http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/11175260/the-art-of-gothic-review-episode-one-bbc-four.html
The
Art of Gothic which was presented on BBC Four by Graham-Dixon, was told like an enthusiastic tale. This
is a spooky documentary of how the middle and upper classes of the 18th
century England and other country’s went a bit crazy for the scary
stuff.
Over
the first episode, Dixon explores how the Gothic genre continued between the Georgian era into the Victorian, and how it reflected the 'anxieties' of the British mind. 'From restrained
aristocratic beginnings to pornographic excesses,' Gothic revival
came back to influence art, literature and architecture.
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/adelaidean/image7288/air_pump.jpg.html
The
visual interpretation of gothic pieces of art such as Joseph Wright of
Derby’s ‘Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump’, and paintings of the ‘Sublime’
are passionately discussed by Dixon. One of the artists that Dixon speaks passionately about is Salvator Rosa, (1615-1673) he was a Neapolitan painter of rugged landscapes, poems and plays of witches. When I fist saw this painting it really freaked me out, but you can see what Dixon was taking about, the lighting he painted on each moment of the painting was like a flash of lightening, illuminating each scene for your eye to follow its gruesome tale.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/salvator-rosa-witches-at-their-incantations
He
also frequently dramatised readings of Gothic literature, from
Walpole’s ‘The Castle of Otranto’ (told to be the first gothic
novel) extracts from Matthew Lewis’ controversial ‘The Monk’
and Mary Shelley’s classic ‘Frankenstein’, are great insights
into the literary form of Gothic literature, it shows how different
writers captured, created and interpreted the Gothic movement.
Alongside
the extracts and visual aids of the paintings and architecture,
Graham-Dixon examines the biographical background of the artists,
writers and architects to give a wider overall exploration of the era
in which the Gothic movement dominated.
The
Art of Gothic is a compelling documentary series which examines the
18th Century British idea of all things Gothic, it is insightful in
the way it is questioning this idea and discussing what Dixon calls
the ‘two faces’ of the Gothic.
I
think this series has helped me grasp the ideas they had at the time,
the way they saw Gothic to how we see it today, and how we always try
and interpret the literature and ideology they held in such high
regard.
No comments:
Post a Comment