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Description
This programme examines the way in which art is experienced through film and TV, and how such films are conceived. It is introduced and linked by Professor Aaron Scharf and serves as an introductio...n to the whole course on Modern Art. There are widely differing nethods of approach and the powers intrinsic to the film medium make inevitable demands on the creative impulses of the film maker. The art film can itself become an art object. The film-maker can superimpose on the work of art or on the artist at work an intensity of meaning hardly discernible when wiitnessing the object or event itself. He can distort time or put the eye of the spectator where he wishes in order to extract the maximum didactic or dramatic impact. The films power is unique among all other visual media, and thus it may mesmerize and short-circuit the critical and intellectual faculties, or by "the same token educate, illuminate end enlarge "both mind and vision". What do we gain from seeing a work of art face to face? Is there a case to be made out for deliberately inhibiting the camera? To what extent have major feature films on such artists as Gauguin and Van Gogh contributed to our understanding of the artist? The whole subject is a complex one. The aim of the programme is to alert the viewer to these and other questions and to make him more aware of his own responses to art films.
This programme examines the way in which art is experienced through film and TV, and how such films are conceived. It is introduced and linked by Professor Aaron Scharf and serves as an introductio...n to the whole course on Modern Art. There are widely differing nethods of approach and the powers intrinsic to the film medium make inevitable demands on the creative impulses of the film maker. The art film can itself become an art object. The film-maker can superimpose on the work of art or on the artist at work an intensity of meaning hardly discernible when wiitnessing the object or event itself. He can distort time or put the eye of the spectator where he wishes in order to extract the maximum didactic or dramatic impact. The films power is unique among all other visual media, and thus it may mesmerize and short-circuit the critical and intellectual faculties, or by "the same token educate, illuminate end enlarge "both mind and vision". What do we gain from seeing a work of art face to face? Is there a case to be made out for deliberately inhibiting the camera? To what extent have major feature films on such artists as Gauguin and Van Gogh contributed to our understanding of the artist? The whole subject is a complex one. The aim of the programme is to alert the viewer to these and other questions and to make him more aware of his own responses to art films.
| Module code and title: | A351, Modern art from 1848 to the present: styles and social implications |
|---|---|
| Item code: | A351; 01 |
| First transmission date: | 18-02-1976 |
| Published: | 1976 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:27 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Mary Hoskins |
| Contributor: | Aaron Scharf |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Henry Moore; Homage to New York; Television; William Pye |
| Footage description: | A film clip of Tinguelly's 'Homage to New York' of 1960. Scharf introduces the programme which will look at how art is portrayed through the film and television medium. An Arts Council film of a Henry Moore exhibition is shown - no music or commentary. This is contrasted with a film, with commentary, of Moore's exhibition in Florence. A 1975 film linked to Rodin's sculpture, but itself a 'work of art' is shown as an example of distortion. A film of Karel Appel in action is shown as an example of an artist being actively involved. A sequence of unedited rushes of Alberto Giacometti at work is shown. This is contrasted with the final edited version. Scharf comments on the two excerpts. Scharf also looks briefly at films which sensationalise aspects of an artist's life, using a clip from a narrative film on Van Gogh. A further example is the interview with the artist. A clip from an interview with Tinguelly is shown. Finally Scharf introduces two clips where film is an integral part of the art object. Firstly a piece of kinetic art. Secondly a film of his own work by William Pye. |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/71971 |
| Production number: | 00525_3201 |
| Videofinder number: | 3329 |
| Available to public: | no |
