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murmurART

art advisory - looking for something specific or help in finding work by early career artists. contact info@murmurart.com
Review Jun 11 2008 « | »
'A Painter of our Time' by John Berger This book is taking me an age to read. Not because it is a bore, the print is too......

James Honey

This book is taking me an age to read. Not because it is a bore, the print is too small or it is poorly written, but because it is totally excellent. I have re-read paragraphs and individual sentences over and over again. The imminent arrival of the last page growing plump in my peripheral is causing me much stress. It will surely be a while until I can exit the world of Janos Lavin's diary and back into my supposed reality.

John Berger, as I am sure many of you know, is a very well respected art critic. He wrote the hugely famous 'Ways of Seeing', a staple to any art students reading. He wrote 'A Painter of our Time' in 1958. It was his first novel. The release was a victim of the high-strung tensions around the time of the cold war and was pulled off the bookshelves until a later release was arranged.

I don't want to say too much about the content because I think every reader of this dialogue should dive into the pages. Though here is a bright light-flashing trailer for you, car chase and all! An expatriate Hungarian painter who is a friend of the narrator disappears without a trace just after his successful first solo show. Only a diary and his work of art are the remaining remnants of his life. The book manages to inseparably entwine politics and art.

Another fact that I must mention is that the cover to my copy is amazing too. An unashamedly garish 1970's publication. Luminous orange to be exact. Smashing.

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