22nd March 2009 ; Documentaries on Art

Documentaries on Art

22nd March 2009 ; 5.45 pm

Ashwin Hospital auditorium

Call :9443039630

http://konangalfilmsociety.blogspot.com/

What was it like to be an artist in centuries past? What makes a painting or an artist 'great'? Tim Marlow presents this fascinating introduction to the works of the Old Masters as displayed in museums, churches, and palaces throughout Europe. Tim Marlow takes a fresh look at the most important artworks of some of the greatest artists in history. Both intelligent and informative, the series aims to provide an uncomplicated and accessible analysis of the works and artists.

This is Konangal’s second segment on documentaries on art. Lat month Simon Schama took us through a breathtaking tour of the works of post renaissance masters Bernini and Caravaggio. We began that screening with Tim Marlow’s presentation of the pre renaissance master Giotto.

This week we will be screening documentaries about the life and works of two masters  Bruegel of Netherlands and Michelangelo of Italy. 

Michelangelo (1475-1564)

1

An introduction to Michelangelo

Presented by Tim Marlow 

Runtime :24 min

Works featured in this program include David (1501-04, Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence), Frescoes, Sistine Chapel, (1508-12, Vatican, Rome), Bacchus (1496-97, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence), Pieta (1499, St. Peter's, Vatican, Rome), Dying and Rebellious Slaves (1513-16, Louvre, Paris) and The Last Judgement, (1534-41, Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome ).

2

Michelangelo Drawings -Closer to the Master

Runtime: 40 min

A joint BBC/British Museum production about the drawings of Michelangelo and the way that they illuminate his life, his artistic development, his religion and his inner torments. The film is presented Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, and is filmed on location in Florence and in the Sistine Chapel. 

Michelangelo's drawings are some of the greatest of all time. Fragile survivals from over 500 years ago, they can be studied and admired as things of great technical skill and enormous beauty, but they show us something else as well: they show us Michelangelo thinking. Michelangelo would have felt exposed seeing us look at his drawings. And that's what makes them exciting: they give us a thrilling insight into how this genius sculptor, architect and painter worked: they bring us closer to the master. From pen studies made when he was in his early twenties to the visionary crucifixion scenes carried out six decades later, shortly before his death, this film illuminates the high points of Michelangelo's career. 

3

The Private Life of a Masterpiece- Michelangelo’s David

Runtime 48 Min

It is one of art's most noted pieces, but it took failures by two sculptors before Michelangelo Buonarroti completed the work in the early 16th century. This documentary reveals the techniques Michelangelo used to re-create the human body so accurately on such a vast scale, and how contrasting interpretations view it as a symbol of either military might or of freedom.

Bruegel 

c. 1525 – September 9, 1569

An introduction to Bruegel 

Presented by Tim Marlow 

Runtime :24 min

Pieter Bruegel  (c. 1525 – September 9, 1569) was a Netherlandish Renaissance painter and printmaker known for his landscapes and peasant scenes. 

Bruegel specialized in landscapes populated by peasants. He is often credited as being the first Western painter to paint landscapes for their own sake, rather than as a backdrop for history painting. Attention to the life and manners of peasants was rare in the arts in Brueghel's time. His earthy, unsentimental but vivid depiction of the rituals of village life—including agriculture, hunts, meals, festivals, dances, and games—are unique windows on a vanished folk culture and a prime source of iconographic evidence about both physical and social aspects of 16th century life.