1/4 Abstract Artists In Their Own Words

First broadcast: Sep 2014.
Documentary which unlocks the BBC archives to tell the story of abstract art in Britain through the words of some of its leading lights.
From Barbara Hepworth's abstract geometric forms and Bridget Riley's op art imagery to Anthony Caro's bold new ideas about sculpture, the film reveals the remarkable and varied ways in which British artists explored the idea of abstraction in the 20th century.

[@RoweFilms]

Barbara Hepworth's Great Nephew here. She passed before my time, but wish I had the opportunity to meet her. Inspirational.

[@experi-mentalproductions5358]

You lucky, lucky man.........

[@OmarAvilesCreative]

Love ❤️ this abstract sculpture artist Barbara Hepworth. The children in this documentary are so perceptive and well spoken.

[@barrymoore4470]

Hepworth herself was so gracious in her engagement with the children.

[@Starzagal]

Brilliant- all my favourite artists in one place!

[@petitemonsoon1238]

incredible! thanks for posting this treasure!

[@barrymoore4470]

Most of my favorite twentieth-century artists focused on representational work, but Barbara Hepworth is an exception to this general rule. She's one of my favorite sculptors, and none of her best work is representational in any obvious sense. I love her abstracted, organic forms, suggestive of shapes and processes of the natural world, and conveying the same qualities of timelessness and endurance as those natural phenomena. I think she would be a strong contender for being the finest abstract artist Britain has produced.

[@Afaloz]

These are beautiful thank you ❤ this is art 😊

[@johnnyforeigner33]

Bonus Dr James Fox, what a pleasant surprise! Thanks for sharing, another great documentary!

[@petitemonsoon1238]

i'm a huge fan of Barbara H.

[@katewild2194]

She smoked to much.

[@RoweFilms]

​@@katewild2194 Barbara's Great Nephew here. Not too sure what her smoking habit has to do with her art, to be quite honest.

[@paxwallacejazz]

But just like in Atonality in music the ghost of tonality haunts it so here the ghost of representationalism haunts abstract expressionism. This is actually very important.

[@barrymoore4470]

Good insight.

[@tomsmusiclessons]

Great upload(s), thanks a lot!

[@nathanbabble1976]

I got to meet all these artists, I have nothing but good things to say about them. They didn’t have to take the time to be nice and kind but they did it anyway. Sadly that was just a dream when I met them and it never happened in real life.

[@myfavoriteplanet3247]

The Pasmore Pavilion in Peterlee looks like a blank canvas to me. It would be interesting to see the town paint different abstract pieces all over the building then it will be brought to life.

[@ai-man212]

All art styles are valid. Not all art is good.

[@ieceineint452]

IA images for example are utterly worthless

[@alamaamosa3801]

The more radical the more controversy ,The perception of the norm vs the idividual. Art survives on its own merits growth and time changes the way we explore art ,we develope,experience learn acquire examine, rationalize ridicule except acknowledge ,analyze critique politicize, psychoanalysis, relate spiritualise .A transition of culture .exsistential tendencies....

[@mmbmbmbmb]

A very interesting subject you chose here, dear Josh! Will follow the remaining parts with eagerness! Thanks & Hugs, Karin

[@graysoncanaan5364]

instablaster...

[@kerrianderson106]

I agree

[@job4391]

Abstract vs realism: Realism is what's inside the artist, Abstract is what's inside the observer.

[@יהושעעזרא]

מעניין ומרתק, פיסול חי ונושם ,והחללים שבתוכם משחקים ומוסיפים לעבודות

[@DUVOODUtattoo]

🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷 31/12/2022

[@ccmyart]

I don't explain my art.

[@Americansikkunt]

Does it have meaning to begin with? Or is the only “meaning” that matters, the one ascribed to the Art by the buyer?

[@SoapyTitsWank]

Some people are just unwilling to learn to draw.

[@donthepainter480]

Do you really think that, abstract artists only produce abstract art because they they are unwilling to learn to draw? Drawing, I assume, means "realism" to you?

[@jamesanonymous2343]

To all the :"abstractors", and their devoted lackey's >>>>>>DUUHHHHHH ! ! ! ! Don't quit your Day Job. !

[@jamesanonymous2343]

your work belongs in "The Museum of Lapsed Memories", where they hang on walls inside buildings where >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>NOBODY GOES

[@Cockneyartist]

It's a load of old bollocks I agree

[@paulrouhan7288]

@@Cockneyartist Turner is all blurred. He should have got a camera and copied reality better 🤣

[@frankplatt323]

By 'eck, Babs love, tha wouldn't get away with sticking one of yer fancy pants sculptures outside Leeds Town Hall, I'll tell thee for nowt! Why ha your sculpture got holes in them? She was addicted to Polo mints, true fact, art lovers!

[@ListenToBigFace]

Shut it Frank

[@metrinstoefta1490]

if this narration was less nationalistic I might've made it beyond 3 minutes into this film. back off lady...its art, its not british.

[@Austria88586]

It is specifically about british abstract artists duh

[@Cockneyartist]

I liike abstraction but for me it has to be based around something real, otherwise its meaningless shapes and colours. Anyone can do that, I have no respect for it. Jackson Bollocks

[@Raphael3032]

reality is meaningless shapes and colors, sounds and smells, textures and temperatures. The human brain is what decides meaning and you can apply it to anything

[@franzdoreza5230]

I’m sorry but as someone who has done everything from impressionism to cubism to Expressionism to abstract expressionism… Some of the artist of the era that we’re just doing straight lines and really simple shapes call I think constructivism… Then you have the ones that are just long straight lines really dull boring… Nothing to see here… That’s more like graphic design… And yet they’re treated as if they were a part of our history when they should’ve been a part of Graphic design history… More like decoration… Today you see all these so-called abstract artist who think that abstract art comes from nothing, just drawing little shapes and painting little colors of squares and triangles and circles… That’s bullshit… Abstract art comes from something that is real, comes from something that is from life, like a figure, still life, landscape etc. but it usually comes from some thing that exists and then the artist abstracts it, sees the world in a different way, you see these people on Instagram telling you how to paint abstract art… Just using random colors of pink and purple making marks here and there thinking that’s all abstract art is… No that’s not abstract art that’s just trying to make some decoration to look good with your furniture which is not art… There’s no connection to it, it’s just paint on a canvas that is tragically boring and lifeless just so it looks good with whatever furniture you have doesn’t make it art. And the world is full of these so-called artists because of the Internet, granted there are a lot of talented artists that are finally getting exposure and they deserve it but there are also hundreds and hundreds of thousands of terrible artists who are selling so much work it’s unbelievable… Summer digital artists which is an art to me that’s done on computer… Summer painters who aren’t really doing art they’re just pouring paint from a bucket onto a piece of paper or canvas And hoping that the design looks good… That’s not art… That’s just luck and random and then they use the worst possible color combinations… So it’s really screwed up the art world… It’s done great things for the people that deserve it but it’s also the terrible things for those artists who don’t have any talent. And yet sell hundreds of their works… It’s extremely frustrating

[@9aguirre]

Low quality, high concept.

[@desertportal353]

Much better pursuit of direct experience than to represent (re-present) the world around one. Nothing abstract about it at all.

[@franzdoreza5230]

Sadly I feel like I should’ve been born in a different time.… If people saw my work today in the museum it would look like something from the 20th century modern… That’s not to brag but as a student of the art institute of Chicago I was definitely influenced by the art that was in that museum, and I showed my paintings to people at MOMA and they were very startled to know that this artwork was done More recently in the past 25 years… Some of it look like Expressionism, fauvism, abstract expressionism from that era… But that was just to share and it was a nice complement to have but I really felt like I should’ve been born in 1940-50s so that I could’ve been a part of that art movement in the 60s and 70s.. oh well such a dream… I’m also one of those artists who can’t continue to paint the same thing over and over, something galleries want you to do… I find it disturbing and it also doesn’t allow Artist to evolve… I don’t even know how to continue doing the same thing over and over just slightly different than the last painting… It’s annoying, but hey what they want is to make money and make you recognizable… They don’t want to let you grow as an artist which is the reason why I can’t stand the Gallery system… Hopefully the new galleries will be able to show more flexibility and allow the artist to let his paintings standalone instead of having 10 paintings that all look similar… What’s the point of that? If you want to see my work, criticize my work or whatever it’s on Instagram under the name frankiedynomite a.k.a. Franz Joseph , just so you know where I’m coming from.

[@ichirofakename]

By my tally 1:30 of the 15 minutes comprising this video is of artists talking. Should be called "Museum folk explaining abstract art."

[@forge20]

Should be called "the BBC puffs minor artists".

[@curtisbryce5096]

If you have to explain it, the art isn't in the work, it is in the explanation.

[@wstr9963]

You don't have to explain anything.

[@claudioenriquemachadobanch5749]

80% of what we consider art has a prior explanation. I wonder if we would be able to appreciate, for example, "The Last Supper" by Leonardo, without prior knowledge of the biblical story and the information we have about Leonardo's life and work. How would an indigenous person from the Amazon react to Michelangelo's Pietà? Undoubtedly, the image of a rarely dressed woman holding a half-naked adult man on her lap would seem strange to her... With exceptions, all art requires an explanation.