Bento's sketchbook
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The seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza (a.k.a. Bento) spent the most intense years of his short life writing. He also carried with him a sketchbook. After his sudden death, his friends rescued letters, manuscripts, notes—but no drawings. For years, without knowing what its pages might hold, John Berger has imagined finding Bento’s sketchbook, wanting to see(...)
Bento's sketchbook
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The seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza (a.k.a. Bento) spent the most intense years of his short life writing. He also carried with him a sketchbook. After his sudden death, his friends rescued letters, manuscripts, notes—but no drawings. For years, without knowing what its pages might hold, John Berger has imagined finding Bento’s sketchbook, wanting to see the drawings alongside his surviving words. When one day a friend gave him a beautiful virgin sketchbook, Berger said, ‘'This is Bento’s!’' and he began to draw, taking inspiration from the philosopher’s vision. In this beautifully illustrated book, Berger uses the imaginative space opened up in this experiment to explore politics, storytelling, Spinoza’s life and times, and the process of drawing itself.
Critical Theory
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From the ‘' War on Terror'’ to resistance in Ramallah and traumatic dislocation in the Middle East, Berger explores the uses of art as an instrument of political resistance. Visceral and passionate, ''Hold Everything Dear'' is a profound meditation on the far extremes of human behaviour, and the underlying despair. Looking at Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq, he makes an(...)
Hold everything dear: Dispatches on survival and resistance
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From the ‘' War on Terror'’ to resistance in Ramallah and traumatic dislocation in the Middle East, Berger explores the uses of art as an instrument of political resistance. Visceral and passionate, ''Hold Everything Dear'' is a profound meditation on the far extremes of human behaviour, and the underlying despair. Looking at Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq, he makes an impassioned attack on the poverty and loss of freedom at the heart of such unnecessary suffering. These essays offer reflections on the political at the core of artistic expression and at the center of human existence itself.
Art Theory
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In ''Permanent Red'', John Berger argues that the contemporary artist should strive for a realism that aims for hope, to transform the world. Surveying the work of historical artists as well as that of near contemporaries such as Picasso, Léger and Matisse, he explores the role of the artist, dividing these figures into those that struggle, those that fail, and the true(...)
Permanent red: essays in seeing
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In ''Permanent Red'', John Berger argues that the contemporary artist should strive for a realism that aims for hope, to transform the world. Surveying the work of historical artists as well as that of near contemporaries such as Picasso, Léger and Matisse, he explores the role of the artist, dividing these figures into those that struggle, those that fail, and the true masters. He explains why we should study the work of the past: in order to understand the present and to rethink the future. First published in 1960, ''Permanent Red'' established John Berger as a firebrand critic willing to broadcast controversial opinions on some of the most important British artists of the day, including Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.
Art Theory
A load of shit
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John Berger’s essay begins by describing the experience of burying a year’s worth of his household’s excrement. What follows is an extended reflection—at once philosophically detached and engaged with the inescapable stuff of life—on shit as an allegory of what it means to be human.
A load of shit
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John Berger’s essay begins by describing the experience of burying a year’s worth of his household’s excrement. What follows is an extended reflection—at once philosophically detached and engaged with the inescapable stuff of life—on shit as an allegory of what it means to be human.
Literature and poetry
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''Landscapes'' showcases the development and practice of John Berger’s unique way of seeing. Here he surveys the aesthetic landscapes that have informed, challenged and nourished his understanding of the world. Berger pays homage to the writers and thinkers who influenced him, such as Walter Benjamin, Rosa Luxemburg and Bertolt Brecht. His expansive perspective(...)
Landscapes: John Berger on art
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''Landscapes'' showcases the development and practice of John Berger’s unique way of seeing. Here he surveys the aesthetic landscapes that have informed, challenged and nourished his understanding of the world. Berger pays homage to the writers and thinkers who influenced him, such as Walter Benjamin, Rosa Luxemburg and Bertolt Brecht. His expansive perspective embraces artistic movements and individual artists – from the Renaissance to the present – while never neglecting the social and political context of their creation.
Art Theory
The moment of cubism
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''The Moment of Cubism'' is one of John Berger’s most important collections of art criticism. Whether considering Vermeer in his studio, Poussin’s poignant meditation on death, or the complexities of Rodin’s sculpture, Berger draws together the threads that bind individual artists to their social and political context. Here Berger argues that Cubism was a moment rather(...)
The moment of cubism
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''The Moment of Cubism'' is one of John Berger’s most important collections of art criticism. Whether considering Vermeer in his studio, Poussin’s poignant meditation on death, or the complexities of Rodin’s sculpture, Berger draws together the threads that bind individual artists to their social and political context. Here Berger argues that Cubism was a moment rather than a movement, one that came and went without the consent of its key figures – Picasso and Braque above all. He makes a case for Cubism’s revolutionary influence. As always, Berger helps us see the world in new ways.
Art Theory
What time is it?
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The last book that John Berger wrote was this precious little volume about time titled What Time Is It?, now posthumously published for the first time in English by Notting Hill Editions. Berger died before it was completed, but the text has been assembled and illustrated by his longtime collaborator and friend Selçuk Demirel, and has an introduction by Maria Nadotti. (...)
What time is it?
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The last book that John Berger wrote was this precious little volume about time titled What Time Is It?, now posthumously published for the first time in English by Notting Hill Editions. Berger died before it was completed, but the text has been assembled and illustrated by his longtime collaborator and friend Selçuk Demirel, and has an introduction by Maria Nadotti. What Time Is It? is a profound and playful meditation on the illusory nature of time. Berger, the great art critic and Man Booker Prize–winning author, reflects on what time has come to mean to us in modern life. Our perception of time assumes a uniform and ceaseless passing of time, yet time is turbulent. It expands and contracts according to the intensity of the lived moment. We talk of time “saved” in a hundred household appliances; time, like money, is exchanged for the content it lacks. Berger posits the idea that time can lengthen lifetimes once we seize the present moment. “What-is-to-come, what-is-to-be-gained empties what-is.”
Literature and poetry
Comprendre une photographie
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Regroupant des textes issus de catalogues d’artistes, expositions, articles, etc., Comprendre une photographie est un voyage à travers les oeuvres de photographes divers, d’ André Kertész à Jitka Hanzlová, en passant par Marc Trivier, Jean Mohr ou Martine Franck. Certains des articles regroupés ici ont déjà fait partie de choix de textes de John Berger publiés notamment(...)
Comprendre une photographie
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Regroupant des textes issus de catalogues d’artistes, expositions, articles, etc., Comprendre une photographie est un voyage à travers les oeuvres de photographes divers, d’ André Kertész à Jitka Hanzlová, en passant par Marc Trivier, Jean Mohr ou Martine Franck. Certains des articles regroupés ici ont déjà fait partie de choix de textes de John Berger publiés notamment aux éditions de L’Arche, Champ- Vallon ou Le Temps des Cerises, tandis que d’autres sont traduits en français pour la première fois. La présente sélection reprend l’édition anglaise intitulée Understanding a Photograph, établie par Geoff Dyer et publiée en 2013 chez Penguin Books.
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As leading radical writer on art John Berger celebrates his ninetieth year, he brings a lifetime's engagement with the ideas, artists, and thinkers that have shaped his thinking: Walter Benjamin, Rosa Luxemburg and Bertolt Brecht among them. In Landscapes Berger allows us to see the evolution of his own way of seeing. He explores the relationship between creativity and(...)
Landscapes: John Berger on art
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As leading radical writer on art John Berger celebrates his ninetieth year, he brings a lifetime's engagement with the ideas, artists, and thinkers that have shaped his thinking: Walter Benjamin, Rosa Luxemburg and Bertolt Brecht among them. In Landscapes Berger allows us to see the evolution of his own way of seeing. He explores the relationship between creativity and politics and the revolutionary potential of art through a series of different forms.
Art Theory
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This illustrated work reflects on the cultural implications of smoking, and suggests, through a series of brilliantly inventive illustrations, that society's attitude to smoke is both paradoxical and intolerant. It portrays a world in which smokers, banished from public places, must encounter one another as outlaws. Meanwhile, car exhausts and factory chimneys continue to(...)
Smoke
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This illustrated work reflects on the cultural implications of smoking, and suggests, through a series of brilliantly inventive illustrations, that society's attitude to smoke is both paradoxical and intolerant. It portrays a world in which smokers, banished from public places, must encounter one another as outlaws. Meanwhile, car exhausts and factory chimneys continue to pollute the atmosphere. Smoke is a beautifully illustrated prose poem that lingers in the mind. "A cigarette is a breathing space. It makes a parenthesis. The time of a cigarette is a parenthesis, and if it is shared you are both in that parenthesis. It's like a proscenium arch for a dialogue." - John Berger (in interview)
Literature and poetry