I love the documentaties produced by art historian Waldemar Januszczak. I have seen a number of great ones over the years. His latest on American art has so far not disappointed.
The revelation of episode one for me was the work of Thomas Hart Benton. The way he formed his work and what resulted. The completeion of pieces for strikingly epic murals. A student of his was none other than Jackson Pollock, an artist that really has never done anything for me. Well, Waldemar was doing his best to sell me the importance of Jackson Pollock…but I wasn’t buying it.
A fellow student at the Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles was Philip Guston and I was reminded of the impact his work had on me when seeing it as part of the “America: After The Fall” exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art last year.
This reminder of Guston’s work took place during Waldemar’s detour to Mexico City, in celebration of Diego Rivera’s masterpiece mural displays there at the Ministry of Education, in particular. Although overwhelmingly filled with Rivera murals, there are some displayed by Guston.
Discussed also in the prgramme was also landscape art, sand art discussed, as well petroglyphs and pictographs out in arid and desert landscapes, among other things.
All fascinating stuff.
You can catch episode one of Big Sky, Big Dreams, Big Art on iPlayer until Friday evening. Click on the image to view on iPlayer. (Yes, it’s not always all just about Simple Minds and Jim Kerr on this blog…I do have other interests, amazingly! Sometimes. Lol)
