Video Documentaries

Masterpieces of Sculpture- this award-winning series reveals the full and fascinating stories behind famous works of art, not just how they were created, but also how they influenced others and came to have a life of their own in the modern world. Whereas other volumes in the series hone in on famous tableaux, this particular volume focuses on famous sculptures. The stories behind three masterpieces of European sculpture are recounted in this trio of documentaries, which begins with the history of the world's most recognizable stone statue: Michelangelo's young Israelite king David. Edgar Degas courts controversy and even ridicule for his wax sculpture of a Little Dancer Aged 14, and Auguste Rodin's The Kiss depicts a doomed love affair described in Dante's Inferno. Masterpieces of Sculpture - Michelangelo's David This episode reveals the techniques Michelangelo used to re-create the human body so accurately on such a vast scale, and how contrasting interpretations

The Impressionists and the Man who Made them: Monet, Cezanne, Degas and Renoir are some of the world's most popular artists. Their works, and that of their contemporaries, fetch tens of millions of dollars around the globe. Who were they and how exactly did they paint? To help answer these questions, this film focuses on the man credited with inventing impressionism as we know it - 19th-century Parisian art collector Paul Durand-Ruel. It was his brave decision to back these radical artists and then, on the verge of bankruptcy, to exhibit them in New York in 1886 that created impressionism as we know it. Thanks to his sales to enlightened wealthy Americans that subsequently filled US galleries with impressionist masterworks, Durand-Ruel kept impressionism alive at a time when it faced complete failure. This film tells his remarkable story, along with that of the impressionists themselves. Impressionism Impressionism is a 19th-century art movement characterised by relatively small, t