Power of Art
December 21, 2014 4:46 AM   Subscribe

 
This is great, thanks! I had them on DVD and it's such a fantastic series. The Bernini episode is particularly fascinating, and not just because of its orgasmic centerpiece.
posted by mediareport at 6:45 AM on December 21, 2014


Thanks for this - Schama is sort of a double-edged sword for me. He almost seems to be doing a piss-take on an Art Historian, and in fact has been parodied - yet his shows are very good.

For me, the standout is Mark Rothko, an artist whom I didn't understand and in fact loathed. That episode was magic in terms of explaining his worldview, his attitude towards art, his public, patronage, and all the rest (biographical details). Now I really like Rothko, if not his art so much.

Great post, and I'm surprised no one's done an fpp on this before.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:37 AM on December 21, 2014 [2 favorites]


A nice collection of links. Watched his "history of the Jews" pt.1 just the other evening. I like his style.
posted by clavdivs at 9:45 AM on December 21, 2014


Thanks for reminding me that I need to watch this, and making it easy for me to do so.
posted by immlass at 10:04 AM on December 21, 2014


Was just thinking the other day that Andy Serkis' Van Gogh was one of the best things he's ever done.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:05 AM on December 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


This was such a wonderful series; the Caravaggio and Rothko episodes were the standouts for me, but they were all great. Schama recently revisited Rembrandt on the BBC to tie in with the latest National Gallery Rembrandt exhibition, and it was just as good.
posted by rory at 12:21 PM on December 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


Oh, excellent! Thanks, cwest.
posted by homunculus at 4:32 PM on December 21, 2014


Excellent! I teach one hour class about Caravaggio's life once a year to junior high school kids, and use "David with the head of Goliath" (The Vienna version) to teach the kids about chiaroscuro.
posted by donkeymon at 4:02 AM on December 22, 2014


The Bernini episode's my favorite. That bust of Constanza is breathtaking in person, and knowing the story behind that love affair gone horribly wrong made seeing it in person so much more powerful.
posted by culfinglin at 1:09 PM on December 22, 2014


This series was unknown to me. Many thanks for the detailed post, cwest!
posted by On the Corner at 11:45 PM on December 22, 2014


Huh, that is totally Andrew Garfield in the Caravaggio episode.
posted by The Whelk at 6:58 PM on January 9, 2015


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