Film: Ways of Seeing

February 5, 2017 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

In 1972, art historian and critic John Berger produced Ways of Seeing, a four-part series broadcast on BBC television. In these episodes, Berger challenges assumptions and ideologies of visual art throughout the history of Western civilization, and provides an indelible approach to recognizing and critiquing those assumptions for oneself. The text from these broadcasts inspired the 1972 book Ways of Seeing, a series of essays and images that confront notions of beauty, the aesthetics of consumption and the portrayal of women throughout the history of Western Art. The text and television broadcasts continue to be important tools in the ongoing effort to critically engage with art, media and society.
John Berger passed away on January 2nd at the age of 90. To celebrate his work, Visual Studies Workshop with screen all four of the original BBC episodes on 16mm film, which are part of VSW’s permanent Film Collection. Introductory remarks made by Dr. Alisia Grace Chase, Historian of Art and Visual Culture in SUNY Brockport’s Department of Art.