Product Details

• Actors: Robert Hughes
• Directors: Christopher Spencer, David Willcock, James Kent, John Bush, Julia Cave
• Writers: Robert Hughes
• Producers: Christopher Spencer, David Willcock, James Kent, John Bush, Julia Cave
• Format: Box set, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 8
• Studio: Pbs Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 30, 1997
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304502575
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,812 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

"What can we say about Americans from the things they've made? When we look at them through the lens of their art, what do we see?," host and acclaimed TIME magazine art critic Robert Hughes asks. This extraordinary series presents a panoramic view of American history as reflected by artists in every medium and genre, from "primitive" portraits of the Colonial era to the complex visions of the present day. Explore the luminous, almost sacred work of early-American landscape artists. The varied experiences of 19th century America appear in the paintings of John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt and Winslow Homer. Discover how a uniquely American modernism was forged at the 1913 Armory Show, and ponder the creative genius that blossomed during the '20s, the Depression years and the exciting, innovative periods following World War II.

Titles are: "The Republic of Virtue," "The Promised Land," "The Wilderness and the West," "The Gilded Age," "A Wave from the Atlantic," "Streamlines and Breadlines," "The Empire of Signs," and "The Age of Anxiety."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Glimpse into American History, Culture and Art, June 12, 2000

By 

Kristi Isaacs (NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PBS American Visions The History of American Art and Architecture [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I found this series to be in a word fascinating. Robert Hughes manages to view the art of America through a historical and cultural perspective - particularly for the international viewer. It explores the cultural and social forces which influenced the artists and I must say that I throughly enjoyed the series. For a non-American I found it an excellent study into the wealth of American Art - which is not especially that well-known outside American itself. Highly recommended!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good for Public Libraries!, February 22, 2005

By 

John Ronald (Sugar Land, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PBS American Visions The History of American Art and Architecture [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I was first exposed to Robert Hughes's unique and valuable insights into the world of art & art criticism with his groundbreaking SHOCK OF THE NEW (BBC documentary--which I would LOVE to see re-released on DVD!! Hint! hint!) on the history of Modern Art....there are some points of intersection, obviously, between AMERICAN VISIONS and SHOCK OF THE NEW. But AMERICAN VISIONS encompasses the entire sweep of American art from Colonial and Revolutionary America down to the 1990s, and Hughes does a very good job...perhaps only as outsider (Hughes is a native Australian) can...of demostrating what is uniquely American about the Art found in AMERICAN VISIONS. I refrain from giving Hughes 5 stars because he has grown more curmudgeonly with age, and I find I am turned off by his unsympathetic dismissal of 1990s "multi-culti" (his words) trends in arts & culture. While I'll offer no blanket endorsement of Postmodernism either, I won't, like Hughes, throw the baby out with the bathwater. Whereas Hughes sneers with contempt at contemporary Taos, NM, for example--I find the New Mexico art & cultural scene much more sympathetic, almost an after-echo of the 1960s. Still, one has to admire Hughes's forthright opinions. He didn't get to be the renowned art critic of TIME magazine by being unfailingly nice to everyone either.
Check your local library's video holdings; If they don't have a copy of AMERICAN VISIONS (the complete set), urge them to get it today! If they say their budget won't allow it, donate it to them! (significant library donations are tax-deductible, fyi!!). I would also check with PBS to see if they plan on coming out with this series on DVD. It's a bit steep to buy a personal copy of the whole series, but it'd make a great gift to a starving art student or working artist or art teacher who could not otherwise afford it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable, informative, highly entertaining, & prestigious, March 19, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PBS American Visions The History of American Art and Architecture [VHS] (VHS Tape)

American Visions is a superbly crafted and presented introductory survey of American Art and Architecture from colonial times down to the present day in eight splendidly produced, 60-minute episodes. Articulately narrated by Time magazine art critic Robert Hughes, each program is a fascinating and informative blending of visual imagery with live interviews and spectacular photography. The eight volumes comprising this unique and comprehensive history include: The Republic of Virtue; The Promised Land; The Wilderness and the West; The Gilded Age; A Wave from the Atlantic; Streamlines and Breadlines; The Empire of Sings; and The Age of Anxiety. Told with reference to key artists and architects whose work typified or influenced American art and architecture, and within the broader cultural context of their times, American Visions is an invaluable, informative, highly entertaining, and prestigious addition to any personal, school, and community library collections.