Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) scraped a living selling naturalistic paintings, while his ground-breaking collages, now recognised as some of the twentieth century’s most influential art works, were largely ignored. After his death, his legacy became the subject of one of the art world’s most acrimonious wrangles. With comments from some of the key players involved, the extraordinary tale of this scandal is told against the background of Schwitters’ difficult life and the innovative works he produced.
Pierre Soulages
Since 1979, the French painter Soulages has limited his palette to black, yet he creates pieces which are as alike and unalike as one day is to another. Soulages and his work are the sole protagonists in this visually striking film, for which he chose some eighty canvases to sign the development of his art. A charismatic man, his reflections on his life and work enhance an appreciation of the elemental and enigmatic beauty of his paintings.
Norman Mailer on Picasso
In his book, Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man, Norman Mailer set out to capture an intimate sense of the character of the artist’s genius. At his Cape Cod home, the leading American writer talks in interview about Picasso, demonstrating his great talent for understanding the activity of the most enigmatic and protean of minds. Illustrated with many examples of the artist’s work, this engrossing programme reveals the obsessions shared by Picasso and Mailer: sex and mortality.
The Secret of Marcel Duchamp
Duchamp (1887-1968) was one of the most provocative and influential artists of the twentieth century. From 1923 onwards, he ceased to produce new work. Only after his death was the Etant Donnés revealed – an elaborate peepshow put together over twenty years. Including archive footage of the enigmatic artist himself, this programme explores the life and work of Duchamp, telling the story of a late love affair which affected him profoundly and inspired his final creation.
Three Colours Cézanne
Widely acknowledged to be the ‘father’ of Modern Art, Cézanne (1839-1906) did not find critical or public success in his lifetime. Given access to the most comprehensive gathering of Cézanne’s paintings for over sixty years, provided by a major touring exhibition, this documentary analyses and re-assesses his achievements. A fascinating study of the artist’s life and work, it reveals an emotional turbulence that runs throughout his oeuvre and invites observations from a wide range of commentators.
Vermeer
The life and work of the great Dutch painter Vermeer (1632-75) are shrouded in mystery. He left no papers, no drawings, no clues as to the meaning or intention of his work, just thirty-five paintings, eight children and a mass of debts. Using the pictures themselves and the testimony of expert witnesses, award-winning director Michael Gill’s film profile is an investigation into the art, life and ambitions of this enigmatic artist. It draws on modern science to probe the means by which Vermeer made his simple subjects seem infinitely profound.
African Art
Shot on location in Mali, this film sets looks past Western preconceptions to see the art of Africa through the eyes of Africans. It reappraises the enormous influence of African art on twentieth-century Modernism, on the work of artists such as Picasso, and includes contributions from some of the leading curators and academics who are now advocating the need to set African art against the background of the huge diversity of the cultures and traditions which have produced it.
Howard Hodgkin
Howard Hodgkin is acknowledged as one of the most inventive and original colourists of the twentieth century. His paintings exist at the margin between representation and abstraction, bright mosaics shot through with glimmerings of recognisable form. They are immensely pleasurable and intended to be enjoyed. Impressionistic in style, this documentary presents a vibrant survey of Hodgkin’s work. Talking in interview, the artist reveals the passions and preoccupations that fuel his creativity.
Balthus
Balthus (1908-2001) was a master of figurative art. Self-taught and self-invented, he created a poetic but private universe, remaining faithful to a few themes: brooding landscapes, portraits that revealed the inner lives of their subjects, young girls and knowing cats. This profile centres on a rare interview with this enigmatic artist, filmed at his home in Switzerland, in which he talked about his long life, his approach to painting, his inspiration, his subject matter, the vicissitudes of ageing, and the modern world.
Claes Oldenburg
The work of sculptor Claes Oldenburg, one of America’s wittiest and most popular artists, is a celebration of the everyday. Making hard surfaces soft, soft edges hard, and small objects extra large, he creates visual paradoxes that defy our perceptions of commonplace objects and endow them with a new reality. This documentary surveys Oldenburg’s very varied output spanning four decades and he is seen installing a major retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.