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Art and Revolution: Ernst Neizvestny, Endurance, and the Role of the Artist
In this prescient and beautifully written book, Booker Prize-winning author John Berger examines the life and work of Ernst Neizvestny, a Russian sculptor whose exclusion from the ranks of officially approved Soviet artists left him laboring in enforced obscurity to realize his monumental and very public vision of art. But Berger's impassioned account goes well beyond the specific dilemma of the pre-glasnot Russian artist to illuminate the very meaning of revolutionary art. In his struggle against official orthodoxy--which involved a face-to-face confrontation with Khruschev himself--Neizvestny was fighting not for a merely personal or aesthetic vision, but for a recognition of the true social role of art. His sculptures earn a place in the world by reflecting the courage of a whole people, by commemorating, in an age of mass suffering, the resistance and endurance of millions.
"Berger is probably our most perceptive commentator on art.... A civilized and stimulating companion no matter what subject happens to cross his mind."-- Philadelphia Inquirer
"Berger is probably our most perceptive commentator on art.... A civilized and stimulating companion no matter what subject happens to cross his mind."-- Philadelphia Inquirer
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
26 people are currently reading
404 people want to read
About the author
John Berger
173 books2,668 followersJohn 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.
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.
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June 21, 2020
J. Berger’in ilk kitaplarından biri, sanat eleştirmenliği yaptığı dönemde 1969’da yazmış. Kitabın ilk baskısı 100 kitap yayınladıktan sonra söz verdiği üzere kapanan efsanevi Yankı Yayınlarından 1974’de, okuduğum kitap 3. baskısı ise 2007’de Agora Kitaplığı’ndan çıkmış ve bir daha da baskısı yapılmamış. Halbuki çok ilginç bir kitap “Sanat ve Devrim”.
Kitabın adı genelleme yapıyorsa da Berger’in anlattıkları Sovyet Rusya’daki plastik sanatlar ve bu sanatla uğraşan bir avuç sanatçı arasında ilginç ama unutulmuş, pek tanınmayan Ernst Neizvestny adlı heykeltraşın sanatını ve eserlerini içeriyor.
Berger Sovyet Rusya’da sosyalist gerçekçilikte sanat ile propaganda arasındaki ilişkinin karıştırıldığını, bu nedenle daha az etkileyici ve daha az kitleye ulaşan heykel ve resim gibi plastik sanatların gelişmediğini, bunun yerine propaganda yönü ağır basan afiş, sinema, müzik, şiir başta olmak üzere edebiyata önem verildiğini, bu alanlarda yaşanan ilerleme ve yaratıcılığın heykel ve resim sanatında yaşanmadığını ileri sürüyor. Bu tezini ise Stalinci bağnazlığa, onun sultası altındaki gerici Akademi’nin tutumuna bağlamaktadır.
Bilindiği gibi John Berger kendisini marksist olarak tanımlamaktadır. Hatta 2017’de ölmeden önce verdiği son demeçlerde Sovyet Rusyanın yıkılması, Doğu Bloğunun çökmesinin bile marksizme inancını değiştirmediğini ısrarla belirtmiştir. Bu nedenle yazdıklarını, düşüncelerini soldaki ideolojiler açısından çok önemli bulmaktayım. Bu arada ben John Berger’i klasik marksistten ziyade güleryüzlü sosyalist olarak görmekteyim.
Bu kitabın SSCB’deki görsel sanat ve sanatçı hakkında önemli noktalara ışık tutması, özellikle Stalin yönetiminin değerlendirilmesi açısından iyi bir kaynak olduğunu düşünüyorum.
Kitabın adı genelleme yapıyorsa da Berger’in anlattıkları Sovyet Rusya’daki plastik sanatlar ve bu sanatla uğraşan bir avuç sanatçı arasında ilginç ama unutulmuş, pek tanınmayan Ernst Neizvestny adlı heykeltraşın sanatını ve eserlerini içeriyor.
Berger Sovyet Rusya’da sosyalist gerçekçilikte sanat ile propaganda arasındaki ilişkinin karıştırıldığını, bu nedenle daha az etkileyici ve daha az kitleye ulaşan heykel ve resim gibi plastik sanatların gelişmediğini, bunun yerine propaganda yönü ağır basan afiş, sinema, müzik, şiir başta olmak üzere edebiyata önem verildiğini, bu alanlarda yaşanan ilerleme ve yaratıcılığın heykel ve resim sanatında yaşanmadığını ileri sürüyor. Bu tezini ise Stalinci bağnazlığa, onun sultası altındaki gerici Akademi’nin tutumuna bağlamaktadır.
Bilindiği gibi John Berger kendisini marksist olarak tanımlamaktadır. Hatta 2017’de ölmeden önce verdiği son demeçlerde Sovyet Rusyanın yıkılması, Doğu Bloğunun çökmesinin bile marksizme inancını değiştirmediğini ısrarla belirtmiştir. Bu nedenle yazdıklarını, düşüncelerini soldaki ideolojiler açısından çok önemli bulmaktayım. Bu arada ben John Berger’i klasik marksistten ziyade güleryüzlü sosyalist olarak görmekteyim.
Bu kitabın SSCB’deki görsel sanat ve sanatçı hakkında önemli noktalara ışık tutması, özellikle Stalin yönetiminin değerlendirilmesi açısından iyi bir kaynak olduğunu düşünüyorum.
Read
November 12, 2025This guy rules. Helped me finally understand how to love a work of art for its politics without requiring it to be didactic, through his distinction between short and long term art - long term art requires contradiction. Also loved how he wrote about how the sculptures, even though they weren’t shown at scale, were inherently public. And he says something beautiful about how life requires contradiction, death is the only utopia, while believing firmly that the endurance of oppressed ppl will triumph and bring us to the next stage. The last 5 pages of this book he stops doing art criticism and just writes about how we must end imperialism or else the only logical conclusion is suicide
January 21, 2022
Solid book with a really moralistic ending. I’m not calling Berger’s commitment to anti-imperialism into question, but I just found it to be a quite simplistic and reductive reading of Neizvestny’s sculptures. Really fascinating first chapter, though, and it’s always such a privilege to learn from the way he critiques art.
February 12, 2026
Some nice history of Russian and communist art that’s both critical and non judgemental. All new to me.
An interesting spotlight on an artist I knew nothing about. The grainy photos of Neizvestny’s brutalist biological sculptures adds a horror-movie effect that I think serves them well.
I like Berger as an art critic because he’ll say something that sounds like eye-rolling art gallery plaque nonsense (“In every way possible [sculpture] emphasizes its own finiteness. And by so doing it invokes the notion of infinity and challenges it.”) Uh huh, sure.
But then follows it up with an explanation that makes total sense (art influences political and social change, but monuments freeze their meaning physically in defiance of time changing around them). Oh, got it!
The “revolution” part of the book comes in the last few pages where Berger delivers a fiery sermon about imperialism that’s hard to disagree with but maybe overly simplistic. It’s also a bit of a stretch to connect it to Neizvestny’s art, frankly (which suddenly becomes the representation of all struggles under imperial oppression).
Maybe I’m just a thin-skinned bourgeois, or maybe it’s vague lefty rhetoric lacking the specificity that powerful criticism requires. The ending just didn’t land for me, even though I know it’s a bad look to have a problem with it. I’ll keep reading Berger, in any case.
An interesting spotlight on an artist I knew nothing about. The grainy photos of Neizvestny’s brutalist biological sculptures adds a horror-movie effect that I think serves them well.
I like Berger as an art critic because he’ll say something that sounds like eye-rolling art gallery plaque nonsense (“In every way possible [sculpture] emphasizes its own finiteness. And by so doing it invokes the notion of infinity and challenges it.”) Uh huh, sure.
But then follows it up with an explanation that makes total sense (art influences political and social change, but monuments freeze their meaning physically in defiance of time changing around them). Oh, got it!
The “revolution” part of the book comes in the last few pages where Berger delivers a fiery sermon about imperialism that’s hard to disagree with but maybe overly simplistic. It’s also a bit of a stretch to connect it to Neizvestny’s art, frankly (which suddenly becomes the representation of all struggles under imperial oppression).
Maybe I’m just a thin-skinned bourgeois, or maybe it’s vague lefty rhetoric lacking the specificity that powerful criticism requires. The ending just didn’t land for me, even though I know it’s a bad look to have a problem with it. I’ll keep reading Berger, in any case.
February 25, 2026
This is my favourite work of Berger’s so far.
His work has been a way for me to diversify the kind of art criticism I consume, as he has a way of dipping in and out of different art forms to describe each other. An example is when he compares the Neizvestnys representation of the psychological endurance of the oppressed Soviet population under Stalin - which is the prominent message behind Neizvestny’s best work - as a continuation of the same societal endurance showcased by Dostoevsky, of a Russian public under Tsarism.
As someone who was never much into the visual arts (I speed walk art galleries), Berger has been such a great way to introduce myself to the field, whilst also picking up some absolute gems. I’ll look at the sculpture for a bit longer next time.
The role of art in our man-made system of inequality and imperialism is explained with compassion for exploited peoples, but as a challenge to the occidental reader. It’s beautifully written, and well structured so by the time you reach the ending you’re deeply familiar of the historical, political and emotional context behind Neizvestny’s work
A brilliant essay, love
His work has been a way for me to diversify the kind of art criticism I consume, as he has a way of dipping in and out of different art forms to describe each other. An example is when he compares the Neizvestnys representation of the psychological endurance of the oppressed Soviet population under Stalin - which is the prominent message behind Neizvestny’s best work - as a continuation of the same societal endurance showcased by Dostoevsky, of a Russian public under Tsarism.
As someone who was never much into the visual arts (I speed walk art galleries), Berger has been such a great way to introduce myself to the field, whilst also picking up some absolute gems. I’ll look at the sculpture for a bit longer next time.
The role of art in our man-made system of inequality and imperialism is explained with compassion for exploited peoples, but as a challenge to the occidental reader. It’s beautifully written, and well structured so by the time you reach the ending you’re deeply familiar of the historical, political and emotional context behind Neizvestny’s work
A brilliant essay, love
February 20, 2026
Sometimes books come to you — I truly bought this whilst slightly drunk at a Readings in the city because I didn’t have anything to read while my boyfriend was playing MtG at a bar. I wanted to learn more about art and specific artists, and I feel like I’ve learnt so much more and such a significant amount of theoretical understanding of the perception of physical fine art. John Berger is a stunning writer, redundant statement. So many quotes were just so well articulated and nuanced in their discussion of theory, art, practice and broader influence. Really recommend to even the non artist.
January 23, 2026
"the last need of imperialism is not for raw materials, exploited labour and controlled markets: it is for a mankind that counts for nothing"
This is an interesting account of the life and work of Ernst Neizvestny, the political landscape of art in various phases of the USSR, with the final essay exploring "the meaning" of Neizvestny's work through a Fanon referencing anti imperialist lens.
It can sometimes be hard to reconcile the often escapist, individualised presentation of artistic pursuits in modern capitalism (especially in a world of the girlbossed, small businessified artist) with "The Struggle" and it's place as a priority in our lives. it's important to find perspectives on integrating art and action in a meaningful way
This is an interesting account of the life and work of Ernst Neizvestny, the political landscape of art in various phases of the USSR, with the final essay exploring "the meaning" of Neizvestny's work through a Fanon referencing anti imperialist lens.
It can sometimes be hard to reconcile the often escapist, individualised presentation of artistic pursuits in modern capitalism (especially in a world of the girlbossed, small businessified artist) with "The Struggle" and it's place as a priority in our lives. it's important to find perspectives on integrating art and action in a meaningful way
December 11, 2023
Стычка с Хрущевым на выставке к 30-летию Союза художников Москвы стала своеобразным звездным часом Неизвестного. "Вы все педерасты!" "Дайте мне бабу, Никита Сергеевич, и я вам докажу обратное…»
Первая часть книги написана блестяще. Берджер крупными мазками описывает историю русского искусства от Петра I до соцреализма времен Хрущева. Очерк написан высокопрофессионально, его можно разбирать на цитаты для лекций по истории искусства.
Творчество Эрнста Неизвестного помещается в контекст как политики своего времени, так и отдельно проходящей эволюции искусства. Берджер делит работы Неизвестного на удачные и неудачные. Такое деление аргументировано и у автора есть собственная интерпретация творчества советского ваятеля. Феномен Неизвестного безусловно привлекает к себе внимание, поскольку он, как и Бродский, был не признан официальными институтами государства, а значит был зачислен в разряд «оппозиции".
Берджер показывает, что скульптуры Неизвестного затрагивают фундаментальные темы человеческого бытия. Стойкость, тело, секс. В небольших скульптурах с трудно угадываемыми формами запрятаны пласты смыслов, которые интерпретирует Берджер. И лишь финал книги-очерка обескураживает. В оправдание автора-эрудита лишь напомним, что написал он свое произведение в 1969 году…
Если бы не финал, повествующий о том как невыносимо жить в мире империалистического неравенства (не забываем что книга 1969 года!), то я бы поставил книге 10/10.
Как итог: читать стоит. Задался вопросом где посмотреть скульптуры Неизвестного в России. Часть мыслей Берджера обязательно уйдут в мои лекции по искусству и политике.
Первая часть книги написана блестяще. Берджер крупными мазками описывает историю русского искусства от Петра I до соцреализма времен Хрущева. Очерк написан высокопрофессионально, его можно разбирать на цитаты для лекций по истории искусства.
Творчество Эрнста Неизвестного помещается в контекст как политики своего времени, так и отдельно проходящей эволюции искусства. Берджер делит работы Неизвестного на удачные и неудачные. Такое деление аргументировано и у автора есть собственная интерпретация творчества советского ваятеля. Феномен Неизвестного безусловно привлекает к себе внимание, поскольку он, как и Бродский, был не признан официальными институтами государства, а значит был зачислен в разряд «оппозиции".
Берджер показывает, что скульптуры Неизвестного затрагивают фундаментальные темы человеческого бытия. Стойкость, тело, секс. В небольших скульптурах с трудно угадываемыми формами запрятаны пласты смыслов, которые интерпретирует Берджер. И лишь финал книги-очерка обескураживает. В оправдание автора-эрудита лишь напомним, что написал он свое произведение в 1969 году…
Если бы не финал, повествующий о том как невыносимо жить в мире империалистического неравенства (не забываем что книга 1969 года!), то я бы поставил книге 10/10.
Как итог: читать стоит. Задался вопросом где посмотреть скульптуры Неизвестного в России. Часть мыслей Берджера обязательно уйдут в мои лекции по искусству и политике.
August 10, 2021
I quite enjoyed this book about a sculptor, Ernst Kiezvestny, almost completely unknown in the West by one of our best-known critics, John Berger. I talked about it in a book video here: http://www.thegreatgodpanisdead.com/2...
January 17, 2018
Heykeltıraş Neizvestny'nin hayatından kesitler eşliğinde Rus plastik sanatı üzerine kritikler içeriyor. Berger'in dilini seviyorum; sade, diktesiz ve bu nedenle etkileyici.
İkon sanatından akademizme, Tatlin, Gezginler, naturalizm vs gerçekçilik incelemeleri...
Beni en çok etkileyen iki kısım Gezginler ve sosyalist gerçekçilik üzerine tespitleriydi.
İkon sanatından akademizme, Tatlin, Gezginler, naturalizm vs gerçekçilik incelemeleri...
Beni en çok etkileyen iki kısım Gezginler ve sosyalist gerçekçilik üzerine tespitleriydi.
March 14, 2025
Really strong beginning to this book, Berger’s run down of Russian history through the lens of art HITS. He hypes up Neizvestny like a mythical figure. Super romantic sense of artistic struggle against the state.
Berger doubles down on this dynamic at the end in a good ol anti-imperialist rant. This closing goes hard on its own, but feels a bit tacked on in the context of the whole book. Berger sees Neizvestny’s work (or perhaps his work ethic) as emblematic of the larger struggle of most peoples against imperialism and oppression.
This is true, sure, and a big take away of the book. However, I think the closing falls a bit flat.. Just before this broad rant on oppression, Berger offers some criticism of Neizvestny’s work. All very valid, all very important, good section to read -But, this totally fucks up the hype he has built.
I think if we got another anecdote about Neizvestny and his struggle to create. His ability to create despite the system that’s steps on him. Something that ramps up the hype a little. If we got some of that before this big broad moralistic pontification on imperialism at the end, then it would feel a little tighter as a work.
Def a great read, highly recommend. I think that the near perfection of craft at the top end of the book makes the disruption of flow more glaring at the bottom.
Berger doubles down on this dynamic at the end in a good ol anti-imperialist rant. This closing goes hard on its own, but feels a bit tacked on in the context of the whole book. Berger sees Neizvestny’s work (or perhaps his work ethic) as emblematic of the larger struggle of most peoples against imperialism and oppression.
This is true, sure, and a big take away of the book. However, I think the closing falls a bit flat.. Just before this broad rant on oppression, Berger offers some criticism of Neizvestny’s work. All very valid, all very important, good section to read -But, this totally fucks up the hype he has built.
I think if we got another anecdote about Neizvestny and his struggle to create. His ability to create despite the system that’s steps on him. Something that ramps up the hype a little. If we got some of that before this big broad moralistic pontification on imperialism at the end, then it would feel a little tighter as a work.
Def a great read, highly recommend. I think that the near perfection of craft at the top end of the book makes the disruption of flow more glaring at the bottom.
December 21, 2025
In this work John Berger has that amazing quality of pointing out observations or concepts which, after being articulated, appear to have always been true and obviously so. In that sense, I thought his high-level analyses of Neizvestny’s art and of the stifling academic art in post and pre revolutionary Russia extremely interesting, beyond the bounds of both those areas. In particular, his description of Neizvestny measuring his life not towards death but starting from it stood out:
“Those who measure towards death become very aware of the precariousness of life; Neizvestny, by contrast, is aware of the extraordinary adaptability and obstinacy of life”
I felt the ending of the book, beginning as a broader conclusion on the stature of Neizvestny’s work and its political role, before focusing exclusively on Imperialism, was slightly weaker than the earlier parts. While resistance to imperialism intuitively feels aligned with the thrust of the artist’s work, I felt not enough effort to substantiate this point was made, in particular from an understanding from the artist rather than in what Berger sees in the work.
The book contains beautiful plates from the artists work throughout. I found it to be a great introduction to art criticism, without any background in this topic.
It would be a 4.5 if I could vote that!
“Those who measure towards death become very aware of the precariousness of life; Neizvestny, by contrast, is aware of the extraordinary adaptability and obstinacy of life”
I felt the ending of the book, beginning as a broader conclusion on the stature of Neizvestny’s work and its political role, before focusing exclusively on Imperialism, was slightly weaker than the earlier parts. While resistance to imperialism intuitively feels aligned with the thrust of the artist’s work, I felt not enough effort to substantiate this point was made, in particular from an understanding from the artist rather than in what Berger sees in the work.
The book contains beautiful plates from the artists work throughout. I found it to be a great introduction to art criticism, without any background in this topic.
It would be a 4.5 if I could vote that!
May 21, 2025
On sculpture
“Nothing less is involved than the commemoration of the present values of that society addressed to its future, a commemoration which is not, as with the other arts, merely presumed but is intrinsic to the immediate impact - or lack of it - of the work as experienced today. A State can be judged by the future its sculpture sets out to promise it.”
“Images cannot be ideas but they can play the part of signs, or, to be more precise, coexist with ideas in signs and, if ideas are not yet present, they can keep their future place open for them and make its contours apparent negatively”
“This is what joins men together in resistance: a resistance which, if false ideologies are discarded and rendered undeceptive, we can find in the body itself. All false ideologies rely upon a facile optimism: an optimism which denies the inevitability of contradiction, and therefore denies life itself. Optimism must always be specific. Exploitation can be destroyed. Contradictions should be the condition of life and development, not the cause of death and hopelessness deprivation. But the only utopia is death, because it is without contradiction.”
“Nothing less is involved than the commemoration of the present values of that society addressed to its future, a commemoration which is not, as with the other arts, merely presumed but is intrinsic to the immediate impact - or lack of it - of the work as experienced today. A State can be judged by the future its sculpture sets out to promise it.”
“Images cannot be ideas but they can play the part of signs, or, to be more precise, coexist with ideas in signs and, if ideas are not yet present, they can keep their future place open for them and make its contours apparent negatively”
“This is what joins men together in resistance: a resistance which, if false ideologies are discarded and rendered undeceptive, we can find in the body itself. All false ideologies rely upon a facile optimism: an optimism which denies the inevitability of contradiction, and therefore denies life itself. Optimism must always be specific. Exploitation can be destroyed. Contradictions should be the condition of life and development, not the cause of death and hopelessness deprivation. But the only utopia is death, because it is without contradiction.”
January 28, 2024
понимая, что я беру в руки книгу об искусстве в контексте политики, всё равно оказалась не подготовленной к тому, чтобы её всецело понять. показались интересными рассуждения о природе скульптуры, о её положении среди других видов искусства. первая часть — превосходный очерк о состоянии советского искусства на 1968 год, о его связи с историей русского искусства в целом. подробный разбор мотивов и тем в творчестве неизвестного во второй части.
читать было тяжело; и сама материя, и язык, которыми оперирует критик сложно воспринимаются, но вынести из небольшого текста можно очень много всего: от работы с формальными искусствоведческими понятиями, до подхода к анализу произведений в политическом контексте.
читать было тяжело; и сама материя, и язык, которыми оперирует критик сложно воспринимаются, но вынести из небольшого текста можно очень много всего: от работы с формальными искусствоведческими понятиями, до подхода к анализу произведений в политическом контексте.
January 31, 2026
What's the point of being an artist if John Berger isn't alive to tell everyone how badass you are? (it's to save the world from imperialism. this book shows John's middle name was "Based Woke-King") seriously though, this Neizvestny guy? his exchange with Khrushchev?? "You are talking to a man who is perfectly capable of killing himself at any moment. Your threats mean nothing to me." has to be the coldest thing I've read in years. If we are not willing to die for our work, what are we willing to die for? i knew nothing of this man, and now i think i would have taken a bullet for him. this is art criticism at its finest, impassioned, accessible, aspirational, self-complicating, thoughtful, detailed, and principled. more books like this pls.
August 17, 2020
John Berger’den okuduğum kitaplara bir yenisini eklemenin mutluluğu 🍀 Sanat ve Devrim kitabında Berger Sovyet döneminin heykel sanatçılarından Ernst Neizvestny’nin eserleri üzerinden gerçekçilik ve sosyalist gerçekçilik arasındaki farklara değiniyor. Bu bölüm ve üslup-form-içerik ilişkisini tartıştığı bölüm çok yararlı. Sadece heykel değil, edebiyat ve sanatın diğer alanlarına dair de düşünme imkanı sunuyor. Meseleyi karmaşıklaştırmayan ama derin işleyen anlatımıyla tipik bir Berger kitabı. #okudumbitti #okumaönerisi #kitap #kitapönerisi #bookstagram #book #booklover #inzivadayımokuyorum #kültürelçalışmalar #johnberger #heykelsanatı #stalindönemi #sosyalistgerçekçilik #gerçekçilik
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January 21, 2021Read for a class w Geoff Dyer. The overview of Russian art history in here was fascinating. Peter the Great imposing western European art styles from the top-down in the 18th century. The idea that Communism was able to supplant capitalism in Russia in part because capitalism had itself so recently supplanted feudalism and wasn't thought of as all that permanent. The repressive art policy of Stalinism. Neizvestny's actual art seemed kinda bad to me and wasn't all that interesting.
December 5, 2020
"Is this how an essay on a sculptor's work should end? The sculpture being relegated to represent a phase in the world struggle against imperialism? I believe that nothing is more important than this struggle. It is to this that in direct and devious ways we should devote all our energy. For those who cannot do so the logical conclusion is suicide."
February 16, 2026
first john berger book i have ever read, really enjoy his style and also getting to know more about a very cool artist :) art critique can just feel like buzz words sometimes so it was nice to read something that felt more attached to reality
August 15, 2019
Her zamanki bilge ve akıcı lisanıyla berger okuması
Rus Heykeltraş’ın tüm sanatını devrin siyasi şartlarıyla okuyan berger müthiş bir eser vermiş
Rus Heykeltraş’ın tüm sanatını devrin siyasi şartlarıyla okuyan berger müthiş bir eser vermiş
February 29, 2020
Wonderful description of the epoch, art state and conditions of development, excellent analysis of Neizvestny's oeuvre. Absolutely great job. Thank you!
May 29, 2020
A relevant read ... the life and work of Neizvestny and the criticism and context of Berger are something to experience.
November 8, 2022
I found this topic super interesting as I am incredibly interested in 20th century history and the Cold War. However, it was sooo difficult and a heavy read.
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June 4, 2023Mad interesting i fw how Berger writes
June 23, 2024
i love a good picture book.
January 9, 2026
berger's use of the english language is unmatched by anyone else in literature history. i love you i love you i love you
November 19, 2025
Two session-er
Happy to single handedly raise the rating of this book.
Happy to single handedly raise the rating of this book.
June 4, 2010
I love the idea that art can be a transgressive ACTION, not just a tool or a communication. Berger does a terrific job of exploring that.
August 30, 2013
I'm sure I'll say this again somewhere in my reviews, but read any John Berger you can. He's fantastic. (Seminal work: Ways Of Seeing)
August 4, 2015
hypocrisy
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