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John Berger

John Berger Quotes

Art critic

John Berger, born on November 5, 1926 and died on January 2, 2017, was a renowned British art critic and writer. His work spanned across various fields including painting, photography, and literature, known for his unique perspective and profound insights.

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All Ways Of Seeing Ifs Art Men Painting Drawing People World Photograph Way Artist Photography Events Humans Stories Together Form John Berger Looks May

Famous John Berger Quotes

“A drawing of a tree shows not a tree, but a tree being looked at. From each glance, a drawing assembles a little evidence. But it consists of many glances, seen together. If one accepts the metaphor of time as a flow, a river, then the act of drawing—by driving upstream—achieves the stationary. A photograph is static because it has stopped time. A drawing is static because it encompasses time.”

Time Painting Photography Photograph Drawing

Author:John Berger

“Photography, because it stops the flow of life, is always flirting with death.”

Life Is Photography Flow Flirting

Author:John Berger

“What makes photography a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time.”

Inspirational Light Strange Materials Photography Invention Primaries Raw Materials Inspirational Photography Inspiring Photography Art Photography Film Photography Photography And Film Photography And Light

Book:Another Way of Telling: A Possible Theory of Photography

Source: Another Way of Telling: A Possible Theory of Photography

“The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. It surveys us like God, and it surveys for us. Yet no other god has been so cynical, for the camera records in order to forget.”

Has Beens God Order Memories Forget Records Photography Cameras Burden Cynical Surveys

Book:About Looking

Source: About Looking

“Photographs bear witness to a human choice being exercised in a given situation. A photograph is a result of the photographer's decision that it is worth recording that this particular event or this particular object has been seen. If everything that existed were continually being photographed, every photograph would become meaningless.”

Ifs Humans Has Beens Choices Given Decision Results Situation Events Objects Particular Bears Photography Photographer Photograph Witness Meaningless

Book:Selected Essays of John Berger

Source: Selected Essays of John Berger

“All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget. In this - as in other ways - they are the opposite of paintings. Paintings record what the painter remembers. Because each one of us forgets different things, a photo more than a painting may change its meaning according to who is looking at it.”

Way May Different Pain Remember Forget Records Painting Photography Opposites Photograph Painter Different Things Capturing A Moment Photography

Author:John Berger

“Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.”

Way Doe Subjects Painting Photography Photograph Drawing Visuals Interpretation Imitation Rendering Naturalist Visual Images

Book:About Looking

Source: About Looking

“The camera relieves us of the burden of memory.”

Memories Photography Cameras Burden

Author:John Berger

About the Author

Born: November 5, 1926
Died: January 2, 2017
Known for: Art critic
Quotes: 173

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Ways Of Seeing Ifs Art Men Painting Drawing People World Photograph Way Artist Photography Events Humans Stories Together Form John Berger Looks May

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People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Ways of SeeingRelated source material

Selected Essays of John BergerRelated source material

And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as PhotosRelated source material

Keeping a RendezvousRelated source material

About LookingRelated source material

ConfabulationsRelated source material

A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country DoctorRelated source material

The Shape of a PocketRelated source material

Another Way of Telling: A Possible Theory of PhotographyRelated source material

Bento's SketchbookRelated source material

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