John Berger / Ways of Seeing , Episode 3 (1972)

tw19751
tw19751
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Published 2012-10-09
A BAFTA award-winning series with John Berger, which rapidly became regarded as one of the most influential art programmes ever made. With the invention of oil paint around 1400, painters were able to portray people and objects with an unprecedented degree of realism, and painting became the ideal way to celebrate private possessions. In this programme, John Berger questions the value we place on that tradition.

Ways of Seeing is a 1972 BBC four-part television series of 30-minute films created chiefly by writer John Berger and producer Mike Dibb. Berger's scripts were adapted into a book of the same name. The series and book criticize traditional Western cultural aesthetics by raising questions about hidden ideologies in visual images. The series is partially a response to Kenneth Clark's Civilisation series, which represents a more traditionalist view of the Western artistic and cultural canon.
All Comments (21)
  • @jontalbot1
    Arguably one of the greatest tv programmes ever made
  • @junkettarp8942
    Finally.....after 5 decades of looking, I found my husband.......however obviously the guy is dead.....I guess I will be a woman in waiting forever.....Really....this man is magnificent.
  • @08CARIB
    Dear god, this is so good! he makes such great points that I have often felt but never heard anyone else make.
  • @jimmybungle
    Not sure if I'm learning from this or being seduced by this guy?
  • @Tanju132
    I wonder what Berger would think of NFTs...
  • @oneinasquillion
    Have discovered these on here years after reading the book, and it's just wonderful. What a great presenter, so calm, polite and patient with his subtly subversive message! A great thing to watch alongside Clark's Civilisation, and feel your mind stir as it so rarely does when watching contemporary documentaries (or so it seems to me) that don't trust you to keep up with the grown ups.
  • @CarlosRodriguez-cj8oo
    I'm happy to find this series in 2023 in the US! I'm immediately reminded of what has become the standard pose for young women on social media, which is to admire themselves in a phone while the viewer (I guess) is supposed to admire the woman admiring herself. We don't seem to have come very far in 50 years! (at least not in the US)
  • @kelpfishes
    so so interesting, and good! didnt know that art developed as a form of wealth and self-advertisement, and evolved into modern day publicity
  • @syedadeelhussain2691
    What a masterpiece this is! Should be described as one of the most important documentaries ever made on art and perspective. It is an interdisciplinary effort which should be appreciated by the connoisseurs of art and craftsmanship, and readers of philosophy and history of art by the great thinkers and scholars, alike. Wonderful to watch.
  • @johngrant5793
    Remember this series from my high school days. It resonates now, 50 years later, much, much more than it did then.
  • @albnite8047
    This puts Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray in a new light for me. John Berger and Oscar Wilde having a talk would be an amazing discussion I guess.
  • @tomosborne8872
    In the recently published "The Book Of Trespass", the author goes to the site of the Gainsborough painting, and in observing the landscape he makes an observation that supports Berger's reading: you can't actually see all of those fields in the background. The painter has used creative licence to curve the landscape upwards in order to display more of the property that the subjects own. The painting was commissioned for their marriage and in some ways stands in for their marriage licence, and the exchange of property that came with it.
  • @henrygomez7190
    John Berger is a credit to art critics, art historians, the British, and to his Jewish race. I always learn so much from him he brings a very refreshing internationalist perspective that is not muddled by nationalist pride in art. Although one gets the impression that he despises the subjects and opulence of western paintings he does appreciate the skill and talents of the painters.
  • @rahideroy
    11:15- 11:50, where Mr.Berger brings out the contrast between 'European oil painting' and artworks from 'other cultures', it seems quite a broad generalization to term artworks from every culture other than the European as 'static, ritualistic, hierarchical and symbolic'. I get the point, but every culture is uniquely complex, and it seems a sweep to make a statement like this placing 'other cultures' in opposition to a 'European tradition'.
  • @delavachebleue
    Funny that! When talking about Holbein's "the ambassadors", he says the main topic/theme is money and property, precisely as the camera glides over the anamorphosis of the skull (that white elongated blotch in the lower center of the painting is actually a skull that can only be made out when looking at the painting from the side, at an angle), which creates a contrast between the accumulation of wealth and fame versus death, their mortality.... Very interesting series though, excellent job!
  • @thedativecase9733
    It's wonderful to see this series again. I saw it on tv with my dad and brother as a very Arty child and loved it. I do wish he had changed that f-cking shirt occasionally though. Jeezus!
  • @Kurzes_Spiel
    8:46 This is an excellent use of imagery to explain something convoluted. Instead of intstantly telling us all about the controversies of cultural and religious spread into the Americas, Berger simply shows us depictions of crosses in contrast with Columbus's quote in order to introduce the topic.
  • @RufiSF
    I did not know that there was a male version of Sister Wendy! He even has the same tongue defect as Sister Wendy that dulls the pronunciation of the letter “r”. ! Amazing!