Customer Reviews

Every Picture Tells a Story

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

These 8 episodes of "Every Picture Tells a Story" peer deeply into masterpiece art works in a fresh way. Superior to anything I (and my wife) have seen. My M.S. & B.S. art degrees and over 2 decades of art teaching helps me grant this new Athena DVD set 5 colorful stars. This DVD set also rates "2 paint brushes UP-WAY UP."

THE PRESENTER, Waldemar Januszczak, U.K., is an art critic who never learned to be sophisticatedly boring, dull, & lifeless. He will even make you laugh by finding a lighter side to masterpieces of art. He provides his opinion alongside the findings of other authorities, so you can decide for yourself. He does this in a manner somewhat similar to a European travelogue. Enjoyable. Scenic.

Individual episodes are less than 25 minutes, a perfect length for classroom use at universities and High Schools. 1 or 2 episodes touch on language and/or sexual topics that might want to be previewed and opted upon by "conservative" schools. Probably just a PG rating if it were to be rated, however.

INTERDISCIPLINARY TEACHING: Each painting episode touches not only on the art itself, but on history, geography, and literature related to the piece. This is true educational integration, highly sought by state-of-the-art school curriculum.

WHAT DOES IT INCLUDE?

"Mr and Mrs Andrews", Gainsborough, England. A mystery of the unfinished masterpiece.

"The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp", Rembrandt, Dutch. The artist's haunting of death. Painting is compared to TVs "E.R."

"The Tempest", Giorgione, Venice. Giorgione means 'Big George'. This is a mysterious painter of even more mysterious art. Is Homer's "Odyssey" a clue?

"The Birth of Venus", Botticelli, Florence. Venus' voluptuous vulnerability vexing the virile. Not birth, so where does this painting's meaning spring from?

"Boy Bitten by a Lizard", Caravaggio, Rome. Finding the why from a lizard bite which was painted by a Roman artist and murderer.

"Mona Lisa", Leonardo da Vinci, Paris. Don't bother with "The Di Vinci Code" book. Episode is about solving the real Leonardo mystery.

"Le dejeuner sur l'herbe", Manet, France. The naughty, naked, picnic lady leaves behind illegal, immoral, impressionism--immortally.

"The Arnlfini Marriage", Jan van Eyck, Bruges, Belgium. A 15th century mystery in oil on an oak panel.

WHAT IS BONUS/extra?

For each episode: "The Rest of the Story"

For each episode: "Artist Biographies"

For each episode: SDH subtitles

A viewer's guide booklet with:

Featured painting reproduction

Questions to consider (individually or in a classroom)

List of other artistic work featured on each episode

Bibliography of 4 options for additional learning related to each episode's painting

This DVD 2-disc set truly brings masterpiece wonder to the masses.

Every High School, College, and Public Library should own this.

8 very affordable lesson plans for art teachers and professors.

Hours of enjoyment for the art lover. YES, a perfect gift.

About the only thing I'm confused about is did Simon Schama do "Simon Schama's Power of Art" before or after Januszczak's "Every Picture Tells A Story"? Did Schama attempt to copycat Januszczack's work or was Januszczack's work a how-to to Schama?

In the end, they are both good but Januszack 'Every Picture Tells a Story' is masterful and leaves Simon (never met a simile I didn't like) Schama in the dust.

Insightful and compelling.

I'd like to see a lot more from Mr. Januszczack.

[...]

This collection of famous paintings is a series of fascinating lessons by Waldemar Januszczak who has a marvelous sense of humor. Without being pompous, he discusses each painting as well as the painter's life, and shows us things we may never have otherwise seen on our own. I love art dvds and have purchased many, just for pleasure, and this is one of my favorites. I wish there were more in the series as 8 is only a glimpse into the whole art world. The dvd quality is very clear, audio and video. Highly recommended if you enjoy art in small doses.

Waldemar Januszczak shares his eye for and knowledge of art with the public in this 2 disc video set, providing an in depth analysis of 8 masterpieces. Viewers will come away with a fresh perspective and greater knowledge of the artists and their paintings. Januszczak makes a strong case for his analysis of these works. Another reviewer has already offered an excellent synopsis of the set, so I will not reinvent the wheel here, but only say that they are well worth the time for anyone with an interest in art or history.

However, I found the opening music of each segment rather off putting and also occasionally Mr. Januszczak's demeanor. He is obviously brilliant, but perhaps a little too aware of it. His own personal trendy style just does not suit a video on paintings dating from the Renaissance through the 18th century. An opening of music from the period of the painting about to be discussed would have done a better job of setting the scene. For example, there are a number of amusing 18th Century English Country Dance songs that air the same views on marriage that the critic posits as Gainsborough's view on the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews. Mr. Januszczak would benefit from listening to the advice of an experienced educational production team who could stand up to his ego a bit better.

"Every Picture Tells a Story" is very good, extremely interesting. However,some of the material was a little on the racy side. For example, the episode on Caravaggio goes into the history of flipping people off with your middle finger-something you may not want public school students (whom I teach and was showing this to)going home telling mama, "guess what I learned today...!" Just preview the episodes first, then decide for yourself. I teach high school art, so these were helpful, just maybe not appropriate for younger students. I was showing these to ninth graders, whose maturity level was not up for this. I would show them to my older, more advanced students.

A little disappointed that the host rambles on occasionally, and strays off the subject of the painting. He gives lots of details about the painters life history. I guess I wanted more details about the painting, not the painter.

This so called critic has produced something very short of a work of art.

The moment you hear the background music you can tell there is something very very wrong with this DVD. The cacophony of ear assailing vibrations are a perfect background for the lame and very drawn out explanation of silliness surrounding the critics thoughts on what the basis of the creative essence of the few pieces he has chosen.

This idiot is not Sister Wendy......not by a long shot.

Don't waste your time or your money on this waste of time.