ART OF THE WESTERN WORLD
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Magnificent masterpieces of the Western world are presented in their cultural and historical settings, hosted by historian Michael Wood. From the elegant classical tradition to energetic and spontaneous modern art, each artistic movement is interpreted through its major paintings, sculptures and works of architecture. International art experts and critics help the viewer not only appreciate each work, but understand why and how it was created. This survey of western art provides unusual perspectives and close-up examination. There are 18 episodes on 9 cassettes. 30 mins each / 1989
Program 1: The Classical Ideal & Imperial Stones of Rome
Program 2: A White Garment of Churches--Romanesque & The Age of Gothic
Program 3: The Early Renaissance in Florence & The Early Renaissance in Northern Europe
Program 4: The High Renaissance (Rome & Florence) & Venice--Pleasure and Power
Program 5: The Baroque: Italy and Austria & The Baroque: Spain & the Netherlands
Program 6: An Age of Reason & An Age of Passion
Program 7: Realism and Impressionism & Post-Impressionism
Program 8: Into the Twentieth Century & Between the Wars
Program 9: In Our Own Time: Shattering the Myths & New, Newer, Newest

CALDER'S CIRCUS
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Sculptor Alexander Calder was part artist, part engineer, and very playful. In this short piece, he amuses his French friends with a circus of his own making, featuring tiny wire figurines who walk tightropes, lift barbells, and do acrobatics. The figures are now housed at the Whitney Museum in New York. This film introduces viewers to the talents and charm of an engineering genius with the mind of a happy child; it also indirectly celebrates the importance of play and experimentation in the learning process. 19 mins / 1971

DEGENERATE ART
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In the early 20th century, a struggling artist named Adolf Hitler was painting landscapes in a realistic style. Hitler soon abandoned art for politics, but he always acknowledged art's power and championed the aesthetics of classicism. In 1933, the Nazi party organized the best-attended art exhibit in history. It was called "Entarte Kunst," or "degenerate art." Organized to call public attention to the German expressionist movement--a style Hitler considered sub-human, filthy, and insane--the exhibit showcased the surrealistic works only to deride them. Attempting to visualize interior experience, the new style presented war in a nightmarish light and abstracted the human form. The banning of this art had dire consequences for the artists and for art history itself. Narrated by David McCollough, this documentary provides insight into the power of art, the hell of war, and the tyranny of censorship. 50 mins / 1993

FIDDLEFEST
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Filmed over a period of two years, this Academy Award-nominated documentary follows a great teacher and her students from the schools and streets of East Harlem to the creamy splendor of Carnegie Hall, where the children perform with Issac Stern, Arnold Steinhardt other great violinists. Roberta Guaspari-Tzavaras began The East Harlem Violin Program in 1980 with a vision of inner-city youngsters developing self-esteem and discipline through rigorous instruction and uncompromising standards. The film shows the pure power of the arts in instilling pride in the lives of disadvantaged children. 77 mins. / 1994

THE FRESCOES OF DIEGO RIVERA
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An artist must be the conscience of his age. So said Diego Rivera, leader of the Mexican mural movement of the 1920s and 30s. This program explores Rivera's art and politics and their inextricability, capturing the largesse of his attitude toward life and art. 35 mins / 1988

FRIDA KAHLO
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Kahlo is the artist who brought surrealism to Mexico. Her paintings--literal interpretations of dreams, desires, and loss--haunt us still. Her art reflects her constant struggle with her ravaged body (the result of a terrible accident as a teenager), and a culture with an ambivalent attitude toward a woman with a mind of her own. Her marriage to Diego Rivera also influenced her work. (Some of Kahlo's work contains explicit imagery...please preview prior to public exhibition). 62 mins / 1988

GORDON PARKS' VISIONS
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Bestselling author, award-winning LIFE photographer, composer, director, and writer of Shaft and The Learning Tree. Gordon Parks' life led him from Harlem to Vietnam. The famed black photographer filmed police brutality in Harlem, civil rights activity in the Deep South, anguishing pictures of the despair of the urban poor. This film is not a traditional chronological documentary, but an expression of Parks' visions and the events that shaped that vision. A man of great creativity is presented. 60 mins / 1991

GRIOTS OF IMAGERY: THE ART OF ROMARE BEARDEN & CHARLES WHITE
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Griots are West African keepers of culture, long on memory and rich in wisdom. Romare Bearden (1911-1988) and Charles White (1918-1979) are griots of sorts--modern African-American men who dedicated their lives to making art. This video introduces viewers to their works, discussing them in the context of jazz, blues, poetry, and myth. The camera explores their canvases, clearly examining their philosophies about space, color, and symbol in art. The discipline and craft of Bearden and White will inspire younger would-be artists and fill gaps in our understanding of modern art history. 27 mins / 1993

THE HERMITAGE: A RUSSIAN ODYSSEY
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This series takes a lingering look at Russia's great bastion of art, the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg. Aswirl in Russian art, politics, and history, THE HERMITAGE captures the grandeur and storminess of one of the greatest repositories of art worldwide. 54 mins each / 1993
CATHERINE THE GREAT: A LUST FOR ART With dramatic readings from Catherine the Great's diaries, this program investigates a self-professed "glutton for beauty" who feasted daily on Rembrandts, Rubenses, and Brueghels. In less than 40 years, she acquired more masterpieces than the Louvre, often using art as a political weapon.
TYRANTS AND HEROES: NINETEENTH CENTURY CZARS In Russia, the 19th century was an era of wrenching violence and artistic progress. During turbulent times, Russian royalty continued to collect resplendent paintings and sculpture. From the French influence after 1812 and Alexander III's bloody reign, the Hermitage was further shaped.
FROM CZARS TO COMMISSARS: A MUSEUM SURVIVES
As the royalty lived gilded lives within the Hermitage, serfs suffered in the fields. Revolution and war are set against the background of works by Picasso and Matisse. The Hermitage barely survived Stalinism and Nazi sieges.

HOW THEATRE BEGAN
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This video traces the roots of modern theater, describing the great playwrights, trends, and artistic styles. It begins with Greek drama and continues through Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, French, Spanish, English, and American forms. 18 mins / 1994

JOAN MIRO: CONSTELLATIONS
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The work of Joan Miro (1893-1983) sparkles with surreal cartoons, primary colors, and the power of simple, whimsical lines. His emblematic vocabulary consisted of stars, eyes, women, and birds, done in a tone of dark playfulness. These liberal, wacky paintings are said to have facilitated the 1950s post-dictatorship spirit in his native Spain. Miro’s approach to life was as bold as his approach to art. He and his surrealist cohorts delighted in Freudian symbols and anti-bourgeois politics. This video takes a new approach to outlining Miro: dancers in elaborate costumes designed by Miro himself bring his drawings to life. Teens in particular should be able to relate to Miro’s rebelliousness and angst. As the video states: "Miro was on the side of freedom and offers freedom to all who see his work." 52 mins / 1992 52 mins / 1993

MASKS FROM MANY CULTURES
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Here is a quick survey of masks: their social functions (to delight, frighten, and displace anger and evil), and the materials from which they’re made. This video should inspire students to create masks as expressions of diverse cultures. 21 mins / 1992

STYLE WARS!
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They risk injury and jail to paint giant full color "masterpieces" on the sides of New York subway trains. Mayor Koch and the police try to stop them and so do despairing parents. The art world makes them celebrities and their rap music is now mainstream. STYLE WARS! is the definitive document on teenage graffiti artists, the controversy and the questions their actions raise. "Practically every question addressed by scholars in folk, popular and high art is raised...Unforgettable."--American Anthropologist. 32 mins / 1982

Indiana Humanities Council
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