Ways of Seeing

I thought it was interesting how John Berger pointed out that before the camera was invented, you could only see pieces of art in one place and one time. People travelled all over the world to see famous art works, such as the Mona Lisa. Now with the invention of the camera, anyone could look up the image and see it in seconds. They can see it on their phone, iPad, and laptop while being in their home environment. They don’t have to travel to the place where the actual artwork is currently displayed. It makes me think of how we take for granted this opportunity to see any piece of artwork within seconds, where as in later times people travelled to the photo.

Berger also stated that everything in the environment around the image plays a huge role in its meaning. He used the example of the icon to describe this. Before cameras, the icon was only located in a church. Behind its image is God and people didn’t need to look at it to understand its meaning. Now, the icon image travels to people in their homes, which change the meaning of the icon. It is no longer just in a church where people go and pray, but in homes by walls and windows. This makes me think if our perception of images are different since we lose meaning from seeing images in our home and not in the place where they are actually displayed.

Making these insights about artwork, I believe that people probably had a greater appreciation for the piece of art because of the journey they had to take to get there and the true meaning of the image that is supported by the environment around it. I think the fact that we can look up pieces of work anytime and anywhere and see it within our own environment takes away the true purpose or intent of the painting. If we still had to travel to see images and be in the exact room where it is displayed and see the original size and frame that the picture is in, I believe that we would have different opinions about it than we do now. These are aspects that I will take into consideration when looking at pieces of artwork.



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