Henri Matisse (Artists of the 20th Century)
by DPM
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DVD details
Director: DPMBrand: Kultur
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 56 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-04-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur International Films
DVD Reviews of Henri Matisse (Artists of the 20th Century)
DVD Review: A 56-minute challenge to stay awake
Summary: 2 Stars
I started watching some of these Artists of the 20th Century DVDs in order to gain some familiarity with and - hopefully - a measure of understanding of modern art. They certainly increase one's familiarity with each artist's work, since they consist of nothing more than images of that work, but they aren't doing much in terms of helping me understand it. The only thing I clearly understand at this point is that I really dislike modern art. I don't think anyone could logically argue that these DVDs are anything but exceedingly boring. The narrator may use all sorts of intense words, but his constantly soporific monologue spoken to the accompaniment of light piano music cannot help but put one to sleep. This was especially the case in terms of this look at the artwork of Matisse, given the fact that I personally didn't see any single piece of the artist's work that I could even begin to like.
I feel it is important for me to repeat the fact that I know nothing about modern art. My ignorance on this subject is one of the reasons I wanted to sample some of the most celebrated artwork of recent decades. It's hard for me to see how a Matisse could have been so popular and so influential - and this DVD didn't really enlighten me at all. The description of Matisse's influences rushed right past me, and there's virtually no discussion of Matisse's influences on later artists; in terms of biographical information, you'll learn much more by reading the back of the DVD case than by watching the DVD itself. The whole manner of presentation of these DVDs is seemingly designed to put you to sleep, not to enlighten you at all. As for Matisse, I was struck by how primitive and vague his paintings were. While he never really descended into abstract art, his creations are painted in broad strokes revealing little detail. The narrator may rave about his use of color, but I find it hard to get excited about seeing strange colors in strange places. Virtually all of the paintings shown in this video slideshow looked half-finished to me, as there is virtually no detail in Matisse's work. Human models are ill-shaped and oftentimes drawn out of proportion, and many details the narrator celebrates are quite invisible to my eyes. I daresay you could hang several Matisse paintings among those at an elementary school art show, and I would be hard pressed to identify which is which. If you like detail in your paintings, Matisse clearly isn't your guy.
Naturally, those with an interest and appreciation of modern art will view Matisse's work much differently than I do - but I doubt any of them would really recommend this DVD. You get no details on Matisse's life, the narrator's comments about each painting chosen to display here seem random at best, and the work of Matisse's later years -which is radically different from what he had done before - is given short shrift indeed. My advice is to skip this DVD entirely and find a few good, informative Matisse art galleries online.
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Description of Henri Matisse (Artists of the 20th Century)
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