A Painter of Our Time

by John Berger

Exiled in London, the Hungarian artist Janos Lavin disappears one day, into thin air. His journal offers his friend John the only clues to where he has gone, and why. John Berger's first novel is a passionate exploration of the artistic process, and a gripping detective story.

Genres: Fiction, Art, Literature, Novels, Literary Fiction, Classics, British Literature

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

John 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.

Reviews

[Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this tattered paperback, bought and first read years ago, as an antidote for the sour taste left in my mouth by Peter Heller's recent book, The Painter. Berger created a real painter, whereas Heller's character merely wears the garb. Heller's character can no more actually paint than I could.

Berger himself was a painter, but gave it up. I can imagine him doing so for both prosaic reasons -- like the difficulty of affording supplies and studio space -- and because through writing he could be more supportive of left-wing causes. His swansong to painting was his first novel: A Painter of Our time. It's not an autobiographical novel -- except perhaps for the descriptions of the paintings themselves. Berger, in his late twenties or early 30s, successfully imagined the life of a 60 year old artist from Eastern Europe, an expat who fled the muddle of his country's political upheaval, who abandoned the revolutionary causes of his youth. Yet, in his exile he thinks about this constantly and weighs that decision against the progress he is making with his art. He questions: is making art revolutionary? And if so, is it enough?

Bottom line: a brilliant book. A reread and a keeper on my diminishing shelf of re-readables.

[notgettingenough · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read A Painter of Our Time in a disjointed way which did the book no favours. However, it is fair to say it's a hard slog. Beauty and a rather wry humour abound. But it is essential to the story that it contains a lot of Marxist analysis of the place of art in revolution, as well as in the capitalist environs which provide the physical setting. One moment we are following the charmingly amusing story of the butcher who wants Janos to do a nude portrait of his wife. The next we are in this:

Today every painter worthy of the name is his own master, his own pupil and perhaps finally his own debaser, his own mannerist. We each have to decide everything for ourselves. We each have to choose what is inconceivable for us. As artists - and this is the curse that is upon us - we must each visualise our own city, ourself as its centre. It is bitter for me to admit this, I who, as a man, believe in the collective, in the revolutionary class not the revolutionary individual.

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpre...

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some pretty heavy genius within. If Berger hasn’t quite figured out how to balance his politics* and his narrative with grace (he would, and soon), it doesn’t subtract from just how damn brilliant his mind was.






*Recommended to Nick because he’s an unapologetic bleeding-heart Socialist-Communist.

[Catherine Siemann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is told in two voices: that of Janos Lavin, a Hungarian exile artist who has been living and working in London, and who disappears shortly after his first major success, a one-man exhibition, and "John," an art critic and friend. "John" reproduces a diary of Janos's, written during the final year before his disappearance, and intersperses it with his own memories of Janos's life and work, and their friendship. John's portions are more story-driven; Janos's diary entries are as interested in recording his thoughts on art and politics as they are in narration. Highly recommended.

[Marek Słodkowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspiring novel, both in form and in content, from the master that is John Berger.

[Barry Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because in reading the biography of Kenneth Clark the author mentioned it contained a thinly disguised unflattering portrait of Clark in the character of Sir Gerald Banks. John Berger was a younger professional rival of Clark's, who had a different view of art and criticism. Having read James Stourton's view of Clark, I was curious to see an opposing view. It is a rather unflattering view. In the novel, the main character, Hungarian emigre painter Janos Lavin goes to view Banks' (Clark) private collection and quarrels with him, likening the collection to that of a big game hunter in that, "they celebrate your skill, not their own wild life."

There is merit to both to both Janos' and Sir Gerald's points of view but Janos mainly objects to Sir Gerald because of his Englishness (which of course he can do nothing about).

Apart from the picture of Kenneth Clark, it's a novel very worth reading because of its vivid depiction of what it's like to be a painter facing all the problems of that life. In that, it's probably one of the best descriptions I've ever read, a must-read for any artist. I suspect, however, that anyone born after 1970 will find all the talk about socialism and communism utterly baffling and completely irrelevant. No one today in the west even thinks about it except perhaps as an historical curiosity that was proven unpleasant. Such is how life changes. When I read the biography of Clark, I saw it as the portrait of a world which has entirely disappeared (sadly or gladly or both at once) and this is another glimpse of such a world. - BH.

[Aslıhan Çelik Tufan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ressam ve sanat eleştirmeni, şair ve Booker ödüllü John Berger 'in ilk romanı ile merhabalar.

İlk romanlar bence çok önemli. Yazarın kaleminin nasıl karakterinin oturduğunu, nasıl kendini geliştirdiğini, büyüdüğünü en en net ilk kitabını okuyarak anlayabilirsiniz. O sevdiğiniz kalemin yürüdüğü yollara şahit olursunuz. Berger için bu çok çok güzel ve başarılı bir okuma olacaktır.

Soğuk Savaş döneminde Londra 'da mülteci olan Macar ressamın Günlüğü merkezinde sanat ve yaratım sürecine dair enfes bir roman.

Mutlaka okuyun diyorum.
Keyifli okumalar.

#readingismycardio #aslihanneokudu #okudumbitti #2021okumalarım #okuryorumu #kitaptavsiyesi #neokudum #siakitap #johnberger #zamanımızınbirressamı #bookerödüllüyazarlar

[Muhammad Ahmad · Rating 1 out of 5]

As an admirer of Berger’s essays on art, I found his occasional lucidity about art completely overwhelmed by the obtuse and rancid political subtext. Bear in mind that just two years after Soviet tanks crushed a revolution in Hungary and hanged its communist leader, Berger chose to side with the tanks (the literal definition if a “tankie”). But if you thought this was just some youthful indiscretion, in the afterword he wrote thirty years later, he mocked the people who were horrified by this and pronounced his own with prophetic.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

berger king

[RLJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

oeioeioei dit is goed

[Mike Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Painter of Our Time is a book that every painter should read, like The Horses Mouth, but serious. It is a fictional biography of a Hungarian expat, living in London in the 1950’s told through the device of his diary, with notations made by his friend who discovers the diary after the painter’s disappearance. The structure of the story is elegant, as if one of the themes is embedded in the very form itself. This method of having the painter tell the story, then having it “edited” and retold through the eyes of the friend, brings us to the truth that reality is highly subjective. But this is not an overt feature, no, it is soft, sly, quiet and yet gives us a profound sense of just how much we cover ourselves in illusion- even while trying to come to some superior notion of truth about ourselves. As a primer on purpose and meaning in art-making, this is better than any of the academic stuff that’s been published in Art intelligentsia circles in the last few decades. It has no discernible pretense attached to it and it is rich with meaning and the implication that there is a higher purpose to art-making than simply ego or career.
This is the fourth book of Berger’s I’ve read in the last few months and it is his earliest novel. Berger began his adult life as a painter, giving it up a year or so before he began the novel. He explains that he felt that art was incapable of addressing the problems of the threat of nuclear annihilation that was so prevalent in the 1950’s and 60’s. He describes this book as his “farewell to painting.”
I found myself underlining many of Janos Lavin’s (the protagonist) words, particularly those about art. One of my favorites is:
“…formalism is art which gets over its problems without a glance at anything outside itself. The formalist work is self-sufficient. It is a commodity. The market for such commodities is made up of those who believe that they are also self-sufficient- members of the mincing cosmopolitan art world.”
I know this passage might make the book seem cynical and pessimistic, however, I see it, overall, as a document that may well serve as a recipe for artists who are looking for a way to reinvent themselves, within art or, more likely, beyond it.

[Matthew Eisenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very unique reading experience for me. Never before have I read a book that I thought could easily and justifiably be given 1 star by some readers and 5 stars by others. Never before have I been so impressed by an author and a book, but also been so ambivalent about reading it.

A Painter of Our Time is short novel---about 170 pages---and it took me about 6 weeks (or 5 and a half weeks too long) to finish. I just never felt a particular urge to continue reading. The novel does not invite any emotional connection or investment. It was in no way an immersive reading experience---the reading experience was more like witnessing something from afar, as a spectator.

The novel focuses on a gifted artist's perspective on his creative process and on the politics of Eastern Europe in the 1950s---2 subjects about which I am completely naive, and that do not particularly interest me. Nevertheless, I found the book to be almost ceaselessly interesting, and thought several passages were exquisitely honest, insightful, and thought-provoking.

I truly believe A Painter of Our Time is a brilliant novel. It's also difficult for me to think of a single person to whom I'd recommend it. I mean, I would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone with a great interest in Art, or in the politics of Eastern Europe in the 1950s, but I can't think of anyone I know who can be described thusly.

I don't know. It's brilliant, for sure. I'm glad I read it. And I'm glad to be finished with it. On to the next!

[Georgia Douk. · Rating 3 out of 5]

"με τη δουλειά συμβαίνει πάντοτε το ίδιο. Στις εννιά το πρωί είσαι γεμάτος ιδέες, θέληση και αλήθεια. Στις τέσσερις το απόγευμα είσαι μια αποτυχία" σελ 79

"αν τραβήξεις μερικές παράλληλες γραμμές, τη μία κοντά στην άλλη και έπειτα άλλες κόντρα, θα έχεις το πιο απλό οπτικό παράδειγμα της διαλεκτικής μεθόδου. Σταυρωτό πλέγμα, όπως το λένε. .....οι ρόμβοι είναι σαν το μέλλον που παλεύουμε. κουράγιο όμως. η πρώτη σειρά γραμμών είναι ήδη εκεί. Το μόνο που μας μένει είναι να χαράξουμε τις κάθετες." σελ. 39

"Χωρίς αμφιβολία, όπως λέει ο Στάλιν, ο καλλιτέχνης είναι "ο μηχανικός της ψυχής". Οι μηχανικοί υπάρχουν λόγω των αναγκών του κόσμου. Ίσως ο ορισμός του Στάλιν να έχει πολύ ατσάλι. Αλλά εξάρτηση σημαίνει δουλειά. " σελ. 40.

[Delphine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dagboekaantekeningen van Janos Lavin, een (fictieve) geëmigreerde Hongaarse kunstenaar. Bevat interessante kunsttheoretische bespiegelingen, geeft stof tot nadenken. Zware kost.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Πραγματική αποκάλυψη!

[Craig Masten · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel “A Painter of our Time” by John Berger, requires picking aphoristic nuggets about painting from considerable arcane historical politically motivated passages about the Cold War of the 1949’s. Also, I’m not a big fan of epistolary novels, often as in this case too disjointed and fragmented with incomplete information to pull together. It’s like listening to snatches of conversations partially overheard about people and events which were meaningful to them but less so if you don’t know them, weren’t there, or even care about the subjects discussed.
As as an artist myself, I enjoyed the artist main character’s musings about his craft, but much less so about the political persons and topics rather voluminously covered in the book. The commentary by a friend of his who found this main character’s journal is only marginally helpful in understanding what is going on, and sometimes contributes to the confusion for sake of a plot about the painter’s disappearance.
The thrust of the book is really the author’s idea of the conflict between an artist as a man of contemplation away from the fray of the alternative of political action required by his times. It’s a struggle of his being caught be tween these two possibilities for his life.
There are some fine sentences which read like the first lines of poems, as well as epigram after epigram about being an artist and the process of painting which I enjoyed, while much more about the plight of being a refuge of conscience was, rightly or wrongly, of less interest to me.
Not easy, it took awhile to read, but grew in me, and had much in it to recommend as very meaningful to an artist , which the author once was. He abandoned that prior vocation for writing as a more meaningful way in his view to more so contribute to the world, a biographical note which accounts a great deal to the conception of this, his first book.
Consider who you are. If an artist or a political activist, you will find more than enough to greatly reward your effort.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Perling alludes to this book a lot in the first third of his biography of John Berger. I hadn't read the novel since I was in graduate school thirty years ago. Since I love all Berger's work, it was an easy and obvious choice to re-read it.

I like to re-read books. It's an excellent way of measuring personal development. As I read, I couldn't help noticing everything that I missed the first time. Of course, all this new insight was partially a matter of reading it as a companion book to the biography.

Berger is an amazing wordsmith, a complex political thinker and an innovator in form. The novel is written in two different voices: the voice of the "friend" alternating with the journal of the painter. The book was viciously attacked as an apologist's view of totalitarian Russia and its emperialist expansion into Eastern Europe. At the time, during the fiercest antagonisms and cruelties of the Cold War, this was inevitable. But the book is a novel, not a polemic, it's much more a psychological study, definitely deeper and more interesting than a political screed. For instance, at one point I though it could be read as a portrayal of "survivor's syndrome".

The first time I read this I was not as sensitive to the inner conflict of an artist who is deeply engaged in revolutionary politics, yet still driven as an artist to be an explorer, an careful observer, an transcriber of immediate human experience. I was more interested in the day to day creative process of painting. I skimmed over the historical context. And so I missed much of the poignancy of the story.

This a great book, worth reading again.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Berger's first novel... Just ok. An intriguing premise got me hooked: In England, the friend of an abruptly vanished Hungarian ex-patriot painter finds a journal in the artist's abandoned studio & begins to read, hoping to uncover some reason behind the disappearance. The juxtaposition of points of view is at times fascinating, showing two takes on the same event, as the friend occasionally interjects to recall his side, but the monotonous procession of journal entries quickly becomes dull & nothing much happens at all. Years pass for the painter Janos Lavin as he struggles with his projects, ruminates on his homeland & his revolutionary comrades (the time frame is the mid-'50s) one of whom has been executed. A more contemporary afterward by the author illuminates just how controversial some of Lavin's thoughts & political observations were at the time of publication, incurring the outrage & censure of some critics. That outrage has evaporated over the years, as have the details of the revolutionary urgency of the time. Still, after finishing I was left with the very clear echoes of these two characters (& others), vividly sketched by an author clearly bursting with talent.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

a really poignant book in a fascinating format - an easy read, but not one without beautiful formulations and insights. i don't know much about the historical context the book takes place in, but i don't feel like i lost much on that end of things, though i can't say the same for my knowledge of painting - berger is (of course) a very well-educated man in that field, and i'm a stupid graphic designer who in the words of my girlfriend just 'draws shapes and letters'. but regardless, this reflection on the creative process and the role of the artist in society is truly beautiful, stimulating, and fascinating and i wish it would get more attention alongside his non-fiction work; personally, i didn't know berger was a novelist (although i don't know whether the diary/commentary format would be strictly considered a 'novel' per se) until i chanced upon this book at a charity shop, and i'm very glad i picked it up! a brilliant read, and one that ran alongside one of the most important weeks of my life.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was initially a challenge to read but the further I went into it the more I found it clever and so absorbing. It was written in 1958 and explores the relationship between context, art and politics with a backdrop of the Hungarian revolution. The work of Janos the painter intertwined with commentary from John the friend and critic is brilliantly executed. It is a novel of its time and whilst that is a strength it is also a weakness. Women have little importance other than as wives or models. The tension of life as a refugee is so relevant today that there remain important questions to be considered raised in this novel

[, · Rating 5 out of 5]

“the more I understand of myself and the more I understand of the temperament of those artists whom I admire, the more I am convinced that what separates talent from genius is nothing more nor less than confidence: the ability not to be frightened of making a fool of yourself. this is a dangerous thing to say. It opens the door to sheer bravura. but that is a very different thing from the kind of confidence I am talking about. bravura comes from the desire to impress which in turn comes from the same fear of making a fool of yourself. the confidence I speak of is not made out of the opinions of others. It comes from solitude.”

[Pete Gamlen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts off promisingly, but by page 125, the format felt hopelessly tedious and contrived. Skipped to the end, and put it back on the shelf. Some moments of beautiful turns of phrase by Berger, but overall more irritating than inspiring.

[Angeles]

Me encanta el estilo de Berger, se nota que es pintor. Parece que dibuja las escenas.
La.historia parece real, nos hace dudar si es una novela o el testimonio real.

[Rogue Male · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10

[Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A Painter of Our Time” is possibly the most astute book about what it’s like to be an artist I have ever read or can imagine reading.

[Ame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una storia incentrata sulla figura di un pittore, raccontata mediante un diario e gli occhi di un suo amico. Interessante per le argomentazioni riguardanti l'arte e la vita di un pittore sconosciuto senza "casa". Per il finale avrei preferito qualcosa di diverso.

[Hala Atassi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je remercie L'Atelier Contemporain et Babelio de m'avoir gracieusement offert cette belle lecture et surtout de m'avoir permis de découvrir un grand écrivain John Berger.
Pourtant le commencement a été plutôt difficile et dans les premières pages j'ai eu du mal à entrer dans l'histoire. Mais en le refermant je n'ai pas pu résister à la tentation de le relire.
Ce roman à deux voix se présente sous la forme d'un journal intime, écrit entre 1952 et 1956 par un peintre hongrois exilé à Londres. La deuxième voix est celle de son ami qui a découvert le journal après la mystérieuse disparition du peintre.
A travers ce livre l'auteur nous livre une très intéressante réflexion sur la peinture, le rôle de l'artiste et la compatibilité entre l'art et de l'engagement politique. Il revient aussi sur une partie de l'histoire de l'Europe dans la première partie du XXe siècle et les grands débats idéologiques qui l'ont animé.
C'est une oeuvre d'une grande sensibilité et humanité.

[Zac · Rating 5 out of 5]

An astonishing book. The kind of book that can teach how to value your own life if you've forgotten. A staggeringly competent discourse upon the meaning of art, life, and Socialism. Companion piece: Costa-Gavras' brilliant film 'The Confession' (1970).

[Stella Wang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting narrative style. You have Janos's diary entries first following with John's side of the story. With Janos's background, you can clearly see how he adapts from a communist system to a capitalism one and how his artworks transform overtime. And the idea of 'Desperate Optimism' really speaks to me.

"Here I write down whatever comes into my head or floods through my heart. But on the canvas it is never so direct - and cannot be so. The realities I see and understand are on my side of a curtain. I study them and commit myself to them. Yet my hands work on the other side, trying to rediscover what I see on my side, but always limited by the medium which is the only reality they have to work with."

"This self-consciousness is an advance beyond a life of intuition. But the final creative aim of self-consciousness must be to consciously lose itself, to return to a reliance upon intuition within certain consciously created limits. The bloody competitiveness of capitalism had prevented this ever happening. [...] The same thing affects art. Capitalism has finally destroyed the traditions of art it once inherited or created, because art also needs the same kind of controlled liberation of intuition - in both artists and spectator."

"All great drawing is drawing by memory. That is why it takes so long to learn. If drawing were transcription, a kind of script writing, it could be taught in a few years. Even before a model, you draw from memory. The model is a reminder. Not of a stereotype that you know by heart. Not even of anything you can consciously remember. The model is a reminder of experiences you can only formulate and therefore only remember by drawing. And those experiences add up to the sum total of your awareness of the tangible, three-dimensional, structural world."

[Editorial Alfaguara]

Londres, 1958. El pintor h�ngaro Janos Lavin ha huido sin dejar rastro horas despu�s de la inauguraci�n de su primera exposici�n individual. Ni su mujer ni sus amigos comprenden por qu� se ha marchado justo cuando alcanzaba el �xito por el que llevaba luchando tantos a�os. Sin embargo, todas las claves est�n en el diario que Lavin ha dejado tras de s�... Una novela provocadora y comprometida, Un pintor de hoy es el retrato de un hombre atormentado por el recuerdo de un amigo muerto, que se debate entre su fidelidad al arte y a la pol�tica mientras intenta mantener la fe en el ser humano. Pero adem�s y sobre todo, es un viaje apasionante al interior de la creaci�n art�stica. Pintor y novelista, el brit�nico John Berger, ganador del prestigioso Booker Prize, nos sorprende en la que fue su primera novela con una narraci�n desbordante de autenticidad, desgarradora y tierna por momentos. Una novela sobre la libertad, el sacrificio y lo que significa ser un artista hoy en d�a. (Traducci�n Pilar V�zquez)