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238 Pp. Green Cloth Lettered In Silver. First Printing, First Issue. In The Very Scarce First Binding; The Book Was Withdrawn By The Publisher One Month After Publication, Then Reissued In A Remainder Binding In Brown Cloth With Black Lettering. Near Fine, Thin Line Of Slight Browning Along Bottom Edge Of Front Board, Silver Lettering Brilliant. Dust Jacket Priced 18S. Net, Unfaded But With Light Wear. John Peter Berger (1926 ?2017) Was An English Art Critic, Novelist, Painter And Poet. His Father, Stanley, Raised As A Non-Religious English Jew Who Adopted Catholicism, Had Been An Infantry Officer During Wwi And Was Awarded The Military Cross And An Obe. Berger Was Educated At St Edward's School, Oxford. He Served In The British Army During The Second World War. Berger Began His Career As A Painter And Exhibited Works At A Number Of London Galleries In The Late 1940S. He Later Became An Art Critic, Publishing Many Essays And Reviews In The New Statesman. His Marxist Humanism And His Strongly Stated Opinions On Modern Art Combined To Make Him A Controversial Figure Early In His Career. As A Statement Of Political Commitment, He Titled An Early Collection Of Essays Permanent Red. Berger Was Never A Formal Member Of The Communist Party Of Great Britain (Cpgb): Rather He Was A Close Associate Of It And Its Front, The Artists? International Association (Aia). He Was Active In The Geneva Club. In 1958, Berger Published His First Novel, A Painter Of Our Time, Which Tells The Story Of The Disappearance Of Janos Lavin, A Fictional Exiled Hungarian Painter, And His Diary's Discovery By An Art Critic Friend Called John. His Next Novels Were The Foot Of Clive And Corker's Freedom; Both Of Which Presented An Urban English Life Of Alienation And Melancholy. Berger Moved To Quincy In The Haute-Savoie, France, In 1962 Due To His Distaste For Life In Britain. In 1972, The Bbc Broadcast His Four-Part Television Series Ways Of Seeing And Published Its Accompanying Text. The First Episode Functions As An Introduction To The Study Of Images; It Was Derived In Part From Walter Benjamin's Essay "The Work Of Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction". The Subsequent Episodes Concern The Image Of Woman As A Sexualized Object In Western Culture, Expressions Of Property Ownership And Wealth In European Oil Painting, And Modern Advertising. The Series, The First Of Several Close Collaborations With Director Mike Dibb, Has Had A Lasting Influence, And In Particular Introduced The Concept Of The Male Gaze. It Soon Became Popular Among Feminists. Berger's Novel G., A Picaresque Romance Set In Europe In 1898, Won The James Tait Black Memorial Prize And The Booker Prize In 1972. Berger Donated Half The Booker Cash Prize To The British Black Panthers, And Retained Half To Support His Work. Berger's Sociological Writings Include A Fortunate Man: The Story Of A Country Doctor (1967) And A Seventh Man: Migrant Workers In Europe (1975). Berger And Photographer Jean Mohr Sought To Document And Understand The Experiences Of Peasants. Their Subsequent Book, Another Way Of Telling, Discusses And Illustrates Their Documentary Technique. His Studies Of Individual Artists Include The Success And Failure Of Picasso (1965, And Art And Revolution: Ernst Neizvestny, Endurance, And The Role Of The Artist In The Ussr (1969). In The 1970S, Berger Collaborated On Three Films With The Swiss Director Alain Tanner: His Major Fictional Work Of The 1980S Was The Trilogy Into Their Labours (Consisting Of The Novels Pig Earth, Once In Europa, And Lilac And Flag), Treats The European Peasant Experience From Its Farming Roots To Contemporary Economic And Political Displacement And Urban Poverty. In Later Essays, Berger Wrote About Photography, Art, Politics, And Memory. Berger's Novel From A To X Was Long-Listed For The 2008 Booker Prize. He Was A Member Of The Support Committee Of The Russell Tribunal On Palestine.
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