Ways of Seeing - Season 1

Season 1

John Berger's Ways of Seeing changed the way people think about painting and art criticism. This watershed work shows, through word and image, how what we see is always influenced by a whole hose of assumptions concerning that nature of beauty, truth, civilization, form, taste, class and gender. Exploring the layers of meaning within oil paintings, photographs and graphic art, Berger argues that when we see, we are not just looking - we are reading the language of images.

Network

Episodes4

DatesJan 8, 1972 - Jan 29, 1972

Episodes

Season 1Episode 130 min

Part One

In the first programme, Berger examines the impact of photography on our appreciation of art from the past.

Jan 8, 1972

Season 1Episode 230 min

Part Two

This second programme deals with the portrayal of the female nude, an important part of the tradition of European art. Berger examines these paintings and asks whether they celebrate women as they really are or only as men would like them to be.

Jan 15, 1972

Season 1Episode 330 min

Part Three

With the invention of oil paint around 1400, painters were able to portray people and objects with an unprecedented degree of realism, and painting became the ideal way to celebrate private possessions. In this programme, John Berger questions the value we place on that tradition.

Jan 22, 1972

Season 1Episode 430 min

Part Four

In this programme, Berger analyses the images of advertising and publicity and shows how they relate to the tradition of oil painting - in moods, relationships and poses.

Jan 29, 1972