Friday, September 27, 2013
Reads like a Detective Novel
A momentous event took place in 1990. A single painting was
sold for US$78 million. The buyer was a Japanese businessman called Saito. The
occasion was a Sotheby auction. The painting had been done by a nineteenth
century French painter by the name of Renoir. Till that date it set the
all-time high for the price of a single piece of art.
What
happened later to the painting reads like a detective novel trailing the
collapse of the Japanese magnate’s business empire, leading to the bank
secretly selling it off as collateral. To cap the mystery of this painting, the
Japanese buyer had threatened to have it burned at his funeral, causing an
international art world outrage.
You
would never have thought that art masterpieces can hold secrets like this. But the
producers of the BBC Dvd set of 7 discs reveal peeled layer upon layer of
historical details to satisfy the whims of lovers of mystery stories.
You get
a panoramic view of the golden ages of the world of art. From how Michelangelo
chipped away at a block of marble about 19 feet long to produce the marvelous
statue of David in medieval Florence BBC will take you on a historical-cum-geographical
journey through the European centers of art to the time of Picasso. The dark
message of Picasso’s famous painting Guernica will be unfolded to you, and its
roots traced to another Spanish painter Goya’s “3rd May 1808”.
Goya’s painting depicted the slaughter of Spaniards by Napoleon’s French troops
occupying Spain at the time.
This BBC
Dvd set of 7 discs contain 22 videos of 49 minutes each, opening a window to
Art Appreciation. Instead of spending thousands of dollars attending art
courses, you can take your time learning to appreciate art in the comfort of
your home. All at the affordable sum of US$100 (RM330).
It is a
worth-your-while lifetime collection set.
Monday, September 23, 2013
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