MIDTERM ON CHAPTER CAPTIONS , HEADLINES ,DIGITAL JOURNALISM

Ways of Seeing & Language of Images

John Berger

Theo Van Leewen

• John Berger an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet.

• His book, Ways of Seeing, has changed how we can look at art, and was reproduced by BBC in 4 episodes.

Ways of Seeing – John Berger

Ways of Seeing – John Berger ideas

• The camera has changed not only what to see, but how to see.

• It changed how we look at the work of art.

• The painting in a museum wall can is present at one place at one time, but the camera reproduces it, and makes it available in any size, anywhere, and for any purpose.

• The camera, by making the work of art transmittable, has multiplied its possible meanings and destroyed its unique original meaning.

What the work of art gained and lost by the camera?

• The most important thing about work of art hung on a wall of museum is that they are ‘silent’, ‘still’ images. You look at them as a whole.

• Silence is one of the features that the artwork lost.

• With the camera, some artwork could be stripped from its whole context.

• The artwork detailed explained by the camera: We are able to look at and focus on small details.

The Small Cowper Madonna Raphael - 1505

What the work of art gained and lost by the camera? The PROS and CONS

What the work of art gained and lost by the camera?

• Negative effect of the visual technology: • 1- With the

camera, some artwork could be stripped from its whole context.

• The Procession to Calvary is an oil-on-panel by the Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder of Christ carrying the Cross set in a large landscape, painted in 1564. It is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

• Artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

• Date: 1564

What the work of art gained and lost by the camera?

• Negative effect of the visual technology:

2- By using the artwork in a different medium, it may lose its importance as a unique piece and it becomes simple information, while you focus on others

What the work of art gained and lost by the camera?

• Water of Lillie is a series of 250 paintings that he drew after his wife death.

https://www.youtube .com/watch?v=6fHor Nn2zqQ

What the work of art gained and lost by the camera?

• The advantage of the visual technology: • The reproduction

of the artwork allows us to focus on its details.

Reading images: Visual grammar of images

Many scholars looked at the ‘Visual grammar’ of images:

• In W.J.T Mictchel’s book, The Language of Images (1980), Mitchell indicates that Images can be regarded as a language”

Reading images: Visual grammar of images

• In Theo Van Leeuwen’s book, Reading Images, Theo Van Leewen explained ‘visual grammar of images can be explained according to:

• Agent: Subject • Event: Action • Patient: someone/people being influenced by the

event/action

Reading images: Visual grammar of images

• In Theo Van Leeuwen’s book, Reading Images, Theo Van Leewen explained ‘visual grammar of images can be explained according to: • Agent, event, and patient: This echoes a ‘subject-verb-object’ sentence.

• Agent and event: This shows someone who is doing something, but does not show, patients (people) who are influenced by the action/event.

• Event only: The event shows an action taking place, or happening. So this is a visual verbal sentence.

Reading images: Visual grammar of images

• In Theo Van Leeuwen’s book, Reading Images, Theo Van Leewen explained ‘visual grammar of images can be explained according to: • Patient and passive agent: This visual grammar shows people who

are influenced by the event/action, but does show the agents/subject who are doing the action. The passive agent, however, could be connoted, or remained unknown.

Reading images: Agent, Event, and Patient:

Agent, event, and patient:

This echoes a ‘subject-very-object’ sentence. It shows who is doing what and the people who are influenced with the action.

Reading images: Agent, Event, and Patient:

Agent, event, and patient: This echoes a ‘subject-very- object’ sentence. It shows who is doing what and the people who are influenced with the action.

Reading images: Agent, Event, and Patient:

Agent, event, and patient: This echoes a ‘subject-very- object’ sentence. It shows who is doing what and the people who are influenced with the action.

Reading images: Agent, Event, and Patient:

Agent, event, and patient: This echoes a ‘subject-very- object’ sentence. It shows who is doing what and the people who are influenced with the action.

Reading images: Agent and event

• Agent and event: This shows someone who is doing something, but does not show, patients (people) who are influenced by the action/event, or patients who are involved in the event.

Reading images: Agent and event

• Agent and event: This shows someone who is doing something, but does not show, patients (people) who are influenced by the action/event, or patients who are involved in the event.

Reading images: Agent and event

• Agent and event: This shows someone who is doing something, but does not show, patients (people) who are influenced by the action/event, or patients who are involved in the event.

Reading images: An event only

Event only: The event shows an action taking place, or happening. So it is a visual verbal sentence.

Reading images: An event only

Event only: The event shows an action taking place, or happening. So it is a visual verbal sentence.

Reading images: An Agent Only

• Agents only: This shows an image with subjects without being involved in any action/event

Reading images: Patient, event, and passive agent:

• Patient, event, and passive agent (can be connoted): This visual grammar shows people who are influenced by the event/action, but does show the agents/subject who are doing the action.