Johns emerged as the pre-eminent force in the American art scene in the late 1950s. Today, as his work fetches record prices at auction, the meanings of his paintings, his imagery and his changing style continue to be the subject of controversy. This film provides a rare look at the life, career and inspiration of this unique artist. It includes both new and vintage conversations with the painter, as well as unusual footage of Johns at work in his studio.
W. Eugene Smith
Smith (1918-78) had a passion for social justice which informed his desire to create photographs that were works of art. The war in the South Pacific and victims of industrial pollution in a Japanese village are just two of the subjects he captured in unforgettable images. In addition to showcasing his stunning photos, this profile uses dramatic reconstruction, archive film, and interviews with his family, friends and colleagues, to get close to this brilliant and complicated American.
Malcolm Morley
Since 1957 the British painter has lived a reclusive life in America. He remains aloof from the art world and avoids association with the ‘isms’ of contemporary art, though he pioneered many of them – most notably Photo-Realism – and was once described by art critic Robert Hughes as “the man whose methods have been relentlessly plundered by a generation of artists”. In this programme, the elusive Morley talks at length about his art and is seen working in his New York studio.
Vivienne Westwood
Once Queen of Punk, Vivienne Westwood has gone on to be the toast of the Paris cat-walks. This Programme looks at the career of one of Britain’s most innovative and idiosyncratic fashion designers and examines the way in which she draws on history, fetishism and street culture for her inspiration.
Hockey at the Tate
Since he burst on to the art scene in the mid-1960s, Hockney has become one of the most successful modern British painters and also a populär personality, known for his passionate and skilled advocacy of art. When London’s Tate Gallery staged a major retrospective of his work, Melvyn Bragg joined David Hockney for an exclusive private view of the exhibition and they were filmed discussing pictures from all stages of the artist’s remarkable career.
Frans Hals of Antwerp
Frans Hals (1582-1666) was a portrait painter with a unique style, admired for its originality and vivacity. Very little documentation of his life has been found, so this film uses an extensive montage of his canvases as the key to his story. Works by the landscape artists and still-life painters of the day help create a picture of the age in which he lived, and the programme also explains the elaborate conventions of portraiture at that time.
Masters of German Art
Some of the greatest names in the history of German art are featured in this series of ten-minute films. Visiting galleries throughout Germany to focus on key oeuvres, these finely-focused vignettes summarise the lives and work of the featured artists, including contributions from leading art historians and drawing on archive documentation. Mathis Grünewald Caspar David Friedrich Lucas Cranach Ignaz Günther Hans Holbein Albrecht Altdorfer Johann Tischbein Otto Dix Ernst Barlach Käthe Kollwitz
Velaquez
In return for immortalising the grotesquely in-bred court of the rapidly declining Spanish Hapsburgs, Philip IV admitted Velazquez (1599-1660) to the ranks of the nobility at a time when artists were considered no better than carpenters. Didier Baussy-Oulianoff’s resplendent portrait focuses on this special relationship between an artist and a king, and benefits from exclusive access to a major Velazquez exhibition mounted at the Prado in Madrid. The artist’s character is revealed through his work.
Titjan
Titian is one of the most celebrated names in art history. This film travels to Venice, Rome, Madrid and Vienna to consider his life, work and legacy. It explores his manoeuvres to become Venice’s offical artist, his greed and ambition, fuelled by polemicist Aretino, his expedient flattery of his illustrious Clients, as well as his sublime use of colour and his supreme skill as an artist, which find full expression in the passionate paintings of his old age.
Kazimir Malevich
One of the post-Revolution Russian Avant-garde, Malevich (1878-1935) had the misfortune to die in official disfavour. With perestroika, his work resurfaced from storage and the first major retrospective of his work since his death was held at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. With film of this exhibition, Barrie Gavin fills the screen with his paintings and uses Malevich’s own vivid writings to tell his story and analyse his art.