Art is a fragile thing. On 23rd May 2014 the Glasgow School of Art was grievously damaged by fire. The building was the inspired creation of the Scottish artist and architect Charles Rene Mackintosh. His library, one of the most beautiful rooms ever designed, was lost to the flames, savaged, cremated, gone. Four years later, unbelievably, the fire returned. Mackintosh: Glasgow’s Neglected Genius, BBC 2018
One of the most important buildings in the world. ibid.
In the 1960s his work festered in derelict buildings. ibid.
There was something about the design madness that everyday Glasgow loved. ibid.
The Mackintosh look, the emerging Glasgow style, found favour with a rebellious group of artists on the other side of Europe – they were called the Secessionists. ibid.
An uncompromising genius – a man who could be a nightmare to work with. ibid.
Dwarfs in Art … Dwarfs have also the stuff of folklore, fairytales and myths for thousands of years … We can’t help but be conditioned by the images of dwarfs we have absorbed through centuries of representation in art and culture. Dwarfs in Art: A New Perspective, BBC 2018
We represent dwarfs to disguise faults in ourselves. ibid.
From the 1500s Dwarfs were collected by royalty. ibid.
Dwarfs are pictured with dogs and monkeys in dozens of paintings. ibid.
Dwarfs were viewed as deviants and freaks. ibid.
Hodgkin paints only on wood. And these are screen-designed to conceal works in progress which may take years to complete. Alan Yentob, Imagine … A Picture of the Painter Howard Hodgkin, BBC 2006
At the age of 73 he has a major retrospective, first in Dublin and from tomorrow at Tate Britain. ibid.
In 1900 Paris was capital of the world … Everywhere French innovation, invention and ingenuity was celebrated; salons were abuzz with literary and intellectual life whose influence was felt far and wide. Foreign painters, sculptors, writers, poets and musicians cross paths here in Paris, the city of lights, the freest in the world. The Adventurers of Modern Art I: Bohemia 1900-1906
Off the beaten path and far from this excitement, a little village awoke to the dawning of a new century: Montmartre. ibid.
The [Picasso’s] style reflected the poverty and despair in which the small community of Montmartre had been living. ibid.
A new art-form was taking its first steps: Cubism. ibid.
In Montmartre at the beginning of the last century, hedonist artists lived carefree and tumultuous lives. The Adventures of Modern Art II: Picasso & His Gang 1906-1916
Picasso had a rival: the painter Henri Matisse. ibid.
Until Les Demoiselles d’Avignon few had criticised Picasso’s works. His studio was like a laboratory where ideas, points of view and innovations were exchanged in an extraordinary spirit of artistic camaraderie. ibid.
The most audacious of the bunch was certainly Marcel Duchamp. ibid.
The Bohemian days gave way to a period of separations. ibid.
Everyone was eager to see the Cubists come to auction. ibid.
In 1911 the Mona Lisa vanished from Le Louvre …. Picasso was called in for questioning. The Adventures of Modern Art III: Paris: Capital of the World 1916-1920
In this hive of artists, [Marc] Chagall lived like an exile before, he worked late, always alone, and received few visitors. ibid.
Modigliani was Jewish: he was even known occasionally to punch an anti-Semite … For a long time Modigliani struggled through his bouts of illness, seeking to achieve his dream - the one and only thing that truly mattered to him – to be a sculptor but stone was too expensive … The dust from striking the stone was making its way its his way painfully into his lungs. Modigliani carved and he coughed … His health prevented him from being the sculptor he dreamed of being. So he turned to painting. ibid.
Picasso penned the diary of his life with a paintbrush. The Adventures of Modern Art IV: The Enchanters of Montparnasse
Everything was still Dada … A new type of show blending music, painting, poetry, dance and percussion. ibid.
Dada and its manifesto had crossed the borders of Europe to join the ranks of other publications. ibid.
The small band of Surrealists took part in the post-war Dada scandals. ibid.
Man Ray immortalised the small band with this camera before returning to the arms of Kiki. The Adventures of Modern Art V: Libertad!
Salvador Dali explored the dark side of his unconscious and was sidelined by the Surrealists as a result. ibid.
1st May 1937 Picasso set to work … By early June the work was completed … On July 12th 1937 Guernica was exhibited … He decided not to return to Spain so long as freedom had not been restored. ibid.
In the early 30s the rise of fascism in Europe pushed artists to become politically engaged. The Adventures of Modern Art VI: Midnight in Paris
All of the country’s national treasures were being moved out. ibid.
The Penrose family who are like at the forefront of the British surrealist movement, and we wrote and said, Do you want to come and join us in defence of surrealism? They said no but we’ll send some objects to represent ourselves. Mark Thomas, Richard Herring, Leicester Square Theatre, Youtube 1.29.01
Whether we call it art or not, there is something absolutely wonderful isn’t there just about this activity that’s a form of thinking and feeling through just doing, just making. Antony Gormley: How Art Began, BBC 2019
Art is the best tool we have for trying to understand our place in the world. ibid.
A new story of where and when art really began. ibid.
This is La Vezere in the south of France; it was huge during the last ice age that modern humans created some of the most extraordinary works of art the world has ever seen … Images in this cave were made between 14 and 16,000 years ago. ibid.
Art is a litmus test of our values. ibid.
In the last ten years new evidence has come to light that suggest that there is that there is art much much older than this … If it’s true that Neanderthals were making art, it changes all our ideas of how art began. ibid.
Sulawesi, Indonesia: another group of scientists have made an extraordinary discovery. They’ve found art here made by human beings who have had no contact. ibid.
Australia: The landscape itself is so extreme that much of the art has remained unknown to the wider world. ibid.
There is no artist that is more international than Sean Scully. Arena: Sean Scully and the Art of Everything, old dude
One of the greatest living artists of our time. ibid. younger dude
The spokesperson of all abstract painting. ibid. critic
£111m Damien Hirst total sets record for one-artist auction. Blurred Lines: Inside the Art World, news headline, Netflix 2017
Is it meaningful? Does it convey some kind of impact? ibid. Glenn Lowry, director New York City MOMA
You have to fight for your territory and you have to conquer your territory. ibid. Marina Abramovic
I want to be a rock star, not a gallery mascot. ibid. Jean-Michel Basquiat
The new job of art is to sit on the wall and get more expensive. ibid. Robert Hughes
Sister Wendy Beckett, now 82, first performed in front of a camera over twenty years ago. All teeth and glasses she instantly became the nation’s favourite nun. Arena: Sister Wendy and the Art of the Gospel, BBC 2012
Sister Wendy has never once missed Mass ... Sister Wendy always sits in the belfry alone. ibid.
Domenico Veneziano c.1442: The Annunciation. ibid.
Icon Anonymous Virgin and Child 6th and 7th century. ibid.
University: the highest ever marks; tutor J R R Tolkien. ibid.
Jacopo Bassano c.1562: The Good Samaritan. ibid.
Now she has written over thirty books. ibid.
She enjoyed seeing paintings familiar from books. ibid.