One of the most radical aspects of this book was its emphasis on the sexism at play in so much of our visual culture, and its insidious, destructive effects. The aim of this book was to take the mystery out of art history and challenge centuries-old, entrenched ways of looking at art through a series of thought-provoking essays. This iconic publication is still on the must-read list of any budding art or art history student today. His Most Celebrated Contribution to Art History Was Ways of Seeing John Berger, Ways of Seeing, 1972, image courtesy of Camerawork 45īy far the most enduring aspect of John Berger’s legacy is his iconic collection of essays titled Ways of Seeing, 1972.

In 1960, Berger published his first collection of essays on art, titled Permanent Red: Essays in Seeing, followed by The Success and Failure of Picasso, 1965, Art and Revolution: Ernst Neivestny and The Role of the Artist in the U.S.S.R, 1969. In one review for the New Statesman he scathingly derided Jackson Pollock’s art for its “dead subjectivity” and suicidal despair.” In these magazine articles and reviews Berger demonstrated that he was an outspoken socialist, and his belief that it was the role of art to provide a commentary on the times in which we are living. These include New Society and the New Statesman. John Berger Was an Influential Art Critic and Essayist John Berger photographed by Jean Mohr, image courtesy of Whitechapel Gallery, LondonĪlthough he trained as a painter at Chelsea School of Art, John Berger began publishing art criticism for various British publications in the 1950s.

John berger ways of seeing book