Art of the Western World

Magnificent masterpieces of the Western world are presented in their cultural and historical settings. From the restrained classical tradition to energetic and spontaneous modern art, each artistic movement is interpreted through its major paintings, sculptures, and works of architecture. Comments from internationally known art experts and critics assist in understanding and appreciation of the works. This series is also valuable for teachers seeking to review the subject matter. Produced by WNET/New York (major producer) 1989.  Click on the title of the episode to watch it.

1. The Classical Ideal
Part I: Traces the origins of humanism and the immortal classical style to Ancient Greece. Part II: The genius of Roman engineering and architecture was used to build an empire, while portrait sculpture exalted its rulers.

2. A White Garment of Churches — Romanesque and Gothic
Part I: With the fall of the Roman empire, Christianity flourished with the Church as patron of monumental Romanesque architecture and sculpture. Part II: The origin of Gothic architecture is found in the choir of the Abbey Church of St. Denis and the Chartres Cathedral serves as a model of High Gothic style.

3. The Early Renaissance
Part I: The rebirth of classical themes and humanistic ideas marked the Renaissance in Italy, as seen in Florentines Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Ghiberti, and Botticelli. Part II: Glowing color — made possible by the new medium of oil paint — and minute detail set the work of the Flemish masters Van Eyck and Grunewald apart from the Florentines.

4. The High Renaissance
Part I: Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael displayed extraordinary talent working in a variety of media and elevated the status of the artist in Italian society. Part II: Venetians like Titian, Tintoretto, and Palladio readapted the classical style with a theatrical flourish.

5. Realms of Light — The Baroque
Part I: The Church’s campaign to counter the Reformation relied on dramatic depictions of religious scenes, such as those of Caravaggio and Bernini. Part II: The royal courts in Spain and the wealthy burghers in the Netherlands commissioned major paintings by Velazquez and Rembrandt and shaped their content.

6. An Age of Reason, An Age of Passion
Part I: The playful fantasy and provocative subjects of the Rococo style practiced by Watteau, Fragonard, and Boucher gave way to strict Rationalism, which insisted on morality in art and the purity of classical form, as seen in the works of David. Part II: Striving for individual expression, Romantic painters Goya, Gericault, and Delacroix demonstrated a range of styles and subjects.

7. A Fresh View — Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
Part I: Courbet and his followers rejected the standard academic themes and techniques, Manet shocked Paris, and Impressionists represented the world bathed in color and changing light. Part II: Post-Impressionists Seurat, Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Cézanne broke new ground with daring and imaginative use of color and approaches to form.

8. Into the Twentieth Century
Part I: With modernity came new energy and forms in Viennese building and painting. Paris saw the emergence of the Fauves, and of Picasso and Cubism. Kandinsky and others experimented with color abstraction. Part II: Modernism spawned not only Cubism, but also the abstract and the surreal. Le Corbusier and Wright applied the abstract principles to buildings. Dada responded to the devastation of WWI with nihilism; surrealists Dali, Magritte, and Miro showed Freudian influence.

9. In Our Own Time
Part I: The Abstract Expressionist movement established New York as a center for the visual arts. Works by Pollock, Warhol, Lichtenstein, and the sculptor Oldenburg are examined. Part II: With many of the rules tested and discarded, the art world has become international. Art is now accessible to everyone to create and appreciate. Host Michael Wood looks over the past and forward to implications for the future.

Impressionism: Revenge of the Nice

Matthew Collings reappraises Impressionism by examining the lives and works of Courbet, Manet, Cezanne and Monet.

Art aficionados are notoriously sniffy about the Impressionists. The work of Monet and his contemporaries has for so long adorned coasters, calendars, T-shirts and tea towels that it is increasingly hard to see them as serious artists.

In Channel 4’s Impressionism: Revenge of the Nice, though, the art critic and presenter Matthew Collings sets out to re-establish the Impressionists’ reputation as revolutionary artists whose paintings sent shock- waves through the art world.

In the early 19th century, the art of the establishment was formulaic and inspired by fantasy. Paintings were, by and large, a glorification of the past; by contrast, the Impressionists advocated a kaleidoscopic palette, sweeping brush strokes and a subject matter that was firmly rooted in the everyday. Impressionism, we are told, is the first movement in modern art. Watch on the YouTube playlist below.