John Berger

John Berger (1926–2017) was a British writer, art critic and painter whose work crossed fiction, essays, broadcasting, poetry and screenwriting. Born in London, he began his career as a painter before becoming known as a critic. He later settled in rural France, where village life informed much of his writing.

Berger examined how images acquire meaning through ownership, reproduction, gender and social power. His prose is direct but exploratory, often moving between close observation and political argument. He also wrote about photography, migration, medicine, animals and rural labour, frequently collaborating with photographers and other artists.

Ways of Seeing began as a 1972 BBC television series and became a book composed of seven essays, three of them entirely pictorial. Berger’s novel G. won the Booker Prize that same year. His other books include A Painter of Our Time, A Fortunate Man, created with photographer Jean Mohr, the Into Their Labours trilogy and To the Wedding.

Start with Ways of Seeing. Its juxtapositions of paintings, advertisements and photographs make Berger’s arguments tangible, while its compact essays challenge assumptions about European oil painting, the female nude and publicity. Readers who want to follow his ideas into fiction can turn next to G.; those drawn to documentary work should try A Fortunate Man.