Product Description: Why does our world look like it does? That great modern mystery is spectacularly unraveled in this international landmark series and epic quest across five continents and 100000 years via some of the greatest treasures of the ancient world -- to the heart of human creativity. Encompassing everything from cave paintings to ceramics and pyramids to palaces How Art Made the World probes the global trend for unrealistic depictions of the human body; the secret powers of the feature film; how politicians manage to manipulate people so easily; visions of death and the afterlife; and crucially why we use imagery at all.Running Time: 290 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MISCELLANEOUS/SPECIAL INTEREST UPC: 794051245724 Manufacturer No: E2457
Amazon.com: As part of BBC’s agenda to generate public awareness about art history's relevance to contemporary culture, the documentary series How Art Made the World is a landmark. Host Dr. Nigel Spivey, a Classical Archaeology professor from Cambridge, asserts, over five episodes, that not only have cultures thrived according to their abilities to communicate visually, but also that, though art, we can historically trace human needs and desires because our minds drive us to create images. Questioning how and why art influences society, Spivey employs art criticism, archaeology, political theory, and anthropology in order to posit theories in each hour-long segment. Episode one, "More Human than Human," traces our obsession with the human body by analyzing the Venus of Willendorf, Egyptian art, and Ancient Greece's preoccupation with athleticism. "The Day Pictures Were Born" discusses the birth of cave painting. "The Art of Persuasion" contextualizes Tony Blair and George Bush's political communication strategies with those in ancient cultures. "To Death and Back" ponders our preoccupation with death. "Once Upon A Time," the highlight in the series, insightfully connects our fascination with feature films to the cultural beginnings of storytelling. Starting with Mesopotamia’s birth of the written tale, the Grecian invention of theater, and the Assyrian invention of pictorial narrative, this episode also stars BBC champion, David Attenborough, discussing the Australian Aborigine's use of art to trigger ancient cultural memories and myths. Potent, smart, and interdisciplinary, this series, filmed mostly on-location for full-effect, really does prove that culture dictates art. --Trinie Dalton
art rules I like the author's perspective that art tells the story of history, that we are creative beings and our creativity is what to follow to find out about how we think. Great stuff.
Mystery to uncover This movie will change your way of receiving information from visuals. A phicological trip to the meaning of art. The story will tell you not only how but rather why the art was created and used.
Mediocre Minds Opine on the Evolution of Art Over ambitious project presents wild conjectures as truth, without proof. Slick exploitation of claims upon subject matter bolstered by sound and fury in place of substance. Intellectually vapid. NOT art history, and only half a step above those well researched revelations splayed on the pages of the National Inquireror. That the filmmakers believe they are performing the equivelant of translating the Rosetta Stone here-with-in is quite evident by the hubris of including their "Special Features" section, which consists of the filmmakers talking about setting up certain shots; what kind of a self-important mind could conceive that anyone would want to waste their time watching them relate that their camera crane showed up late one night. Who cares?! I am very disappointed that I wasted my time and money on this immature work of floppy-doodle.
How Art Made The World I originally rented this Documentary on a whim, at a public library and was so blown away by it's content, cinematography and scope, that I immediately went to [...] to purchase several! It has been filmed literally ALL OVER the world, and the time line is comprehensive and thorough. I would recommend this for public schools and colleges as the one course (5 hrs) to broaden anyone's appreciation of the uniquely human phenomena of decorating our world (no matter how small). From caves to cathedrals, it's an incredible journey.
Absolutely Superb! This is a very insightful and informative series about the all encompassing affect that art and imagery has had on western civilisation. This series has some new and different ideas that I have not seen elsewhere. It would be great to use in school with an art history or comparative Civ. class. For some reason the main writer and presenter is left off the description, Nigel Spivey. He reminds me greatly of Simon Schama. If liked this you'd probably also enjoy his work too.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tony's Online Tips
Trevor
