PROGRAMME NOTES & JAPAN A note from Executive Producer was revolutionary. The paintings we know and love – Phil Grabsky the paintings that some argue make him the world’s favourite artist – cannot be fully appreciated without Those of you who have been following EXHIBITION ON grasping how deeply Japanese art affected him. SCREEN over the years know we are motivated by a desire to bring art and artists to as wide an audience Cinema is about story-telling and this is a cracking as possible. Thus part of me is delighted when I story. I hope you enjoy it – and I hope you relish the hear of another Van Gogh or Caravaggio film. After chance to look afresh at the work of a hard-working, all, how often is Hamlet or The Marriage of Figaro deep-thinking and hugely enthusiastic artist. Watch performed? Great art withstands numerous viewings it once, and then try to come back with a friend who and explorations. perhaps is one of those poor souls who says the awful words ‘I’m not into art’. What makes Van Gogh so great, On the other hand, I admit to some frustration when so timeless, is that he communicates about us to us – the same old myths are perpetuated, the same legends and those who think art is not for them should think laid out as if they offer the only ‘truth’ about an artist again. Firstly, because art is for everyone and, secondly, and their life. Van Gogh is a great example of this: the because Van Gogh – aided by the impact of Japanese crazed Dutchman walking with furrowed brows and art – was and is a master communicator to all of us.

hunched shoulders through fields of sunflowers on his Blossom,1890, VanAlmond Museum VincentGogh, van Gogh way to another night of drinking in brothels... It’s lazy and unfair. For one thing, there was no such thing in his lifetime as a field of sunflowers! To over-stress his mental illness or the occasional night-time bawdiness overlooks the passion and sheer effort he put into becoming a great artist.

That’s what I want to know more about: how and why did he paint the way he did? Who did he learn from? What was he trying to say? Hence, when we heard about the major exhibition ‘Van Gogh and Japan’ touring Japan and coming to the in Amsterdam, we leapt at the chance to use that as a springboard to explore some of those questions. DIRECTED BY DAVID BICKERSTAFF Frankly, one cannot over-estimate the impact that Japanese art had on artists like Van Gogh – and others PRODUCED BY PHIL GRABSKY such as Monet, Degas and Cézanne – when they first encountered it in Paris in the mid 19th Century. It MUSIC BY ASA BENNETT

Visit: http://bit.do/eossubscribe RECOMMENDED READING #EOS Van Gogh & Japan by Louis van Tilborgh, Nienke Bakker, Cornelia facebook.com/exhibitiononscreen Homburg, Tsukasa Kodera, Chris Uhlembeck Madame Chrysanthème twitter.com/artonscreen by Pierre Loti instagram.com/exhibitiononscreen The Letters of van Gogh

by www.exhibitiononscreenblog.com Vincent van Gogh, Courtesan (after Eisen), 1887, 1887, Eisen), Van(after Museum Gogh Courtesan VincentGogh, van

FEATURED WORKS In the Café: in Le Tambourn Courtesan (after Eisen) Bridge in the (after ) Portrait of Père Tanguy The Arlésienne (Marie Ginoux) Flowering Plum Orchard (after Hiroshige) Mousmé Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear Sudden Evening Shower on the Great Bridge near Atake (by Utagawa Hiroshige) Under the Wave off Kanagawa (by Katsushika Hokusai)

EXHIBITION ON SCREEN is produced and distributed by award-winning documentary film-makers Seventh Art Productions. It has been making films on art, music and history for over 35 years and in that time it has produced almost 200 titles. Most are available to download or purchase on DVD from its website: www.seventh-art.com/shop