A patron cannot be surrounded by music or poems in the same way as he is surrounded by his pictures.” : “What are these paintings? Before they are anything else, they are themselves objects which can be bought and owned. For these reasons the period of the traditional oil painting may be roughly set as between 15.” At about the same time the photograph took the place of the oil painting as the principal source of visual imagery. Yet the basis of its traditional way of seeing was undermined by Impressionism and overthrown by Cubism. Oil paintings are still being painted today. : “… Nor can the end of the period of the oil painting be dated exactly. Levi-Strauss writes: It is this avid and ambitious desire to take possession o the object for the benefit of the owner or even of the spectator which seems to me to constitute one of the outstandingly original features of the art of Western civilization.” Significantly enough it is an anthropologist who has come closest to recognizing it. This analogy between possessing and the way of seeing which is incorporated in oil painting, is a factor usually ignored by art experts and historians. If you buy a painting you buy also the look of the thing it represents.
to have thing painted and put on a canvas is not unlike buying it and putting it in your house. The painter’s way of seeing is reconstituted by the marks he makes on the canvas or paper.įrom the 5th Essay, on oil painting, -84: “Oil paintings often depict things.
The photographer’s way of seeing is reflected in his choice of subject. This is true even in the most causal family snapshot. Every time we look at a photograph, we are a photograph, we are aware, however slightly, of the photographer selecting that sight from an infinity of other possible sights. For photographs are not, as is often assumed, a mechanical record. ” : “… Every image embodies a way of seeing. The following are a few verbatim quotations from I found of some interest:įrom the first essay, “Seeing comes before words. I read through it, gleaned a few tidbits, but did not enjoy most of it.
The book is also typeset all in bold – with emphases statements in roman type and the reproductions are very poor. Most of the sentences are short declarative statements which become boring to read and frequently have inadequate references or substantiation. Some of the essays are marginally interesting, but the writing style is awful. It is a series of essays based upon a TV series of the same name produced by the BBC. In my acceptance letter to the low-residence MFA program at the Vermont College of Fine Art this book was recommended. Based on the BBC television series with John Berger
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