Art and Revolution

Ernst Neizvestny and the Role of the Artist

John Berger

$22.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Verso Books
30 September 2025

History of Art & Design Styles; Sculpture; European history

Series: The Essential John Berger

In Art and Revolution, John Berger examines the life and work of Ernst Neizvestny, a Russian sculptor whose exclusion from the ranks of officially approved Soviet artists left him laboring in enforced obscurity to realize his monumental and very public vision of art. But Berger's account goes well beyond the specific dilemma of the artist to illuminate the very meaning of revolutionary art. In his struggle against official orthodoxy - including a face-to-face confrontation with Khrushchev himself - Neizvestny was fighting not for a merely personal or aesthetic vision, but for a recognition of the

social role of art. His sculptures earn a place in the world by reflecting the courage of a whole people, by commemorating, in an age of mass suffering, the resistance and endurance of millions.

Through this story John Berger explores the relationship of political art and the political artist. Reissued for the first time in a decade, Art and Revolution burnishes Berger's reputation as one of the preeminent thinkers of our age.

By: John Berger
Imprint: Verso Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Paperback original
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 12mm
Weight: 159g
ISBN: 9781804298596
ISBN 10: 180429859X
Series: The Essential John Berger
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 30 September 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Storyteller, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, dramatist and critic, John Berger (1926-2017) was 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.

Reviews for Art and Revolution: Ernst Neizvestny and the Role of the Artist

One of the most influential intellectuals of our time * The Observer * Any book by John Berger is an event . . . admirers will recognise the characteristic blend of sympathy and lucidity, directness of address, human warmth, and cosmopolitan example * Times Literary Supplement *