This profile is an exploration of the life and work of the pre-eminent Basque sculptor. It uses Chillida’s own words as a commentary to approach the inherent drama within his sculptures and their breathtaking settings. Chillida is seen forging a massive work in iron as well as creating smaller pieces.
Julio Gonzalez
A friend and collaborator of Picasso, admired in the art world of Paris in the 1920s, the Catalan sculptor González (1866-1942) remained detached from the luminaries around him. Adapting the metal-working techniques learned in his youth and welding skills acquired as an employee of Renault, he created a style of abstract metal sculpture seminal to the development of modern art. This film seeks out witnesses to his life and work in Paris, Barcelona and on the Riviera.
Paul Cezanne
Cézanne (1839-1906) had not found success when his father died in 1886. Finding himself a rich man, he went to live in seclusion in Provence, disillusioned and resigned to anonymity. There he took to scrutinising the landscape and made over sixty studies of the Mont Ste. Victoire near Aix, the dominating subject of his later work. Shot on location in the South of France, this film shows his work and tells his story, employing a first person narrative to great effect.
Jules Feiffer
This film about the American humorist – cartoonist and dramatist – was shot at his summer home on Martha’s Vineyard. Feiffer talks about his early life, his obsessive mockery of figures of authority, and the genesis of his famous stock characters, Bernard Mergendeiler and Hughie. He is also seen at work on a cartoon strip.
The Hague School
The Dutch painters of The Hague School took the innovative step of leaving their Studios to paint nature in situ. The 1870s and ’80s saw the heyday of the movement, when artists, including Anton Mauve, Jacob Israels, Jacob Marais and Hendrik Mesdag, fled to The Hague to escape the increasing ugliness of urbanisation and to capture in their paintings the beauty of the countryside. This programme explores their work and shows the unique landscape which inspired them.
Alan Davie
Scots-born Davie’s work has gained him international recognition. The world of his paintings is a mystic one of signs and symbols, one that disturbs the primitive subconscious but yet is wholly modern. This insight into his art shows Davie immersed in his work at his homes in England and St. Lucia.
Cowboy Art
Cowboy Art is a uniquely American genre that has its origins in the work of the two great nineteenth century illustrators of the Wild West, Charles Russell and Frederick Remington. In recent years, it has attracted fresh interest and a whole new generation of Cowboy artists has emerged. Shot on location in Texas and New Mexico, this programme traces the history of representations of the Wild West in art, exploring what it is that makes cowboys and indians so enduringly popular.
Ernst Fuchs
Austrian painter Ernst Fuchs combines realism with fantasy in his work. In this film he is seen in his studio and shows off his magnificent Art Nouveau villa. He talks about his life, his work and his obsessions with womanhood and the symbol of the Sphinx. His belief in the mystical tradition of the Jewish culture, which, like Chagall, he is perpetuating, also emerges.
Theodore Gericault
Now recognised as one of the greatest artists of his generation, Gericault (1791-1824), the first of the French Romantics, died tragically young. Side-tracked by the magnificent preliminary studies he made, he failed to complete many epic projects and his contemporaries thought he would soon be forgotten. This film centres on his biographer Charles Clement’s posthumous investigation of his life. It shows the richness of Gericault’s work, set against the background of his day.
The Yellow Gash
Jean-Paul Sartre’s imagination was caught by the Venetian master’s rebellion against Convention: his use of unexpected viewpoints; contrasts of scale; his visionary use of colour, light and shade. Sartre’s analysis of Tintoretto’s work forms the basis of this film study, which also draws on the writings of Vasari, and Ridolfi’s biography of the artist. Shot on location in Venice, the programme captures the full splendour of Tintoretto’s famous paintings and frescoes.