Art History DVDS?

[Zenith_]

Just wondering if any of you guys know any good art history dvds or tv series'?
I like to play documentaries in the background when I'm drawing and I figure "why not make it productive?" and throw some art history in while I'm at it?

A couple of my friends have recommended Simon Schama's The Power of Art but it's been a bit hit and miss with some of them.
Has anyone seen this series? If so, worth an investment?
Oh, and if anyone knows any good online art history resources, throw 'em my way.

[Elwell]

The complete PBS series Art of the Western World and Art Through Time: A Global View, as well as other educational programs, are available at the Annenberg Learner site.

[yochanan]

KhanAcademy.org!

[LordLouis]

If you can get hold of it, I can only recommend BBC "The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution", a 4 parter.

It is very light and addressed at a non-art audience as well, which I found really entertaining. It's not so much about staring at a painting for 40 minutes and reading everything into it that comes to your mind, rather it puts the Impressionists in a historical context. For example, it starts with the invention of paint tubes and the effects it had on plein air painting. One part deals with colour and the discoveries that had been made. You'll get introduced to the big names, but also some of the less well-known ones.

I've watched it 3 times now and I love it!

[Zenith_]

Thanks guys! Definitely enough here to keep me busy for a while!

@Elwell I actually had Art of the Western World bookmarked a couple of weeks back but I glad you reminded me of it. Left it on the backburner for too long!

@yochanan Good site. Nicely categorized, sizeable chunks of information. thanks!

@LordLouisThanks man. I'll def have a look for that somewhere online. I like that it brings the history of the era into it. That always makes things a bit more interesting I remember seeing it on the listings back last summer and I kept thinking "I must watch that". I'm sorry I missed it now...

[JesseM]

I'm going through Simon Schama's Power of Art right now, and I love it, personally. I watched Schama's other historical documentaries before, and when I found out he's done some art history, I was stoked.

He doesn't talk about the composition of specific paintings or anything specific like that, nor does he talk about movements and eras, and the broad, multi-purpose subjects like. Instead he talks about people, and how they lived and died. He does explain the significance of what some of the artists did (Rembrandt's brushstrokes, etc), but not quite enough. In that way, it's made more for historians than artists. However, the Power of Art is very well-made. I'm enjoying watching the series, to get more familiar with some artists, the context of their lives and their best works.

If that interests you, give the Power of Art a try. You can find most of the episodes on youtube, I believe, although I'm getting the DVDs through Netflix.

[Zenith_]

@JesseM Most of my friends that saw it, enjoyed it but one or two of them said it was "too dramatic" (Though I personally never had a problem with too much drama )
I actually had a think about it today and I think it might be a good idea to watch things more into the "history" than the "technique" while I'm drawing. (I'll probably confuse myself!)

In any case, I'll never know what I think of Power of Art until I watch it myself
Off I go to catch it online somewhere! Thanks again!