Category Archives: Discussion question #2

D.Q2 – 2

With the invention of a camera we are able to see things that are happening or happened some place else. The camera allows us to see art but it gives us a different point of view of a painting. For example, it is not the same to see art in the gallery then to see a recording of the paintings in the internet. The same happens when we see examples of paintings on books, we just see an image but we do not interpret the image as we should. Art is a way of expression for artist and if we are not able to see and analyze an authentic painting than the artist work was in vain.

D.Q2 – 1

John Berger argues that the way we see art depend in our habits and conventions. Not everyone has the same thoughts when see art, some people may see some details that others won’t see. Now this is how habits influence in the way we see painting. For example, Berger presented some art to explain how a different perspective can change the meaning on a painting. If I go to the museum to see painting, The virgin of the rocks by Leonardo Da Vinci, in the original painting I will be able to see every single detail in the picture because it is located in its original place. But if I get a copy of this painting not all the details will be included neither its authenticity. also the environment will change the whole meaning of the image.

Ways of Seeing Episode #1

Discussion#2

 

  1. Berger argues that whatever we see is conditioned by our habits and conventions, a process that is not natural. Our lifestyle, education, day to day activities and our cultural and societal norms unconsciously shapes our mind in forming our habits. Our habits and social conventions subconsciously influence how we see things. The perspective of a young child and an adult looking at a painting would have a big difference. The child’s direct interpretation and an adult more detail interpretation with their acquired experiences proves that what we see is conditioned and that it is not natural. Berger described perspective as reality formed from the appearance of an art by our eye. Eye being the center of visible world, exposes the world to us and influence in our habit development. Our ways of seeing and appearances of artwork conditioned by our habit forms the basis on which we interpret the artwork.

 

  1. Berger mentioned that our eyes can only be at one place at a time and our experiences are limited to what we see in front of us at that time. The camera has widened our perception and changed how appearance appear by maneuvering the movement of camera. The camera has brought paintings like Botticelli’s Venus and Mars into our rooms. The days of pilgrimage is over as images of paintings of holy sites travel to you. Our current attitude towards painting changed as the surrounding and atmosphere changed as it is made available for us on screens and books. The camera gave new meanings to the painting. Berger described that the authentic artwork in museum presents stillness and silence with its unchanging surrounding. This environment gives it an unbiased appearance, a feel of authenticity and its uniqueness. Without the influence of external effects, the stillness and silence occasionally presented in museum helps in forming a unique connection with the painting which is quite hard to get it from the distortion of painting seen on the screen or in a book.

 

  1. With the invention of camera, paintings have become available to public in many forms and shapes. The paintings are able to travel many places at the same time. It can be transmitted readily like news on television or a newspaper. It became like a form of information. The stillness of painting is lost and oddly gave the silent painting a voice determined by these media. Berger tries to explain that reproduced images are often used by us in recreating experience by giving it a voice that connect us to experiences we wanted. They are used like words by placing alongside snapshot and pictures from magazine to give it a new meaning, a meaning that is different from its original meaning.

 

Ways of seeing Episode 1

Question 1:

  • Berger suggests that what we see ‘depends on habit and convention’ and is not, as we might think, simply natural or objective. He explains that if we look now at a 19th century painting, we see it as it has never been seen before we bring to our viewing of it, our personal life experiences and the context in which it is viewed. Our understanding of what we’re seeing doesn’t always goes with what we’re seeing in front of us. We can attempt to capture what we see, reproducing or recreating it for others so that we can try to understand how to perceive the world. To do so is to create an image. “ An Image is a sight in which has been recreated or reproduced”. In this quote, we seen what John Berger is talking about “ A way of seeing”. It’s a brief copy of how the creator saw the world. Images can preserve things as they once were and preserve how their creator once saw their subject. What really makes images extremely powerful is its value or how much it costs.

Question 2:

  • ‘The invention of the camera changed not only what we see but how we see it. It has even changed how we see the paintings of the past’. Berger explains that an original painting can only be seen in one place at a time, and often, paintings were created for display in a specific building. The camera means that we can now see a painting anywhere, in any size and it can be reproduced for any purpose. When we look at an image on our computer screens, say of a painting, we see it with reference to its new environment: we see it in our room, surrounded by our things, and it is placed in the context of our lives. The original painting, however, still exists and can be viewed in a different context. This context informs our viewing of the painting, just as its new position on our computer screen does. We understand an image or painting presented in a gallery as an original and as worthy of serious attention, simply because it is there. Berger says that such an image ‘is beautiful for that alone’. He says that the beauty of such a painting is dependent upon it being a genuine original. Its value as an original is a ‘substitute for what the painting lost when the camera made it reproducible’. In the context of a gallery, we see the painting as still and silent, which is impossible on a computer screen. Berger says that the ‘stillness and silence’ of a physical painting can be ‘very striking’. The video at this point is muted to try to copy the feeling of stillness and silence of an original painting. I was surprised to become consciously aware of just how much noise is generated by my computer, and how much movement could be seen on my screen in the flickering and tiny movements of light as I watched. To appreciate the stillness, Berger says, one has to view the original since even the turning of pages in a book creates movement.

Question 3:

  • The reproduction of works of art changes their meaning. ‘The camera has multiplied possible meanings and destroyed the unique original meaning’. Berger explains that, with reproduction, meaning can be changed and a painting can be used by anyone to convey many different meanings. Often, reproductions are cropped, edited, or shown out of context allowing them to be mobilized in the service of an argument unrelated to their original meaning.