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Degas / producer and director, Harry Rasky. Though Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is usually regarded as one of the first and greatest of the Impressionists, he differed Colour in from his colleagues in the stress he laid on composition and , and in the fact that he seldom worked out of doors. In his early years he painted many portraits, your reading especially of members of his family, but later his main subject was contemporary Parisian life. Throughout his long career, he devel- oped various themes, including racecourses, women ironing or bathing, the opera and, Compiled by JANINE DE VILLIERS of European art since the Impressionists that of course, his famous ballet dancers, all of Publications and Promotions have not owed them a debt of one sort or which reveal his preoccupation with catch- another and as it remains one of the most ing a definitive gesture. For the last twenty he popular misconception that artists popular period styles, a selection of interest- years of his life he was almost blind and, are temperamental, unconventional ing titles featuring Impressionist artists and living a solitary existence, worked on wax Tand lead bohemian lives make them their work is highlighted here. sculptures that were posthumously cast in appealing to include as colourful secondary The term is derived from a bronze. This programme presents an over- characters in works of fiction such as Claude painting by in 1874, cata- view of the artist’s fifty-two years of creative Monet in Jane Jakeman’s In the kingdom logued as Impression sunrise. The term is life, including his visits to Italy and the United of mists. Biographical novels based on the applied most frequently to paintings where States, and his friendships with Eduard Manet lives of artists such as the story of Vincent the artist has aimed to capture the visual and Mary Cassatt. van Gogh in the well-known Lust for life impression made by a scene. Impressionist by Irving Stone bring insight into their lives painters are absorbed by the play of light on The irises / producers Yves Leduc and and times and introduce their contemporar- a scene they wish to portray. Eric Michel; directors, Suzanne Gervais ies and influences on their work. Works of Many artists can strictly speaking be called and Jacques Giraldeau. fiction with plots in which art, forgery and Impressionists during certain periods of their In 1889, while hospitalised in an asylum crime feature, for example, Circles of deceit careers only, and some abandoned Impres- in , painted one by Nina Bawden, also include references to sionism for a time and later returned to of his most famous works, The irises. A art and artists. Titles referring to artists and it. The following selection includes videos year later, penniless and virtually unknown, their work, as well as biographical titles such featuring Impressionist painters and con- he committed suicide, having sold only one as Monet by himself: paintings, , temporaries whose work was influenced by painting in his lifetime. One hundred years pastels, letters edited by Richard Kendall Impressionism. later, on 11 November, 1989, The irises was explores the visual art and creators of the sold by auction at Sotheby’s in New York rich legacy of masterpieces housed in a Cézanne: the man and the mountain/ for $49 000 000, plus a commission of 10%, variety of museums and private collections producer, Jakob Hausmann; director, making it the highest market price in the his- across the globe. Jochen Richter. tory of art up to that time. In this film Van The reader interested in art and inspired There are few modern masters who Gogh’s painting is recreated in fast forward to improve his knowledge of artists and would not acknowledge their debt to the against an impressionistic soundscape that their work after finishing a book referring great French painter Paul Cézanne (1839- combines the natural sounds of rural to a specific artist or period, will find the 1906), yet during his lifetime he received Provence with the tension of the New York audiovisual medium suitable for this purpose. little acclaim. Much of his later life was spent auction room, where a work created out Viewing a video not only enables the library in his native Aix-en-Provence, to which he of love and necessity became just another patron to see the actual artwork or visual withdrew to concentrate on painting the commodity. This short was originally part material of a particular artist, but he might landscape of the region, especially the moun- of Jacques Giraldeau’s 1989 film Le tableau also find a discussion or analysis of individual tain of Sainte-Victoire, of which he made noir. works of art fascinating and enlightening. over sixty studies. This film, written and nar- The Central Film and Video Collection rated by Edwin Mullins, takes a special look Matisse, voyages / director, Didier of the Library Service boasts an interesting at this important phase of his work. Shot on Baussy. collection of videos featuring the visual arts location in the south of France, with an actor (1869-1954) was one of and their creators from a variety of periods, representing Cézanne as he wanders about the greatest and most influential artists of styles and movements. the countryside, it intercuts documentary the twentieth century. For him colour and footage and archival stills with a representa- light consistently controlled all other com- Impressionists tive selection of the artist’s paintings. As ponents of his work and he stated that his Impressionism was the major movement in the commentary has it, besides being the primary aim was to explore the relationship nineteenth century art and has remained as culmination of Cézanne’s achievement, these between things. This film draws upon a wide the main starting-point for modern artistic works can be regarded as the genesis of the range of works, including those from the theory. There have been few, if any, schools art of the 20th century. collection of the Museum of in

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New York, to trace the development of his other artists. Additional observations come and heartbreaks of this talented genius who art in various media and to illustrate how from Henry Moore and . became the single most influential artist of his travels to Tangiers, Tahiti and the United modern history. States were ultimately reflected in his work. The shock of the new. Part 3, The Extracts from his Notes of a painter are landscape of pleasure / series producer The wolf at the door / producer, and incorporated into the commentary and the and producer Lorna Pegram. director, Henning Carlsen. programme includes footage from Jean Vigo’s The third in a series of eight programmes An account of the life and times of Paul A propos de Nice, Murnau and Flaherty’s in which presents a survey Gauguin (1848-1903) who gave up his oc- Tabu and from an early film on the artist by of the art of the 20th century and evokes cupation as successful stockbroker to paint Francois Campaux. This work won an award its spirit by showing how it interacted with full time. He exhibited of his works in the at the International Art Film Festival in Paris. the society from which it sprang. During the Impressionist exhibitions of 1880-1886. first half of the century, many French artists : in search of pure attempted, through their work, to reconcile Promote fiction as well as non-fiction colour / director, Didier Baussy. man with his world and, especially, the pleas- titles and videos on artists and art in your ‘The French painter Pierre Bonnard ures accessible to his senses. Their art chal- library’s collection in a display to entice read- (1867-1947) was one of the greatest colour- lenged that of the Impressionists and Hughes ers to discover the great visual creations of ists of modern art, famed for his interiors, discusses the accomplishments of painters as the old masters, Impressionist or otherwise, landscapes and female nudes. In following diverse as Seurat, Monet, Cézanne, Gauguin that contribute to the canvass of civilization. Bonnard’s lifelong search for ‘pure colour’, and Braque. Some artists sought a kind of this film develops several themes. Taking a paradise on the Cote d’Azur, where References cue from a small collection of paintings and Bonnard, Picasso and especially Matisse Osborne, H. The Oxford companion to photographs that Bonnard had pinned to the found inspiration for some of their best art.- Oxford UP, 1970 (1993 printing). wall of his attic studio, it examines the friend- work. The emphasis on physical sensation The Thames and Hudson dictionary of art ship and influence of fellow artists Gauguin, was reflected in the sensuousness of their and artists. -Rev ed. Thames, 1994. Cézanne, Seurat, Renoir and Matisse. Other art, but their search for harmony between sources of inspiration, in particular Japanese mind and body is a far cry from the image Note: Reviews by Freddy Ogterop, Film/Video/ art and the intense light and colours of the presented by the Mediterranean coast today. DVD Selector of the Western Cape Provincial Mediterranean, are also explored, while the Library Service. personal and intimate side of the artist’s life Tom Keating on Impressionism. 2 0 0 5 is reflected in his self-portraits, in his cor- Volume 1-3 / producer Richard respondence with Matisse, and in his private Beighton; director, Richard Fawkes. sketchbooks. Women played a major role in In 1976 Tom Keating was involved in a Bonnard’s life and the programme shows a court case during which it transpired that he series of beautiful nudes that are among his had painted over 2 000 pictures in the style greatest paintings. Shot largely on location of more than 150 artists. He did them, so in the south of France in the houses and he claimed, to express his opinion of the art landscape that are represented in his paint- establishment. Obviously a skilled copy- ings, the film shows the way in which these ist and restorer, he subsequently hosted a elements were reflected in Bonnard’s art, series in which he explained and charts the development of the artist’s and demonstrated the styles of Titian, painting towards an almost abstract tribute Rembrandt, Turner, Constable and Degas. to colour itself’. This was followed by another series on some of the Impressionists, in this case Point counterpoint: the life and work Monet and Renoir. He illustrates how these of George Seurat 1859-1891/ producer, artists achieved their very recognisable ef- Ann Turner. fects, providing information about their lives This programme, written and narrated and working methods as by David Thompson, explores the art of the he goes along. In this series French painter (1859-1891), he presents the work of often regarded as the founder of Neo- Monet and Renoir in the impressionism. It discusses the environ- first volume, followed by ment into which he was born, describes one on Rousseau, Boudin, his training at L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, talks Pissarro and Manet, and about the influences on his work and, above another on Van Gogh and all, illustrates the development of his unique Cézanne. style of painting in relation to his highly intel- lectual approach to his art. In the process it Vincent: the life and discusses the technique that became known death of Vincent van as pointillism and spends considerable time Gogh / producer, Tony analysing a number of key works, all of them Llewellyn-Jones; director, carefully-structured studies that have a con- Paul Cox. scious grandeur and had a great influence on A look at the life, love

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