Sight Unseen: Whiteness and American Visual Culture

by Martin A. Berger

Sight Unseen explores how racial identity guides the interpretation of the visual world. Through a nimble analysis of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century paintings, photographs, museums, and early motion pictures, Martin A. Berger illustrates how a shared investment in whiteness invisibly guides what Americans of European descent see, what they accept as true, and, ultimately, what legal, social, and economic policies they enact.

Carefully reconstructing the racial and philosophical contexts of selected artworks that contain no narrative links to race, the author exposes the effects of racial thinking on our interpretation of the visual world. Bucolic genre paintings of white farmers, pristine landscape photographs of the western frontier, monumental civic architecture, and early action films provide case studies for investigating how European-American sight became inextricably bound to the racial values of American society. Berger shows how artworks are more significant for confirming internalized beliefs on race, than they are for selling us on racial values we do not yet own. A significant contribution to the growing field of whiteness studies, this accessible, provocative, and compelling book exposes how something as apparently natural as sight is conditioned by the racial values of society.

Genres: Art

252 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

My work explores the role played by the visual arts in identity formation. Making use of an eclectic assortment of primary evidence, including painting, photography, architecture, film and literature, I analyze how Americans both resist and embrace dominant norms of identity. While specifically concerned with the impact of identity formation on disempowered peoples, my scholarship consistently addresses the role of art in representing the identities of our society's most privileged members. In other words, instead of focusing on how images impact our sense of what it means to be "feminine" or "black," I explore how they condition our understanding of being "masculine" and "white."Concerned that the historical emphasis of scholars on representations of disempowered peoples has inadvertently reinforced the perception that empowered identities are fixed, or even natural, I illuminate their constructed and fluid nature. Because the identity of blacks, for example, has long been defined in opposition to that of whites, it is clear that privileged racial categories must play a significant role in impacting the lived experiences of people of color. People of color are ultimately harmed by racial norms and expectations that disadvantage them, but also by racial values that confer unearned advantages to whites.My 2005 book, Sight Unseen, explores how racial identity guides the interpretation of the visual world. Through a careful analysis of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century paintings, photographs, museums, and early motion pictures, I illustrate how a shared investment in whiteness invisibly guides what European-Americans see, what they accept as true, and ultimately, what legal, social, and economic policies they enact.

Reviews

[Pooja · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Lisa Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take on visual culture that critiques unseen whiteness in art history. Mostly, the book is a good critique, but he misses some key tropes in some of his analysis that, to my mind, weaken his position. For example, one image that he claims is all about white privilege has clearly defined visual trope of memento mori meant to be a reminder of our temporary life. Failure to mention this undermines Berger's analysis, for he does not note that the image is about more than white privilege it is a reminder of one's duties to the next generation.