Christmas is over, another new year begins. Over this short break, I read several books, the one I would like to discuss is The Shape of a Pocket by John Berger. John Berger (1926-2017) was a writer, artist, novelist and art critic. 'Susan Sontag once described Berger as peerless in his ability to make “attentiveness to the sensual world” meet “imperatives of conscience”. Jarvis Cocker, to mark a recent book of essays about Berger, said: “There are a few authors that can change the way you look at the world through their writing and John Berger is one of them.”' (Brown, 2017). I came to know Berger through the TV series and book Ways of Seeing, he spoke about photography and art and I came to understand so much through Berger's explanations. The book I have just read, The Shape of a Pocket, is about all kinds of art and stories from life. As this term in Creative Media is about portraits I will discuss the Fayum Portraits from the book. These portraits were discovered originally in 1615 'by the Italian traveller Pietro della Valle during his journeys in Asia and Africa.' (National Archaeological Museum, 2023) however further discoveries have been made and more than 1000 Fayum exist today all over the world. The Fayum are portraits made of the dead from Ancient Roman Egypt between the 1st and 3rd centuries, as Berger writes; 'they were painted whilst the Gospels of the New Testament were being written' (Berger 2001: 53)
The Fayum portraits are quite beguiling to look at these portraits were painted sometimes while the person was alive but often posthumously. They are naturalistic, they look right back at you from centuries ago and seem to be so immediate and this is what Berger found them to be so touching. They were painted by Greek Egyptians (hence the style) as all are facing forward whereas Egyptian artists painted only in profile. Berger states; 'Facing them, we still feel something of the unexpectedness of that frontality. It is as if they have just tentatively stepped toward us' (Berger 2001:56) The diverse nature of the portraits are that there was a hugely diverse population. 'They served a double pictorial function: they were identity pictures - like passport photos- for the dead on their journey to Anubis, the god with the Jackal's head, to the kingdom of Osiris; secondly and briefly they served as mementoes for the departed to the bereaved family.' Berger 2001:54). These portraits were created as Berger states by an artist in an act of submission. They are immediate, they are for the purpose stated.
'Images of men and women making no appeal whatsoever, asking for nothing, yet declaring themselves, and anybody who is looking at them, alive! They incarnate, frail as they are, a forgotten self-respect. They confirm,, despite everything, that life was a gift.' (Berger 2001:58)
With those considered words I will leave this post with some final thoughts, I choose one of these people (below) and wonder what her life was, as the portraits were of professional urban middle-class people, perhaps she was the daughter of a teacher or perhaps she was a florist or dressmaker. Her large eyes stare at us without judgement. She is who she is strong in life and beautiful, as she will now be seen and remembered.
References
Berger, J. (2001) The Shape of a Pocket, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London.
Brown, M. (2017). John Berger, art critic and author, dies aged 90. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/02/john-berger-art-critic-and-author-dies-aged-90 [Accessed 3 Jan. 2025].
National Archaeological Museum. (2023). Fayum portraits - National Archaeological Museum. [online] Available at: https://www.namuseum.gr/en/collection/fayum-portraits/ [Accessed 3 Jan. 2025].
