Uncover the stories behind the masterpieces and art movements that have shaped human culture across centuries. From Renaissance wonders to contemporary expressions, watch art history come to life with fascinating backstories and discussions on how art continues to influence society today. Check out these movies on Kanopy and celebrate the beauty and impact of artistic creation throughout history. Curated by Katie Rivers.
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The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross
A cultural icon for decades, Bob Ross offers soothing words of wisdom as he paints captivating landscapes, in this enormously popular series.
While Banksy has become a household name, he remains a mysterious figure with controversy surrounding his works of art, stunts, political statements, and identities, leading to the art world’s biggest unanswered question – who is Banksy?
Children are introduced to the imaginative world of art and how a picture really can be worth a thousand words.
Art21: Art in the Twenty-First Century
Provides unparalleled access to the most innovative artists of our time, revealing how artists engage the culture around them and how art allows viewers to see the world in new ways.
Black Art: In the Absence of Light
At the heart of this feature documentary is the groundbreaking “Two Centuries of Black American Art” exhibition curated by the late African American artist and scholar David Driskell in 1976. Held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, this pioneering exhibit featured more than 200 works of art by 63 artists and cemented the essential contributions of Black artists in America in the 19th and 20th centuries. The exhibit would eventually travel to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Brooklyn Museum. The film shines a light on the exhibition’s extraordinary impact on generations of African American artists who have staked a claim on their rightful place within the 21st-century art world.
Everyone is making a painting to hang in Sesame Street’s art museum. Rudy wants to paint a rainbow, but he can’t make the perfect purple. What if he mixes the red and blue paint a little bit at a time? Let’s try!
John Richardson: The Art of Picasso: 1927-1973
The celebrated art historian John Richardson has devoted his life to writing the definitive biography of Pablo Picasso. This film captures Richardson as he is writing the fourth and final volume of his biography. He shares his insights and observations on this period in Picasso’s life, whom Richardson first met in the 1950s, with Shelley Wagner, his editor at Penguin Random House.
We are given intimate tours of the three groundbreaking exhibitions Richardson curated at the Gagosian gallery during his research. Other voices included in the film are Picasso’s wife and muse, Francoise Gilot, commenting on select works Picasso created while they were together. Gilot’s son, Claude Picasso, is also featured, speaking on Picasso’s sculpture and innovation.
Van Gogh: Of Wheat Fields and Clouded Skies
A stunning new exploration of the life and work of Van Gogh, through the eyes of his most devoted admirer and owner of the largest private collection of his artworks.
Gain unprecedented access to legendary artistic treasures and experience the rare architectural beauty of the Kröller-Müller Museum. With a special focus on the importance of drawing as part of his artistic technique, be immersed in the life of one of the world’s greatest artists as Van Gogh’s story reveals itself from Paris to Provence.
VAN GOGH: OF WHEAT FIELDS AND CLOUDED SKIES tells the story of the Van Gogh’s burning passion for art, bringing together 40 remarkable paintings and 85 drawings from the Kröller-Müller Museum in Holland.
Gothic: Art For England 1400-1547
Art from late medieval England and the early years of the Renaissance is revealed in this film in all of its splendour and variety. This is the age of the Hundred Years’ War, the Wars of the Roses and the early Tudors. Under kings from Henry IV to Henry VIII, artists in England produced dazzling illuminated manuscripts, exquisite jewels and moving devotional images and sculptures.
Featuring many of the exhibits in the landmark V&A exhibition, Gothic: Art for England 1400-1547 also reveals the glories of Perpendicular architecture: the Beauchamp Chapel in Warwick, King’s College, Cambridge and Henry VII’s Chapel at Westminster Abbey, as well as some of the greatest parish churches.
Gothic: Art for England 1400-1547 is an accessible, visually delightful introduction to the late Middle Ages. Leading historians offer new interpretations of the period, with revealing discussions of patronage, of England’s artistic relations with Europe, and of the fundamental importance of the Church and of attitudes to death.
I Want My MTV. Think Small. Just Do It. Got Milk? Where do these phrases come from?
ART & COPY introduces the cultural visionaries who revolutionized advertising during the industry’s golden age by creating slogans to live by and ads we all remember. You may have never heard of them, but pop pioneers Lee Clow, Hal Riney, George Lois, Mary Wells, Jeff Goodby, Rich Silverstein, Phyllis K. Robinson, Dan Wieden and David Kennedy have changed the way we eat, work, shop, and communicate often in ways we don’t even realize. From the introduction of Volkswagen in America to the triumph of Apple Computers. ART & COPY explores the most successful and influential advertising campaigns of the 20th century, and the creative minds that launched them.
Directed by Doug Pray (SURFWISE, HYPE!, SCRATCH), ART & COPY captures the energy and passion of the individuals who have defined and redefined American popular culture for more than four decades. Featuring rare interviews with industry legends, the film reveals the stories and personal odysseys that have shaped some of the most profound and influential advertising messages of our time. ART & COPY opens a window to the creative process, and identifies the critical elements that can transform a singular idea into a global phenomenon.
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