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Bento's Sketchbook John Berger

Bento's Sketchbook By John Berger

Bento's Sketchbook by John Berger


$97.99
Condition - Very Good
Out of stock

Summary

A meditation, in words and images, on the practice of drawing, by the author of Ways of Seeing.

Bento's Sketchbook Summary

Bento's Sketchbook by John Berger

The seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza-also known as Benedict or Bento de Spinoza-spent the most intense years of his short life writing. A sporadic draughtsman, he also carried with him a sketchbook. After his sudden death, his friends rescued letters, manuscripts, notes-but no drawings.
For years, John Berger has imagined finding Bento's sketchbook without knowing what its pages might hold, but wanting to see the drawings alongside his surviving words. When one day a friend gave Berger a beautiful, virgin sketchbook, John said This is Bento's! and he began to draw, taking his inspiration from the philosopher's vision.
The result is Bento's Sketchbook-an exploration of the practice of drawing and a meditation on how art guides our gaze to the world: to flowers, to the human body, to the pitilessness of the new world order and the forms of resistance to it.

Bento's Sketchbook Reviews

Inspiring, challenging and rewarding. -- Carl Wilkinson * Financial Times *
Characteristically sui generis. -- Nick Wroe * Guardian *
Electric with thought and energy ... Berger's words and images, rendered serene by age and habit, provide an exhilarating and unflinching account of global devastation and ordinary life. -- Colin MacCabe * New Statesman *
Displays his trademark lyrical precision. -- Meaghan Delahunt * Scotsman, books of the year *
The book coheres because Berger's is a humane and uniquely confiding voice, and this voice is co-extensive with his skill as a draftsman. The two attributes act in concert with Spinoza's enigmatic philosophical propositions. All three constitute a singular act of witness. -- Teju Cole * New York Times *
This beautifully produced book, illustrated with Berger's drawings, is as much a meditation on the art of drawing as a commentary on philosophy ... Whether he is writing about art or about the oppressed, Berger is a dab hand at what might be called semi-mystical exegesis. His stories are often like fables, and his explication-colourfully grounded but picaresque-is admirably lucid. * The Art Newspaper *

About John Berger

Storyteller, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, dramatist, and critic, John Berger is one of the most internationally influential writers of the last fifty years. His many books include Ways of Seeing, the fiction trilogy Into Their Labours, Here Is Where We Meet, the Booker Prize-winning novel G, Hold Everything Dear, the Man Booker-longlisted From A to X, and A Seventh Man.

Additional information

GOR003699048
9781844676842
1844676846
Bento's Sketchbook by John Berger
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Verso Books
20110516
176
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Bento's Sketchbook