R.I.P John Berger

John Berger

I noted, with sadness, the recent passing of Art Critic, John Berger – at the age of 90.  That’s no mean age and, I’ll confess, I’d probably kind of assumed he’d already passed - in so far as I’d thought of him much, just lately.

In many ways, Berger feels like something of a luminary from a different age, but one whose insights and enduring legacy are, on reflection, immense and surprisingly relevant.  His resolutely Marxist interpretation of our culture might, I suppose, seem like a classic case of an intelligent, if opinionated, man having backed the wrong horse.  But, as ever, things are never that simple.  Historical cycles often far wider than we appreciate: plus - it has long been my view that Marxism, as a codified political doctrine, and Marxism as a beacon of philosophical illumination, are somewhat different things.

Certainly, the culture I grew up in was one in which Berger’s own political assumptions could find relatively fertile soil, whilst the context in which we all now flounder may seem wholly antithetical to them.  But Berger’s understanding of the contexts, perceptual frameworks and socio-political underpinnings of any cultural artifact, as most memorably outlined in his 1972 TV series [1.] and accompanying book [2.], ‘Ways of Seeing’, still inform so much contemporary art thinking.  It is perhaps indicative of his relevance that few now espouse any cod-mystical belief in the sacredness or hermetic virtue of particular artworks.  We take for granted that our culture is one of perpetual reproduction, recycling and remixing of imagery, and one in which image can be seen only in the context of those surrounding it [3.].

Still  From: 'Ways Of Seeing', BBC TV, 1972

We inhabit a global culture in which everything connects with everything else a (nominally) level playing field in which, increasingly - each story and tradition might be accessed at the click of a mouse.  Berger might point out that this has hardly brought about anything resembling socialist utopia, (quite the opposite, it appears).  However, I’m one of those deluded souls who occasionally choose to believe that insights such as his - harnessed to the massive technological possibilities that emerged during his lifetime, can at least offer scope for a more enlightened situation.  That feels like a stretch these days, I realise - maybe I should replace ‘enlightened’ with ‘stimulating’.

If Berger once worked hard to unlock the secrets of an art world he believed to be populated by a privileged elite - we now take for granted the immense crowds routinely drifting through somewhere like Tate Modern, as part of a Sunday afternoon stroll.  The back streets of Mayfair, where the hyper-inflated art market still maintains certain trading posts, feels like something of a cultural backwater by comparison.  The Tate's visitors might even interact with a little light Conceptualism, without baulking too much at the idea of an artwork whose raison d’etre is to critique society than to further aggrandise its upper echelons.  Even if they stick to more traditional pictorial fare, it will be part of a collection that is regularly rotated and reconfigured to discover new connections, dialogues and interpretations.  Those thematic linkages may even be explicitly outlined - should they pause long enough to read an information panel.

Still From: 'Ways Of Seeing', BBC TV, 1972. That Shirt, The Hair - Those Were The Days!

I’m also struck by the thought that the most recent configuration of the Tate’s hang foregrounds women’s voices and non-standard responses to ‘unfamiliar’ cultures, without any suggestion of their being tokenistic after-thoughts.  Many of the battles that Berger fought are, if certainly not won, at least noticeably well advanced.  Louise Bourgois’ giant spider now presides where once the patriarchs of Modernism, like Matisse and Picasso might have draped languorous nudes [4.].

Of course, these days, visitors may well assimilate all this whilst diverted by a range of other, disconnected information on their phones – possibly to the point where they seem hardly present at all.  It’s easy to see this as evidence of a distracted and subjected passivity (and thus, as the triumph of a fragmented, market-driven culture) – but does it not also demonstrate a fractal explosion in those contextual frames and elliptical connections that Berger outlined?  I can think of few activities more ‘Bergerian’ than the routine, online dissemination of uncountable selfies posed before the ‘great’ artworks of the world.  The blurring of ‘high’ art and mass media, the democratisation of imagery, the co-option of artworks to tell personal stories, and the defusing of old ‘value’ systems, feel completely apposite - even if shorn of forgotten utopian impulses or notions of class struggle.

Still From: 'Ways Of Seeing', BBC TV, 1972

Rather than pursue a thesis I’ll confess I’m largely making up on the spot, the most sensible course of action would seem to be to re-read ‘Ways Of Seeing’.  My own yellowing copy has sat unopened on the shelf for years - despite having been one of the Bibles of my own art education.  It will be interesting to go back to the source - to find out how much of it still holds water.  If nothing else, it feels like a fitting mark of respect to someone who, I now realise, framed much of my own education, and shaped many of my enduring assumptions.

Postscript:

I went to my bookshelves, having written the above, only to find ‘Ways Of Seeing’ absent.  I can only assume I lent it out sometime in the distant past.  However, things being what they are, it transpires the original TV series is easily viewable via YouTube.  Actually, that feels like the more appropriate way to absorb its messages - if only to reflect on an era when television could routinely inform, enlighten and challenge, as well as simply anesthetise.

[1.]:  John Berger & Mike Dibb (Prod.): 'Ways Of Seeing'. BBC TV, 1972.  

[2.]:  John Berger, 'Ways of Seeing', London, Penguin, 1972.

[3.]:  As Berger readily acknowledged significant elements of 'Ways Of Seeing' drew from the ideas of Walter Benjamin.  Most Notably: Walter Benjamin, 'The Work Of Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction', Germany, 1936

[4.]:  There will be those, of course, who object that all this remains securely within the playgrounds of the so-called 'Metropolitan Elite'.  In the current climate, all this talk of disenfranchisement starts to ring a bit hollow though.  Berger deliberately steered clear of abstruse, mystifying language in 'Ways of Seeing' and the Tate remains free to enter.  There have never been greater opportunities to have artworks interpreted, either within museums or online.  The current powers that be may well wish to restrict our educational opportunities, but if you choose to disenfranchise yourself, don't blame those who would make things accessible to you.