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Civilizations
What Is Art Good For?
Season 1
Episode 9
Explore art in the age of revolution, war and profound scientific change and consider the question: Should art create a separate realm, a place of escape, or should it plunge into the chaos, transforming the way we see and live in the world?
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53:18
Examine the rise and fall of “progress” as an ideology.
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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.