What art means: 4 books that will change the way you look at it

Art is always in conversation with the world around us. It has the ability to reflect and mould our culture and our perception of the world.

Book covers of Illuminations, Ways of Seeing, Against Interpretation, and Funny Weather

These essay collections question what art means and how it shapes culture, memory, and identity.

Art isn’t something to merely look at, it is always in conversation with the world around us. A way of thinking, questioning, and feeling, art has the ability to reflect and mould our culture and our perception of the world. The following essay collections question what art means and how it shapes culture, memory, and identity.

Ways of Seeing by John Berger

Ways of Seeing by John Berger argues that the way we see and we interpret things is a product of culture, power, and ideology. (Source: Amazon.in)

A collection of seven short essays, Ways of Seeing by John Berger argues that the way we see and we interpret things is a product of culture, power, and ideology. Berger doesn’t rely on words alone for his argument; the three picture essays interspersed between the textual essays allow the readers to see for themselves and reflect on the ideas suggested by Berger. The essays prove that art is not neutral, but always shaped by the politics and power relations corresponding to the time. This collection of essays also played a significant role in shaping the feminist critique on art through its critique of the power dynamics and male gaze in artworks.

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Against Interpretation (and Other Essays) by Susan Sontag

Book cover of Against Interpretation by Susan Sontag

he title essay, Against Interpretation critiques the tendency to over-explain and constantly create interpretations of art, instead calling for a more direct approach to experience and feel art. (Source: Amazon.in)

Susan Sontag is one of the most renowned essayists of the twentieth century, and this collection of essays includes most of her acclaimed essays that have had a major impact on cultural criticism. The title essay, Against Interpretation critiques the tendency to over-explain and constantly create interpretations of art, instead calling for a more direct approach to experience and feel art. Other essays touch upon various topics like literature, film, art, etc. resulting in a collection of essays that delve into diverse cultural topics.

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Illuminations by Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin’s Illuminations has been fundamental to cultural criticism. (Source: Amazon.in)

Walter Benjamin’s Illuminations has been fundamental to cultural criticism with essays such as The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction which is a part of the syllabi in most courses on culture and art theory, as well as The Task of the Translator, often taught in literature courses, amidst other essays on literature, history, and culture. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction emphasises how our perception and experience of art has changed over time due to technological advancements.

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Funny Weather by Olivia Laing

Weather by Olivia Laing is a contemporary collection of essays on art that meditate on the significance of art especially in times that are politically turbulent. (Source: Amazon.in)

Unlike the other works in this list, Funny Weather by Olivia Laing is a contemporary collection of essays on art that meditate on the significance of art especially in times that are politically turbulent. Laing writes about artists like Basquiat, David Bowie, and Ali Smith among several others, as she weaves together biography and cultural commentary. The main question posed by the book is what role art plays in an ‘emergency’, whether it be personal, social, or political.