The seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza-generally known as
Benedict (or Bento) de Spinoza-spent the most intense years of his short
life writing. A keen draughtsman, he also carried with him a
sketchbook. After his sudden death, his friends rescued letters,
manuscripts, notes, but apparently didn't find a sketchbook.
Or,
if they did, it was subsequently lost. For years, John Berger has
imagined Bento's sketchbook being found, not knowing what he hoped to
find in it, but wanting to reread his words while being able to look at
the things Bento had seen with his own eyes. When one day a friend gave
John a blank sketchbook he began to draw: not like a seventeenth-century
Dutch amateur, nor to try and illustrate Bento's thoughts, but drawing,
in Spinoza's company, from life today, and telling stories and asking
questions.
A book of images and words, Bento's Sketchbook is an
exploration of the practice of drawing, about where and to what it
leads. It is, too, a beautiful, clear-sighted meditation on how we
perceive, and seek to explain, our ever-changing relationship with the
world around us.
Bento's Sketchbook - John Berger
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£12.99