Last night I saw the last in a series of eight BBC (UK) documentaries called The Power of Art, presented by Simon Schama. As with most things, I've missed the first 7 of them! The one I did see last night was about Mark Rothko. An artist that I did not know much about previously, this was a fascinating insight into an extraordinary man. The presenter was a little pretentious, and there were a few too many knowing glances at the camera that lasted a little longer than necessary, but it was a pretty good show nonetheless. The first seven shows were about Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso, Turner, Bernini and David. I was wondering has anyone else seen any of these? If so, what did you think? I might have to track them down on DVD.
*UPDATE*, I've been informed that the DVD is available from amazon. I also discovered the book version - also available through amazon, or for other Hong Kongers, its available at Kelly & Walsh bookstore, Pacific Place.
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
The power of Art
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3 comments:
I enjoyed them. You are correct about the knowing looks, but I think the series was great.
The angle he takes is to really show you the artist from a personal/emotional point of view; van Gogh’s mental illness, David's politics, Rembrandt's decline in popularity...
Some of what he tells you will make you ache with sympathy for the artists involved.
I am not sure how much you've caught but there are some reenactments using actors and again I thought this series was really well done.
The pbs store for around $50 and amazon.com has it for around $35.
Cindy
Thanks Cindy - I really did enjoy the angle he showed of Rothko, so I'd really like to see the others. I might just get it through amazon, its much easier than traipsing all over HK!
I haven't seen this series, but one of my favorite documentaries of all time is called Inspirations. It explores the creative process of the artist. It features Dale Chihuly, Roy Lichtenstein and David Bowie, among others. It's very interesting to me to discover how an artist taps into his creativity and the process it takes to bring an inspired thought to life. I think you would really like it. Oh, and you can rent it from Netflix.
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