Customer Reviews

Joan Miro (Artists of the 20th Century)

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

 

 

Miro is one of my favorite artists. I couldn't wait to receive this DVD in the mail--I was hoping it was the film that features footage of Miro in his studio, which I had seen years ago. Oddly enough, considering my vocation (I'm an artist, among other things), I had yet to buy any DVD's, or even VHS tapes in the past, about artists, although I had seen a number on television (probably on PBS) that I would have liked to own--the Miro video I had in mind was one of them. I don't know why I had ignored purchasing them in the past, but I was excited to start collecting. Unfortunately, very unfortunately, this wasn't the video I had in mind. Instead, this DVD has almost completely turned me off of that newfound enthusiasm. I don't know much about the studio that produced this "documentary", but from now on I'll be steering a wide path from any other products by "Kultur".

Here's what this DVD is in a nutshell: Some guy reads a fairly pedestrian, and often factually incorrect essay about Miro's life and works, while bad, quiet music plays in the background. The visuals consist solely of a "slideshow" of Miro's paintings (and a couple quick glances at influences), every one of them cropped so that the effect of the painting as a whole is ruined, and most of them with inaccurate color. On top of that, it looks like the visuals were low resolution jpegs. Occasionally, as when discussing Miro's 1921/22 painting, _The Farm_, we're "treated" to even more detailed views (every view on the DVD is really a detail, considering the cropping), and it is here that the low resolution jpeg problem is most apparent--the details have smudgy, blurred edges.

Other problems include the dialog occasionally not being in sync with the images--you'll hear one painting discussed while you're looking at a different painting, and very strange "cuts" in the dialog, such as when the narration reads "Robert Rauschenberg", but you hear "Robert Rauschen"--it sounds like the end of the sentence, and then about 20 seconds later, you hear a sudden "Berg" (and no, the problem wasn't my copy of the DVD--it's actually coded this way on the disc).

Overall, this video will not please any serious Miro fans, it is far too boring to try to turn children, students or the general uninitiated onto Miro, and for someone not already familiar with Miro's works, it just might turn them off of further exploration--there aren't many greater evils than that in my view.

For the money, the recent Taschen edition of the Walter Erben book is much better--the reproductions are beautiful, the commentary on paintings by Hajo Duchting often insightful even if sometimes biased against particular works that are some of my favorites, and Erben's text is a fascinating account of living in Miro's world for a short period.

As for videos, I'm off to search for something I don't wish to ritually sacrifice.

The other 1-star reviews are exactly right. This is an awful production that I would not recommend to anybody. I checked it out from my local library, so fortunately I didn't waste any money, only time. Steer clear!

I got burned by ordering the Kultur DVD on Matisse. It was sixth grade narration, sometimes related to the picture being shown, sometimes not, and pictures. I felt that I was watching my uncle's slides of his vacation to Nice. It was not at all what I expected I hoped the product would be what I'm used to seeing on PBS: a thoroughly researched, quality production. Not so with Kultur pieces. Avoid their products.

This documentary presents hundreds of works by the artist. It is a narrated slide show. The commentary is very detailed, competent, and comprehensive. It includes extensive biography mixed with a very professional painting analysis encompassing influence of other artists with examples of their works. The quality of video and sound is good.