John Berger's Ways of Seeing by Emmanouil Kalkanis

Author:Emmanouil Kalkanis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Significance

Berger’s most influential essays deal with the representation of females in art, which have now been explored further by feminist art theory. The author’s work has also helped to shape a relatively new academic field, that of visual culture. This discipline draws on different subjects, such as history of art, cultural studies, anthropology, and philosophy, and focuses on aspects of culture that rely on visual images. The essay in which Berger talks about the concept of women and their depiction in art (as he argues that they are commonly objectified and painted in a way to be admired by their male audience) has assumed great importance in developing the concept of the “male gaze.” This essay, along with work by Laura Mulvey* and Griselda Pollock, is considered hugely influential in this field.

Berger’s importance in the development of new theories is evidenced in the fact that scholars have adapted the original ideas of the text and customized them. One critic sums up the impact by stating: “Berger’s materialistic views on culture had enormous resonance in the field of cultural production. Writers on representations of women have used Berger’s ideas in a variety of ways … both on advertising and … on women’s magazines.”4

As Ways of Seeing is still a relatively new seminal text, it is hard to identify any particular schools of thought in the ideas it contains. One thing that can be established with certainty, however, is the fact that it has inspired and challenged academics of many different disciplines, and continues to do so. A general search on the Internet will reveal many academic publications that use Berger’s ideas as a “jumping off point” for constructing new arguments on the themes he discusses. Even though these do not always agree with Berger’s initial ideas, they often use his terminology to expand and explore the arguments further.

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