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Layman's Guide To Modern Art; ROLE OF THE VIEWER

Producer/Writer: G. Franco Romagnoli; Director: David Davis; P.A.: Virginia Kassel (2) series promos at tail Approximate date: 1959

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Series

Layman's Guide To Modern Art

Program

ROLE OF THE VIEWER

Program Number

4

Series Description

The purpose of this series is exactly what the title suggests: it is a guide, an introduction to the world of modern art -- art which does not present a photographic likeness of its subject to the viewer, but rather attempts to go beneath and beyond the surface appearance of things to suggest meanings, references, emotions, opinions, likes and dislikes which the painter wishes to share with the viewer. Sometimes this modern art can be a series of lines on a canvas, arranged in what may appear to be an arbitrary design. Sometimes it is a recognizable distortion of familiar objects. Sometimes it will be blocks of color without any recognizable shape. Sometimes it will combine all of these. LAYMAN'S GUIDE TO MODERN ART is an attempt to help the viewer understand what he is seeing, and why the artist painted as he did. Featured personality: Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr., the host for the series, is the director of the Addison Museum of American Art at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. For the past 25 years he has been teaching art history at the Academy, and has also lectured on art throughout the country. He is the author of several well-known books on the subject of art, including a basic handbook entitled A Layman's Guide to Modern Art, from which much of the material in this series is taken. He serves as a trustee for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Boston ARts Festival and Old Sturbridge Village, and he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has been seen by NET viewers previously on ?? ART, a series distributed during the summer of 1959. Series release date: 1959

Program Description

The purpose of this series is exactly what the title suggests: it is a guide, an introduction to the world of modern art -- art which does not present a photographic likeness of its subject to the viewer, but rather attempts to go beneath and beyond the surface appearance of things to suggest meanings, references, emotions, opinions, likes and dislikes which the painter wishes to share with the viewer. Sometimes this modern art can be a series of lines on a canvas, arranged in what may appear to be an arbitrary design. Sometimes it is a recognizable distortion of familiar objects. Sometimes it will be blocks of color without any recognizable shape. Sometimes it will combine all of these. LAYMAN'S GUIDE TO MODERN ART is an attempt to help the viewer understand what he is seeing, and why the artist painted as he did. Featured personality: Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr., the host for the series, is the director of the Addison Museum of American Art at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. For the past 25 years he has been teaching art history at the Academy, and has also lectured on art throughout the country. He is the author of several well-known books on the subject of art, including a basic handbook entitled A Layman's Guide to Modern Art, from which much of the material in this series is taken. He serves as a trustee for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Boston ARts Festival and Old Sturbridge Village, and he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has been seen by NET viewers previously on ?? ART, a series distributed during the summer of 1959. Program 4: The Role of the Viewer After a summary of the previous programs, Mr. Hayes remarks on the difficulty of explaining verbally a subject which operates at a non-verbal level. "The painter," he says, "can translate ideas into words and then words into pictures." He attempts to convey his ideas directly by means of pictures, which may contain many associative ideas and can mean many things to many people. In short, a great deal depends on the ability of the viewer to read the mesage of the painting. A large part of the program is spent in an analysis of several modern paintings, illustrating how to read the language of modern art. In conclusion, Mr. Hayes points to the fact that "art is not a ?? experience. the audience as well as the artists must evolve with the times to appreciate, to get close to 'modern art' of every time."

Duration

00:30:00

Asset Type

Broadcast program

Media Type

Video

Genres

Educational

Topics

Fine Arts

Citation

Chicago: “Layman's Guide To Modern Art; ROLE OF THE VIEWER,” GBH Archives, accessed September 16, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4B062B5FEC884770816044FE8BDAE8CE.

MLA: “Layman's Guide To Modern Art; ROLE OF THE VIEWER.” GBH Archives. Web. September 16, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4B062B5FEC884770816044FE8BDAE8CE>.

APA: Layman's Guide To Modern Art; ROLE OF THE VIEWER. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4B062B5FEC884770816044FE8BDAE8CE