American Visions (8 Parts)

Synopsis

Art historian and critic Robert Hughes presents a history of America through his art and archecture. He travels around the country visiting important buildings and monuments, recordding the landscape that inspirted some of America’s most important art.

Language

English

Country

United States

Medium

Video; Videocassette. Standard formats. col. 8 x 60 min.

Year of production

1996

Availability

Sale; 1997 sale: £ (+VAT +p&p) series

Notes

Broadcast on BBC2 from 29/12/96.

Subjects

Art

Keywords

artists - American; Canada; Mexico; paintings - American; United States of America

Credits

Director

Christopher Spencer; David Willcock; James Kent; John Bush; Julia Cave

Producer

Christopher Spencer; David Willcock; James Kent; Julia Cave

Writer

Robert Hughes

Contributor

Jac Venza; Liz McHaney; Nicholas Rossiter

Cast

Robert Hughes

Sections

Title

Republic of virtue, The

Synopsis

1 (producer/director James Kent): Charts the importance of classical Greek and Roman design to the emerging nation and examines the work of America's first major painters.

Title

Promised land, The

Synopsis

2 (producer/director Christopher Spencer): Explores the shaping of American by Europeans who saw the New World as both paradise and hell, a source of plunder and a focus of religious fantasy. Looks at the lasting influence of the puritanism of the Pilgrim

Title

Wildnerness and the West, The

Synopsis

3 (producer/director Christopher Spencer): Looks at the majestic landscapes of America, from the Hudson River to the Rocky Mountains, showing how artists have contributed to the American belief in an epic nature with associated religious and patriotic con

Title

Gilded age, The

Synopsis

4 (producer/director David Willcock): Charts the turbulent history of the USA from the end of the Civil War to the turn of the century. Paintings reflected a dual culture - either nostalgia for lost innocence or confidence in the new industrial age. The n

Title

Wave from the Atlantic, The

Synopsis

5 (producer/director Julia Cave): Discusses the mass immigration at the turn of the century, which brought extreme poverty but gave rise to a new social conscience, depicted in images such as Charlie Chaplin's tramp and Jacob Riis's photographes of slum l

Title

Streamlines and breadlines

Synopsis

6 (director James Kent): Focuses on the period from the Wall Street crash of 1929 to the eve of World War 2, and age of streamlined design and skyscrapers. Discusses the 'American values' view of the Midwest, art deco, and autopian vision of the future. S

Title

Empire of signs, The

Synopsis

7 (producer/director David Willcock): Shows the USA as a global superpower after World War 2 and notes the emergence of artists including Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and Andy Warhol.

Title

Age of anxiety, The

Synopsis

8 (director John Bush): Looks at the artistic resonse to a USA shattered by civil strife and the Viewnam conflict in the work of Ed and Nancy Reddin Keinholz, Ku Klux Klan paintings by Phlip Guston, and work by Eric Fischl, Bruce Nauman, Louise Bourgeois

Production Company

Name

BBC Television

Name

Planet 24 Productions

Name

Time Inc.

Distributor

Name

BBC Active Video for Learning - now BBC Learning

Contact

Carolina Fernandez Jeremy Wilcox (CF - for educational enquiries JW - channel sales manager)

Email

BBCStudiosLearning@bbc.com

Web

https://www.bbcstudioslearning.com/ External site opens in new window

Phone

+44 (0) 20 8433 1009

Address

BBC Studios Limited
Television Centre
101 Wood Lane
London
W12 7FA
UK

Notes

The BBC Active company has now been absorbed within BBC Learning, a division of BBC Studios. It was originally a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Pearson Education. Formerly known as ‘BBC Worldwide Learning Studies’ and before that as ‘Videos for Education & Training’