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English
Description
What do modern art, a symphony, and a documentary film have in common? They all require aesthetic considerations. This program presents the ideas of key figures in the shaping and understanding of aesthetics-from Plato, Francis Hutcheson, and Kant to Leon Battista Alberti, Stendhal, and Tolstoy-and addresses pivotal writings, including Aristotle's Poetics and Morris Weitz's "The Role of Theory in Aesthetics." Columbia University's Arthur Danto and...
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English
Description
At some point during the early 20th century staged photography fell out of fashion, but in the 1960s it made a spectacular comeback, enriched by the external influences of popular culture. This program explains how staged photography has been used to deconstruct the idea of literal photographic realism. Also explored are the ways in which this art form trounces the notion of a camera's objectivity, as in Cindy Sherman's parodies of B-movie portrayals...
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English
Description
Has beauty vanished from contemporary art? Must today's painting and sculpture repel the eye in order to be taken seriously by the avant-garde? Many observers think so, but acclaimed British critic Waldemar Januszczak disagrees. In this program he argues that great art is as interested in beauty as it always was, but that perhaps the definition of beauty has changed-and we're looking for it in the wrong places. By the same token, Januszczak asserts,...
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English
Description
A staggering number of paintings were once thought to be Rembrandts, but of the 800 or so works attributed to the Dutch master during the 19th century, only about 300 remain authenticated. Interestingly, the 1800s were also a period in which France dominated Rembrandt collecting and research. In the 20th century, expertise shifted to Holland, Great Britain, and the U.S., leaving French holdings isolated and neglected for a time. The Louvre, however,...
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English
Description
An excerpt from William Kentridge's animated film rendition of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute sets the stage for this lecture in which he builds upon observations elucidated in Drawing Lesson One to argue that colonialism - with all its inherent brutality - is the logical culmination of 18th-century Enlightenment thought. "Every act of enlightenment - " says Kentridge, "all ambitions to save souls, all the basic impulses - is so dogged by the weight...
Language
English
Description
What is the meaning and scope of images today? Bombarded by thousands of images every day, what do we really see? In a constantly changing world, socially and politically engaged creators are searching for new ways to capture our attention. Filmmaker Helen Doyle has chosen the work of several artists and photographers who provoke us into looking deeper at the outside world and at ourselves.