THE WHITE BIRD

by John Berger

This is from the book The Sense of Sight published in 1985, a collection of essays by John Berger, edited by Lloyd
Spencer, and published by Pantheon.

John Berger was an author of several novels and volumes of criticism, and he lived from 1926 – 2017.

The essay of John Berger begins by giving us a description of a place called Haute Savoie located in the French Alps. He
was discussing to us the tradition of the people in this place where they would create the white wooden bird and they
would hang it in their kitchen or their chapels.

He tells us about the way these white birds are constructed, like:
 2 bars of pine wood (6 inches in length)
 Soak them in water for maximum pliability
 Carve – one piece for the head and body with a fan tail, the other for the wings
 No glue is used, only 1 nail is required
 Weighing only 2 to 3 ounces
 Hung on a thread

He mentioned in his essay that “it’s absurd to compare one of these birds to a Van Gogh self-portrait or a Rembrandt
crucifixion.” WHY? That’s because these white birds are simple, homemade objects, and worked to a traditional
pattern, yet by their simplicity, they look pleasing and mysterious.

This man-made object provokes a kind of astonishment: how on Earth was it made?

 One is looking at a piece of wood that has become a bird.

 One is looking at a bird that is somehow more than a bird.
 One is looking at something that has been worked with a mysterious skill and a kind of love.

QUESTIONS

What are the implied reasons on the creation of the white wooden bird? Why is it that those peasants in Haute Savoie
create such wooden birds when there are real birds?
 During winter, birds migrate or hibernate, so they create such wooden birds to remind the peasants in Haute
Savoie that there are existing birds. The wooden bird, as a sculpture, is now considered as an art form.

What is beauty and aesthetic emotion and how are they related to art?

Explain the statement, “All the languages of art have been developed as an attempt to transform the instantaneous into
the permanent.”
 The real birds outside which can be freezing to death have an end, they can die anytime, but because the
peasants created the wooden bird, these wooden birds can stay longer compared to the real or living words.
Therefore, that’s what John Berger is trying to tell us that art can stay longer compared to mortals.
 Through art (photograph, poetry, songs, etc.), moments which are instantaneous become permanent.

Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats

Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,

Though winning near the goal – yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

1. Who are the two characters from these lines?

 The bold lover and the She.

2. What is the situation?

 The bold lover cannot kiss (goal) the She.

3. Why did the persona say “do not grieve”?

 It is because the She cannot fade.

4. Why did the persona say “She cannot fade”?

 It is because the moment is captured; because the artist was able to paint it in the urn that the bold lover was
about to kiss the She.

5. What does this poem tell us about “FOREVER”?

 The bold lover will forever be pursuing the She since we will be able to see them until now in the urn.
Explain the statement, “Art does not imitate nature, it imitates a creation, sometimes to propose an alternative world.”

How do we preserve moments through art?

 Scanning old photos

The value of preserving cultural heritage

 Some churches or chapels are being restored after being damaged due to earthquakes

On Beauty, “the range of what a given community finds beautiful in nature will depend upon its means of survival, its
economy, its geography; what Eskimos find beautiful is unlikely to be the same as what the Ashanti found beautiful.”
 Beauty is relative.
 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
 Beauty is in the eye and culture of the beholder.

On Art and Culture

“It is within this bleak natural context that beauty is encountered, and the encounter is by its nature sudden and
unpredictable… Under the fallen avalanche, a flower grows…”

CONCLUSION

“The wooden bird is wafted by the warm air rising from the stove in the kitchen where the neighbours are drinking.
Outside in -25 the real birds are freezing to death!”
 Art can stay longer in contrast to mortals.
 It acknowledges that we are mortals who have an end, but if we create an artwork the art can stay longer given
the right conditions and it can surpass even the creator of the artwork.

READING THE IMAGE

By Alice Guillermo

Alice Guerrero Guillermo (1938 – 2018) was a recipient of the Palanca Awards. She was a renowned writer, researcher,
art critic and professor.

Her essays are very important as we are provided with guidelines in analysing or interpreting images may they be from
ads, paintings, or any text.

She said that, “art should be placed in the context of society and history because the two always have a connection.”

Basic Documentary Information of an Artwork

1. Title of the Work
2. Name of the Artist
3. Medium and Technique
4. Dimensions/Measurement
5. Date of the Work
6. Prominence

“Understanding a work of art may involve a great deal of RESEARCH.”

 Because the meaning of an important work can grow with time, as viewing it becomes a process of continual
discovery.

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo

 Completed in 1512
 But in 1990, Dr. Frank Lynn Meshberger wrote his analysis claiming that the background outlining God and the
angels resembles the human brain.

The Meaning of Art

 A complex of intellectual, emotional, and sensory significations which the work conveys and to which the
viewer responds, bringing in the breadth of his cultural background, artistic exposure and training, and human
experience in a dialogic relationship with the artwork.
 The artwork is a dialogue between the artists and the viewer.
 As a viewer, we respond to the message coming from the artist, and as we respond we bring in our background
knowledge and culture.

Horizon of Meaning
 A work of art may accommodate several meanings
 Meaning is not absolute as all interpretations are valid.

4 Planes of Analysis
1. Basic Semiotic
 Semiotic – study of signs / visual elements: line, color, etc.
 Should be viewed in a highly relational manner and not isolated or compartmentalized

Sources of Meaning
1. Psychological & physical / sensory experiences which are commonly shared
 Day and night, warmth and cold, pleasure and pain
 Humanly shared experiences
 Dawn: Hope, Bright Optimism

Line
 Orientations of line derive their meaning from the positions of the body
 Horizontal: Sleep and rest
 Vertical: Strength and stability
 Diagonal: Action and movement

2. The socio-cultural conventions of a particular society

 BLACK – color of mourning in Western or Western-influenced societies; can also be a symbol of elegance, class,
and sophistication
 WHITE – color of mourning in many Asian societies; can also be a symbol of peace and surrender

2. Iconic
 Main icon

3. Contextual
 Putting the work in context
 Relationship of art and society
 It is an advantage if one has a broad knowledge of a society’s history and its economic, political, and cultural
conditions, both past and present
 Knowledge of national and world art and literatures, mythologies, philosophies, and different cultures and world
views
 References and allusions to historical figures and events

4. Evaluative
 As an art critic, find out what is considered as a VALUE in your nation
 What are the underlying social issues conveyed in the work?

Varying Interpretations

STEPS IN ANALYZING A PAINTING

1. View the painting
2. Spend a longer time looking at it (take not of the details: colors, shapes, lines, images)
3. Jot down words, phrases, ideas that cross your mind when viewing the painting

BULAKLAK by Angela Pascual

 Flower
 Women
 Pregnant woman
 Uterus
 Fallopian tubes
 Ovaries
 Wine glass

4. Find a unifying element out of these terms that you;ve listed

 Womanhood

5. Form your opinion

6. Compose a topic sentence
 Bulaklak by Angela Pascual reveals some aspects pertaining to womanhood

7. As an amateur critic, make this topic sentence as your first sentence in the paragraph

TOPIC SENTENCE
Subject + Verb + Controlling Idea
Controlling Idea
 Opinion, judgement, or view of the work
 It is not factual

PARAGRAPH WRITING
 After formulating the topic sentence, construct your succeeding sentences which support your claim
 Your supporting sentences should stick to the topic sentence
 Remember the qualities of a good paragraph (Unity, Coherence, Emphasis)
 End your paragraph properly with a conclusion
 Review grammar and spelling

What is the content of the supporting sentences?

 In writing the supporting sentences, apply the Planes of Analysis suggested by Alice Guillermo in Reading the
Image

Varying Interpretations

BULAKLAK by Angela Pascual

 (1) Bulaklak by Angela Pascual reveals some aspects pertaining to womanhood.
 TOPIC SENTENCE

 (2) First of all, with the presence of the flower and the image below it that resembles the female reproductive
organ, Pascual presents a metaphor that women are like flowers: capable of reproduction.
 BASIC SEMIOTC + ICONIC

 (3) Second, she shows us two images of women forming the fallopian tubes and ovaries where one woman is
pregnant while the other is not.
 ICONIC

 (4) This tells us a reality that some women are capable of bearing a child while others are not.
 EVALUATIVE

 (5) Not to be missed is the striking red color at the cneter which looks like a cup, representing the womb or
uterus where life of a fetus begins.
 BASIC SEMIOTIC + ICONIC

 (6) This shows us that a mother is the source of life and red which signifies blood represents life.
 EVALUATIVE + BASIC SEMIOTIC

 (7) With this womb that looks like a cup, one is also reminded of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code where he claims
that the Holy Grail (cup) is actually the womb of Mary Magdalene.
 CONTEXTUAL + BASIC SEMIOTIC

 (8) In sum, the images in the painting all point to the significant role of women in society, being a mother – the
source of new life.
 EVALUATIVE + CONCLUSION