Week 12 Video Reviews

Matisse and Picasso

I chose to watch Matisse and Picasso  because I enjoyed the Picasso exhibit at the Albright Knox Art Gallery.
The key concepts I learned from this video is that these two artists were rivals and friends.  The birth of collage came from Picasso.  Matisse suffered emotionally and Picasso was intrigued by the female mystery. Picasso painted from memory and Matisse painted models.
The video correlates well with the text, Living with Art and goes deeper into the relationship between these two artists and the relationship between their work.
I loved this video and found it to be very, very interesting.  The interviews with people that knew and lived with the artists are captivating and give the video a documentary feel.

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte

I chose to watch this video because I thought the image in Living with Art   needed more explanation and I found the painting interesting and eerie.
The key concepts I learned from this video was how Seurat developed the technique of Pointillism. I also learned that there are many interpretations of the subjects in the painting and found them to be entertaining.  I also learned this painting was the subject of many "cartoon's" and comics.   Seurat's exploration of the way colors work next to each other, not mixed was very interesting.
The video supports the text writings of Living with Art.
In my opinion this film is very informative and well narrated.

Dada and Surrealism

The book gives a brief summary of Dada, so I chose this video to learn more about the period.
The key concepts I learned was that collage, using materials that had been thrown aside,  played an important approach to artmaking in this period. 
The video explores many artists of Dad and Surrealism, giving a history behind the work of Hoch, Grosz, Miro, and Dali, supporting the material presented in the text, Living with Art.
This video is very informative and in the investigation into the background of the artists, gives as best a description of Dada as one can.  Even the narrator referred to Dada as having an elusive description.

Expressionism

I chose this video because it was the last on the list of my interests.
The key concept I learned about Expressionist artists is that all of the artists discussed-Munch, Marc, Kirchner, Beckman, Baselitz- suffered some sort of mental anguish.
The video covers more than the text, Living with Art, regarding the artists lives.
I thought this video was very interesting and left me wondering why this group is singled out as having mental anguish issues.