Ways of Seeing: last chapter

Ways of Seeing
Notes:
130: "(publicity) images belong to the mement but speak of the future."
131 :"the state of being envied is what constitutes glamour".
138: list of devices used in publicity, borrowed/parallel to painting.
139 "you are what you have".
publicity is nosalgia, selling the past to the future.
142: Publicity is to make the spectator dissatisfied with present life.
146-148: Glamour is new invention.
149: Publicity turns consumption into a substitute for democracy."

Ways of seeing

Over past two days, have been continuing poking through "Ways of Seeing".
Notes: page 18: camera demonstrates that there is no centre to the world.
Page 23: "If the image is no longer unique and exclusive, the art object, the thing, must be made mysteriously so". (after age of reproduction).
Page 24: information carries no special authority.
Page 27-28: Effect of words on the meaning of an image.
Page 47: men versus women and how they present selves and are seen (old idea but useful for first year class discussion).
Page 54: naked vs nude
Page 60: Why 'naked' is transformed into 'nude' by painter.
Page 88: exceptional work vs average discussed.
Page 84: oil painting allows ownership of content.
Page 88: Hack work created due to rise of market.
Page 104: poor people represented smiling with teeth, unlike the rich, so they are seen to be ingratiating themselves to the rich.

Ways of Seeing

Began reading Ways of Seeing by John Berger (1973). Not much reading time but on page 10 I like the idea of image making being linked to individuality during the Renaissance. Page 11 reads "The past is never there waiting to be discovered, to be recognized for exactly what it is. History always constitutes the relation between a present and its past. Consequently fear of the present leads to mystification of the past." Page 16 discusses the European idea that reality and perspective come from the individual, from a single eye. Page 17 has a good Vertov quote which is a part of a manifesto.