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The segment on Van Gogh is, as expected, emotional, yet Schama convincingly portrays Van Gogh as not consumed by madness, but fighting off the episodes with painting. Van Gogh painted one of his most evocative works, Wheat Field With Crows, which even his brother, Theo, recognized was about to put his brother on the artistic map. Yet, as Schama points out, within weeks, Van Gogh had killed himself. "Now why would he want to do that?" Schama muses--and then proceeds to narrate the tormented tale of the answer. Along the way, the viewer gains new appreciation for Van Gogh's signature works, including his famous sunflowers. "Technically, these are still lives," Schama says, "but there's nothing still about them... the sunflowers [seem to be] organisms landing violently from a burning sun." If the reenactments of the artists' lives are a bit overdone, it's forgivable, since the cumulative effect, in an hour, is a new appreciation of the work and the man.
Extras include frank and very funny commentaries by Schama and his co-producer, and lots of behind-the-scenes dish on how certain scenes were achieved. The teeming French opera scene in the "David" episode, for instance, was cast using just 20 French extras and then the rest created by CGI--"the scene works better, really, than [the film] King Kong," Schama says with delight. --A.T. Hurley
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| MANUFACTURER: | BBC Warner |
| MPAA RATING: | NR (Not Rated) |
| FEATURES: | Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC |
| TYPE: | Documentary, Gift Set, Movie |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 3 |
| UPC: | 794051299628 |
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Customer Reviews of Simon Schama's Power of Art
The Power of Historical Insight into the Artist This is a masterpiece of art-historical narrative about great masterpieces of Western art. What Prof. Schama, Columbia University, manages to do is to provide us with real insights into the artists he focuses on, thus illuminating each work he focuses on in a new way. He shows us carefully done recreations of both the artist's times and their lives, thus putting the canonical works that are the ultimate focus of each episode into both an historical and a psychological context. <
> The works themselves are also lovingly shown. The production values of the series are also excellent. <
> The success of these portraits is due to Schama's own intellectual, emotional, and even spiritual values, none of which are overtly broadcast, but which are present at every step of his account. It is this chemistry between Schama, the work he is so affected by, and the artist, that enables Schama to truly convey the power of art.
Inside art
I saw this on television and ordered it for my daughter, an art major.
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>In addition to the probing insights into the mind and life of each artist, and the analyses of the works of each, the photography and visual montages are a work of art themselves.
On the Power of Art
I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Schama in a recent presentation of this documentary. I first became famliar to his work through his book "The Power of Art." His documentary is an excellent companion to a really great book. When the documentary began to be shown on PBS, I knew I had to have a copy (eventually,I bought two copies).
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>The most important aspect of this documentary, in my opinion, is connected to the fact that Simon Schama is not all too concerned with styles or techniques but with historical context and its impact in the work of each artist he selected. Each work is presented as a reaction to the events of the time. Simon Schama also goes deep into the lives of each artist and provides us with a better understanding of their motivations and personal relationships. These artists become very human and for that reason very much like us. The combination of these factors result in the creation of amazing works of art that are a universal manifestations of human nature and emotion. It is because the message of each piece is so human, so universal, that the art becomes memorable. It is for this reason that these masterpieces continue to talk to us beyond the limitations of time. This is the real power of art!
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>As an art history teacher, I truly enjoyed Simon Schama's approach to art history. I tend to teach in very similar lines. For those who are not necessarily interested in art (find that hard to believe) this documentary would provide a great deal of information tnat is exciting and entertaining.