67 pages • 2 hours read
Ways Of Seeing
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Chapter 6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary
Chapter Six consists entirely of reproductions of photographs and paintings, both cited and uncited. Images that sanction and support European imperialism and colonialism make several appearances, alongside the work of William Blake, depictions of subordinate African slaves who revere their white masters, a depiction of a slave auction, portraits of the aristocracy, vulgarly-rendered images of the poor or working class, images of idealized/objectified women, and depictions of animals which belonged to the aristocracy.
Chapter 6 Analysis
Berger’s selection of topics and depictions in this chapter seem to bridge and review Chapters Three and Five. He gives us instances of the female nude, perhaps in order to remind us of its enduring conventions. He invites us to re-examine these paintings with a new critical awareness, instead of passively consuming both them and their attendant ideology. He gives us examples of oil paintings that depict the world and the things within it—people, animals, elements of nature—as objects that exist in order to serve as possessions. He showcases the manner in which visual art was used to legitimize the racism, brutality and oppression of Western imperialism and the global slave trade. Again, he invites the reader to look upon each of these images with a newfound criticality—an awareness of the
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