Some while ago, I was thrilled at reading a Marxist view of art, "Ways of Seeing," by John Berger. It was a breathtaking canvas uncovering the misogyny of ownership of the female form, of the difference between nudity and nakedness and the later democratization of that ownership. It was stunning and original and, I have learned since, now required reading for Art majors.
I'm pleased to have acquired his latest creation, "Portraits," a series of essays about artists from ancient times to the post-modernists.
One lovely essay particularly delighted me being about the funerary art of Fayyum. Their particular charm being that they were never intended for our general gaze, but were a contract between the anonymous painter and the person who wanted their life likeness recorded to be later placed on their coffin and interred.
These beautiful portraits can be seen on the web...
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