My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advance copy of this collection of letters between father and son, discussing art, the meaning of why people create, and how to live a life in art, told between father and son, teacher and student, and peer to peer.

I love writing letters to people, something else I got from my father along with his hairlines and portly physique. During my parents courtship my father used to send long missives to my mom with quotes from books, movies, songs, poems, his thoughts and feelings, and more, even though both lived in the Bronx, went to school in Manhattan, and pretty much saw each other everyday. My father continued doing this after they were married, mailing letters from New York where he worked, back to Connecticut. My mother was always thrilled, even though she had just seen him leave when the mail would arrive, and this went on for years. Letters were important to my father. I have the letters he sent me, and my brother still has his. My father died before email was a big thing, but I don't think he would have liked it. Spellcheck maybe he would have been a fan of. I think this book he would have been a fan of also, as he loved to learn, and these letters are not only touching and familial, but are a master's class in art appreciation and understanding. Over to You: Letters Between a Father and Son is a slim collection of letters between John Berger and his son Yves Berger dealing with art, life, seeing, and just being two people who love each others.

John Berger was an artist, a critic, a raconteur and an author whose book Ways of Seeing is a perennial backlist bestseller. His son Yves Berger, is also an essayist, and author, whose ping pong games with his father gave title to this book. A collection of letters, shared between the two, that started with John sending some postcards, with pictures of famous paintings to his son, and giving a brief description of why something works and what does not. This began to expand with longer letters, more pictures, and even inclusion of each others work. John Berger tells of meeting famous artists, sharing stories, and tales, while Yves asks question, or gives his take on why things work, and what does not. The book is illustrated with full color pictures of these works, so that one can see what the two are discussing, and learn from their words.

This book is both warm, funny and informative, almost like taking a high lever art class in book form. The book is not big, but a lot is packed into the pages. Some of the discussions might be a little over some people's heads, like mine. However I loved to be included in what these two were talking about and after some thought I could figure out what they were discussing. If nothing else it was nice seeing are that wasn't sequential art as in graphic novels. What I really enjoyed most was the way the two men wrote to each other. Not just as father and son, but as equals in many ways. People who knew what the other was saying and why he was saying it. Sharing a passion they both loved, with knowledge that both could benefit from. John Berger could talk about artists he knew from before Yves was born, while also learning from Yves questions, and analysis.

A book for artists, without a doubt. Also a book for people who love to read about people who care about something, can speak knowledgeable about it, and love each other like these two did. A surprising read, one I enjoyed but not for the reasons I expected.

This is a book of high level art analysis and appreciation, structured as a warm and engaging conversation between a father and son who are both practicing and deeply knowledgeable in the field. There is undoubtedly an audience for their observations, but it will require a similar level of understanding. Recommended to that audience.

First off, my thanks to NetGalley and Pantheon for an eARC of this book.
It has been decades since I have read Berger. Better known as an art critic than an artist (and perhaps as an novelist as well), this slim volume mixes the two.
It is an ongoing conversation betwen John Berger and his son Yves (also an artist) regarding the perception and practice of an artist. Regarding both artistic works, and the world and self. In ways it is a continuation of "Ways of Seeing".
The ebook format for this book is not recommended. There are many reproductions of artwork in here, and in the ebook format the images are scrunched together on the page of a pad reader. What they are of, let alone the detail, is almost unrecognizable at times. Also, on occasion it is hard to determine which of the two is writing - again, this may be a shortcoming only in the ebook version. There is no clear delineation between who is writing when.
OTOH, their conversation, a little slow to begin with (and moves from postcards to emails it appears), becomes an insightful and interesting commentary between the two on art and artists and practice. Also, at the end of the volume there is a collection of sketches by the two artists.
Perhaps for Berger completists, and active artists, only - but I still enjoyed the read.
4 out of 5
Publication date: November 12, 2024