John Berger\'s \"Ways of Seeing\" and Mystification

¶ … John Berger's "Ways Seeing" Chapter One, focus idea mystification.

"Ways of Seeing" - mystification

John Berger's book "Ways of Seeing" is based on a television series issues in 1972 by the BBC and is generally meant to discuss with regard to art and to how society perceives this concept. Individuals are likely to benefit as a consequence of reading the book because it provides them with the opportunity to look at matters from a different angle. Berger wants readers to gain a more complex understanding of art in order for them to be able to know how to distinguish between real art and what the social order is inclined to identify as art. The writer emphasizes that the meaning of many works of art is mystified by the fact that the general public came to relate to them as being different from how they really are.

Chapter one in "Ways of Seeing" is focused on how people see first and then concentrate on trying to find explanations for what they see. Seeing is eventually influenced by how people perceive a particular concept, as it is only by providing a definition of an idea that individuals come to associate an image with it. Berger practically provides his readers with the opportunity to understand that seeing is an objective act while comprehending is an objective act. By knowing that seeing is subjective and that others also see, individuals come to accept that other people are probable to look at life from a different perspective and that it would be in society's best interest to reach common ground concerning particular concepts.

Art is a very complex subject and in order to be able to comprehend its intricateness, a person first needs to acknowledge that it is produced by how a person saw a particular concept. Furthermore, its appreciation comes from how people see it, thus meaning that it can be interpreted in a series of ways. It is thus difficult to relate to a particular work of art as being artistic in character, taking into account that such thinking can only emerge from a series of individuals expressing their subjective opinion concerning it.

When a series of individuals express a particular opinion concerning an object, others are also inclined to put across similar thinking. Across time, the masses have developed diverging understandings of ideas like beauty, reality, and form. This means that what people in the contemporary society might consider to be art is likely to have been considered junk if it were not for individuals in earlier times labeling these concepts as artistic.

It is intriguing to accept that "today we see the art of the past as nobody saw it before. We actually perceive it in a different way." (Berger 16) However, the fact that people understand art of the past by considering ideas that individuals in the past expressed with regard to it plays an essential role in shaping what art actually means. The fact that most individuals prefer to believe that they have the authority to interpret artwork makes it difficult for them to avoid being influenced by interpretations in the past.

Society uses art in certain cases with the purpose of putting across messages people want to express. The masses are thus influenced to develop a particular method of thought as a consequence of the ideas they are bombarded with. Art is basically an opportunity for people to be transported into the past and seeing matters from the perspective of the artist. Mystification brings confusion into the world by preventing people from associating artwork with the past. It practically makes it impossible for them to actually see the image and thus prevents them from understanding more about the historic context of the artwork and about the artist's perspective.

Society's understanding of art is devised by a privileged minority that is mainly interested in shaping people's thinking. This way of thinking is dedicated at having the masses act in accordance with the interests of the respective minority. Mystification is thus an attempt by influential bodies to manipulate the social order and art is one of the main tools they use because of how they can induce diverse thoughts in people's minds as a result of taking control of this medium. The fact that mystification prevents individuals from expressing thoughts they are inclined to associate with particular images on account of how it would be impossible for them to interpret the respective images. The connection between the artist and individuals seeing his or her work is thus destroyed by other people interfering and imposing their point-of-view.

Individuals mystifying art are generally likely to motivate their attitudes by claiming that commercial value is in many cases the same thing as spiritual value. This is largely why the contemporary society lives in agreement with material values while spiritual values are largely ignored.

By bringing on Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks being disputed between the Louvre Museum and the National Gallery of Art, Berger wants his readers to understand how society has come to appreciate commercial value instead of appreciating the message the artist was interested in putting across. Instead of concentrating on how da Vinci intended the world to get actively involved in discussing the idea present in this particular painting, important art critics are more concerned with choosing whether or not it would be right for them to consider a certain work as being the original.