Anybody see Simon Schama's Power of Art on PBS?

Did anybody see the episode on Picasso?

PicassoGuernica



Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso, depicting the Nazi German bombing of Guernica, Spain, by twenty-four bombers, on April 26, 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, in which a number of people variously estimated between 250 and 1,600 were killed and many more were injured

A tapestry copy of Picasso's Guernica is displayed on the wall of the United Nations building in New York City, at the entrance to the Security Council room. It was placed there as a reminder of the horrors of war. Commissioned and donated by Nelson Rockefeller, it is not quite as monochromatic as the original, using several shades of brown. On February 5, 2003 a large blue curtain was placed to cover this work, so that it would not be visible in the background when Colin Powell and John Negroponte gave press conferences at the United Nations. On the following day, it was claimed that the curtain was placed there at the request of television news crews, who had complained that the wild lines and screaming figures made for a bad backdrop, and that a horse's hindquarters appeared just above the faces of any speakers. Diplomats, however, told journalists that the Bush Administration pressured UN officials to cover the tapestry, rather than have it in the background while Powell or other U.S. diplomats argued for war on Iraq.

I remembered Justice being draped by Aschcroft because she disturbed him...

this is quite an amazing Government who were frightened by any art that would jolt the concious of the masses

Just wondered how many knew this?

:hi:

I love it and wanted to share it with the Duers

and I had to know it inside out because my students were very smart. In preparing for them, I learned to appreciate HIM. :applause:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/002-6007803-2849646?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Simon+Schama&Go.x=5&Go.y=8&Go=Go

that was one of my favorites the Rothco one is iNcredible

:rofl: what the hell I love them all

It's embarrassing.

:rofl:

but after staring at the painting Oh YA

:woohoo:

I'm a history nut, and sometimes Middle Ages history can be very dry, but Schama's books on the subject are great - especially his take on Elizabeth I. I don't think I ever smiled so much while reading a history book before.

absolutely Riveting

Schama is an incredible narrator
he took the BIG events in History and showed how Art really inspires us

Do we have that today???

. . . "serious" historians have taken Schama to task for promoting a kind of academic populism. All very stuffy and sniffy towards the man. But, you know, I like it. Sure, there's a place for Scholarship (with a capital S!) and all that, but if someone can take vast swaths of art, culture, and history and distill them down to their essences while making them both intelligent and entertaining, I'm all for it.

It's not like anyone's getting dumber for reading bits and pieces of our intellectual heritage that they normally wouldn't read otherwise, ya know?

scared so much of these art objects they covered them up
that shows me that Schama is so right on

Art is Powerful and BUSH & company know it

to cover a statue because she was naked or cover a picture of the desolation of war

just so speaks volume

they are scared so very scared

Which is really all that Art is. Art, literature, poetry. Even religion is little more than a powerful, metaphorical language for the symbols and archetypes that are universal in human existence. A politician can control a soundbite, carefully comb through a press release, or refine a speech. But the sterile words of modern politics haven't the ability to really move the human soul in the way great art has through the centuries.

Anyone can give a speech, and citizens might listen, or stare dully, or consider or discard it.

But show someone a painting that nudges that little mysterious piece of us we each keep inside, and there is nothing that can compare.

TRUE

Bush should be scared

I can't believe they did that and how many people knew it happened

I sure didn't

I knew about the Justice draping but now I don't believe Aschcroft said it was the nudity

I believe it was a signal or sign

In this age of television, every politician and every handler and assistant and lackey is painfully aware of every little image put out to the masses.

But, whenever I get cynical about politics (which deserve it), I just keep in mind that there are older, more enduring, more powerful things than governments, and when this administration is long past, the message of a Picasso or any other piece of art will remain. Maybe not in that form, maybe one day that painting will vanish from human record.

But the idea, the feeling, and the power behind it will surface again and again as long as there are people.

Hopefully that cheers you up a little. It does me =)

I mean I really saw how the Nazis were just Horrible
Schama showed these poor defenseless Spanish people looking up in the sky at the Bombers not knowing what was going on
and the kicker was the nazis were bombing defenseless people

no air planes to fight them nothing

Iraq had some idea what was going to happen and had some limited guns
but these people were out in their fields and just got slaughtered

very gripping and yes the picture is gut wrenching you can literally see the screams of war

It reminds me a little of the Bayeux Tapestry. Part of the tapestry depicts villagers fleeing from burning buildings.

In his history, Schama notes that it was truly an unusual and radical piece of art for its time (11th Century), because it was nearly unheard of to depict the suffering of the innocent during the wars waged by the nobility.

We've come a long way and have longer yet to go. But, we're getting there.

putting the coffins of the soldiers or that no pictures are put on the news... I'll never forget in Vietnam the picture of the guy assasinated in front of the camera by gun to his head

it was those pictures which stopped Vietnam thats why they are so scared of the images

Thank you for that.

:hi:

The story that goes with the painting I did not know until I saw the series

degree of empathy and an unbeatable sense of humor. :)

. . . where you can imagine the smile at the corner of his lips and the barely restrained eye roll, because the historical figures he's discussing are kind of crazy and ridiculous when you think about them. But in the end, he always gives them their due.

:)

Like the Dixie Chicks or Lennon

Bush you can tell despises art

could he even understand it???

That kind of courage is pretty rare. :)

way... that was illuminating

He made a point of picking many artists who were not for the aristocracy but for the people

You literally can't because the elitist mindset filters out the needs, goals, the beauty of common people. He gets it.

and their subjects

RothKo made a point to have paint in his fingers and nails and a bunch of them showed the common's people connection to the EARTH
by their dirt under their nails and dirty hands

You don't see that by Coulter or Rush or Access Hollywood all we see is paris hilton

the Eye with the Light bulb...was he showing the all seeing eye

and a defenseless town never knew what hit them

they looked up and saw the bombing and had no defenses

if I'm not mistaken?

I liked the episode on David. Forgot to watch the Picasso one.

that was one of my least favorite I guess because I see and feel the US aristocracy acting like Marie Antoinette

America better watchout the Anger is growing and 100 degree weather only agravates it
these Republicans have forgotten their History

The forgotten history. The Tennis Court vote - how those people stood for what was right and either sold out to save their skin or were destroyed for it.

I thought the same dang thing

and I think Schama put him in there for a reason

Wake up people

and in front of it had the audacity to come in the UN and lie about WMD in front of that painting

this is an extremely sick sick sick group of people and Colin you are quite the hypocrite

awe. Mighty good stuff.

The Bush administration is ant-Science and anti-Art.

It isn't very good at foreign policy or domestic relief efforts either.

he's amazing. :wow:

But if his books are as good as those PBS specials, I'll be addicted to them in no time flat.

The Caravaggio program was just out of this world.

that guy just loved waving his sword all around

:rofl:

which seemed equally powerful in his psyche.

Some of the figures he draws are almost hyper-pagan, and there's this light flooding their pagan posture and profile from somewhere beyond the frame of the image.

Incredible stuff.

and fever trying to run after a ship???

he was a brilliant painter but not too bright

and I just wanted to say buddy put the sword down and back away!!!

But I got to admit Italy was one scary place and his David and Goliath was AMAZING GRUESOME BUT aMAZING

thirst while his spirit and creativity were still acute and powerful.

Schama talks to the listener as if ideas mattered, and he's doing it in a world where they're increasingly endangered.

He's my newest champion.

Bush and company has done such damage to our psyche and culture

Schama really is absolutely amazing

I really learned alot I have never seen a Rothco before and that he turned down the 4 Seasons was so cool

the head is Carravagio for those who don't know

source completely obscured from what's happening.

Schama had said something about this in his program -- something about the figures and action of the painting taking place in darkness, illuminated only by the off-screen light, as if by an ancient fire, yet so many of his themes are spiritual, and the action brought to us not because we got off our butts and went to the museum or library but because they emerge unbidden from the deep unconcious.

:)

(It doesn't surprise me one bit that you'd be into Schama. It just seems like a great match.)

I just thought Schama was going to play it safe but at the end of Picasso when I saw Colin Powell at the UN I was like where is he going here and then I was shocked out of my chair

they covered a Picasso (ok it was kinda a copy) but still its a freakin Picasso

survive into the far future while names like Rumsfield and Ashcroft are going to sink like rocks from the collective memory.

I just about died when they showed the Nazis asking Picasso did he paint that

Picasso survived the Nazis didn't
or did they and thats why the covered Picasso's painting

FEAR its really thought provoking

whether they're scientists or artists or what have you.

The Picasso painting condemns state-sanctioned violence against humanity. It's an indictment and sentence. Anyone who orders those acts of war is implicated.

And that's just too hot to handle for most authoritarians, whether they're Joseph Stalin or the anonymous high school principal in rural North Dakota.

Even if it is hard to keep track of all the kings and queens.

did it have much artwork in it???

to him and not to the content.

He's one talented guy, and a pleasure to read or watch, imho.

didn't like??? or period

I could tell the French Revolution was a nasty dark side to Schama
but he was brave and delved into it

He is courageous He showed all sides

for the most part.

was one helluva narrator

Yes Anti Science and Anti Art
these two have been quite silenced
My goodness wrap up a Picasso????????????????????????????????????!!!!!
who in the Bush administration did that one

Any guesses

Cheney ROVE or Bush???

Rumsfeld???

Any ideas

up a masterpiece and conceal it.

I'm figuring it could have been just about anyone in the Bush administration. They don't like thinkers much, and they don't like creative thinkers especially.

WHO and the hell would have the audacity to hide a picasso under a drape

You know they had the Art Gestapos out

It's almost a dance.

Moralistic bureacrats vs. the magic in the oil and the marble.

Spaniards can't catch a break in any time period - if it ain't the Germans, it's the French...

buddy after the Terrorist attacks didn't work at their election

quite amazingly the picture kinda screams that defiance

remember they wanted Spain to go to Iraq as part of the Coalition

thats when it start falling apart

will help us out

and Italy has gone dead silent too afte Busceloni got out
things have gotten quiet in Europe even Merkel is quiet lately

of our government, with the exception of a few wingnuts.

but Hitler came in and didn't leave

that a horse's hindquarters appeared just above the faces of any speakers

I guess in some cases they wouldn't want some serious confusion.

horses Butt in this century Baaaawaaahaaa

:rofl:

I've see 4 episodes so far; I think his discussion
of David's work during the French revolution was my
favorite so far.

WWII and the Spanish revolution

I think it really shows the power of art and how the Bush regime fears it

I myself am a member of the "surrealist" school;
and Picasso was familiar with the original artists
who established that genré, although he never worked
in that style.

And, my opinion of Picasso was always the same as the
closest female member of his circle who went on to be
recognized as a world-class "Art Critic" in later decades.

When asked her opinion of Picasso, she replied:
"Ninety percent snake-oil salesman".

And I agree- he had a bit of genius, but it was obscured by his
used-car-style salesmanship.........


And yet...
Yet.

His greatest work, "Guernica", was done in black and white....

And I've spent 4 years working on a 4-panel series of the
"4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse".......
and the 4th one, the one on a PALE horse.........
is the only thing I've ever done in black and white.

So, I'll recognize "Guernica" as part of the 10% genius.
Just because he and I took a monochrome approach to an
important painting.

That in no way changes the fact that we're both seriously
antisocial assholes.

We are, you know:

and All I can tell you is Schama's knowing smile when he showed Powell and Negroponte at the UN standing in front of Guernica

it gives you chills

and the bombing of the defenseless Basques

horrible horrible horrible

...until all four are complete.

I posted #2 and #3 in the DU Artists Group:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=282x1326
..and then promptly got "painters block" on the project!

So I'm waiting until #1 is finished, so that doesn't happen again!

I love the dove with the tree beautiful and meaningful

I have a morning dove who sits out my window singing her song

oh and its so interesting you picked the part about the Angel who guards the tree of life with the flaming sword

that is one of my favorite Archangels Uriel

heres my video
Uriel has quite a story
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sAyPmYLCpXI

Did you know Dick the story of Uriel??? when you painted that

...or maybe "obsession" might be a more honest word for it.

I've painted that about 15 times- I just keep doing it
over and over.

one wonders why
the angel of Harmony and Balance and the EARTH Angel how appropriate to have him guard the gate to the tree of life

Kabbahla = tree of life the Sephiroth

Uriel was said to given man the Kabbalah

and yet he was banned

It's starting to cross over into some of my other work as well,
like the "Red Door" series:

They don't do EVERYTHING oils do, but I just love that faaaaast drying time.

Plus, there's no fumes, so I can paint in the living room!

Your Amazing!!! thank you so much letting us see

merry hell of it.

The comments on this thread are comfortable and stimulating and enduring and agile and I say let's have a big party.

First, though, I'm going onto one of the on-line booksites and order a book by Simon Schama later tonight.

This thread is the best promo for a PBS series I've ever seen in my life.

talking about

I will warn people that this is an adult series

there is violence Darkness History and nudity

its a art trip on the wild side

but the music is beautiful and the actors and actresses are all top notch

And by the way, I went on-line and ordered Schama's THE POWER OF ART last evening, just as I'd threatened to do.

This thread was a big motivator for me. I hope other DU folks will drop by and throw in their thoughts on Schama, or be introduced to him if they don't know him already.

Great thread, lovuian. Thank you.

its a feast for eyes and ears

and I learned a bunch about why Duers are a notch above the Republican crowd

they are intelligent and open minded and can appreciate a Rothko

I understand why Rothko decided NOT to give his work to the Four Seasons in NY where the wealthy Repubs hung out

he knew they wouldn't be able to grasp it

DUERS do :toast:
Yes we should have a party

I'll spring for a round, too, lovuian.

:toast:

I'd like a review, if so. :)

if you can tape it on PBS its cheaper :)
but I don't have the book Crusoe do you have that?

asked twice to order the DVD as well.

One thing at a time, though, but I promise to post on it when I'm done reading. First, it has to get here. Then expect me to be buried in it for a few days.

The Carravaggio episode is still playing in my head. The summary language Schama uses is just out of this world.

I believe this is the Van Gogh and he made sure to pronounce it right



the path that leads no where

per order for me, but this one will be worth it and then some.

I'll promise a review when I'm done, greyl.

What fun to have a conversation about Schama and "the power of Art."

For the people who saw the David episode

we start with this



Marie Antoinette and her hubby
The French Revolution

and we end with this



and the tale about this picture is absolutely mesmerizing and fascinating

Its a puppet master signing the imprisonment of citizens finally catching up with his destiny

episode, too.

I will atone. I will read that chapter with special reverence when the book arrives.

How far the modern U.S. society is from the mindscape David must have had to paint what he did. I wonder if you can have a society that produces a David or a Yeats when all people do is watch game shows on tv and go to the mall?

David, Yeats, Chopin -- they spent many of their hours immersed in something that would survive long past their own lives. I'm not sure WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE will have much of a shelf life.

baaawaaahaaa

David went through the whole tumultuous times of France Monarchy Revolution and then



Emperor

It's very telling, indeed.
_________________

I've been taping the show every Monday night and loving it. After watching the one on Rothko tonight, I think it was the weakest of the series. The quick-cut sequence of Simon preparing veggies to stew distracted from the narrative, I feel.

your right I was wondering what he was fixing for dinner :rofl:

I was blown away at Schama's inference that RothKo went to Yale (home of Skull and Bones) and then dropped out

One wonders was he disgusted or fascinated with the Skull & Bones you can see it in his paintings of death

I saw other Skull & Bones signs 3 222 in it and that Houston has a RothKo ... home of Poppy Bush

there is much in these Schama episodes he goes every where and hints at it

I would bet he didn't need to be aware of Skull & Bones to be disenchanted by the pedestrian machinery of Yale anyway. ;)

makes ya wonder doesn't it they may have been in class together

... and Prescott graduated in 1917. So, the chances are pretty low. :)

he got his scholarship but I bet he figured it out

and here is the RothKo


They have one hanging at the museum I'm making a trip to see it

and I want to order the book . Simon Schama is really cool!


I am shocked , but not surprised by the Bush cartels attitude toward art

and to fear science and to fear education and to fear music

you can drape art and sculptures but music did escape their grasp
Dixie Chicks showed them

:woohoo: