Week Eleven: Video Review

1.)  I chose, Matisse and Picasso, because I have always enjoyed the works of the two artists, and I wanted to know more about the history and techniques of each.  Expressionism was chosen because I like reading about the style of expressionism and I wanted to see and hear more about the style.  I chose Dance at the Moulin de La Galette, because I recognized the title of the painting by Renoir and was interested in knowing more.  I chose, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, because I did not know the title and was curious about what it was.

2.) Matisse and Picasso was a film about the two famous artists, Matisse and Picasso.  The film examined Matisses' life, as well as Picasso's.  Matisse was a rational, structured painter.  Unlike, Picasso, who was impulsive and delivered himself into his paintings.  The film goes into the history of Matisse who moved from Paris to New York, and Picasso stayed in Paris.  Expressionism was a film that went into detail and highlighted the artists who adopted to expressionist style.  Edward Munch, Franz Marc, Kirchner, Max Beckmann, Georg Baselitz, and Anselm Kiefer, were all artists presented, who used expressionism in each of their pieces.  Dance at the Moulin de la Galette, was a film about the famous painting by Renoir.  The film discusses the history of the painting that Renoir painted to bring pleasure and to bring viewers back in time to Paris.  Renoir was an impressionist who focused on the romantic aspects of Paris.  The fourth film was, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.  The film looks into the history of the painter, Georges Seurant.  His technique was pointillism which was seen in this painting.  The painting is examined and questioned , on the interesting characters.  The painting was completed at the island, La Grand Jatte, and the women fishing and questioned to be prostitutes.

3.)  The videos relate to the reading in the text by discussing the many artists and techniques that were discussed in the text. Expressionism, impressionism, pointillism, were some of the styles examined in the films as well as the text.  Also, Matisse and Picasso were topics of both the film and the readings.

4.) I thought the films were interesting and delivered a more in depth description to artists like Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, and Seurant.  I was able to see more examples to the various techniques like expressionism and pointillism, that gave me a better understanding to what I was reading.