Reflection: Ways of Seeing

I thought it was interesting how John Berger approached these topics and his perspective on art and the “ways of seeing” artwork. For instance, Berger discusses perspective and how the reproduction of artwork has changed this perspective. People use to go to the art, like chapels and buildings with paintings as the main focus, rather than art being accessible and used as decor for someone’s house. With this, the painting’s meaning has been distorted. I thought it was interesting how the silence and stillness of a painting can be manipulated to fit a meaning like zooming in certain details, certain music, and even your own experience can change the meaning of a painting. Berger also brought up the topic of naked vs nude, which were terms I never differentiated before. Naked is to be seen as oneself whereas nude is to be seen as an object. This topic can be seen through how women are portrayed in paintings and relate to today, how women are still seen as objects and feel the need to maintain a certain image. This can be also seen through advertisements as Berger also discusses. The glamourization of an object sells an idea that this lifestyle is only accessible with money. I thought Berger brought up interesting points that I have not thought about before. This definitely changed my perspective on how artwork or designs are portrayed to the viewer.