The Private Life of a Masterpiece The Private Life of a Masterpiece: Masterpieces 1800-1850
Type
Audio/Visual
Authors
Category
Art, Documentary Film
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Publication Year
2008
Publisher
Volume
Vol. 3
Duration
147 min.
Subject
Goya, Francisco. -- Third of May. Delacroix, Eugène, -- 1798-1863. -- Liberty leading the people. Katsushika, Hokusai. -- Great wave. Printmaking --
Tags
Series Name
Abstract
Episode 1: The Third of May 1808
The Third of May 1808 was the first painting to put the victims of war center stage. Painted in 1814 by Don Francisco Goya, the chief court painter to the Bourbon royal family of Spain, the picture was far removed from the conventional expectations of a war painting. Instead of glorifying the king, the army, or the state, Goya focused on a group of frightened, anonymous men being shot at point-blank range by a firing squad. Although the painting was an official commission for the king, he wanted nothing to do with it.
Episode 2: Liberty Leading the People
Perhaps the most famous of all revolutionary paintings, Liberty Leading the People features the bare-breasted Liberty leading an odd mixture of Parisian rebels. Widely seen as portraying the French Revolution and later the model for Marianne, it was in fact drawn from the rising of 1830. Delacroix's Liberty meets all the requirements of the day. She combines classical good looks, the impassioned gaze of the visionary, and the attributes of an energetic, young Mother Nation. At her feet lies the rubble of the old order, plus a few of its dead or dying foot soldiers. The painting both shocked and inspired. Hidden for many years, it is now the most famous icon of uprising.
Episode 3: The Great Wave
Possibly the most famous Far Eastern image in art, Katsushika Hokusai's woodblock print depicts human vulnerability in the face of nature, with three fragile cargo boats about to be swamped by a giant wave. Hokusai was aged 70 when he created The Great Wave. He had been retired for some time but had been ruined by a profligate grandson who gambled away all his money. Homeless and destitute, Hokusai resumed work and designed The Great Wave as part of his celebrated sketchbook of works, Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, begun in the 1820s. He was operating in a low-status, popular art market, with no notion that his image would have profound influence on Western art, nor that it would be endlessly reproduced, borrowed, and adapted around the world nearly two centuries later. Contains information about the relief printmaking process.
The Third of May 1808 was the first painting to put the victims of war center stage. Painted in 1814 by Don Francisco Goya, the chief court painter to the Bourbon royal family of Spain, the picture was far removed from the conventional expectations of a war painting. Instead of glorifying the king, the army, or the state, Goya focused on a group of frightened, anonymous men being shot at point-blank range by a firing squad. Although the painting was an official commission for the king, he wanted nothing to do with it.
Episode 2: Liberty Leading the People
Perhaps the most famous of all revolutionary paintings, Liberty Leading the People features the bare-breasted Liberty leading an odd mixture of Parisian rebels. Widely seen as portraying the French Revolution and later the model for Marianne, it was in fact drawn from the rising of 1830. Delacroix's Liberty meets all the requirements of the day. She combines classical good looks, the impassioned gaze of the visionary, and the attributes of an energetic, young Mother Nation. At her feet lies the rubble of the old order, plus a few of its dead or dying foot soldiers. The painting both shocked and inspired. Hidden for many years, it is now the most famous icon of uprising.
Episode 3: The Great Wave
Possibly the most famous Far Eastern image in art, Katsushika Hokusai's woodblock print depicts human vulnerability in the face of nature, with three fragile cargo boats about to be swamped by a giant wave. Hokusai was aged 70 when he created The Great Wave. He had been retired for some time but had been ruined by a profligate grandson who gambled away all his money. Homeless and destitute, Hokusai resumed work and designed The Great Wave as part of his celebrated sketchbook of works, Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, begun in the 1820s. He was operating in a low-status, popular art market, with no notion that his image would have profound influence on Western art, nor that it would be endlessly reproduced, borrowed, and adapted around the world nearly two centuries later. Contains information about the relief printmaking process.
Description
1 videodisc (ca. 147 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences ; 4 3/4 in. Each segment is aprox. 50 min.
Audio: English, Subtitles in English.
Audio: English, Subtitles in English.
Number of Copies
2
