Art History

This video examines the work of Native American artists in the Pacific Northwest and how their wood carvings of totem poles, ceremonial masks and sculptures is part of a broader cultural renaissance.

Filmed over a two-year period, this video traces the creation of sculptor John Behan's "Famine Ship," a large bronze sculpture commissioned by the Irish Government in 1997 to commemorate the famine of 1845-47.

Chronicles the history of Chicano Park, famous for its giant murals painted on freeway pillars, which became the focus for the revitalization of San Diego's Chicano community in the 1970s and '80s.

The Bread and Puppet Theater has become famous in America over the last thirty years for its street theater and political satire utilizing giant papier-mâche puppets, masks and twelve foot high stilt walkers.

Portrays the life of America's pioneer social photographer, Lewis Hine (1874-1940), who recorded the waves of immigration around the turn of the century and the development of industrial America during the first four decades of the 20th century, from the sweatshops of New York's Lower East Side to the mines, mills and factories across the nation. The video blends Hine's photos with historical footage and interviews.

More than 100 years ago, in his journalism and his influential book, How the Other Half Lives, photojournalist Jacob Riis dramatically portrayed issues of homelessness, poverty, crime, public health, and race relations in America.

Examining issues surrounding the mass production or `democratization' of art, this documentary shows the making of a lithograph and reveals three cardinal rules for identifying an original print.

Featuring professional art instructor Carolyn Berry, this series is designed for students, hobbyists, amateur painters, and professionals eager for tips on new techniques.

Profiles San Francisco painter and muralist Scott Williams who uses stencils and Krylon to appropriate images from movies, TV, magazines, advertising, and other pop culture sources.

Examines the new Cuban art movement and its social and cultural roots, featuring interviews with artists and students at Cuba's top art school, who discuss Cuban national identity, censorship and self-expression, and how one makes a living as an artist in a socialist society.

Profiles Alan Bean, the Apollo XII astronaut who in November 1969 became the fourth man to set foot on the moon, and who later turned to painting to share the vision he brought back from space.

Profiles the late, world-renowned graphic artist whose work is a curious blend of fact and fantasy, with mirror images and interlocking figures flowing from symmetrical shapes.

Profiles the work of Berlin artist Stefan Roloff, now a New York City resident, who has produced an immense variety of original, colorful and provocative art.

Surveys the work of plastic artists in Puerto Rico during the 20th century, as well as significant forerunners in the 18th and 19th centuries, focusing on the artists' expression of national identity. The video combines illustrations of hundreds of art works with interviews with a dozen major contemporary artists and commentary by art critics.

An award-winning documentary portrait of the controversial American painter best known for his drawings of the male nude and paintings in the ancient medium of egg yolk tempera. Scenes of Cadmus at work are combined with commentary by the artist on his life and work, dating from his days as a WPA artist in the Thirties.

An award-winning documentary portrait of one of America's foremost Social Realist painters, active since the 1930s, whose work skewers corrupt politicians and police, rages over social injustices, and satirizes the petty foibles of humankind.

Documents the Fall 1993 construction at Cornell University of site-specific installations by eight acclaimed Hispanic artists, featuring interviews with the artists, scenes of the exhibit, as well as the controversy and protest it engendered on campus.

Documents the history of a remarkable art exhibit which showcases the work of both American and Vietnamese veterans of the Indochina War.

Examines the Communist Party's rigorously enforced art policies during China's Cultural Revolution from 1966-1976, when pictorial artists were given strict aesthetic guidelines for the production of works designed to promote the ideology and imagery of Mao Tse- tung's illusory new society.

After the Napoleonic wars and the revolutionary fervor of the late 18th century, Europeans were eager to retreat from the tumultuous arena of history to the uneventful calm of private life.