Simon Schama's Power of Art
starring: Simon Schama
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Product Description:
Studio: Warner Home VideoRelease Date: 06/05/2007Run time: 400 minutesRating: Nr
Amazon.com:
Watching Simon Schama's Power of Art is like taking an Ivy League course in art appreciation, with the folksy but knowledgeable Schama as guide and interpreter. A collection of hour-long films on eight seminal artists and their groundbreaking works, which originally aired on British television, this boxed set is as entertaining as it is enlightening, with Schama doing for Western art what, say, Steve Irwin did for Australian natural history. Eight artists are featured--Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rothko--and each portrait of the artist weaves biography and historical context to help explain the true power of his works.
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
Studio: Warner Home VideoRelease Date: 06/05/2007Run time: 400 minutesRating: Nr
Amazon.com:
Watching Simon Schama's Power of Art is like taking an Ivy League course in art appreciation, with the folksy but knowledgeable Schama as guide and interpreter. A collection of hour-long films on eight seminal artists and their groundbreaking works, which originally aired on British television, this boxed set is as entertaining as it is enlightening, with Schama doing for Western art what, say, Steve Irwin did for Australian natural history. Eight artists are featured--Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rothko--and each portrait of the artist weaves biography and historical context to help explain the true power of his works.
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
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- needs to be on bluray
This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Schama is a witty, insightful and thoroughly entertaining host, and the series has excellent production values. Each segment is like a little film, composed around a central drama in the artist's life. It is a novel way to look at art, quite contrary to our normal view of art as a rather sedate, passive experience involving staring quietly in sterile galleries. Schama really gets across the passion and force of these artists and how powerful ... Read More
Rating: - Best Insight to understanding these artists!
Currently, I am an adult student in The Glassell Art School, a part of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX.I am taking an abstract painting class and these CD's have helped me understand the who, why and how much better than reading a book.I love them and have recommended them to the rest of my class.
Rating: - Introspective Gold
A beautifully produced series on the lives and times of 8 artists, capturing the mastery of each.The individual genius which separates their art from their contemporaries, discussion on technique, uniqueness, balanced with the intrigues, personal and political of their times, makes this into a must-have for artist information.I have not tired of looking at this collection, each replay giving me more information and appreciation that I had missed in a previous viewing.The narration takes place ... Read More
Rating: 
- Great video, lousy audio
This set of videos is great. He brings the artists to life and gives us a better understanding of their character and the context in which they created their work. However, the audio quality is poor. The volume level will go from good to bad often enough to be distracting.
Rating: - More, more...
I am a serious photographer, who is trying to find his way through the hassle of the modern world. What makes you to shoot a really "good" photograph? That's the search for every individual, who is in the need of expressing himself/herself in an artistic form. Is it equipment? Well! May be. But surely not exactly. So, I decided to dig deeper and try to understand how visual art was created in the good old ages when people were not technologically strongly supported to create an image as they are now. ... Read More
- needs to be on blurayThis is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Schama is a witty, insightful and thoroughly entertaining host, and the series has excellent production values. Each segment is like a little film, composed around a central drama in the artist's life. It is a novel way to look at art, quite contrary to our normal view of art as a rather sedate, passive experience involving staring quietly in sterile galleries. Schama really gets across the passion and force of these artists and how powerful ... Read More
- Best Insight to understanding these artists!Currently, I am an adult student in The Glassell Art School, a part of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX.I am taking an abstract painting class and these CD's have helped me understand the who, why and how much better than reading a book.I love them and have recommended them to the rest of my class.
- Introspective GoldA beautifully produced series on the lives and times of 8 artists, capturing the mastery of each.The individual genius which separates their art from their contemporaries, discussion on technique, uniqueness, balanced with the intrigues, personal and political of their times, makes this into a must-have for artist information.I have not tired of looking at this collection, each replay giving me more information and appreciation that I had missed in a previous viewing.The narration takes place ... Read More
- Great video, lousy audioThis set of videos is great. He brings the artists to life and gives us a better understanding of their character and the context in which they created their work. However, the audio quality is poor. The volume level will go from good to bad often enough to be distracting.
- More, more...I am a serious photographer, who is trying to find his way through the hassle of the modern world. What makes you to shoot a really "good" photograph? That's the search for every individual, who is in the need of expressing himself/herself in an artistic form. Is it equipment? Well! May be. But surely not exactly. So, I decided to dig deeper and try to understand how visual art was created in the good old ages when people were not technologically strongly supported to create an image as they are now. ... Read More
