Art

Video documentaries about all art forms

The Allure of Art Nouveau episode 3 - Vienna

The Allure of Art Nouveau episode 3 – Vienna

The Allure of Art Nouveau episode 3 – Vienna: Stephen Smith explores how Vienna’s artists rebelled against the establishment in the late 19th century and brought their own highly sexed version of art nouveau to the city.     In a story that combines scandal and revolution, cultural correspondent Stephen Smith explores how Vienna’s artists rebelled against the establishment in the late 19th century and brought their own highly sexed version of art nouveau to the banks of the Danube. Looking at the eye-watering work of Gustav Klimt, Smith discovers that Viennese ‘Jugenstil’ was more than just a decorative delight […]

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The Allure of Art Nouveau episode 2 - British Cities

The Allure of Art Nouveau episode 2 – British Cities

The Allure of Art Nouveau episode 2 – British Cities: Britain’s art nouveau heritage is excavated as cultural correspondent Stephen Smith unearths the bright. Stephen Smith explores Britain’s art nouveau heritage, from the controversial life of Aubrey Beardsley to the work of Mary Watts and the influence of Arthur Liberty.     On a mission to uncover lesser-known stars of Britain’s version of this continental fin-de-siecle style, he explores the stunning work of Mary Watts and the massive influence of department store entrepreneur Arthur Liberty. In Scotland, he celebrates the innovative art nouveau of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, but looks harder

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The Allure of Art Nouveau episode 1

The Allure of Art Nouveau episode 1 – Paris

The Allure of Art Nouveau episode 1 – Paris: The delicious objects of Parisian Art Nouveau are explored by cultural correspondent Stephen Smith. Stephen Smith explores the objects of Parisian Art Nouveau and learns how some of the 19th century’s most glamorous, controversial figures inspired an extraordinary movement.     Uncovering how the luscious decorative style first erupted into the cityscape, Stephen delves into the city’s bohemian past to learn how some of the 19th century’s most glamorous and controversial figures inspired this extraordinary movement. Revealing the story behind Alphonse Mucha’s sensual posters of actress Sarah Bernhardt, looking at the

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Metalworks episode 3 - The Blacksmith's Tale

Metalworks episode 3 – The Blacksmith’s Tale

Metalworks episode 3 – The Blacksmith’s Tale: In a story where progress meets creative invention, this film looks at how the blacksmith created items in wrought and cast iron that both served and embellished society. From the earliest ornate hinges and doors to magnificent baroque gates and mass-produced street furniture, it reveals the mastery of metalworkers such as Jean Tijou, Robert Bakewell and John Tresilian, the designs of Robert Adam and George Gilbert Scott, and the mass marketers of the Victorian age such as the Saracen foundry.     Treasures are drawn from all corners of the UK in a

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Metalworks episode 2 - The Knight's Tale

Metalworks episode 2 – The Knight’s Tale

Metalworks episode 2 – The Knight’s Tale: Art historian and curator Tobias Capwell celebrates the great age of armour. Referencing the unstoppable rise of the Royal Almain Armoury at Greenwich, he tells the forgotten story of how Henry VIII fused German high technology with Renaissance artistry in the pursuit of one aim – to become the very image of the perfect knight. Using the talents of foreign craftsmen and his court artist Hans Holbein, Henry transformed himself into a living metal sculpture. His daughter Elizabeth I further exploited that image, making her courtiers parade before her in the most innovative

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Metalworks episode 1 - The Golden Age of Silver

Metalworks episode 1 – The Golden Age of Silver

Metalworks episode 1 – The Golden Age of Silver: Dan Cruickshank visits Britain’s finest country houses, museums and factories as he uncovers the 18th- and 19th-century fascination with silver. Delving into an unsurpassed era of shimmering opulence, heady indulgence and conspicuous consumption, Dan discovers the Georgian and Victorian obsession with this tantalising precious metal which represented status, wealth and excellent taste. He gives us a glimpse of some of the most extensive collections and exquisite pieces of silverware to have ever been made on British shores.     Series looking at aspects of British metalworking over the centuries, including the

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Mary Beard's Forbidden Art episode 2

Mary Beard’s Forbidden Art episode 2

Mary Beard’s Forbidden Art episode 2: Mary unpacks the complex subject of art and ideology, considering a range of very different works that have challenged the political and social status quo, expressing opinions and attitudes that many have wanted to silence – and even erase.     She examines artwork ranging from the etchings of Otto Dix, banned by the Nazis, to the paintings of artist and gay activist Derek Jarman and the now famous (or infamous) statue of Edmund Colston. She considers the challenges of the representation of religious images from England to West Africa, examines how art has

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Civilisation episode 6 - Protest and Communication

Civilisation episode 6 – Protest and Communication

Civilisation episode 6 – Protest and Communication: Kenneth Clark investigates the Protestant Reformation in northern Europe. He looks at Holbein, Thomas Moore, Erasmus, the printing press and Durer.     Kenneth Clark’s classic 1969 series tracing the history of Western art and philosophy.   Civilisation episode 6 – Protest and Communication   Albrecht Dürer sometimes spelt in English as Durer or Duerer, without umlaut, was a painter, printmaker, and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was still in his twenties due to his high-quality woodcut prints. He was

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Mary Beard's Forbidden Art episode 1

Mary Beard’s Forbidden Art episode 1

Mary Beard’s Forbidden Art episode 1: Classicist and broadcaster Professor Mary Beard explores a broad range of thought-provoking and sometimes controversial works of art that tackle unsettling subjects – works that have been fought over, removed from view or simply ‘forbidden’. She delves into the questions of what, why and how art gets forbidden, who gets to decide and how that has changed over time.     In the first programme, Mary explores some of the challenging ways that artists have shown the human body. She begins with the Romans, heading to the British Museum to discuss a statue of

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Andy Warhol's America episode 3

Andy Warhol’s America episode 3

Andy Warhol’s America episode 3: The final episode sees a much more cautious Warhol: a man obsessed with money and security as he reflects on the upper echelons of American society, drag queens and racism.     Documentary looking at the history of 20th-century America through the life and career of Andy Warhol. This three-part series, richly supplemented with archive footage and talking heads, starts by taking us back to his immigrant beginnings in Pittsburgh and his early screen prints which perfectly reflected the instant, mass-produced culture of America and its obsession with celebrity. Among those describing how the enigmatic

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Andy Warhol's America episode 2: Charting Andy Warhol’s response to major events in the Sixties and how he faced his own nightmare when he was shot by an associate.

Andy Warhol’s America episode 2

Andy Warhol’s America episode 2: Charting Andy Warhol’s response to major events in the Sixties and how he faced his own nightmare when he was shot by an associate.     Documentary looking at the history of 20th-century America through the life and career of Andy Warhol. This three-part series, richly supplemented with archive footage and talking heads, starts by taking us back to his immigrant beginnings in Pittsburgh and his early screen prints which perfectly reflected the instant, mass-produced culture of America and its obsession with celebrity. Among those describing how the enigmatic artist evolved and the impact of

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Andy Warhol's America episode 1

Andy Warhol’s America episode 1

Andy Warhol’s America episode 1: Documentary looking at the history of 20th-century America through the life and career of Andy Warhol. Episode one examines the artist’s childhood in Pittsburgh and his rise from poverty to wealth and fame in New York City in the 1950s. Warhol establishes his name by making everyday foodstuff the subject of his work, and in turn creates a sensation which propels him to the A-list of American society     He was a pioneering artist and cultural icon – and his work is a history of 20th-century America. A country reinventing itself – as seen

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