Ways of Seeing ~Response

After reading the passage from Berger, I have come upon some interesting things. He discusses how a painting, or other work of art, changes in meaning or appearance over time. In the past, a painting of a group of people might have had a strong meaning. However, if a modern person looks at that same painting now, he or she is likely to just notice the work put into the piece, and not necessarily the symbolism. Many people admire greek sculpture for the detail and realism and wonder how they could look so perfect and effortless. Back in Ancient Greek times, artists and sculptors might have looked at the same work(s) and said or thought that it/they looked like garbage, with mistakes showing up everywhere. They saw things much differently than modern folks today. However, this may also be a matter of skill for seeing and being able to make art. Berger shows and talks about an image of a man with a weird expression on his face. One side is smiling a bit, while the other is relaxed and neutral. Today, people would think that this was to portray the person's personality in the painting. However, Berger says that the man's expression could be a result of facial paralysis, and the man is just posing with a neutral expression that is disfigured because of the paralysis. As time goes on people's ways of seeing a work of art change constantly. A person from the 1980's would most likely view a picture differently from someone living in 2011. The reason for this may be that more and more facts are discovered about the work or the artist between these time periods. Since "Ways of Seeing" was released, in 1970, our ways of viewing, pretty much everything, has changed drastically. We have much more knowledge about things like science and medicine and history than we did back then. The atmosphere between the 70's and now has changed from disco and psychedelic colors to metal music and cold metal appliances and technology. We don't see nearly as many afros in fashion as back then, and kids are much more independent than in the 70's. Now, culture (in America) is more liberal than it was back then. More things can be taken as art than as "porn" or "explicit." In the next ten years, our views of things will change even more.