Episode # 101
Part 1. Greece: Birth of the Classical Tradition Part 2. Imperial Stones of Rome The origins of humanism and much of Western art are traced to ancient Greece, dramatically conveys through Kouroi and Korai figures, as well as by the architecture of the Parthenon. The inherently political character of Roman art is embodies In the technical sophistication and extraordinary details of the Pantheon. The decline of humanistic values in the late antique period is represented by portraits and by the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, where classical themes and forms are adapted to serve Christian purposes.
Saturday, June 01, 2013
Length : 57 min
MPT2
Episode # 102
Part 1. Romanesque Part 2. The Age of Gothic The exquisitely preserved church of Paray-le-Monial reveals how monasticism and pilgrimage affected the architectural development of Romanesque churches. In Gislebertus' poignant sculpture at St. Lazare in Autun, filmed at close range, the medieval focus on heaven and the afterlife is eloquently visualized. Gothic architecture is explored at St. Denis and Chartres, where the architectural features, sculpture, and magnificent stained glass windows are related to contemporary theology and the profound social changes of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.
Saturday, June 08, 2013
Length : 58 min
MPT2
Episode # 103
Part 1. The Early Renaissance in Florence Part 2. The Early Renaissance in Northern Europe Through the contributions of Florentine artists in the early 15th century, the classical tradition is revived and reinterpreted. The achievements of Masaccio, Donatello, and Ghiberti exemplify the merging of Christian and humanistic values in art. In the North, the richly detailed "magic realism" of Jan van Eyck glows in the perfected medium of oil paint. Grunewald's Isenheim Altarpiece dramatically conveys the spiritual crisis of Northern Europe on the eve of the Reformation, while Albrecht Durer's works reflect the spirit of the Renaissance reaching Germany.
Saturday, June 08, 2013
Length : 57 min
MPT2
Episode # 104
Part 1. Rome and Florence - The Artist as Genius Part 2. Venice - Pleasure and Power With Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, the artist as genius takes center stage. Their paintings, sculpture, drawings, and architecture define the aesthetic goals of the day. Rome emerges as a center of artistic vitality for the first time since antiquity. The Venetian preoccupation with nature and light is captured in glowing works by Giorgione and Titian, while Tintoretto's The Last Supper captures the social turbulence of late 16th Century Italy. Palladio's noble architecture demonstrates how classical principles were absorbed and inventively used with spectacular and functional results.
Saturday, June 08, 2013
Length : 57 min
MPT2
Episode # 105
Part 1. The Baroque in Italy and Austria Part 2. The Baroque in Spain and The Netherlands The direct emotional appeal of the Baroque style inspired by the Counter-Reformation is epitomized in Bernini's The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, filmed on location in the Cornaro Chapel in Rome. In a very different vein, Caravaggio's naturalism, with its depiction of sacred events in homely, every day terms, shocked the public. Austrian and Spanish rulers use art to promote their spiritual aims: Velazquez merges courtly atmosphere with artistic challenges to produce ambiguous, many-layered works such as Las Meninas. In the Dutch Netherlands, freedom, and new bourgeois values also found expression in art. Rembrandt's works both fulfill and transcend the demands of new merchant patrons. while his portraits penetrate the inner truth of their subjects.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Length : 57 min
MPT2
Episode # 106
Part 1. An Age of Reason Part 2. An Age of Passion The voluptuous fantasies of Boucher and the elegant allegories of Watteau and Fragonard are rejected by a society in violent revolt. David's cool and ordered paintings urge a return to the nobler ideals of a classical past. His brush is transformed from a tool in the king's service to a powerful weapon for the Revolution, as we see in his masterpiece The Death of Marat. The optimism of the Enlightenment is shattered in the wake of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Paintings by Gericault, Turner, Delacroix, and Goya demonstrate the astonishing range of styles in the Romantic movement as artists strive for individual expression.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Length : 58 min
MPT2
Episode # 107
Part 1. Realism and Impressionism Part 2. Post-Impressionism Courbet defies the entrenched traditions of the official Salon and paints " the subjects of modem life" as he sees them. This urge is shared by the Impressionists, whose works are examined at close camera range, revealing the innovations in form and technique, and the obsession with color and changing light that characterize much of their oeuvre. The term "Post-Impressionism," applied to artists as different as Gaugin, Seurat, Van Gogh, and Cezanne, signifies a turning away from the concerns of Impressionism as new aesthetic aims are expressed in style and subject matters.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Length : 57 min
MPT2
Episode # 108
Part 1. Introduction to the Twentieth Century Part 2. Between the Wars The avant-garde movement of Vienna and Paris produce art works that embody the experience of urban and modem life. The sensuous paintings of Klimt, the daring color of the Fauves, and the Cubist revolution prefigured in Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon demonstrate how artists seek to free themselves from the past and capture the modem spirit in the years before World War I. Modernism triumphs after the war, as seen in the French. Russian, Dutch, and German works of the Intentional style. The darker side of modem life is explored in such Surrealist works as Miro's The Birth of the World.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Length : 57 min
MPT2
Episode # 109
With the appearance of the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York, the U.S. becomes an important center for the visual arts. The extraordinary diversity of the post-war period includes Jackson Pollock's Action Painting, the skyscraper as the cathedral of a new commercial age and the satirical Pop works of Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Length : 58 min
MPT2
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