In the first programme, Berger examines the impact of photography on our appreciation of art from the past. Guardian - A radical returns (commenting on the book)Ī BAFTA award-winning series with John Berger, which rapidly became regarded as one of the most influential art programmes ever made. Published in 1972, with an accompanying TV series, Ways of Seeing remains Berger's most famous and widely read work, a slap in the face of the art establishment and an almost sacred text for the two or three art generations of students who grew up under its immeasurable influence. Click the icon bottom right of each page to proceed to the next chapter. That way you get to see all the images in the book/programme. You can also visit this site Illustrations and Amplifications for John Berger's Ways of Seeing.

You can read excerpts from Ways of Seeing here and here.Ways of Seeing was a BBC TV series in 1972 before it was a book about art criticism by John Berger- it airs again on Sunday night on BBC4 at 7.30pm. John Berger - 'Ways of Seeing': Based on the BBC Television Series The relationship between what we see and what we know is never settled.' It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.īut there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. This is so all my readers who'd like to watch can make plans to take control of the remote control. There's a bit of a surfeit of TV programmes about art and arts TV this week - but only if you live in the UK (I can hear the wailing now!).

Ways of seeing tv series