How to Look at and Understand Great Art

tv show

poster for How to Look at and Understand Great Art

36 total episodes

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1 seasons

First Aired January 01, 2011

Overview

Contemplate the "anti-art" spirit of Dadaism, its nihilistic yet humorous indictment of civilization and bizarre use of unconventional media. In the sensibility of Surrealism, observe its compelling focus on the subconscious and two substyles - dream imagery, with its juxtaposition of objects and settings, and "automatic drawing," eliciting unplanned images from the unconscious.

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Subject Matters

Season 1 - Episode 16 - 0h 0m

Air Date

January 01, 2011

Overview

Focusing on masterworks by Van Eyck and Rubens, define three levels of iconography (subject matter). Also study the academic codifying and ranking of subject matter in art, probing subject and deeper meaning in a variety of religious and history paintings, still lifes, landscapes, portraits, and genre works.