Arts Documentaries (Various)

Un programma Rai del 2022. È la notte di Natale del 1223. A Greccio, un borgo vicino a Rieti, viene rappresentato per la prima volta il presepe. È la scena, straordinariamente viva, della nascita di Gesù. Ma la storia della sua ideazione è complessa e si intreccia con quella di un uomo: San Francesco di Assisi.

Un docufilm del 1999 con la Regia di Francesco Barilli.

Un documentario Rai del 2021. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, detto anche Giambattista (Mogliano Veneto, 4 ottobre 1720 – Roma, 9 novembre 1778), è stato un incisore, architetto e teorico dell'architettura italiano. Le sue tavole incise, segnate da un'intonazione e una grafica drammatiche, appaiono improntate ad un'idea di dignità e magnificenza tutta romana, espressa attraverso la grandiosità e l'isolamento degli elementi architettonici, in modo da pervenire a un sublime sentimento di grandezza del passato antico, pur segnato da inesorabile abbandono. Originale, onirico, dettagliatissimo e contorto: Piranesi è tutto questo e molto altro ancora. Le sue opere fecero scuola al suo tempo e continuano a farla anche oggi. Fonte d’ispirazione per molti, suscitano un senso di mistero e fascino irresistibile. Le sue acqueforti e le minuziose tavole che lo resero un archeologo ante litteram lo hanno reso celebre nel mondo facendolo divenire una figura centrale di tutta la cultura europea settecentesca.

History Through Art is a Six-part Documentary Short Film series, from 1963-1968, made by Johanna Alemann. Episode 1: Discusses the social, political and cultural aspects of Greece's golden age and analyzes the philosophy on which the society was based. Stunning cinematography by Gunther Von Fritsch, including Acropolis, Agora, Delfi, Corinth. Shows American artist Ralph Hulett at work at Greek historical sites. Episode 2: https://rumble.com/v4sxe1i-history-through-art-europe-in-transition-the-late-middle-ages-episode-2.html

Episode 2: Describes the foundations of European culture and society in the Middle Ages, from 1200 to 1500 ACE. Discusses the church, nobility, and the emperors, three pillars of early medieval society. Describes changes that reshaped Europe and resulted in the present Western civilization, including the advent of small towns along trade routes, the Magna Carta, the development of the middle class, and the formation of hospitals and universities. Explains the intellectual awakening during the transition to the Renaissance. Discusses the Crusades, the Black Plague, and moveable type. Episode 3: https://rumble.com/v4sxfrl-history-through-art-art-portrays-a-changing-world-gothic-to-early-renaissan.html

Episode 3: Describes the historical transformation of medieval man to modern man. Points out that Gothic art expressed the community spirit of the Middle Ages. Contrasts Gothic to Renaissance art which reflects man's awakening interest in science, nature and himself. Discusses architecture, sculptures, stained glass windows, and painted altarpieces in the cathedrals, and describes the evolution of painting. Episode 4: https://rumble.com/v4sxgth-history-through-art-recognition-of-man-the-renaissance-episode-4.html

Episode 4: Shows that the main Renaissance contribution to Western culture was the recognition of the individual in life and art. Explains that one of the most significant creations of the Renaissance was portraiture, a new category of art which reveals man's developing awareness of his active destiny in life. Surveys portraiture from the 13th through 16th centuries, including Flemish, Italian, and German painters such as Titian, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Durer. Episode 5: https://rumble.com/v4sxhuc-history-through-art-the-age-of-the-rococo-from-divine-right-to-equality-epi.html

Episode 5: Shows the relationship of the elaborate and ornate art of the Rococo Period to social thinking of the time. Discusses transition from the Louis XIV baroque era to the rococo. Interiors and exteriors of buildings (German and Austrian churches) , furniture, porcelain, and painting (Watteau). Describes how the gaiety of the era would soon be eclipsed by the age of revolutions. Episode 6: https://rumble.com/v4sxivh-history-through-art-20th-century-art-a-break-with-tradition-episode-6.html

Episode 6: Discusses how modern artists defied tradition in their search for new dimensions of expression. Shows how artists use novel styles and techniques to interpret the ever-changing face of twentieth century life. Discusses Fauvism, German Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Italian Futurism.

A 2021 Arte Documentary directed by Bernard George. Audio in French with English subtitles. Both sacred and secular music were omnipresent in the Greek, Egyptian and Roman civilisations of the classical world. But the songs, rhythms and melodies have been forgotten. What might have the music of antiquity sounded like? This film follows the musicologists and researchers who painstakingly piece together clues to build a picture of the music performed and enjoyed thousands of years ago. Through their work, musical instruments come back to life and surviving scores are deciphered to give a glimpse of a sound world thought to have disappeared forever.