The strange power of art is sometimes it can show that what people have in common is more urgent than what differentiates them. It seems to me it's something that theatre can do, but it's rare; it's very rare.
John BergerRead
A drawing is an autobiographical record of one's discovery of an event - either seen, remembered or imagined. A 'finished' work is an attempt to construct an event in itself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A drawing reflects personal experiences and interpretations of events, whether real or imagined.
John Berger emphasizes that a drawing serves not just as a representation but as a personal record of an artist's understanding and interpretation of an event. Each completed artwork is an effort to encapsulate and recreate an experience, allowing both the artist and the viewer to engage with the emotional and imaginative journey behind it.
Themes
DrawingArtAutobiographicalCreativityImagination
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the power of art in personal expression.
More from John Berger
All quotes βUnlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.
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We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.
John BergerRead
The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. It surveys us like God, and it surveys for us. Yet no other god has been so cynical, for the camera records in order to forget.
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Propaganda requires a permanent network of communication so that it can systematically stifle reflection with emotive or utopian slogans. Its pace is usually fast.
John BergerRead
Being a unique superpower undermines the military intelligence of strategy. To think strategically, one has to imagine oneself in the enemy's place. If one cannot do this, it is impossible to foresee, to take by surprise, to outflank. Misinterpreting an enemy can lead to defeat. This is how empires fall.
John BergerRead
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It would be a lowly art that allowed itself to be understood all at once.
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The creation of a work of art, like an act of love, is our one small 'yes' at the center of a vast 'no.'
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Eloquence is a painting of the thoughts.
Blaise PascalRead