puzzling. The ads reproduced in its pages look naive to us, in their unsophisticated emphasis on luxury and glamour, and Berger's commentary on advertising may seem a bit simple, but if so it's because he was one of the first and best critics to compare the effects and uses of advertising and fine art. The main difference between him and most contemporary commentators is that Berger had an independent perspective that they lack; his analysis has far more steel and indignation than the work of someone like Peter York, who comments on ads from the insider's perspective of "Is it effective or not?" Berger refuses to be seduced into talking about ads on their own terms. While the specific tactics used in advertising may be different now from what they were when this book was originally published, the basic strategy is still the same as it will ever be: to sell us not a product but a lifestyle.

Anyone who has travelled in a less-well-off country that has a functioning advertising industry (Greece, for instance) will have noticed that billboard ads there tend to be like early 70s ads in richer countries: they promote a dream of luxury, wealth and sophistication. Ads in the UK and Ireland are aimed at people who already think of themselves as reasonably wealthy and sophisticated, and so UK and Irish ads tend to promote an idea of the consumer as being rootsy, down-to-earth, unpretentious, sensible - all the things that we secretly fear we aren't. The tactic is different, but the strategy (to play on the consumer's hopes and fears about what kind of person they are) is the same.

Berger's work is hardly full of undigested chunks of Marxist doctrine, unlike the far more impenetrable and far less useful work of (e.g.) the Art & Language group. If you come across his work when you're young or ignorant enough, he is one of the most liberating writers around. He teaches you not to agree with him, but how to be critical in the first place; he provokes you into wondering if and how he could be right, which is a gift from a writer to a reader.

This is a relatively entry-level Berger. The early novels are not really very good, except for the first one, "A Painter of our Time". The Booker-winning "G" is a masterpiece, and the more recent fiction has been equally excellent but different in tone and method. The book-length non-fiction, such as "A Fortunate Man", "A Seventh Man", "Another Way of Telling", is all superb. He is one of the best English writers and as he passes 80, his work shows no sign of declining in quality or intensity.

It should be stated that this is only the accompanying book of a TV series which, shamefully, isn't available on DVD. "Ways of Seeing" the programme is still pretty mind-blowing, right from the cheeky opening sequence where Berger appears to cut up an actual Botticelli. The whole show is, or used to be, available in bits on YouTube. I would rather sit through a TV show by Berger than the whole of Kenneth Clark's contemporary and far more expensive "Civilisation", which has been released on DVD.

Thought provoking..., 20 Feb 2008
I recently had to read this as the basis for an essay, but was pleasantly surprised. It is an interesting snippet questioning our view of art and if it has changed throughout history. I found a few of the assumptions a little irritating, such as that Reubens would not have been aware of the device of depicting the human body in an anatomically incorrect pose in order to give the impression of movement. (Particularly as this is something that was well known among artists for hundreds of years and had been used by Leonardo da Vinci for example).

However, if you are looking for a thought provoking, unusual look at how images have been used throughout history, give it a go. Its not a long book and some of the chapters are purely visual to allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions.

Essential reading for any kind of visual artist, 10 Feb 2008
This compact, easy to read pictoral/text book is a great aid to understanding the semantics of visual conception. You may think some of it obvious, and some of it a bit cooky, for example its marxist angles on the reasons why we see things the way we have come to, but it does get the student of all things visual thinking hard about it all. Whilst not being a specific aid to any particular field, it is an essential general reader for anyone studying the visual arts, from graphic design to theatre design, and from architecture to photography, and it's why it is still a standard first year college issue on so many courses.

Confounding seeing with perception., 27 Sep 2007
Berger's book is a typical leftist product of the period. He is so desperate to bring class war into the topic that he comes across as faintly absurd. For example - and there are many such - he talks of "..the esoteric approach of a few specialised experts who are the clerks of the nostalgia of a ruling class in decline." when criticising other art critics. I often found myself laughing aloud at such pompous absurdities.

When it comes to his "seeing comes before words" he shows he does not understand the difference between 'seeing' and 'perception' which he muddles turn and turn about. He suggests we drop our assumptions of form, status, taste when viewing an artwork as these are 'mystifications' and we should instead 'see' the art in unencumbered form, as it were. He proceeds to suggest we 'Study this evidence and judge for yourself'. But how could we apply thought to our 'seeing' and avoid it becoming a perception? For that is what he is asking us to do. How could we differentiate what we see without perception? All he does is to introduce his own view of how we should look at art and claim it is better than a different (capitalist?) way.

His views on the representation of women will fascinate archeologists of sociology. He appears oblivious of the fact that women have always been able to view images of men sexually.

Some sound ideas, but out-of-date and prejudiced, 23 Sep 2007
A short beginner's guide to the philosophy of art, John Berger's 1972 book "Ways Of Seeing" is often talked about as being a seminal piece of critical writing about art, but it lacks the relevance and profundity that it may have been credited with on its first publication 35 years ago.

The principles that Berger details about the viewer and the subject in imagery are simple but sound. All too often Berger is either stating the obvious or making rather questionable generalisations (for example "All publicity works on anxiety. The sum of everything is money, to get money is to overcome anxiety.")

It is, though other reviewers disagree, definitely dated. Image production and manipulation has developed too far, and become too international, in the last 35 years for "Ways Of Seeing" to even hope to be relevant. It is inherently bigoted, fixated by the English upper classes, and also for example gives some importance to the 'recent' arrival of colour photography as being an important influence on advertising.

Berger seems to particularly enjoy writing chapter 3 (one of the longest chapters), about nude women, which makes very few points about the form and seems like a cheap excuse to reproduce various images of undressed ladies...

A big drawback is that the typography of this book is awful. Considering that its subject matter is that of images, I am staggered that whoever arranged it decided it would be a good idea to put the entire text in BOLD type with expanded line spacing, which leaves limited room for the reproductions of the images, many of which are reproduced far too small and with poor print quality so that you can't make out the details that Berger is actually referring to.

If it's outdated now, it's because it opened a new era, 16 Sep 2008
'Ways of Seeing' is a book which some readers may find a bit puzzling. The ads reproduced in its pages look naive to us, in their unsophisticated emphasis on luxury and glamour, and Berger's commentary on advertising may seem a bit simple, but if so it's because he was one of the first and best critics to compare the effects and uses of advertising and fine art. The main difference between him and most contemporary commentators is that Berger had an independent perspective that they lack; his analysis has far more steel and indignation than the work of someone like Peter York, who comments on ads from the insider's perspective of "Is it effective or not?" Berger refuses to be seduced into talking about ads on their own terms. While the specific tactics used in advertising may be different now from what they were when this book was originally published, the basic strategy is still the same as it will ever be: to sell us not a product but a lifestyle.

Anyone who has travelled in a less-well-off country that has a functioning advertising industry (Greece, for instance) will have noticed that billboard ads there tend to be like early 70s ads in richer countries: they promote a dream of luxury, wealth and sophistication. Ads in the UK and Ireland are aimed at people who already think of themselves as reasonably wealthy and sophisticated, and so UK and Irish ads tend to promote an idea of the consumer as being rootsy, down-to-earth, unpretentious, sensible - all the things that we secretly fear we aren't. The tactic is different, but the strategy (to play on the consumer's hopes and fears about what kind of person they are) is the same.

Berger's work is hardly full of undigested chunks of Marxist doctrine, unlike the far more impenetrable and far less useful work of (e.g.) the Art & Language group. If you come across his work when you're young or ignorant enough, he is one of the most liberating writers around. He teaches you not to agree with him, but how to be critical in the first place; he provokes you into wondering if and how he could be right, which is a gift from a writer to a reader.

This is a relatively entry-level Berger. The early novels are not really very good, except for the first one, "A Painter of our Time". The Booker-winning "G" is a masterpiece, and the more recent fiction has been equally excellent but different in tone and method. The book-length non-fiction, such as "A Fortunate Man", "A Seventh Man", "Another Way of Telling", is all superb. He is one of the best English writers and as he passes 80, his work shows no sign of declining in quality or intensity.

It should be stated that this is only the accompanying book of a TV series which, shamefully, isn't available on DVD. "Ways of Seeing" the programme is still pretty mind-blowing, right from the cheeky opening sequence where Berger appears to cut up an actual Botticelli. The whole show is, or used to be, available in bits on YouTube. I would rather sit through a TV show by Berger than the whole of Kenneth Clark's contemporary and far more expensive "Civilisation", which has been released on DVD.

Thought provoking..., 20 Feb 2008
I recently had to read this as the basis for an essay, but was pleasantly surprised. It is an interesting snippet questioning our view of art and if it has changed throughout history. I found a few of the assumptions a little irritating, such as that Reubens would not have been aware of the device of depicting the human body in an anatomically incorrect pose in order to give the impression of movement. (Particularly as this is something that was well known among artists for hundreds of years and had been used by Leonardo da Vinci for example).

However, if you are looking for a thought provoking, unusual look at how images have been used throughout history, give it a go. Its not a long book and some of the chapters are purely visual to allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions.

Essential reading for any kind of visual artist, 10 Feb 2008
This compact, easy to read pictoral/text book is a great aid to understanding the semantics of visual conception. You may think some of it obvious, and some of it a bit cooky, for example its marxist angles on the reasons why we see things the way we have come to, but it does get the student of all things visual thinking hard about it all. Whilst not being a specific aid to any particular field, it is an essential general reader for anyone studying the visual arts, from graphic design to theatre design, and from architecture to photography, and it's why it is still a standard first year college issue on so many courses.

Confounding seeing with perception., 27 Sep 2007
Berger's book is a typical leftist product of the period. He is so desperate to bring class war into the topic that he comes across as faintly absurd. For example - and there are many such - he talks of "..the esoteric approach of a few specialised experts who are the clerks of the nostalgia of a ruling class in decline." when criticising other art critics. I often found myself laughing aloud at such pompous absurdities.

When it comes to his "seeing comes before words" he shows he does not understand the difference between 'seeing' and 'perception' which he muddles turn and turn about. He suggests we drop our assumptions of form, status, taste when viewing an artwork as these are 'mystifications' and we should instead 'see' the art in unencumbered form, as it were. He proceeds to suggest we 'Study this evidence and judge for yourself'. But how could we apply thought to our 'seeing' and avoid it becoming a perception? For that is what he is asking us to do. How could we differentiate what we see without perception? All he does is to introduce his own view of how we should look at art and claim it is better than a different (capitalist?) way.

His views on the representation of women will fascinate archeologists of sociology. He appears oblivious of the fact that women have always been able to view images of men sexually.

Some sound ideas, but out-of-date and prejudiced, 23 Sep 2007
A short beginner's guide to the philosophy of art, John Berger's 1972 book "Ways Of Seeing" is often talked about as being a seminal piece of critical writing about art, but it lacks the relevance and profundity that it may have been credited with on its first publication 35 years ago.

The principles that Berger details about the viewer and the subject in imagery are simple but sound. All too often Berger is either stating the obvious or making rather questionable generalisations (for example "All publicity works on anxiety. The sum of everything is money, to get money is to overcome anxiety.")

It is, though other reviewers disagree, definitely dated. Image production and manipulation has developed too far, and become too international, in the last 35 years for "Ways Of Seeing" to even hope to be relevant. It is inherently bigoted, fixated by the English upper classes, and also for example gives some importance to the 'recent' arrival of colour photography as being an important influence on advertising.

Berger seems to particularly enjoy writing chapter 3 (one of the longest chapters), about nude women, which makes very few points about the form and seems like a cheap excuse to reproduce various images of undressed ladies...

A big drawback is that the typography of this book is awful. Considering that its subject matter is that of images, I am staggered that whoever arranged it decided it would be a good idea to put the entire text in BOLD type with expanded line spacing, which leaves limited room for the reproductions of the images, many of which are reproduced far too small and with poor print quality so that you can't make out the details that Berger is actually referring to.

Beautiful and angry, but there's too much left unsaid in these letters, 30 Aug 2008
I loved this book, the writing was exquisite, but I needed so much more from it that ultimately it disappointed slightly.
A'ida and Xavier are lovers, but X is imprisoned on terrorist charges. Their story is teased out through some of A's letters to X in jail which were found in his cell when the new prison was built. He never replies, but sometimes writes on the back of the letters.
They live in an unnamed country where A'ida is a pharmacist. She writes about everyday life, her friends, neighbours and customers. There are always hints of troubles and oppression in the background and it is implied that she is also an activist. She is desperate to be married to X, but the authorities won't allow it so visiting X in prison is an unattainable goal for her - she eventually has to be content with fantasising about him. Xavier's writing is not about A, but is often angry thoughts about the authorities in the outside world that he is prisoner in.
The reader is left to fill in the gaps which gives great poignancy to the texts, but I was left hungry to find out what happened to them:- what X was imprisoned for, what A's role was in their struggle, and myriad other questions. Just a few answers would have satisfied, but with the exception of a brief scene-setting introduction, the author is deliberate in his intention of letting these letters speak for themselves.


A Great Author, 23 Aug 2008
Beauty, Clarity and Power. A great author and a wonderful read. READ IT.

A little jewel of a book, 17 Aug 2008
From A to X is a little jewel of a book. Its form is as much a thing of beauty as its contents.

John Berger has created a series of letters from A'ida to Xavier - a life sentence prisoner in an unnamed hot country, apparently accused of terrorism. The letters are undated and bound into three non-chronological bundles. And on the back of some letters, Xavier has written his own text.

At first, the reader is totally disorientated. Berger's introduction makes it seem as though there is some elaborate game being played, and the early temptation is to discover the rules. The first letters in the book contain mid numbingly trivial thoughts, and this makes the reader wonder whether there is some code at play - perhaps reading initial letters or every third word. If there is a code, it's a good `un.

But as the lack of narrative thread; lack of code; lack of connection between A'ida's letters and Xavier's responses all starts to become apparent, so too does the beauty of each individual letter; each vignette become apparent. There are big themes at play - love; loneliness; separation; frustration; confinement; time. We see A'ida's hope for a marriage; hope for a family turn into hope simply for an opportunity to be together again. The time frame of the letters is not revealed - although the odd letter does drop a hint - but it is obviously a great many years. A'ida grows old before our eyes - presumably so to does Xavier. Their fire to change the world mellows into a much more personal fire of frustrated love.

And the vignettes are quite lovely - crafted in beautiful and often understated language. Some are reminiscences of A'ida's former life with Xavier and these have a dreamlike quality. Others are scenes from A'ida's recent life and hint at secret messages in amongst the humdrum detail. And some seem to be purely written from the heart by a woman who is afraid to build a new life for herself whilst her love languishes in jail.

Berger deliberately sets the book in an unknowable country. Names are drawn from various languages. Perhaps the prison is in the Middle East, perhaps in North Africa, at one point perhaps even in Brazil. But a specific setting would have distracted from the novel. The absence of a location lets the narrative, such as it is, focus narrowly on the town itself with hints (and more than hints) of army oppression, focus on Xavier in his cell, and dream of the wide world.

There is an urge, when reading the letters, to tear the pages from the book and re-order them - perhaps to offer a more satisfying, more comfortable read. But one scene, in which A'ida persuades the owner of the pharmacy in which she works to re-order the medicines might offer some insight. A'ida asked that the medicines be ordered according to curative properties rather than by name. Perhaps Xavier ordered his letters with something similar in mind. That's a puzzle.

The intensity of the read builds and builds. It is compelling, yet unknowable. This little enigma of a novel deserves its place on the Booker longlist - and I'd hope to see it go much further.

If it's outdated now, it's because it opened a new era, 16 Sep 2008
'Ways of Seeing' is a book which some readers may find a bit puzzling. The ads reproduced in its pages look naive to us, in their unsophisticated emphasis on luxury and glamour, and Berger's commentary on advertising may seem a bit simple, but if so it's because he was one of the first and best critics to compare the effects and uses of advertising and fine art. The main difference between him and most contemporary commentators is that Berger had an independent perspective that they lack; his analysis has far more steel and indignation than the work of someone like Peter York, who comments on ads from the insider's perspective of "Is it effective or not?" Berger refuses to be seduced into talking about ads on their own terms. While the specific tactics used in advertising may be different now from what they were when this book was originally published, the basic strategy is still the same as it will ever be: to sell us not a product but a lifestyle.

Anyone who has travelled in a less-well-off country that has a functioning advertising industry (Greece, for instance) will have noticed that billboard ads there tend to be like early 70s ads in richer countries: they promote a dream of luxury, wealth and sophistication. Ads in the UK and Ireland are aimed at people who already think of themselves as reasonably wealthy and sophisticated, and so UK and Irish ads tend to promote an idea of the consumer as being rootsy, down-to-earth, unpretentious, sensible - all the things that we secretly fear we aren't. The tactic is different, but the strategy (to play on the consumer's hopes and fears about what kind of person they are) is the same.

Berger's work is hardly full of undigested chunks of Marxist doctrine, unlike the far more impenetrable and far less useful work of (e.g.) the Art & Language group. If you come across his work when you're young or ignorant enough, he is one of the most liberating writers around. He teaches you not to agree with him, but how to be critical in the first place; he provokes you into wondering if and how he could be right, which is a gift from a writer to a reader.

This is a relatively entry-level Berger. The early novels are not really very good, except for the first one, "A Painter of our Time". The Booker-winning "G" is a masterpiece, and the more recent fiction has been equally excellent but different in tone and method. The book-length non-fiction, such as "A Fortunate Man", "A Seventh Man", "Another Way of Telling", is all superb. He is one of the best English writers and as he passes 80, his work shows no sign of declining in quality or intensity.

It should be stated that this is only the accompanying book of a TV series which, shamefully, isn't available on DVD. "Ways of Seeing" the programme is still pretty mind-blowing, right from the cheeky opening sequence where Berger appears to cut up an actual Botticelli. The whole show is, or used to be, available in bits on YouTube. I would rather sit through a TV show by Berger than the whole of Kenneth Clark's contemporary and far more expensive "Civilisation", which has been released on DVD.

Thought provoking..., 20 Feb 2008
I recently had to read this as the basis for an essay, but was pleasantly surprised. It is an interesting snippet questioning our view of art and if it has changed throughout history. I found a few of the assumptions a little irritating, such as that Reubens would not have been aware of the device of depicting the human body in an anatomically incorrect pose in order to give the impression of movement. (Particularly as this is something that was well known among artists for hundreds of years and had been used by Leonardo da Vinci for example).

However, if you are looking for a thought provoking, unusual look at how images have been used throughout history, give it a go. Its not a long book and some of the chapters are purely visual to allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions.

Essential reading for any kind of visual artist, 10 Feb 2008
This compact, easy to read pictoral/text book is a great aid to understanding the semantics of visual conception. You may think some of it obvious, and some of it a bit cooky, for example its marxist angles on the reasons why we see things the way we have come to, but it does get the student of all things visual thinking hard about it all. Whilst not being a specific aid to any particular field, it is an essential general reader for anyone studying the visual arts, from graphic design to theatre design, and from architecture to photography, and it's why it is still a standard first year college issue on so many courses.

Confounding seeing with perception., 27 Sep 2007
Berger's book is a typical leftist product of the period. He is so desperate to bring class war into the topic that he comes across as faintly absurd. For example - and there are many such - he talks of "..the esoteric approach of a few specialised experts who are the clerks of the nostalgia of a ruling class in decline." when criticising other art critics. I often found myself laughing aloud at such pompous absurdities.

When it comes to his "seeing comes before words" he shows he does not understand the difference between 'seeing' and 'perception' which he muddles turn and turn about. He suggests we drop our assumptions of form, status, taste when viewing an artwork as these are 'mystifications' and we should instead 'see' the art in unencumbered form, as it were. He proceeds to suggest we 'Study this evidence and judge for yourself'. But how could we apply thought to our 'seeing' and avoid it becoming a perception? For that is what he is asking us to do. How could we differentiate what we see without perception? All he does is to introduce his own view of how we should look at art and claim it is better than a different (capitalist?) way.

His views on the representation of women will fascinate archeologists of sociology. He appears oblivious of the fact that women have always been able to view images of men sexually.

Some sound ideas, but out-of-date and prejudiced, 23 Sep 2007
A short beginner's guide to the philosophy of art, John Berger's 1972 book "Ways Of Seeing" is often talked about as being a seminal piece of critical writing about art, but it lacks the relevance and profundity that it may have been credited with on its first publication 35 years ago.

The principles that Berger details about the viewer and the subject in imagery are simple but sound. All too often Berger is either stating the obvious or making rather questionable generalisations (for example "All publicity works on anxiety. The sum of everything is money, to get money is to overcome anxiety.")

It is, though other reviewers disagree, definitely dated. Image production and manipulation has developed too far, and become too international, in the last 35 years for "Ways Of Seeing" to even hope to be relevant. It is inherently bigoted, fixated by the English upper classes, and also for example gives some importance to the 'recent' arrival of colour photography as being an important influence on advertising.

Berger seems to particularly enjoy writing chapter 3 (one of the longest chapters), about nude women, which makes very few points about the form and seems like a cheap excuse to reproduce various images of undressed ladies...

A big drawback is that the typography of this book is awful. Considering that its subject matter is that of images, I am staggered that whoever arranged it decided it would be a good idea to put the entire text in BOLD type with expanded line spacing, which leaves limited room for the reproductions of the images, many of which are reproduced far too small and with poor print quality so that you can't make out the details that Berger is actually referring to.

If it's outdated now, it's because it opened a new era, 16 Sep 2008
'Ways of Seeing' is a book which some readers may find a bit puzzling. The ads reproduced in its pages look naive to us, in their unsophisticated emphasis on luxury and glamour, and Berger's commentary on advertising may seem a bit simple, but if so it's because he was one of the first and best critics to compare the effects and uses of advertising and fine art. The main difference between him and most contemporary commentators is that Berger had an independent perspective that they lack; his analysis has far more steel and indignation than the work of someone like Peter York, who comments on ads from the insider's perspective of "Is it effective or not?" Berger refuses to be seduced into talking about ads on their own terms. While the specific tactics used in advertising may be different now from what they were when this book was originally published, the basic strategy is still the same as it will ever be: to sell us not a product but a lifestyle.

Anyone who has travelled in a less-well-off country that has a functioning advertising industry (Greece, for instance) will have noticed that billboard ads there tend to be like early 70s ads in richer countries: they promote a dream of luxury, wealth and sophistication. Ads in the UK and Ireland are aimed at people who already think of themselves as reasonably wealthy and sophisticated, and so UK and Irish ads tend to promote an idea of the consumer as being rootsy, down-to-earth, unpretentious, sensible - all the things that we secretly fear we aren't. The tactic is different, but the strategy (to play on the consumer's hopes and fears about what kind of person they are) is the same.

Berger's work is hardly full of undigested chunks of Marxist doctrine, unlike the far more impenetrable and far less useful work of (e.g.) the Art & Language group. If you come across his work when you're young or ignorant enough, he is one of the most liberating writers around. He teaches you not to agree with him, but how to be critical in the first place; he provokes you into wondering if and how he could be right, which is a gift from a writer to a reader.

This is a relatively entry-level Berger. The early novels are not really very good, except for the first one, "A Painter of our Time". The Booker-winning "G" is a masterpiece, and the more recent fiction has been equally excellent but different in tone and method. The book-length non-fiction, such as "A Fortunate Man", "A Seventh Man", "Another Way of Telling", is all superb. He is one of the best English writers and as he passes 80, his work shows no sign of declining in quality or intensity.

It should be stated that this is only the accompanying book of a TV series which, shamefully, isn't available on DVD. "Ways of Seeing" the programme is still pretty mind-blowing, right from the cheeky opening sequence where Berger appears to cut up an actual Botticelli. The whole show is, or used to be, available in bits on YouTube. I would rather sit through a TV show by Berger than the whole of Kenneth Clark's contemporary and far more expensive "Civilisation", which has been released on DVD.

Thought provoking..., 20 Feb 2008
I recently had to read this as the basis for an essay, but was pleasantly surprised. It is an interesting snippet questioning our view of art and if it has changed throughout history. I found a few of the assumptions a little irritating, such as that Reubens would not have been aware of the device of depicting the human body in an anatomically incorrect pose in order to give the impression of movement. (Particularly as this is something that was well known among artists for hundreds of years and had been used by Leonardo da Vinci for example).

However, if you are looking for a thought provoking, unusual look at how images have been used throughout history, give it a go. Its not a long book and some of the chapters are purely visual to allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions.

Essential reading for any kind of visual artist, 10 Feb 2008
This compact, easy to read pictoral/text book is a great aid to understanding the semantics of visual conception. You may think some of it obvious, and some of it a bit cooky, for example its marxist angles on the reasons why we see things the way we have come to, but it does get the student of all things visual thinking hard about it all. Whilst not being a specific aid to any particular field, it is an essential general reader for anyone studying the visual arts, from graphic design to theatre design, and from architecture to photography, and it's why it is still a standard first year college issue on so many courses.

Confounding seeing with perception., 27 Sep 2007
Berger's book is a typical leftist product of the period. He is so desperate to bring class war into the topic that he comes across as faintly absurd. For example - and there are many such - he talks of "..the esoteric approach of a few specialised experts who are the clerks of the nostalgia of a ruling class in decline." when criticising other art critics. I often found myself laughing aloud at such pompous absurdities.

When it comes to his "seeing comes before words" he shows he does not understand the difference between 'seeing' and 'perception' which he muddles turn and turn about. He suggests we drop our assumptions of form, status, taste when viewing an artwork as these are 'mystifications' and we should instead 'see' the art in unencumbered form, as it were. He proceeds to suggest we 'Study this evidence and judge for yourself'. But how could we apply thought to our 'seeing' and avoid it becoming a perception? For that is what he is asking us to do. How could we differentiate what we see without perception? All he does is to introduce his own view of how we should look at art and claim it is better than a different (capitalist?) way.

His views on the representation of women will fascinate archeologists of sociology. He appears oblivious of the fact that women have always been able to view images of men sexually.

Some sound ideas, but out-of-date and prejudiced, 23 Sep 2007
A short beginner's guide to the philosophy of art, John Berger's 1972 book "Ways Of Seeing" is often talked about as being a seminal piece of critical writing about art, but it lacks the relevance and profundity that it may have been credited with on its first publication 35 years ago.

The principles that Berger details about the viewer and the subject in imagery are simple but sound. All too often Berger is either stating the obvious or making rather questionable generalisations (for example "All publicity works on anxiety. The sum of everything is money, to get money is to overcome anxiety.")

It is, though other reviewers disagree, definitely dated. Image production and manipulation has developed too far, and become too international, in the last 35 years for "Ways Of Seeing" to even hope to be relevant. It is inherently bigoted, fixated by the English upper classes, and also for example gives some importance to the 'recent' arrival of colour photography as being an important influence on advertising.

Berger seems to particularly enjoy writing chapter 3 (one of the longest chapters), about nude women, which makes very few points about the form and seems like a cheap excuse to reproduce various images of undressed ladies...

A big drawback is that the typography of this book is awful. Considering that its subject matter is that of images, I am staggered that whoever arranged it decided it would be a good idea to put the entire text in BOLD type with expanded line spacing, which leaves limited room for the reproductions of the images, many of which are reproduced far too small and with poor print quality so that you can't make out the details that Berger is actually referring to.

Beautiful and angry, but there's too much left unsaid in these letters, 30 Aug 2008
I loved this book, the writing was exquisite, but I needed so much more from it that ultimately it disappointed slightly.
A'ida and Xavier are lovers, but X is imprisoned on terrorist charges. Their story is teased out through some of A's letters to X in jail which were found in his cell when the new prison was built. He never replies, but sometimes writes on the back of the letters.
They live in an unnamed country where A'ida is a pharmacist. She writes about everyday life, her friends, neighbours and customers. There are always hints of troubles and oppression in the background and it is implied that she is also an activist. She is desperate to be married to X, but the authorities won't allow it so visiting X in prison is an unattainable goal for her - she eventually has to be content with fantasising about him. Xavier's writing is not about A, but is often angry thoughts about the authorities in the outside world that he is prisoner in.
The reader is left to fill in the gaps which gives great poignancy to the texts, but I was left hungry to find out what happened to them:- what X was imprisoned for, what A's role was in their struggle, and myriad other questions. Just a few answers would have satisfied, but with the exception of a brief scene-setting introduction, the author is deliberate in his intention of letting these letters speak for themselves.


A Great Author, 23 Aug 2008
Beauty, Clarity and Power. A great author and a wonderful read. READ IT.

A little jewel of a book, 17 Aug 2008
From A to X is a little jewel of a book. Its form is as much a thing of beauty as its contents.

John Berger has created a series of letters from A'ida to Xavier - a life sentence prisoner in an unnamed hot country, apparently accused of terrorism. The letters are undated and bound into three non-chronological bundles. And on the back of some letters, Xavier has written his own text.

At first, the reader is totally disorientated. Berger's introduction makes it seem as though there is some elaborate game being played, and the early temptation is to discover the rules. The first letters in the book contain mid numbingly trivial thoughts, and this makes the reader wonder whether there is some code at play - perhaps reading initial letters or every third word. If there is a code, it's a good `un.

But as the lack of narrative thread; lack of code; lack of connection between A'ida's letters and Xavier's responses all starts to become apparent, so too does the beauty of each individual letter; each vignette become apparent. There are big themes at play - love; loneliness; separation; frustration; confinement; time. We see A'ida's hope for a marriage; hope for a family turn into hope simply for an opportunity to be together again. The time frame of the letters is not revealed - although the odd letter does drop a hint - but it is obviously a great many years. A'ida grows old before our eyes - presumably so to does Xavier. Their fire to change the world mellows into a much more personal fire of frustrated love.

And the vignettes are quite lovely - crafted in beautiful and often understated language. Some are reminiscences of A'ida's former life with Xavier and these have a dreamlike quality. Others are scenes from A'ida's recent life and hint at secret messages in amongst the humdrum detail. And some seem to be purely written from the heart by a woman who is afraid to build a new life for herself whilst her love languishes in jail.

Berger deliberately sets the book in an unknowable country. Names are drawn from various languages. Perhaps the prison is in the Middle East, perhaps in North Africa, at one point perhaps even in Brazil. But a specific setting would have distracted from the novel. The absence of a location lets the narrative, such as it is, focus narrowly on the town itself with hints (and more than hints) of army oppression, focus on Xavier in his cell, and dream of the wide world.

There is an urge, when reading the letters, to tear the pages from the book and re-order them - perhaps to offer a more satisfying, more comfortable read. But one scene, in which A'ida persuades the owner of the pharmacy in which she works to re-order the medicines might offer some insight. A'ida asked that the medicines be ordered according to curative properties rather than by name. Perhaps Xavier ordered his letters with something similar in mind. That's a puzzle.

The intensity of the read builds and builds. It is compelling, yet unknowable. This little enigma of a novel deserves its place on the Booker longlist - and I'd hope to see it go much further.

Agreed, it is a truly excellent read, 09 Apr 2007
Like the other two reviewers I agree this is an excellent read that many will probably pass by, but that would be a huge mistake. A reflection on time and space in relation to love pulled together by poetry, philosophy...it's so hard to describe you need to read it! Possibly one of the most beautiful interpretations of love ever, in the chapter with the description of the lilac in the sunlight. It made my heart go a little bit funny and I'm absolutely not a sentimental person. I'm off to peruse his other writings on amazon now - you should be heading to the checkout with this book. An ideal present for avid readers too.

Wonderful, 03 Jul 2006
This is a short, beautiful love letter of a book, written to someone who is never named. As berger tells the reader on the first page, Part One is about Time. Part Two is about space. And Our Faces... takes the form of poetry and prose, observation and philosophy, it develops by theme and comes to deal with reconciliation of death. Each passage is a snapshot, written with a sparce economy which is vivid and often moving. This book will pass many people by because it does not fit easily into any category, but it deserves to be read for its beauty and clarity.


A timeless gem on life, love, transition and belonging, 07 Dec 2004
This book was given to me almost twenty years ago, and truly stands the test of time. It is an unusual work, which cannot be categorised easily, as it comprises essays, poetry, reviews and philosophy in one small and perfect volume which has no equal that I know of. There is a raw and very moving account of first love in the description of a parcel being sent, which combines the purity of feeling with the immediate sense of recognition that the moment is transient, but in such a way that it does not diminish the emotion experienced. The elusiveness of being, and attempts to momentarily capture, describe, record or explain it is a recurring thread within this book, and is reflected on in a variety of ways; personal experience, historical polemic, art, poems and stories. The language and semantics are breathtakingly apt and timeless. I am not someone who enthuses about "lifechanging" experiences of any kind, but this book made a profound influence on me 19 years ago, and continues to do so whenever I revisit the texts. The second part, which touches on migration, home, and belonging is as relevant in today's world as it was when written. I believe it strikes a chord because the author manages to convince the reader that the passion which informed the writing was true, and based on a strong sense of genuine care and feeling. I felt privileged to have been given this book, and have continued to buy it for people who have touched my life. Some have understood. And, if nothing else: is this not the most wonderful title ever?

If it's outdated now, it's because it opened a new era, 16 Sep 2008
'Ways of Seeing' is a book which some readers may find a bit puzzling. The ads reproduced in its pages look naive to us, in their unsophisticated emphasis on luxury and glamour, and Berger's commentary on advertising may seem a bit simple, but if so it's because he was one of the first and best critics to compare the effects and uses of advertising and fine art. The main difference between him and most contemporary commentators is that Berger had an independent perspective that they lack; his analysis has far more steel and indignation than the work of someone like Peter York, who comments on ads from the insider's perspective of "Is it effective or not?" Berger refuses to be seduced into talking about ads on their own terms. While the specific tactics used in advertising may be different now from what they were when this book was originally published, the basic strategy is still the same as it will ever be: to sell us not a product but a lifestyle.

Anyone who has travelled in a less-well-off country that has a functioning advertising industry (Greece, for instance) will have noticed that billboard ads there tend to be like early 70s ads in richer countries: they promote a dream of luxury, wealth and sophistication. Ads in the UK and Ireland are aimed at people who already think of themselves as reasonably wealthy and sophisticated, and so UK and Irish ads tend to promote an idea of the consumer as being rootsy, down-to-earth, unpretentious, sensible - all the things that we secretly fear we aren't. The tactic is different, but the strategy (to play on the consumer's hopes and fears about what kind of person they are) is the same.

Berger's work is hardly full of undigested chunks of Marxist doctrine, unlike the far more impenetrable and far less useful work of (e.g.) the Art & Language group. If you come across his work when you're young or ignorant enough, he is one of the most liberating writers around. He teaches you not to agree with him, but how to be critical in the first place; he provokes you into wondering if and how he could be right, which is a gift from a writer to a reader.

This is a relatively entry-level Berger. The early novels are not really very good, except for the first one, "A Painter of our Time". The Booker-winning "G" is a masterpiece, and the more recent fiction has been equally excellent but different in tone and method. The book-length non-fiction, such as "A Fortunate Man", "A Seventh Man", "Another Way of Telling", is all superb. He is one of the best English writers and as he passes 80, his work shows no sign of declining in quality or intensity.

It should be stated that this is only the accompanying book of a TV series which, shamefully, isn't available on DVD. "Ways of Seeing" the programme is still pretty mind-blowing, right from the cheeky opening sequence where Berger appears to cut up an actual Botticelli. The whole show is, or used to be, available in bits on YouTube. I would rather sit through a TV show by Berger than the whole of Kenneth Clark's contemporary and far more expensive "Civilisation", which has been released on DVD.

Thought provoking..., 20 Feb 2008
I recently had to read this as the basis for an essay, but was pleasantly surprised. It is an interesting snippet questioning our view of art and if it has changed throughout history. I found a few of the assumptions a little irritating, such as that Reubens would not have been aware of the device of depicting the human body in an anatomically incorrect pose in order to give the impression of movement. (Particularly as this is something that was well known among artists for hundreds of years and had been used by Leonardo da Vinci for example).

However, if you are looking for a thought provoking, unusual look at how images have been used throughout history, give it a go. Its not a long book and some of the chapters are purely visual to allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions.

Essential reading for any kind of visual artist, 10 Feb 2008
This compact, easy to read pictoral/text book is a great aid to understanding the semantics of visual conception. You may think some of it obvious, and some of it a bit cooky, for example its marxist angles on the reasons why we see things the way we have come to, but it does get the student of all things visual thinking hard about it all. Whilst not being a specific aid to any particular field, it is an essential general reader for anyone studying the visual arts, from graphic design to theatre design, and from architecture to photography, and it's why it is still a standard first year college issue on so many courses.

Confounding seeing with perception., 27 Sep 2007
Berger's book is a typical leftist product of the period. He is so desperate to bring class war into the topic that he comes across as faintly absurd. For example - and there are many such - he talks of "..the esoteric approach of a few specialised experts who are the clerks of the nostalgia of a ruling class in decline." when criticising other art critics. I often found myself laughing aloud at such pompous absurdities.

When it comes to his "seeing comes before words" he shows he does not understand the difference between 'seeing' and 'perception' which he muddles turn and turn about. He suggests we drop our assumptions of form, status, taste when viewing an artwork as these are 'mystifications' and we should instead 'see' the art in unencumbered form, as it were. He proceeds to suggest we 'Study this evidence and judge for yourself'. But how could we apply thought to our 'seeing' and avoid it becoming a perception? For that is what he is asking us to do. How could we differentiate what we see without perception? All he does is to introduce his own view of how we should look at art and claim it is better than a different (capitalist?) way.

His views on the representation of women will fascinate archeologists of sociology. He appears oblivious of the fact that women have always been able to view images of men sexually.

Some sound ideas, but out-of-date and prejudiced, 23 Sep 2007
A short beginner's guide to the philosophy of art, John Berger's 1972 book "Ways Of Seeing" is often talked about as being a seminal piece of critical writing about art, but it lacks the relevance and profundity that it may have been credited with on its first publication 35 years ago.

The principles that Berger details about the viewer and the subject in imagery are simple but sound. All too often Berger is either stating the obvious or making rather questionable generalisations (for example "All publicity works on anxiety. The sum of everything is money, to get money is to overcome anxiety.")

It is, though other reviewers disagree, definitely dated. Image production and manipulation has developed too far, and become too international, in the last 35 years for "Ways Of Seeing" to even hope to be relevant. It is inherently bigoted, fixated by the English upper classes, and also for example gives some importance to the 'recent' arrival of colour photography as being an important influence on advertising.

Berger seems to particularly enjoy writing chapter 3 (one of the longest chapters), about nude women, which makes very few points about the form and seems like a cheap excuse to reproduce various images of undressed ladies...

A big drawback is that the typography of this book is awful. Considering that its subject matter is that of images, I am staggered that whoever arranged it decided it would be a good idea to put the entire text in BOLD type with expanded line spacing, which leaves limited room for the reproductions of the images, many of which are reproduced far too small and with poor print quality so that you can't make out the details that Berger is actually referring to.

If it's outdated now, it's because it opened a new era, 16 Sep 2008
'Ways of Seeing' is a book which some readers may find a bit puzzling. The ads reproduced in its pages look naive to us, in their unsophisticated emphasis on luxury and glamour, and Berger's commentary on advertising may seem a bit simple, but if so it's because he was one of the first and best critics to compare the effects and uses of advertising and fine art. The main difference between him and most contemporary commentators is that Berger had an independent perspective that they lack; his analysis has far more steel and indignation than the work of someone like Peter York, who comments on ads from the insider's perspective of "Is it effective or not?" Berger refuses to be seduced into talking about ads on their own terms. While the specific tactics used in advertising may be different now from what they were when this book was originally published, the basic strategy is still the same as it will ever be: to sell us not a product but a lifestyle.

Anyone who has travelled in a less-well-off country that has a functioning advertising industry (Greece, for instance) will have noticed that billboard ads there tend to be like early 70s ads in richer countries: they promote a dream of luxury, wealth and sophistication. Ads in the UK and Ireland are aimed at people who already think of themselves as reasonably wealthy and sophisticated, and so UK and Irish ads tend to promote an idea of the consumer as being rootsy, down-to-earth, unpretentious, sensible - all the things that we secretly fear we aren't. The tactic is different, but the strategy (to play on the consumer's hopes and fears about what kind of person they are) is the same.

Berger's work is hardly full of undigested chunks of Marxist doctrine, unlike the far more impenetrable and far less useful work of (e.g.) the Art & Language group. If you come across his work when you're young or ignorant enough, he is one of the most liberating writers around. He teaches you not to agree with him, but how to be critical in the first place; he provokes you into wondering if and how he could be right, which is a gift from a writer to a reader.

This is a relatively entry-level Berger. The early novels are not really very good, except for the first one, "A Painter of our Time". The Booker-winning "G" is a masterpiece, and the more recent fiction has been equally excellent but different in tone and method. The book-length non-fiction, such as "A Fortunate Man", "A Seventh Man", "Another Way of Telling", is all superb. He is one of the best English writers and as he passes 80, his work shows no sign of declining in quality or intensity.

It should be stated that this is only the accompanying book of a TV series which, shamefully, isn't available on DVD. "Ways of Seeing" the programme is still pretty mind-blowing, right from the cheeky opening sequence where Berger appears to cut up an actual Botticelli. The whole show is, or used to be, available in bits on YouTube. I would rather sit through a TV show by Berger than the whole of Kenneth Clark's contemporary and far more expensive "Civilisation", which has been released on DVD.

Thought provoking..., 20 Feb 2008
I recently had to read this as the basis for an essay, but was pleasantly surprised. It is an interesting snippet questioning our view of art and if it has changed throughout history. I found a few of the assumptions a little irritating, such as that Reubens would not have been aware of the device of depicting the human body in an anatomically incorrect pose in order to give the impression of movement. (Particularly as this is something that was well known among artists for hundreds of years and had been used by Leonardo da Vinci for example).

However, if you are looking for a thought provoking, unusual look at how images have been used throughout history, give it a go. Its not a long book and some of the chapters are purely visual to allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions.

Essential reading for any kind of visual artist, 10 Feb 2008
This compact, easy to read pictoral/text book is a great aid to understanding the semantics of visual conception. You may think some of it obvious, and some of it a bit cooky, for example its marxist angles on the reasons why we see things the way we have come to, but it does get the student of all things visual thinking hard about it all. Whilst not being a specific aid to any particular field, it is an essential general reader for anyone studying the visual arts, from graphic design to theatre design, and from architecture to photography, and it's why it is still a standard first year college issue on so many courses.

Confounding seeing with perception., 27 Sep 2007
Berger's book is a typical leftist product of the period. He is so desperate to bring class war into the topic that he comes across as faintly absurd. For example - and there are many such - he talks of "..the esoteric approach of a few specialised experts who are the clerks of the nostalgia of a ruling class in decline." when criticising other art critics. I often found myself laughing aloud at such pompous absurdities.

When it comes to his "seeing comes before words" he shows he does not understand the difference between 'seeing' and 'perception' which he muddles turn and turn about. He suggests we drop our assumptions of form, status, taste when viewing an artwork as these are 'mystifications' and we should instead 'see' the art in unencumbered form, as it were. He proceeds to suggest we 'Study this evidence and judge for yourself'. But how could we apply thought to our 'seeing' and avoid it becoming a perception? For that is what he is asking us to do. How could we differentiate what we see without perception? All he does is to introduce his own view of how we should look at art and claim it is better than a different (capitalist?) way.

His views on the representation of women will fascinate archeologists of sociology. He appears oblivious of the fact that women have always been able to view images of men sexually.

Some sound ideas, but out-of-date and prejudiced, 23 Sep 2007
A short beginner's guide to the philosophy of art, John Berger's 1972 book "Ways Of Seeing" is often talked about as being a seminal piece of critical writing about art, but it lacks the relevance and profundity that it may have been credited with on its first publication 35 years ago.

The principles that Berger details about the viewer and the subject in imagery are simple but sound. All too often Berger is either stating the obvious or making rather questionable generalisations (for example "All publicity works on anxiety. The sum of everything is money, to get money is to overcome anxiety.")

It is, though other reviewers disagree, definitely dated. Image production and manipulation has developed too far, and become too international, in the last 35 years for "Ways Of Seeing" to even hope to be relevant. It is inherently bigoted, fixated by the English upper classes, and also for example gives some importance to the 'recent' arrival of colour photography as being an important influence on advertising.

Berger seems to particularly enjoy writing chapter 3 (one of the longest chapters), about nude women, which makes very few points about the form and seems like a cheap excuse to reproduce various images of undressed ladies...

A big drawback is that the typography of this book is awful. Considering that its subject matter is that of images, I am staggered that whoever arranged it decided it would be a good idea to put the entire text in BOLD type with expanded line spacing, which leaves limited room for the reproductions of the images, many of which are reproduced far too small and with poor print quality so that you can't make out the details that Berger is actually referring to.

Beautiful and angry, but there's too much left unsaid in these letters, 30 Aug 2008
I loved this book, the writing was exquisite, but I needed so much more from it that ultimately it disappointed slightly.
A'ida and Xavier are lovers, but X is imprisoned on terrorist charges. Their story is teased out through some of A's letters to X in jail which were found in his cell when the new prison was built. He never replies, but sometimes writes on the back of the letters.
They live in an unnamed country where A'ida is a pharmacist. She writes about everyday life, her friends, neighbours and customers. There are always hints of troubles and oppression in the background and it is implied that she is also an activist. She is desperate to be married to X, but the authorities won't allow it so visiting X in prison is an unattainable goal for her - she eventually has to be content with fantasising about him. Xavier's writing is not about A, but is often angry thoughts about the authorities in the outside world that he is prisoner in.
The reader is left to fill in the gaps which gives great poignancy to the texts, but I was left hungry to find out what happened to them:- what X was imprisoned for, what A's role was in their struggle, and myriad other questions. Just a few answers would have satisfied, but with the exception of a brief scene-setting introduction, the author is deliberate in his intention of letting these letters speak for themselves.


A Great Author, 23 Aug 2008
Beauty, Clarity and Power. A great author and a wonderful read. READ IT.

A little jewel of a book, 17 Aug 2008
From A to X is a little jewel of a book. Its form is as much a thing of beauty as its contents.

John Berger has created a series of letters from A'ida to Xavier - a life sentence prisoner in an unnamed hot country, apparently accused of terrorism. The letters are undated and bound into three non-chronological bundles. And on the back of some letters, Xavier has written his own text.

At first, the reader is totally disorientated. Berger's introduction makes it seem as though there is some elaborate game being played, and the early temptation is to discover the rules. The first letters in the book contain mid numbingly trivial thoughts, and this makes the reader wonder whether there is some code at play - perhaps reading initial letters or every third word. If there is a code, it's a good `un.

But as the lack of narrative thread; lack of code; lack of connection between A'ida's letters and Xavier's responses all starts to become apparent, so too does the beauty of each individual letter; each vignette become apparent. There are big themes at play - love; loneliness; separation; frustration; confinement; time. We see A'ida's hope for a marriage; hope for a family turn into hope simply for an opportunity to be together again. The time frame of the letters is not revealed - although the odd letter does drop a hint - but it is obviously a great many years. A'ida grows old before our eyes - presumably so to does Xavier. Their fire to change the world mellows into a much more personal fire of frustrated love.

And the vignettes are quite lovely - crafted in beautiful and often understated language. Some are reminiscences of A'ida's former life with Xavier and these have a dreamlike quality. Others are scenes from A'ida's recent life and hint at secret messages in amongst the humdrum detail. And some seem to be purely written from the heart by a woman who is afraid to build a new life for herself whilst her love languishes in jail.

Berger deliberately sets the book in an unknowable country. Names are drawn from various languages. Perhaps the prison is in the Middle East, perhaps in North Africa, at one point perhaps even in Brazil. But a specific setting would have distracted from the novel. The absence of a location lets the narrative, such as it is, focus narrowly on the town itself with hints (and more than hints) of army oppression, focus on Xavier in his cell, and dream of the wide world.

There is an urge, when reading the letters, to tear the pages from the book and re-order them - perhaps to offer a more satisfying, more comfortable read. But one scene, in which A'ida persuades the owner of the pharmacy in which she works to re-order the medicines might offer some insight. A'ida asked that the medicines be ordered according to curative properties rather than by name. Perhaps Xavier ordered his letters with something similar in mind. That's a puzzle.

The intensity of the read builds and builds. It is compelling, yet unknowable. This little enigma of a novel deserves its place on the Booker longlist - and I'd hope to see it go much further.

Agreed, it is a truly excellent read, 09 Apr 2007
Like the other two reviewers I agree this is an excellent read that many will probably pass by, but that would be a huge mistake. A reflection on time and space in relation to love pulled together by poetry, philosophy...it's so hard to describe you need to read it! Possibly one of the most beautiful interpretations of love ever, in the chapter with the description of the lilac in the sunlight. It made my heart go a little bit funny and I'm absolutely not a sentimental person. I'm off to peruse his other writings on amazon now - you should be heading to the checkout with this book. An ideal present for avid readers too.

Wonderful, 03 Jul 2006
This is a short, beautiful love letter of a book, written to someone who is never named. As berger tells the reader on the first page, Part One is about Time. Part Two is about space. And Our Faces... takes the form of poetry and prose, observation and philosophy, it develops by theme and comes to deal with reconciliation of death. Each passage is a snapshot, written with a sparce economy which is vivid and often moving. This book will pass many people by because it does not fit easily into any category, but it deserves to be read for its beauty and clarity.


A timeless gem on life, love, transition and belonging, 07 Dec 2004
This book was given to me almost twenty years ago, and truly stands the test of time. It is an unusual work, which cannot be categorised easily, as it comprises essays, poetry, reviews and philosophy in one small and perfect volume which has no equal that I know of. There is a raw and very moving account of first love in the description of a parcel being sent, which combines the purity of feeling with the immediate sense of recognition that the moment is transient, but in such a way that it does not diminish the emotion experienced. The elusiveness of being, and attempts to momentarily capture, describe, record or explain it is a recurring thread within this book, and is reflected on in a variety of ways; personal experience, historical polemic, art, poems and stories. The language and semantics are breathtakingly apt and timeless. I am not someone who enthuses about "lifechanging" experiences of any kind, but this book made a profound influence on me 19 years ago, and continues to do so whenever I revisit the texts. The second part, which touches on migration, home, and belonging is as relevant in today's world as it was when written. I believe it strikes a chord because the author manages to convince the reader that the passion which informed the writing was true, and based on a strong sense of genuine care and feeling. I felt privileged to have been given this book, and have continued to buy it for people who have touched my life. Some have understood. And, if nothing else: is this not the most wonderful title ever?

Self-indulgent and drab - it hasn't stood the test of time, 23 Jun 2007
Originally published in 1972 and set mostly in the early 1900s, this book now qualifies as nostalgia in two different ways.

The story is not particularly new, the tale of a rich Don Juan/Casanova-style character drifting and seducing directionlessly through Europe supported by and yet eventually condemned by the liberal company he finds himself in.

The writing style is of a kind when in 1972 would still have been seen as revolutionary. It has broken narrative, unconventional mixing of first- and third-person for both interior thoughts and exterior actions, and of course it is sexually explicit in parts, including a handful of crude (in two ways) drawings inserted into the text for no particular reason. What may have been seen as challenging 'new lit' and worthy of the Booker Prize on its first publication now comes across as a bit messy, self-indulgent, even childish.

The worst thing about the book is the author's tendency to forget that he is writing fiction and write whole pages of sub-Freudian cod-psychoanalysis, particularly to do with sex. It's empty, interrupts the story, and in some places is simply sexism dressed up.

The partly redeeming aspects of the book, for me, were the characters. The women in the book were certainly not as one-dimensional as they could have been. But that wasn't enough to make me think of this book as worth praise.

Incomprehensiible, 16 May 2005
I have in my life read most of the Booker Prize offerings, so like to think that I have a reasonable understanding of popular literature. But what was this book about?, I didn't know when I started it and I still didn't know when I was 3/4 of the way through, which is where I abandoned it. As another reveiwer said, definately a book for the coffee table, preferabley to prop up the dodgy leg!!!! and gather dust it certainly will!!

A strange choice by the Booker judges, 26 Jan 2003
This is the kind of book that only through the title was I able to remember the hero's name. Its concentration on the priviliged lives of the European genteel and descriptions of vastly dull sex scenes left me cold. It seemed that all the action was happening off stage- the few glipses of trench warfare were the only engaging and moving passages in the book.
Berger's writing suffers from his insitance on "explaining" things but not enough so they are at all understandable. In this repect G seems very much a book for those who like their books to say something about them whilst they gather dust on the shelves. If G is supposed to represent the old order I think the old order was very boring indeed.
The final few chapters involving Nusa, the Slovene- started to become interesting- she was the only character I had any sympahty with.
Fortunatly there are frequent gaps in the paragraphs in this book so you can roughly tell where you were if you drop off to sleep. If you like a book where pretentious people talk about nothing to each other and need an antidote to any kind of passion in sex then this may be the book for you. If you don't then I suggest you read a more worthy booker prize novel- Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, a modern classic.

A Classic, 09 Oct 2001
It's too easy to write academic essays about the author of this book: such writings can never convey the compassion and lack of sentimentality to the love with which this book was written.

If you like Cézanne, Picasso, Saussure, Derrida, Barthes or Foucault, Miles Davis, Satie or John Coltrane, or Behhthoven's climax in The Nineth Symphony, you will appreciate this book.

In short, if you don't like this review or don't find it helpful, then you shouldn't buy the book.

Beautiful, Sensual, 16 May 2001
I have read quite a few Berger books, including (of course) his Ways of Seeing, and the Into Their Labours Trilogy... This one is by far my favourite. The language is superb (as always) - Berger really shows you what the protagonist is dealing with throughout his life. I don't want to give away too much, here...But this is an extremely passionate and sensual story riddled with historical and psychological controversy. Don't miss out.

If it's outdated now, it's because it opened a new era, 16 Sep 2008
'Ways of Seeing' is a book which some readers may find a bit puzzling. The ads reproduced in its pages look naive to us, in their unsophisticated emphasis on luxury and glamour, and Berger's commentary on advertising may seem a bit simple, but if so it's because he was one of the first and best critics to compare the effects and uses of advertising and fine art. The main difference between him and most contemporary commentators is that Berger had an independent perspective that they lack; his analysis has far more steel and indignation than the work of someone like Peter York, who comments on ads from the insider's perspective of "Is it effective or not?" Berger refuses to be seduced into talking about ads on their own terms. While the specific tactics used in advertising may be different now from what they were when this book was originally published, the basic strategy is still the same as it will ever be: to sell us not a product but a lifestyle.

Anyone who has travelled in a less-well-off country that has a functioning advertising industry (Greece, for instance) will have noticed that billboard ads there tend to be like early 70s ads in richer countries: they promote a dream of luxury, wealth and sophistication. Ads in the UK and Ireland are aimed at people who already think of themselves as reasonably wealthy and sophisticated, and so UK and Irish ads tend to promote an idea of the consumer as being rootsy, down-to-earth, unpretentious, sensible - all the things that we secretly fear we aren't. The tactic is different, but the strategy (to play on the consumer's hopes and fears about what kind of person they are) is the same.

Berger's work is hardly full of undigested chunks of Marxist doctrine, unlike the far more impenetrable and far less useful work of (e.g.) the Art & Language group. If you come across his work when you're young or ignorant enough, he is one of the most l