The series has had a lasting influence, and in particular introduced the concept of the male gaze, as part of his analysis of the treatment of the nude in European painting. He also examined what had changed in our ways of seeing in the time between when the art was made and today.' Whether exploring the history of the female nude or the status of oil paint, his landmark series showed how art revealed the social and political systems in which it was made. According to James Bridle, Berger 'didn't just help us gain a new perspective on viewing art with his 1972 series Ways of Seeing – he also revealed much about the world in which we live. The series was intended as a response to Kenneth Clark's Civilisation TV series, which represents a more traditionalist view of the Western artistic and cultural canon, and the series and book criticise traditional Western cultural aesthetics by raising questions about hidden ideologies in visual images. It was broadcast on BBC Two in January 1972 and adapted into a book of the same name.

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado £8.Ways of Seeing is a 1972 television series of 30-minute films created chiefly by writer John Berger and producer Mike Dibb.

Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman £8.99 Add to cart.

Portraits of Violence: An Illustrated History of Radical Critique by Brad Evans £9.99 Add to cart.

Bhambra, Dalia Gebrial, Kerem Nişancıoğlu £16.99 Add to cart

Decolonising the University edited by Gurminder K.

First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the Sunday Times critic commented: ‘This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings he will almost certainly change the way you look at pictures.’ By now he has.

The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.’ John Berger’s Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and influential books on art in any language. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world we explain that world with words, but word can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak. Based on the BBC television series, John Berger’s Ways of Seeing is a unique look at the way we view art, published as part of the Penguin on Design series in Penguin Modern Classics.

Ways of seeing john berger tv series