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Civilizations
The Cult of Progress
Season 1
Episode 8
Examine the rise and fall of “progress” as an ideology, and see how the “civilizing” project that arose from Enlightenment ideas was fraught with contradictions that troubled European artists in different ways.
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52:50
Explore art in the age of revolution, war and profound scientific change.
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52:44
Explore light and color in art in the search for greater realism and spiritual ecstasy.
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53:00
Explore one of humanity’s deepest artistic urges: the depiction of nature.
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53:20
Travel east and west— to Renaissance Italy and the contemporaneous Islamic empires.
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53:30
See how art became the great interface when distant cultures met for the first time.
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53:20
Consider how religion has inspired art and art has inspired divine representation.
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53:20
Explore how we look at the human body in art.
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53:00
Examine the formative role of art and the creative imagination in the forging of humanity.