John Berger's Ways of Seeing

"The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe"- John Berger. The book is one of the greats for understanding art and how perception makes all the difference in our lives. In any painting there are the perceptions of the painter and the perceptions of the audience. Each person sees something a little different from the painting based upon how they perceive the world around them. The concepts in his book have broader implications.

We know this through this experience but his book helps highlight this for the artistic crowd. Most of us have experienced two people seeing the same thing but interpreting what they are seeing differently. This can lead to all types of arguments and discussions on whose interpretation of the version is real.

To us our perceptions are real. What we see is real and what we feel is real. Despite this belief it is not necessarily true. Most of us have a single way of seeing the world and simply can't comprehend the ways others view the world. Entire cultures are in the delusion of their perception which leads to conflict.

In the book he looks at a number of different paintings and shows how the artists perception is built within the painting. Each painting has a hint to the nature of the author much like each of our actions gives a hint to us. Paying close attention to the objects, styles and colors in the painting will help you see a glimpse of who the author really is and how he/she views the world.

This is why we must sometimes close our eyes and see the world beyond the obvious. Take a look at the pieces, parts, and manners of a people and you will start to see how they view the world. Berger's specifically uses the concept that "men act-women appear". Men seek to gain and possess and women simply exist in relation to themselves. One is projecting outward and the other projecting inward.

The book has implications beyond art and sexual relations. The gazes he talks about can also be seen as the way we engage in selective attention. We see what we want to see in the world around us. We have been programmed in our lives to pay attention to certain cues from our environment and we are blind to the other cues and interpretations of the world. The scariest part of human nature is that we often misinterpret and try and force that misinterpretation on others.

Art Review: The Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci

The Lady with an Ermine is a remarkable early life portrait by Leonardo da Vinci. The subject is a teen mistress of the Duke of Milan known as Cecilia Gallerani (1473-1536) (1). She was considered extremely beautiful and was considered a poet, scholar, and lover of music. Most people found her to be funny and bubbly in personality bringing freshness of spirit to her lover. Her upbeat personality immortalized into a painting over 500 years ago. 

At present the painting is hosted at the Wawel Castle in Krakow, Poland (2). It is 40.3 cm wide and 54.8 tall by dimension (3). The Lady with an Ermine is an oil painting on walnut board. It is a representation of craftsmanship that few artists experience in terms of quality, depth, simplicity and design. You can see an example in the lines that run from her arm and down the back of the animal. Leonardo was great at creating representations and symbols within his work which added to his legend. 

Cecilia Gallerani is depicted looking away from the audience with indifference and holding a pet ermine in an alert state. The ermine is watching something and she is lightly controlling its neck with her enlarged hands.  Her tunic is simple but is depicted as wearing expensive pearls. The picture appears to be a representation of the simple beauty of innocence matched with the expensive power of her lover.

The ermine in her hands as been known in the old world as a protector of the pregnant highlighting that she may have been pregnant at the time of the painting (4). Ermines were also an object for the powerful that made their way into clothing and royal emblems (5).  To some this an indication that she was a powerful participant in a leading family without a blood relationship. 

X-ray analysis of the picture reveals that a door has been removed from the background and what looks like hair originally was a covering veil (6). If this is true then the veil becomes known as a symbol of beauty and protection (7).  It could mean that her purity is owned and protected by the Duke of Milan in a pseudo marriage relationship. In essence, he loved and protected her. 

Either way the painting is an astounding representation of the life of a young lady in the Court of Milan. She stayed in the castle after the Duke Lodovico Sforza married Beatrice d'Este (8) and bore a son. When Beatrice found out about the relationship, Cecilia was forced out of the castle and married to the lower Count Ludovico Carminati de' Brambilla. She had more children before passing away.