thumbnail of Sir Kenneth Clark on Art; 7; Landscape into Art: Backgrounds
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Series
Sir Kenneth Clark on Art
Episode Number
7
Episode
Landscape into Art: Backgrounds
Producing Organization
Associated Television, Ltd
Contributing Organization
Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/512-hh6c24rm60
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Description
Episode Description
On this episode Sir Kenneth discusses the birth of landscape painting as we know it today and shows that appreciation of nature for its own sake has not always been practiced. Also he points out that a feeling for beauty in landscape is little more than 200 years old. Landscapes were used in medieval paintings, but only in the simplest setting. He attributes the birth of landscape painting to the Italian artist Giotto and gives the period around the year 1315 as the time when this innovation in art began. Examples used here include the Flemish painter Van Eyck and his Adoration of the Lamb (1426). Another Flemish painter, Campin, is shown by his work Maitrede Flemalle. Conrad Witz, a Swiss, was the first man to give landscape an actual locality. In his Miraculous Draught of Fishes (1444) he faithfully reproduced Lake Geneva for his setting of the Sea of Galilee. Sir Kenneth describes the Venetian, Bellini, as one of the greatest landscape artists who ever lived. To illustrate this he shows Bellinis Agony in the Garden and compares it with that of his brother-in-law, Andrea Mantegna, a painter with a mania for detail. Other painters such as Brueghel are discussed as Sir Kenneth elaborates on the work and approach of the painter to his art. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Series Description
The fact that one of the greatest art critics of our century has become a familiar and highly regarded television personality in England attests to Sir Kenneth Clarks rare ability to analyze paintings and the lives of painters in a thoroughly engaging manner. His illustrated television talks have converted thousands of British men and women into serious art lovers and have won the praise of connoisseurs as well. This eleven-episode series consists of three parts FIVE REVOLUTIONARY PAINTERS, five episodes that take up a group of painters (Goya, Brueghel, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Van Gogh) who rebelled against the accepted classical rules of their respective periods and fashioned new ideals in art; OUT OF BURNING, one episode showing the destruction of Coventry Cathedral in World War II and the building of the new cathedral; and LANDSCAPE INTO ART, five episodes concerning the development of landscape painting and the artists whose varied aesthetic attitudes have given direction to this development. The three parts were produced separately by Associated Television, Ltd., but they combine very well as an eleven-episode unit through Sir Kenneths consistently splendid commentary. The 11 episodes that comprise the overall series were originally recorded on kinescope. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Broadcast Date
1963-00-00
Asset type
Episode
Topics
Education
Fine Arts
Media type
Moving Image
Credits
Director: Wade, Stephen
Host: Clark, Kenneth
Producer: Redington, Michael
Producing Organization: Associated Television, Ltd
AAPB Contributor Holdings
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2366382-1 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
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Citations
Chicago: “Sir Kenneth Clark on Art; 7; Landscape into Art: Backgrounds,” 1963-00-00, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 5, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-hh6c24rm60.
MLA: “Sir Kenneth Clark on Art; 7; Landscape into Art: Backgrounds.” 1963-00-00. Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 5, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-hh6c24rm60>.
APA: Sir Kenneth Clark on Art; 7; Landscape into Art: Backgrounds. Boston, MA: Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-hh6c24rm60