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TV series

Ways of Seeing

Latest episode

S1 E4 · Commercial Art

About Ways of Seeing

Ways of Seeing is a documentary TV series that premiered on BBC Two on January 8, 1972. It has 1 season and 4 episodes so far and has ended. The latest episode, Season 1 Episode 4 "Commercial Art", aired on January 29, 1972.

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 host of assumptions concerning the 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.

  • Documentary

Last updated

Episodes

4 episodes · 1 season

Ways of Seeing

1972 · 4 episodes · Last episode: 54 years ago

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.

Ways of Seeing Ways of Seeing release dates →
  1. Ways of Seeing S1 E4 still E4

    4. Commercial Art

    Finale

    In the fourth programme, on publicity and advertising, Berger argues that colour photography has taken over the role of oil paint, though the context is reversed. An idealised potential for the viewer (via consumption) is considered a substitution for the actual reality depicted in old master portraits.

  2. Ways of Seeing S1 E3 still E3

    3. Collectors and Collecting

    The third programme is on the use of oil paint as a means of depicting or reflecting the status of the individuals who commissioned the work of art.

  3. E2

    2. Women in Art

    The second film discusses the female nude. Berger asserts that only twenty or thirty nudes in the European oil painting tradition depict a woman as herself rather than as a subject of male idealisation or desire.

  4. Ways of Seeing S1 E1 still E1

    1. Psychological Aspects

    The first part of the television series drew on ideas from Walter Benjamin's The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction arguing that through reproduction an Old Master's painting's modern context is severed from that which existed at the time of its making.

Cast & crew

Created by John Berger

Ways of Seeing FAQ

Will there be new episodes of Ways of Seeing?

Ways of Seeing has ended, so no new episodes are scheduled. The final episode aired on January 29, 1972.

When did the latest episode of Ways of Seeing come out?

The most recent episode of Ways of Seeing, Season 1 Episode 4 "Commercial Art", aired on January 29, 1972.

How many seasons of Ways of Seeing are there?

Ways of Seeing has 1 season with 4 episodes in total.

When did Ways of Seeing first air?

Ways of Seeing first aired on BBC Two on January 8, 1972.

How do I get notified when new episodes of Ways of Seeing are released?

Download the Streambay app, follow Ways of Seeing, and you'll get a push notification the moment each new episode is released.

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