Mostly, he describes that oil paintings allowed artists to be a lot more detailed in their work , so the immense amount of possessions could be carefully painting with this great detail.
How does Berger explain the gap between words and images?
In John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, he argues that there is a gap between seeing something with the single eye and explaining it in verbal words . ... The inability to catch an image in exact words, makes images more “precise and richer than literature,” (10) argues Berger.
What is the term that Berger uses to describe the act of explaining away what might otherwise be evident?
Mystification is the process of explaining away what might otherwise be evident.
What does Berger mean when he says every image embodies a way of seeing give an example using your own words?
What Berger means by ways of seeing is that our way of seeing objects is culturally determined . He uses as an example masterworks of art. At one time, they were meant to display the wealth and power of the owners.
How does Berger define mystification?
For Berger, “mystification is the process of explaining away what might otherwise be evident .” According to Berger, art history more often obscures the meaning of an artwork than reveals its real politics.
Why is Berger important?
John Berger, in full John Peter Berger, (born November 5, 1926, London, England—died January 2, 2017, Antony, France), British essayist and cultural thinker as well as a prolific novelist, poet, translator, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novel G. and his book and BBC series Ways of Seeing .
What is Bergers highest category of oil painting?
Paintings of buildings – buildings not considered as ideal works of architecture, as in the work of some early Renaissance artists – but buildings as a feature of landed property. The highest category in oil painting was the history or mythological picture .
How does Berger define image?
For Berger, ‘An image is a sight which has been recreated or reproduced . .. which has been detached from the place and time in which it first made its appearance ...’ (p. ... Later still, with the increasing consciousness of the individual, the image was recognised as the particular vision of a particular artist.
How did the camera destroy the idea that images are timeless?
The camera isolated momentary appearances and in so doing destroyed the idea that images were timeless. Or, to put it another way, the camera showed that the notion of time passing was inseparable from the experience of the visual (except in paintings).
What does Berger want us to understand about the power of images?
In 1972, Berger wrote that we are free to see images in collages of our own making . ... If the new language of images were used differently, it would, through its use, confer a new kind of power. Within it we could begin to define our own experiences more precisely in areas where words are inadequate.
What is John Berger Ways of Seeing summary?
In “Ways of Seeing” Berger claims that the representations of men and women in visual culture entice different “gazes” , different ways in which they are looked at, with men having the legitimization of examining women, and women also examine women.
What we see and what we know is never settled?
“The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled .” John Berger, Ways of Seeing. ... Berger describes the reciprocal relationship between what we see before our eyes and what we know or believe. Our evaluation of the artistic quality and impact of an artwork is fundamentally influenced by context.
When in love the sight of the beloved has a completeness which no words and no embrace can match?
When in love, the sight of the beloved has a completeness which no words and no embrace can match : a completeness which only the act of making love can temporarily accommodate . Yet this seeing which comes before words, and can never be quite covered by them, is not a question of mechanically reacting to stimuli.
What is the meaning of mystification?
1a : an act or instance of mystifying . b : an obscuring especially of capitalist or social dynamics (as by making them equivalent to natural laws) that is seen in Marxist thought as an impediment to critical consciousness the mystification of the sources of wealth— Henry Staten.
What are some examples of mystification?
Social Examples of mystification
a. Poverty : We observe that some people are poor and some people are well off. We also observe that some people who are born poor become well off, and some do not. Since these people differ in their outcomes/fates, the cause of these outcomes must be born by the individual.
Is there still mystification in modern art?
However, neither of the two manifestations is in force in modern society. According to Berger, mystification is a false religiosity . The works of art from the past are represented as holy relics, the important aspect of which is that they are so old that they have endured all that time.
