Essay Ways of Seeing

689 Words 3 Pages
The biggest difficulty I ended up having with this reading was being able to look at it philosophically. So rather than cause myself undue headache, I read it as myself, a person who has read a lot of literature but isn't so great on the art aspect of things. The idea that images are more precise and richer than literature is probably true, although it is not a concept that I necessarily agree with. The beauty of un-illustrated literature is the ability to devise one's own images. While images are more precise, therefore, I believe that imagined images based on text are far richer. Also, I feel that the idea of "when we `see' a landscape, we situate ourselves in it. If we `saw' the art of the past, we would situate ourselves in history," …show more content…
I will agree that the majority of the population do not visit art museums. I don't feel that this is because the majority believes that museums are full of holy relics, or that they feel that original masterpieces should belong only to the rich and privileged. Rather, I enjoy going to art museums. What I do not enjoy is the constant remodeling and renovating of most museums that I go to. There are some exhibits that I want to see. There are others that I do not. Invariably, the exhibits I want to see are closed, and the ones that I don't care about are open.

The thing I enjoyed most and related most with in the first essay is the comment by Cezanne, "A minute in the world's life passes! To paint it in its reality, and forget everything for that! To become that minute, to be the sensitive plates... give the image of what we see, forgetting everything that has appeared before our time...." (p.31). This image, more than any of the art depicted in this section, is the most beautiful to me. This made sense to me.

I could be horribly wrong, but the photo-essay in section 2 seems to me to show the evolution of the art form over time. Pages 38 and 39 seem to show the same subject matter, the female nude, in all different incarnations. This represents the way that public perception has changed along with popular art. (?)

Essay 3 made the most sense to me, because it is not a timely subject. The way that men and women are perceived has long been a topic of much
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