Friday, August 22, 2014

Introduction

The basis for the course is the BBC production of "The Private Life of a Masterpiece." We'll view 15 episodes from the DVD set that was produced from the initial 22 episodes of the series that ran from 2001-2005 on BBC2.

Each episode tells the story of an individual work of art, mostly paintings but there's one fresco and one sculpture.  The link between art and history is often obvious as in the first program we'll see which features Paolo Uccello's "The Battle of San Romano", a depiction of a real event occurring in 15th century Italy when forces from two city states met on the battlefield.

Other episodes depict important events or indirectly reference political struggles but all of them are a snapshot of the artist's time, societal influences on the artist and the subsequent influence of his art on succeeding generations.   History isn't just a chronology of battles, kings, queens, churches and governments.  History is the story of people, their interests, desires and expressions.

Through works of art that have been considered to be masterpieces we can explore the past and tour the world, at least the Western world as all but one of the masterpieces was produced in the West.  You can enjoy the programs as art history, as the history of an artist, or use them as a window into the past that can stimulate your interest in the period and lead you to books and films that will expand the historical snapshot into at least a mosaic.


Posted by at 1 comment:

Class Schedule: Tuesdays at 3:30 at Craig Hall

September 2 Paolo Uccello: The Battle of San Romano
Among the greatest of all depictions of battle, these three panels were breakthroughs in painting technique, so that contemporaries must have viewed them in awe. Also they were the victims of an audacious art crime

Paolo Uccello's chapter from Vasari's :Lives of the Artists"

The printing press before Gutenberg

Stephen Fry documentary about the Gutenberg press -- youtube video

The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall by Christopher Hibbert -- library copy

Brunelleschi's Dome -- National Geographic page

The Better Angels of Our Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity -- youtube video

15th Century Chinese Explorers -- Nova web page

Chinese Treasure Fleet -- The Voyages of Zheng He -- youtube video

Public Life in Renaissance Florence by Richard C. Trexler

Daily Life in Renaissance Italy by Elizabeth Cohen, Thomas Cohen

Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy by John Julius Norwich -- library copy

Oxford 15th Century History Timeline

The year before the battle of San Romano was fought, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.  Five years after the battle, Gutenberg had perfected movable type in Europe or at least that's what European history tells us. Click on the link above to read about the history of movable type.  If your interest in Italian history is piqued by Uccello's painting you might then decide to investigate the history of the papacy by reading "Absolute Monarchs" by John Julius Norwich and that then might lead you to the Showtime series, "The Borgias" or  the PBS series "The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance." available on Youtube.com.
.

September 9 Leonardo da Vinci: The Last Supper
The story of probably the most renowned painting in the world. The Last Supper revolutionized Western art and its power reverberates to this day in the courts and the bookshops and cinemas.  Just how Leonardo Da Vinci broke with traditions in creating his supremely dynamic masterpiece is recounted, together with the tale of his disastrous attempt to use a new technique in wall-painting.

Leonardo da Vinci's chapter from Vasari's "Lives of the Artists"

Leonardo and The Last Supper by Ross King -- library copy

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci -- web site

The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt -- free ebook

Inside the Mind of Leonardo da Vinci -- youtube video

Where A Great Man Rests, Leonardo da Vinci at the Chapel of Saint-Hubert, Amboise -- website


September 16 Rembrandt van Rijn: The Night Watch
September 23 Johannes Vermeer: The Art of Painting
Of all Vermeer's paintings, it was probably this picture that he held in greatest esteem. It was the painting he used to show off his skills to customers. A customer three centuries after he died was none other than Adolf Hitler

Vermeer's biography.com page

Tim's Vermeer -- interview with the director, Teller -- youtube video

Jan Vermeer And His Paintings -- website

European History Online -- The Dutch Century

The Science of Oil Painting -- website

Vermeer: Master of Light -- documentary

The Madness of Vermeer -- documentary

The Life and Art of Johannes Vermeer -- website

Vermeer Related Links --website

European Art in the 17th and 18th Centuries -- Met Museum website

Slide Show of Vermeer Paintings



September 30 Francisco Goya: The Third of May 1808
Arguably the most powerful painting about war ever achieved. It portrays the slaughter of civilians after Napoleonic troops entered Madrid in 1808. The program reveals the historical truths behind the painting and shows exactly how Goya achieved this masterpiece of protest.

Goya's biography.com page

Complete Works -- website

Napoleon in Spain -- The Peninsular War -- wikipedia page

Napoleon The Man and the Myth: The Spanish Ulcer -- youtube video




October 7 Eugene Delacroix: Liberty Leading the People
This painting was made in response to the political upheaval that would result in the overthrow of the reigning monarch, Charles X (brother of the beheaded Louis XVI). Charles X had restored the Bourbon throne after the fall of Napoleon and would himself be replaced by the restricted constitutional rule of Louis-Phillipe, the "citizen-king."

Complete Works and Biography -- website

The July Revolution -- website

Brief history of France: 1830-1940 website

English language version of French video about the painting

Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne -- library copy

Video of 2013 vandalism of the painting



October 14 Katsushika Hokusai: The Great Wave
Perhaps the most celebrated of all Japanese pictures, the Great Wave's portrayal of a huge wave about to overwhelm three boats was only produced by Hokusai when he was old and broke and needed money badly. A print that cost little more than bowl of noodles to those who first bought it, the image has been hugely influential on later art.

Hokusai's biography

Complete Works -- website

19th Century Japan -- website

Japanese Art 1800-1900 Metropolitan Museum of Art website

Storytelling in Japanese Art -- Metropolitan Museum of Art video

Edo Period History -- wikipedia page



October 21 Auguste Renoir: Dance at the Moulin de la Galette
This painting was once described as the most beautiful of all the artworks of the 19th century. Certainly it seems the happiest. But beneath Renoir's joyful portrayal of working class Parisians at leisure is another, darker story.

Renoir's biography.com page

Complete Works -- website

The Franco-Prussian War -- wikipedia page

Analysis of the painting and related works -- website

The Paris Commune -- Yale class session

The Forger's Masterclass -- Renoir episode

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Filmed Painting at Home (1919)

Photos From The Siege and Commune of Paris, 1870-1871



October 28 James McNeill Whistler: Portrait Of The Artist's Mother
The Arts in Victorian England
The stark portrait, mainly in greys and black, that James McNeill Whistler painted of his mother is now a picture that is widely lampooned as a portrait of a prim Victorian lady. She is shown smoking reefers, wearing trainers, having a tatoo. But Whistler's approach was revolutionary in its time, wholly departing from the Victorian tradition of sentimental narrative painting. His relationship with his mother was also an intriguing study in contrasts.

The Complete Works and Biography -- website

An American in London: Whistler and the Thames

James McNeill Whistler: The Case for Beauty -- PBS documentary

History of the Workhouse in Victorian England -- website

Secrets of the Workhouse -- youtube video

Samples of Victorian Era Art


November 4 Vincent van Gogh: Sunflowers
Perhaps the most reproduced of all 19th century paintings, The Sunflowers has a story that lies at the crux of the complex relationship between Van Gogh and Paul Gaugin. The program reveals how Van Gogh started to paint sunflowers soon after he moved from Holland to Paris and how they became the emblem of his embrace of Southern France, warmth and the sun. It looks especially at the 8th of the Sunflower paintings, the one in the National Gallery in London which is arguably the best in the series. It was most admired and desired by Gaugin but denied to him by Van Gogh as their relationship deteriorated.

Van Gogh's biography.com page

Vincent van Gogh: The Letters -- website

Vincent van Gogh and His Paintings -- website

Van Gogh: Painting With Words

Van Gogh Gallery -- website

The Power of Art: Van Gogh episode -- youtube video

The History of Museums -- pdf file

Vincent van Gogh: The Story -- youtube video

The Great Artists: Van Gogh -- youtube video

Van Gogh: Gallery -- youtube slide show

Biography: Van Gogh and Gauguin -- youtube video

The Yellow House -- TV movie


November 11 Georges Seurat: A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
A popular masterpiece and yet an enduring enigma. It seems to show a quiet scene in a Paris park but there are hints at the demi-monde, if you know where to look. The most remarkable aspect of this vast canvas however remains Seurat's technique his revolutionary pointillism.

Seurat's biography.com page

Complete Works -- website

Sunday in the Park With George -- musical with handy Spanish subtitles

The Impressionists -- 4 part series on youtube

Short Documentary on Seurat on youtube

Seurat: The Realm of Light -- youtube video


November 18 Pablo Picasso: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
'My Brothel' is the title that Picasso gave to his masterwork Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, the painting of five towering prostitutes that began the art of the twentieth century. It was a work that shocked even his friends when they first saw it, with one saying that Picasso would be found hanged behind it one day. The program relates how the painting grew out of a fierce rivalry between Matisse and Picasso and just why it was and remains so revolutionary.

Picasso's biography.com page

Picasso: Paintings, Quotes and Biography

Picasso: The Power of Art -- youtube video

Picasso at Work -- youtube video

A Life of Picasso -- link to library copies

The Evolution of Picasso's Portraits of Women -- youtube video

Guernica: Testimony of War -- youtube video starts at 29:13

The Early Years -- National Gallery of Art website

Pablo Picasso: A Primitive Soul -- youtube documentary


November 25  --  No Class -- Thanksgiving Break
December 2 Edvard Munch: The Scream
The Scream tells the life-story of the painting more widely reproduced than any other, even the Mona Lisa. It shows exactly how and why the Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch arrived at his extraordinary image and how that image of the screaming person has reverberated down the decades to become an icon in modern culture.

Munch's biography.com page

Edvard Munch and His Paintings -- website

The Post-Impressionists: Munch -- youtube video



December 9 Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Census At Bethlehem
Arguably the painting that invented the snowy Christmas card scene, the Census at Bethlehem is a picture that depicts the arrival of Mary and Joseph at Bethlehem But it also a portrays Netherlands village under the grip of a cruel winter and under the hammer of a foreign army. The picture teems with human life as the best Breughels do, but it also speaks to the 21st century in an extraordinary way.

Bruegel the Elder's biography

Complete Works -- website








Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)