... with regards to John Berger's 'Ways of Seeing'.
This discussion essay is to refer to the reproduction of photographs taken of President Lincoln while making links to the academic and critical texts written by John Berger to define the meaning of...
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Fig,1. Abraham Lincoln, 1864. Matthew Brady.
John Berger hypothesised that the commercialisation of art – more specifically paintings – on the grounds of their uniqueness leads to the clear corruption of their meaning. Uniqueness, in this theorem is defined as 'Being the only one. The original print of its kind.' Value is defined in terms of a piece of arts uniqueness.
Bowser's painting of Lincoln [see fig. 2] is unique as it was the first of many. Lincoln also chose it to represent him during and beyond his time. However, Bowser's painting is a reproduction of Brady's photograph – does Bowser's reproduction make Brady's photograph more unique as it's the original or less unique because it acts as a mere stencil for other artists. Looking back on the work, Brady's photograph had one purpose, to create a template which other artists can work from.
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Fig, 2. Abraham Lincoln, 1865. David Bustill Bowser.
Something produced by a camera will always lack uniqueness in comparison to a painting. Whilst all taking from the same stencil, artists have the ability to add their own flare. Take out details they perceive as irrelevant. George Story removed Lincoln's chain/rope on his waistcoat and added the White House in the background of the piece [see fig.3]. Reverting back to an earlier statement, all cameras see the same thing when set up in the same place. It's not until later – photographic manipulation – that a camera's views decipher from others of its kind but also what was truly in front of it.
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