Art in glorious motion. Bright, colourful and often intensely dynamic, the 1970 'Kinetics' show at London's Hayward Gallery was a major international showcase of the new active sculptural art. Works by Jean Tinguely, Nam June Paik, Peter Logan, Takis, Jesus Raphael Soto and many others dazzled a wide-eyed public. This priceless film record of the show captures a kaleidoscope of neon lights, rotating metal, squirting water and stroboscopic projections. Director Lutz Becker, of the Slade School of Art Film Unit - who would go on to direct Double-Headed Eagle (1973), a documentary account of Hitler's rise to power - uses a variety of textural, electronic sounds (courtesy of Peter Sahla) to evoke the unusual experience. The show was enormously popular, with visitors filling out the gallery day after day.
Without Camille Pissarro, there is no Impressionist movement. He is rightfully known as the father of Impressionism. This film explores and highlights the enthralling and hugely important biography and output of an incredible artist.
La mia bandiera - La resistenza al femminile
Narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi - star of the landmark television series "I, Claudius" - this documentary explores art and culture around the Bay of Naples before Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. The bay was then the most fashionable destination for vacationing Romans. Julius Caesar, emperors, and senators were among those who owned sumptuous villas along its shores. Artists flocked to the region to create frescoes, sculpture, and luxurious objects in gold, silver, and glass for villa owners as well as residents of Pompeii and other towns in the shadow of Vesuvius. The film concludes with the story of the discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum from the 18th century onward.
Follows the behind-the-scenes work of Studio Ghibli, focusing on the notable figures Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki.
An assessment of the 20th century's best known artist and his vast achievements through the insights and speculations of over a dozen participants. Filmed on the 100th anniversary of Picasso's birth at MoMA, Musée Picasso, Walker Art Center, Museu Picasso Barcelona. Featuring Henry Moore, Anthony Caro, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rosenblum, Clement Greenberg, Roland Penrose and others.
A portrait of sculptor Barbara Hepworth revisiting the Yorkshire landscapes that inspired her and her home studio in St Ives, Cornwall.
Pop Goes the Easel was Ken Russell’s first full-length documentary for the BBC’s arts series Monitor. It focused on 4 British Pop Artists - Peter Blake, Peter Philips, Pauline Boty and Derek Boshier.
In 1920 a group of young Montreal women artists formed the nucleus of what would later become known as the Beaver Hall Hill Group. Members recount how they created an artistic environment of mutual support that lasted for more than three decades.
Through interviews and guerilla footage of graffiti writers in action on five continents, the documentary tells the story of graffiti from its origins in prehistoric cave paintings thru its notorious explosion in New York City during the 70’s and 80’s, then follows the flames as they paint the globe.
She was a prolific self-portraitist, using the canvas as a mirror through all stages of her turbulent and, at times, tragic life. This highly engaging film takes us on a journey through the life of one of the most prevalent female icons: Frida Kahlo. Displaying a treasure trove of colour and a feast of vibrancy on screen, this personal and intimate film offers privileged access to her works and highlights the source of her feverish creativity, her resilience and her unmatched lust for life, men, women, politics and her cultural heritage.
When Harvard PhD student Jennifer Brea is struck down at 28 by a fever that leaves her bedridden, doctors tell her it’s "all in her head." Determined to live, she sets out on a virtual journey to document her story—and four other families' stories—fighting a disease medicine forgot.
Leonardo da Vinci is acclaimed as the world’s favourite artist. Many TV shows and feature films have showcased this extraordinary genius but often not examined closely enough is the most crucial element of all: his art. Leonardo’s peerless paintings and drawings will be the focus of Leonardo: The Works, as EXHIBITION ON SCREEN presents every single attributed painting, in Ultra HD quality, never seen before on the big screen. Key works include The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Lady with an Ermine, Ginevra de’ Benci, Madonna Litta, Virgin of the Rocks, and more than a dozen others.
For the first time in history the Royal Academy of Arts in London, in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, is bringing together Lucian Freud’s self-portraits. The exhibition will display more than 50 paintings, prints and drawings in which this modern master of British art turned his unflinching eye firmly on himself. One of the most celebrated painters of our time, Lucian Freud is also one of very few 20th-century artists who portrayed themselves with such consistency. Spanning nearly seven decades his self-portraits give a fascinating insight into both his psyche and his development as a painter, from his earliest portrait painted in 1939 to the final one executed 64 years later. When seen together, his portraits represent an engrossing study into the dynamic of ageing and the process of self-representation. This intensely compelling exhibition creates a unique opportunity for EXHIBITION ON SCREEN to reveal the life’s work of a master in one show.
In an earlier film, Playing A Note on the Violin While I Walk Around the Studio (Violin #1), Nauman played a single note on the violin as he walked around his studio. In this video work, he remains in a stationary position while he plays four strings together. (These have been tuned to the notes of the title, as opposed to the normal G, D, A, and E.) The camera is fixed and turned on its side.
Michael Palin travels to France in search of the Mediterranean view on his wall, captured by his favourite artist, Scottish painter Anne Redpath. He travels from a London bank, via a chateau in Cap Ferrat and a monastery in Edinburgh.
This documentary cracks open the meticulously constructed façade of Andy Warhol, exposing the complex figure behind the soup cans and Marilyns. Director Tania Goldenberg traces the transformation of Andrew Warhola, a shy, churchgoing son of Pittsburgh immigrants, into the silver-wigged icon who redefined modern celebrity while deliberately maintaining a lifelong mask. Behind the iconic person...
How the Costacos Brothers built a wall art empire.
Anton Spielmann (18) and his two younger friends Basti Muxfeldt and Jonas Hinnerkort are living in their family homes with their parents in an idyllic village close to Hamburg. The three of them founded the band 1000 Robota. The band has an ambitious aim: „We want to cause creation not to remind of it”, and they want to live up to their ideals. In a society affected by economic pressure 1000 Robota are questioning themselves and others and they don‘t want to meet other people‘s expectations. In a world of excessive supply they are looking for significance and want to unite with others to create a new way of youth culture. But soon they have to face some serious difficulties.
Belgian art historian and filmmaker Paul Haesaerts (1901–1974) made a significant contribution to the promotion of modern Flemish art. In the late 1940s, he started experimenting with the medium of film to practice a new form of lens-based art criticism. The understudied documentary "Quatre peintres belges au travail" (1952) presents Belgian artists Edgar Tytgat, Albert Dasnoy, Jean Brusselmans and Paul Delvaux at work in their studio. On a large sheet of glass placed in front of the camera, they each paint one of the seasons that also represent a stage in a person’s life. A close reading of this Kodachrome color film sheds light on the context of mid-century art reproductions, mass media and post-war Flemish culture. It also examines in what way this film operates as Haesaerts’s concept of cinéma critique, while raising questions as to the way Haesaerts attempted to reconcile the spatial art of painting with the temporal medium of film.