Art of the Western World

Description:

Art of the Western World is an introductory-level course that examines the works of art that have come to define the Western visual tradition from ancient Greece to the present day. The course helps students to appreciate the formal qualities, iconography, and technical achievements of these extraordinary monuments and shows how they closely reflect the prevailing attitudes of the society in which they were created. The course also explores the goals of the artists and patrons responsible for their creation.

The course examines Western art against the backdrop of its time. Divided into two half-hour segments, each program covers the art of two related eras, such as Greece and Rome, or Romanesque and Gothic. Filmed across America and Europe, the series enables students to experience a selection of pivotal art works through the immediacy and impact of the close-range camera.

The course components acquaint students with the various ways of looking at the great art works of Western civilization and give them intellectual tools that enable them to understand these monuments. Students will also come to understand the Western philosophical traditions that link the present with the past, and how these have affected the development of the visual arts over the millennia.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

• Look at art with understanding and sensitivity
• Distinguish the various styles of Western art
• Appreciate the challenges of form and technique of the various media
• Understand works of art in relation to the societies in which they were created
• Develop an awareness of the concepts that define and distinguish the Western visual tradition

PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS

101) The Classical Ideal 600 B.C. - 350 A.D.
Part 1. Greece: Birth of the Classical Tradition
Part 2. Imperial Stones of Rome
The origins of humanism and much of Western art are traced to ancient Greece, dramatically conveys through Kouroi and Korai figures, as well as by the architecture of the Parthenon. The inherently political character of Roman art is embodies In the technical sophistication and extraordinary details of the Pantheon. The decline of humanistic values in the late antique period is represented by portraits and by the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, where classical themes and forms are adapted to serve Christian purposes.

102) A White Garment of Churches - Romanesque and Gothic
Part 1. Romanesque
Part 2. The Age of Gothic
The exquisitely preserved church of Paray-le-Monial reveals how monasticism and pilgrimage affected the architectural development of Romanesque churches. In Gislebertus' poignant sculpture at St. Lazare in Autun, filmed at close range, the medieval focus on heaven and the afterlife is eloquently visualized. Gothic architecture is explored at St. Denis and Chartres, where the architectural features, sculpture, and magnificent stained glass windows are related to contemporary theology and the profound social changes of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.

103) The Early Renaissance
Part 1. The Early Renaissance in Florence
Part 2. The Early Renaissance in Northern Europe
Through the contributions of Florentine artists in the early 15 th century, the classical tradition is revived and reinterpreted. The achievements of Masaccio, Donatello, and Ghiberti exemplify the merging of Christian and humanistic values in art. In the North, the richly detailed "magic realism" of Jan van Eyck glows in the perfected medium of oil paint. Grunewald's "Isenheim Altarpiece" dramatically conveys the spiritual crisis of Northern Europe on the eve of the Reformation, while Albrecht Durer's works reflect the spirit of the Renaissance reaching Germany.

104) The High Renaissance
Part 1. Rome and Florence - The Artist as Genius
Part 2. Venice - Pleasure and Power
With Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, the artist as genius takes center stage. Their paintings, sculpture, drawings, and architecture define the aesthetic goals of the day. Rome emerges as a center of artistic vitality for the first time since antiquity. The Venetian preoccupation with nature and light is captured in glowing works by Giorgione and Titian, while Tintoretto's "The Last Supper" captures the social turbulence of late 16th Century Italy. Palladio's noble architecture demonstrates how classical principles were absorbed and inventively used with spectacular and functional results.

105) Realms of Light - The Baroque
Part 1. The Baroque in Italy and Austria
Part 2. The Baroque in Spain and The Netherlands
The direct emotional appeal of the Baroque style inspired by the Counter-Reformation is epitomized in Bernini's "The Ecstasy of St. Teresa," filmed on location in the Cornaro Chapel in Rome. In a very different vein, Caravaggio's naturalism, with its depiction of sacred events in homely, every day terms, shocked the public. Austrian and Spanish rulers use art to promote their spiritual aims: Velazquez merges courtly atmosphere with artistic challenges to produce ambiguous, many-layered works such as "Las Meninas." In the Dutch Netherlands, freedom, and new bourgeois values also found expression in art. Rembrandt's works both fulfill and transcend the demands of new merchant patrons. while his portraits penetrate the inner truth of their subjects.

106) An Age of Reason, An Age of Passion
Part 1. An Age of Reason
Part 2. An Age of Passion
The voluptuous fantasies of Boucher and the elegant allegories of Watteau and Fragonard are rejected by a society in violent revolt. David's cool and ordered paintings urge a return to the nobler ideals of a classical past. His brush is transformed from a tool in the king's service to a powerful weapon for the Revolution, as we see in his masterpiece "The Death of Marat." The optimism of the Enlightenment is shattered in the wake of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Paintings by Gericault, Turner, Delacroix, and Goya demonstrate the astonishing range of styles in the Romantic movement as artists strive for individual expression.

107) A Fresh View: Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
Part 1. Realism and Impressionism
Part 2. Post-Impressionism
Courbet defies the entrenched traditions of the official Salon and paints "the subjects of modem life" as he sees them. This urge is shared by the Impressionists, whose works are examined at close camera range, revealing the innovations in form and technique, and the obsession with color and changing light that characterize much of their oeuvre. The term "Post-Impressionism," applied to artists as different as Gaugin, Seurat, Van Gogh, and Cezanne, signifies a turning away from the concerns of Impressionism as new aesthetic aims are expressed in style and subject matters.

108) Into the Twentieth Century
Part 1. Introduction to the Twentieth Century
Part 2. Between the Wars
The avant-garde movement of Vienna and Paris produce art works that embody the experience of urban and modem life. The sensuous paintings of Klimt, the daring color of the Fauves, and the Cubist revolution prefigured in Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" demonstrate how artists seek to free themselves from the past and capture the modem spirit in the years before World War I. Modernism triumphs after the war, as seen in the French. Russian, Dutch, and German works of the Intentional style. The darker side of modem life is explored in such Surrealist works as Miro's "The Birth of the World."

109) In Our Own Time
Part 1. Shattering the Myths
Part 2. New, Newer, Newest
With the appearance of the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York, the United States becomes an important center for the visual arts. Scanning the extraordinary diversity of the post-war period, the program focuses on Jackson Pollock's "Action Painting," with original footage of the artist at work on "One;" considers the skyscraper as the cathedral of a new commercial age; and, analyzes the satirical Pop works of Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. Works by a variety of artists in Europe and the United States demonstrate the explosive internationalization of the art world in the 1970s and '80s.

For more information: E-Mail: learning@unctv.org