How Art Made the World
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DVD details
Actor: David Attenborough, George Miller, Nigel SpiveyBrand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Mark Molesworth
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 290 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-08-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: E2457
Studio: BBC Worldwide
Product features:
- Why does our world look like it does? That great modern mystery is spectacularly unraveled in this international landmark series and epic quest across five continents and 100,000 years, via some of the greatest treasures of the ancient world -- to the heart of human creativity. Encompassing everything from cave paintings to ceramics and pyramids to palaces, How Art Made the World probes the global
DVD Reviews of How Art Made the World
DVD Review: Fascinating look at Ancient Art from an Archaeological and Socio-Anthropological perspective
Summary: 5 Stars
This 5-part BBC documentary series (2005) is a fascinating look at why humans developed representational imagery or visual art, and how visual art has shaped the world we live in today. It's a topic that has been tackled before but here we see it from an archaeological as well as socio-anthropological perspective (Dr Nigel Spivey is a lecturer in both Classical Art and Archaeology at Cambridge University). His views are buttressed with insights from neuroscientists and psychologists. The focus is purely on the visual arts and centres on ancient and prehistoric art. It tackles broad questions such as why humans want or need to create visual images, why especially images of humans and why the predilection for distorted forms? Why humanity sees the need to represent death in art. How visual art is used for social and political purposes. How visual art has been refined to be the storytelling medium par excellence. It is meant for the lay audience and is easily accessible even to the uninitiated. Spivey is a captivating host and puts his ideas across clearly and succinctly.
The 5 episodes (58 mins each) are:
Ep.1: More Human than Human - Why have humans felt the need to create visual representations of themselves and specifically why indulge in distortions of the human form? Is this hardwired in the human brain? What can we learn from modern studies in neuroscience?
Ep.2: The Day Pictures Were Born - What might have been the reasons for the Paleolithic cave paintings of Altamira and Lascaux? What can the the more recent cave paintings left by the San bushman in the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa tell us? What have studies into altered states of consciousness taught us and how is this applicable to our understanding of the cave paintings?
Ep.3: The Art of Persuasion - The role of visual art throughout human history to organise and mobilise society; to persuade, to propagandise, to lie. From its earliest use by Darius of Persia, through Alexander the Great, to Caesar Augustus, to the modern spin-meisters of Bush and Blair.
Ep.4: Once Upon A Time - The role of visual art in story-telling, from its earliest beginnings as carved scenes on the Palace walls of King Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, to the marble statues of Classical Greece, to the epic carvings on Trajan's Column, to the Hollywood spectacles of today. Includes a fascinating reappraisal of Australian Aboriginal art, seen in its cultural context as a blend of picture, story, music and dance and how one element cannot be divorced from the other, making it one of mankind's earliest forerunners to the modern film.
Ep.5: To Death and Back - Humanity's fear and fascination with death and how we utilise art in an attempt to conquer it. How images of death are used to gird a society under external threat. Examines the significance of ancient images of death. Compares Christian iconography with ancient Aztec and Incan representations of death.
One criticism is that Spivey is at times too emphatic in his conclusions. What he proposes may certainly be true but we cannot be sure of that (reasons for people producing distorted human imagery - the meaning of paleolithic paintings - the role of death in art). What we can say is that they are valid conclusions in the light of present knowledge. Still as an entry point for the lay audience, it is an excellent series. And Spivey certainly charges the viewer with his sheer enthusiasm.
The series is shot in 1.78:1 widescreen and presented as such on DVD (enhanced for widescreen TV). Picture quality is excellent. Photography is often stunning. Sound is in front-centered, crystal clear, 2.0 Dolby Surround. Optional English subtitles are provided. Extras include a 5-minute long interview with Spivey and Mark Hedgecoe on the series, as well as roughly 12 minutes worth of footage on shooting at the Gobekli Tepe archaeological site in modern Turkey. This series is accompanied by a fully illustrated companion book written by Nigel Spivey available separately from BBC Press.
Description of How Art Made the World
HOW ART MADE THE WORLD - DVD MovieAs part of BBC?s agenda to generate public awareness about art history's relevance to contemporary culture, the documentary series How Art Made the World is a landmark. Host Dr. Nigel Spivey, a Classical Archaeology professor from Cambridge, asserts, over five episodes, that not only have cultures thrived according to their abilities to communicate visually, but also that, though art, we can historically trace human needs and desires because our minds drive us to create images. Questioning how and why art influences society, Spivey employs art criticism, archaeology, political theory, and anthropology in order to posit theories in each hour-long segment. Episode one, "More Human than Human," traces our obsession with the human body by analyzing the Venus of Willendorf, Egyptian art, and Ancient Greece's preoccupation with athleticism. "The Day Pictures Were Born" discusses the birth of cave painting. "The Art of Persuasion" contextualizes Tony Blair and George Bush's political communication strategies with those in ancient cultures. "To Death and Back" ponders our preoccupation with death. "Once Upon A Time," the highlight in the series, insightfully connects our fascination with feature films to the cultural beginnings of storytelling. Starting with Mesopotamia?s birth of the written tale, the Grecian invention of theater, and the Assyrian invention of pictorial narrative, this episode also stars BBC champion, David Attenborough, discussing the Australian Aborigine's use of art to trigger ancient cultural memories and myths. Potent, smart, and interdisciplinary, this series, filmed mostly on-location for full-effect, really does prove that culture dictates art. --Trinie Dalton
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