Ways of Seeing

John Berger's stupendous work: "Ways of Seeing" (Berger, 1973) forces us to look at art in a whole new light. Each painting, besides delighting the visual senses, now forces us to listen. The characters in the portraits tell a story about their physical and possibly emotional selves. Berger illustrates his points through analyses of nudes: from the Renaissance paintings to magazine photographs. Berger opines that women in the paintings internalized their physical selves; they view themselves as spectators view them -- through the eyes of the spectators.

As Berger puts it, "every one of her actions-whatever its direct purpose or motivation- is also read as an indicator of how she would like to be treated." A painting of a man on the other hand, presents the character as one who can "do." A painting of a nude (or non-nude) man shows what he can or has achieved. Berger maintains that art during the renaissance reflected the signs of the cultural times with differing (perhaps antiquated) views about sexism.

Paintings and art were also different in western and eastern cultures. While western art placed women in a position of appearance, submission and being objectified, eastern art showed men and women as equal partners. By analyzing nude paintings, Berger demonstrates the difference between nakedness and nudity: nakedness is the act of disrobing; nudity is the display of the unclothed self. Berger does not fail to belabor his thesis: nudes in paintings- women present themselves, as they would like to see themselves. Berger had it exactly right.

The paintings of the renaissance, modern art and even pornography have women portrayed as they would like themselves viewed- the woman becoming one with the viewer. Modern advertisements purport to teach women how they should like to view themselves and have others view them. Viewing the television advertisement for polo.com shows men and women models each.