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camellia10011 's review for:
Ways of Seeing
by John Berger
My favorite part of the book might just be JB quoting Lawrence Gowing dissing JB for opining that a particular Gainsborough may not have any deeper meaning attached to it other than land ownership - and concluding that this makes Gowing " so striking an illustration of the disingenuousness that bedevils the subject of art history" - the unvarnished pettiness of this section was just a pure joy to read.
On a more serious note, this is one of the more impactful books on art. JB has strong opinions that he does not flinch from, and he foresaw the emerging attitude and cynicism towards art historians and art critics which are commonplace today. "The issue is not between innocence and knowledge (or between the natural and the cultural) but between a total approach to art which attempts to relate it to every aspect of experience and the esoteric approach of a few specialized experts who are the clerks of the nostalgia of a ruling class in decline".. I also enjoyed reading his discourse on consumption as a substitute for democracy. Ezra Klein explains this beautifully in his book Why We're Polarized - another must-read.
On a more serious note, this is one of the more impactful books on art. JB has strong opinions that he does not flinch from, and he foresaw the emerging attitude and cynicism towards art historians and art critics which are commonplace today. "The issue is not between innocence and knowledge (or between the natural and the cultural) but between a total approach to art which attempts to relate it to every aspect of experience and the esoteric approach of a few specialized experts who are the clerks of the nostalgia of a ruling class in decline".. I also enjoyed reading his discourse on consumption as a substitute for democracy. Ezra Klein explains this beautifully in his book Why We're Polarized - another must-read.