Tiziano: ninfa y pastor

by John Berger, Katya Berger Andreadakis, Pilar Vázquez (Translator)

This is a series of letters between the author and art critic, John Berger, and his daughter Katya. This correspondance is the vehicle for a series of insights into the everyday life and the arts of the great Venetian master, Titian, following an uncanny incident at an exhibition of his work staged in Venice in 1990. While attending the exhibition, Katya met an old man, who she became convinced was the ghost of the painter. The man engaged her in conversation about minute peculiarities of painting some of the pictures there. She shared the experience with her father in a letter. He accepted the encounter at face value and discussed the historical background to the old man's remarks, seeking answers to a series of evidential questions about his daughter's encounter. From this point on, the book sees the three of them discussing painting, bodies, animals, Greece, being a woman today, the constant enigma of existence, and daily life. The book is illustrated with the Titian paintings that were being exhibited, enabling readers to judge for themselves what the possible visitor from four centuries ago has to say to people today.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

John Peter Berger was an English art critic, novelist, painter and author. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing, written as an accompaniment to a BBC series, is often used as a college text.

Later he was self exiled to continental Europe, living between the french Alps in summer and the suburbs of Paris in winter. Since then, his production has increased considerably, including a variety of genres, from novel to social essay, or poetry. One of the most common themes that appears on his books is the dialectics established between modernity and memory and loss,

Another of his most remarkable works has been the trilogy titled Into Their Labours, that includes the books Pig Earth (1979), Once In Europa (1983) Lilac And Flag (1990). With those books, Berger makes a meditation about the way of the peasant, that changes one poverty for another in the city. This theme is also observed in his novel King, but there his focus is more in the rural diaspora and the bitter side of the urban way of life.

Reviews

[Safa Furkan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Çok tatlı ve ufuk açıcı bir kitap.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting dialogue on art, and various other things. There's a certain tendancy to over generalise and to rely too heavily on a certain eurocentric, heterosexual gaze that limits the scope of the insights Berger and his daughter strive for. Still, there should be more books like this, and more conversations like this.

[Iñaki Echarte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este pequeño libro (se lee en una tarde) recoge la correspondencia entre John Berger y su hija Katya. El origen es una simple apreciación de John sobre un cuadro de Tiziano durante una estancia en Venecia. A partir de ahí ambos se entregan al desarrollo de múltiples teorías sobre la obra y la vida del pintor, de las sensaciones que le provocan sus pinturas y de sus sentimientos ante el arte en general. Sus puntos de vista son interesantes y peculiares; la lectura de este libro es un pequeño y breve placer.
Muy recomendable.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

A unique book. Some nice poetic passages at times but most of the time just weird and pretentious.

[Chris Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good.

[Ilay]

sonlarina yaklasirken dayanamayip floransa'ya otobus bileti aldim. venus of urbino son damla oldu

[C. de L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Todos esperan, lo que equivale a decir que están vivos”.



“La piel del hombre —¿te has fijado alguna vez?— cuando es suave es mucho más suave que la de las mujeres”.