Viewfinders - Ways Of Seeing At 50

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

Geoff Dyer, A Photograph, By Robert Capa

20220103

First broadcast in 1972 on BBC Two, Ways of Seeing was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and director Mike Dibb. Across a series of four half-hour episodes, Berger talked about how we look at art, and why it matters: 'The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled ... The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe ... Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph ... Our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing'. The programmes explored Walter Benjamin's ideas about the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction; the female nude and the male gaze; oil painting, status and ownership; advertising, art and commerce. The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture.

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Ways of Seeing, Radio 4 invites five writers to tell us about an image that is important to them, and to reflect on how Ways of Seeing influenced their own ways of looking at - and thinking about - art.

To begin the week, Geoff Dyer chooses a picture by Robert Capa - 'I will never love another photograph more' - and remembers his first encounter with Ways of Seeing: 'It's customary to talk about the way that Ways of Seeing opened our eyes, made us see art, paintings and photographs in new ways. And that's true. It was a revelation. Ways of Seeing, I remember, made boring old paintings of men in ruffs look interesting. And it wasn't just the paintings. The presenter looked interesting too. Interviewed about his reactions to first seeing the series, the Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje said he'd never seen anything lik

Olivia Laing, A Painting, By Giovanni Di Paolo

20220104

20220105 (R4)

To mark the 50th anniversary of Ways of Seeing, Radio 4 invites five writers to tell us about a work of art that is important to them, and to reflect on how Ways of Seeing influenced their own ways of looking at - and thinking about - art.

In today's episode, we follow Olivia Laing into the National Gallery on a rainy day after the third lockdown, where she is confronted by the first painting she has seen in person since the pandemic began. 'It was this room that I'd wanted to be in for months, though I would have been hard pressed to explain why ... The painting's status as a kind of body that had survived meant something to me at that moment, as a person housed in a newly perilous body, which its replication as a digital image, so freely available, so immaterial, did not.

Olivia Laing is the author of To the River, The Trip to Echo Spring, The Lonely City and a novel, Crudo. Her writing on art and culture appears in the Guardian, Financial Times, and Frieze. She's written catalogue essays on a variety of contemporary artists, including Andy Warhol, Agnes Martin, Derek Jarman, Wolfgang Tillmans and Chantal Joffe. Her collected essays on art, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency, were published in 2020. Her most recent book is Everybody: A Book About Freedom.

John Berger was a storyteller, a novelist, a painter, a poet, a critic, a screenwriter, a playwright. He died in 2017, at the age of 90.

Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio

Saint John the Baptist Returning to the Desert by Giovanni di Paolo is reproduced here by kind permission of The National Gallery

Five writers on looking at art, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ways of Seeing.

Five writers on looking at pictures, in celebration of John Berger's 1972 TV series.

Tom Overton, A Self Portrait, By John Berger

20220105

20220106 (R4)

In today's episode, Berger's biographer and archivist Tom Overton looks at a self-portrait made by Berger at the age of 19. 'I hope you will consider what I arrange, John Berger says at the end of the first episode of Ways of Seeing. But please, he adds, be sceptical of it. For him, a lifetime looking at art was a lifetime thinking about the power art has over people, and being reminded that it is part of a world in which decisions have consequences, but also alternatives. This is how this picture looks, but it didn't have to be. This is the government we have, but it doesn't have to be. This is the way we use technology, but it doesn't have to be.

Tom Overton is the editor of Portraits: John Berger on Artists (2015) and Landscapes (2016), two volumes of John Berger's writing about art published by Verso Books. He is currently working on Berger's biography, and The Good Archivist, a book on archives and migration. He is a Fellow of the Centre for Life-Writing Research at King's College London, and a Writer in Residence at Jerwood Visual Arts.

John Berger was a storyteller, a novelist, a painter, a poet, a critic, a screenwriter, a playwright. He died in 2017, at the age of 90.

Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio

The photograph of Berger's self portrait shown here is by John Christie. The print itself is reproduced here by kind permission of Yves Berger.

Five writers on looking at art, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ways of Seeing.

Five writers on looking at pictures, in celebration of John Berger's 1972 TV series.

Sinead Gleeson - A Performance By Amanda Coogan

20220106

20220107 (R4)

First broadcast in 1972 on BBC Two, Ways of Seeing was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and the producer Mike Dibb. Across a series of four half-hour episodes, Berger talked about how we look at art, and why it matters: 'The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled ... The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe ... Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph ... Our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing'. The programmes explored Walter Benjamin's ideas about the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction; the female nude and the male gaze; oil painting, status and ownership; advertising, art and commerce. The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture.

In today's episode, Sin退ad Gleeson writes about Yellow, a durational performance by Irish artist Amanda Coogan. 'I had known about Yellow for a long time, but it took years to finally see the work - not for reasons of lockdown, or being on loan to another gallery, but because its existence relies on Coogan staging it publicly. It does not have a permanent wall in a specific corner of a gallery. So I wait, and look at two-dimensional reproductions of it online, even though Berger argues that `all reproductions more or less distort ... The lockdown online views were a mere echo of what in-person encounters with art could be. I needed to see the performance, I wanted to see that shade of yellow in person.

Sin退ad Gleeson is a writer and broadcaster from Dublin. Her essays have been published by Granta, Winter Papers and Gorse, and broadcast by BBC and RTɀ. Her debut essay collection Constellations: Reflections from Life won Non-Fiction Book of the Year at 2019 Irish Book Awards.

John Berger was a storyteller, a novelist, a painter, a poet, a critic, a screenwriter, a playwright. He died in 2017, at the age of 90.

Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio

Five writers on looking at art, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ways of Seeing.

Five writers on looking at pictures, in celebration of John Berger's 1972 TV series.

Melissa Chemam - An Installation by Lubaina Himid

20220107

First broadcast in 1972 on BBC Two, Ways of Seeing was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and director Mike Dibb. Across a series of four half-hour episodes, Berger talked about how we look at art, and why it matters: "The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled ... The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe ... Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph ... Our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing". The programmes explored Walter Benjamin's ideas about the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction; the female nude and the male gaze; oil painting, status and ownership; advertising, art and commerce. The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture.

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Ways of Seeing, Radio 4 invites five writers to tell us about a work of art that is important to them, and to reflect on how Ways of Seeing influenced their own ways of looking at - and thinking about - art.

In today's episode, we follow Bristol-based French writer Melissa Chemam to the island of Zanzibar, to the refugee camps of Calais and into galleries back in the UK: "I discovered Himid's installation Naming The Money' almost by chance. I came upon it in 2017, at Spike Island, an art gallery here in Bristol. It was part of an exhibition called `Navigation Charts`, which felt fitting for this port city with its complex past, enriched by transatlantic trade

OMNI

20250621

20250622 (BBC7)

First shown in 1972 on BBC2, ‘Ways of Seeing' was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and director Mike Dibb.

Across a series of four half-hour episodes, Berger talked about how we look at art, and why it matters:

The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled ... The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe ... Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph ... Our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing'.

The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture.

John Berger was a storyteller, novelist, painter, poet, critic, screenwriter and playwright. He died aged 90 in 2017.

Made to mark the 50th anniversary of ‘Ways of Seeing', five writers tell us about an image that is important to them, and to reflect on how the programme influenced their own ways of looking at - and thinking about - art.

An omnibus of five parts.

* Geoff Dyer - A Photograph by Robert Capa

* Olivia Laing - A Painting by Giovanni di Paolo

* Tom Overton - A Self-Portrait by John Berger

* Sinéad Gleeson - A Performance by Amanda Coogan

* Melissa Chemam - An Installation by Lubaina Himid

Producer: Mair Bosworth

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2022.

Five writers looking at art, celebrate the 50th anniversary of BBC2's 'Ways of Seeing'.

Five writers looking at art, mark the 50th anniversary of ‘Ways of Seeing' - the 1972 BBC2 series presented by John Berger.

First broadcast in 1972 on BBC2, ‘Ways of Seeing' was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and director Mike Dibb.

The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture. John Berger was a storyteller, novelist, painter, poet, critic, screenwriter and playwright. He died in 2017, at the age of 90.

[LISTEN NOW]

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
01	Geoff Dyer, A Photograph, By Robert Capa	20220103		First broadcast in 1972 on BBC Two, Ways of Seeing was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and director Mike Dibb. Across a series of four half-hour episodes, Berger talked about how we look at art, and why it matters: 'The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled ... The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe ... Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph ... Our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing'. The programmes explored Walter Benjamin's ideas about the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction; the female nude and the male gaze; oil painting, status and ownership; advertising, art and commerce. The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Ways of Seeing, Radio 4 invites five writers to tell us about an image that is important to them, and to reflect on how Ways of Seeing influenced their own ways of looking at - and thinking about - art. To begin the week, Geoff Dyer chooses a picture by Robert Capa - 'I will never love another photograph more' - and remembers his first encounter with Ways of Seeing: 'It's customary to talk about the way that Ways of Seeing opened our eyes, made us see art, paintings and photographs in new ways. And that's true. It was a revelation. Ways of Seeing, I remember, made boring old paintings of men in ruffs look interesting. And it wasn't just the paintings. The presenter looked interesting too. Interviewed about his reactions to first seeing the series, the Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje said he'd never seen anything lik
02	Olivia Laing, A Painting, By Giovanni Di Paolo	20220104	20220105 (R4)	First broadcast in 1972 on BBC Two, Ways of Seeing was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and director Mike Dibb. Across a series of four half-hour episodes, Berger talked about how we look at art, and why it matters: 'The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled ... The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe ... Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph ... Our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing'. The programmes explored Walter Benjamin's ideas about the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction; the female nude and the male gaze; oil painting, status and ownership; advertising, art and commerce. The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture. To mark the 50th anniversary of Ways of Seeing, Radio 4 invites five writers to tell us about a work of art that is important to them, and to reflect on how Ways of Seeing influenced their own ways of looking at - and thinking about - art. In today's episode, we follow Olivia Laing into the National Gallery on a rainy day after the third lockdown, where she is confronted by the first painting she has seen in person since the pandemic began. 'It was this room that I'd wanted to be in for months, though I would have been hard pressed to explain why ... The painting's status as a kind of body that had survived meant something to me at that moment, as a person housed in a newly perilous body, which its replication as a digital image, so freely available, so immaterial, did not. Olivia Laing is the author of To the River, The Trip to Echo Spring, The Lonely City and a novel, Crudo. Her writing on art and culture appears in the Guardian, Financial Times, and Frieze. She's written catalogue essays on a variety of contemporary artists, including Andy Warhol, Agnes Martin, Derek Jarman, Wolfgang Tillmans and Chantal Joffe. Her collected essays on art, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency, were published in 2020. Her most recent book is Everybody: A Book About Freedom. John Berger was a storyteller, a novelist, a painter, a poet, a critic, a screenwriter, a playwright. He died in 2017, at the age of 90. Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio Saint John the Baptist Returning to the Desert by Giovanni di Paolo is reproduced here by kind permission of The National Gallery Five writers on looking at art, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ways of Seeing. Five writers on looking at pictures, in celebration of John Berger's 1972 TV series.
03	Tom Overton, A Self Portrait, By John Berger	20220105	20220106 (R4)	First broadcast in 1972 on BBC Two, Ways of Seeing was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and director Mike Dibb. Across a series of four half-hour episodes, Berger talked about how we look at art, and why it matters: 'The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled ... The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe ... Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph ... Our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing'. The programmes explored Walter Benjamin's ideas about the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction; the female nude and the male gaze; oil painting, status and ownership; advertising, art and commerce. The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture. To mark the 50th anniversary of Ways of Seeing, Radio 4 invites five writers to tell us about a work of art that is important to them, and to reflect on how Ways of Seeing influenced their own ways of looking at - and thinking about - art. In today's episode, Berger's biographer and archivist Tom Overton looks at a self-portrait made by Berger at the age of 19. 'I hope you will consider what I arrange, John Berger says at the end of the first episode of Ways of Seeing. But please, he adds, be sceptical of it. For him, a lifetime looking at art was a lifetime thinking about the power art has over people, and being reminded that it is part of a world in which decisions have consequences, but also alternatives. This is how this picture looks, but it didn't have to be. This is the government we have, but it doesn't have to be. This is the way we use technology, but it doesn't have to be. Tom Overton is the editor of Portraits: John Berger on Artists (2015) and Landscapes (2016), two volumes of John Berger's writing about art published by Verso Books. He is currently working on Berger's biography, and The Good Archivist, a book on archives and migration. He is a Fellow of the Centre for Life-Writing Research at King's College London, and a Writer in Residence at Jerwood Visual Arts. John Berger was a storyteller, a novelist, a painter, a poet, a critic, a screenwriter, a playwright. He died in 2017, at the age of 90. Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio The photograph of Berger's self portrait shown here is by John Christie. The print itself is reproduced here by kind permission of Yves Berger. Five writers on looking at art, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ways of Seeing. Five writers on looking at pictures, in celebration of John Berger's 1972 TV series.
04	Sinead Gleeson - A Performance By Amanda Coogan	20220106	20220107 (R4)	First broadcast in 1972 on BBC Two, Ways of Seeing was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and the producer Mike Dibb. Across a series of four half-hour episodes, Berger talked about how we look at art, and why it matters: 'The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled ... The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe ... Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph ... Our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing'. The programmes explored Walter Benjamin's ideas about the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction; the female nude and the male gaze; oil painting, status and ownership; advertising, art and commerce. The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture. To mark the 50th anniversary of Ways of Seeing, Radio 4 invites five writers to tell us about a work of art that is important to them, and to reflect on how Ways of Seeing influenced their own ways of looking at - and thinking about - art. In today's episode, Sin退ad Gleeson writes about Yellow, a durational performance by Irish artist Amanda Coogan. 'I had known about Yellow for a long time, but it took years to finally see the work - not for reasons of lockdown, or being on loan to another gallery, but because its existence relies on Coogan staging it publicly. It does not have a permanent wall in a specific corner of a gallery. So I wait, and look at two-dimensional reproductions of it online, even though Berger argues that `all reproductions more or less distort ... The lockdown online views were a mere echo of what in-person encounters with art could be. I needed to see the performance, I wanted to see that shade of yellow in person. Sin退ad Gleeson is a writer and broadcaster from Dublin. Her essays have been published by Granta, Winter Papers and Gorse, and broadcast by BBC and RTɀ. Her debut essay collection Constellations: Reflections from Life won Non-Fiction Book of the Year at 2019 Irish Book Awards. John Berger was a storyteller, a novelist, a painter, a poet, a critic, a screenwriter, a playwright. He died in 2017, at the age of 90. Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio Five writers on looking at art, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ways of Seeing. Five writers on looking at pictures, in celebration of John Berger's 1972 TV series.
05	Melissa Chemam - An Installation by Lubaina Himid	20220107		First broadcast in 1972 on BBC Two, Ways of Seeing was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and director Mike Dibb. Across a series of four half-hour episodes, Berger talked about how we look at art, and why it matters: "The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled ... The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe ... Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph ... Our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing". The programmes explored Walter Benjamin's ideas about the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction; the female nude and the male gaze; oil painting, status and ownership; advertising, art and commerce. The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Ways of Seeing, Radio 4 invites five writers to tell us about a work of art that is important to them, and to reflect on how Ways of Seeing influenced their own ways of looking at - and thinking about - art. In today's episode, we follow Bristol-based French writer Melissa Chemam to the island of Zanzibar, to the refugee camps of Calais and into galleries back in the UK: "I discovered Himid's installation Naming The Money' almost by chance. I came upon it in 2017, at Spike Island, an art gallery here in Bristol. It was part of an exhibition called `Navigation Charts`, which felt fitting for this port city with its complex past, enriched by transatlantic trade
OMNI		20250621	20250622 (BBC7)	First shown in 1972 on BBC2, ‘Ways of Seeing' was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and director Mike Dibb. Across a series of four half-hour episodes, Berger talked about how we look at art, and why it matters: The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled ... The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe ... Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph ... Our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing'. The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture. John Berger was a storyteller, novelist, painter, poet, critic, screenwriter and playwright. He died aged 90 in 2017. Made to mark the 50th anniversary of ‘Ways of Seeing', five writers tell us about an image that is important to them, and to reflect on how the programme influenced their own ways of looking at - and thinking about - art. An omnibus of five parts. * Geoff Dyer - A Photograph by Robert Capa * Olivia Laing - A Painting by Giovanni di Paolo * Tom Overton - A Self-Portrait by John Berger * Sinéad Gleeson - A Performance by Amanda Coogan * Melissa Chemam - An Installation by Lubaina Himid Producer: Mair Bosworth First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2022. Five writers looking at art, celebrate the 50th anniversary of BBC2's 'Ways of Seeing'. Five writers looking at art, mark the 50th anniversary of ‘Ways of Seeing' - the 1972 BBC2 series presented by John Berger. First broadcast in 1972 on BBC2, ‘Ways of Seeing' was a collaboration between the writer John Berger and director Mike Dibb. The book published to accompany the series has never been out of print and has had a profound influence on popular understanding of art criticism and visual culture. John Berger was a storyteller, novelist, painter, poet, critic, screenwriter and playwright. He died in 2017, at the age of 90. [LISTEN NOW]