Customer Rating: 
Summary: Best Insight to understanding these artists!
Comment: Currently, I am an adult student in The Glassell Art School, a part of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX. I am taking an abstract painting class and these CD's have helped me understand the who, why and how much better than reading a book. I love them and have recommended them to the rest of my class.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Introspective Gold
Comment: A beautifully produced series on the lives and times of 8 artists, capturing the mastery of each. The individual genius which separates their art from their contemporaries, discussion on technique, uniqueness, balanced with the intrigues, personal and political of their times, makes this into a must-have for artist information. I have not tired of looking at this collection, each replay giving me more information and appreciation that I had missed in a previous viewing. The narration takes place in numerous venues throughout the individual programs, so it never feels like a monotonous reading from a script -- and Schama's sense of proportion; historical, individual, relation to the times coupled with a nice sense of humor makes this an informative, yet totally enjoyable series to watch.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great video, lousy audio
Comment: This set of videos is great. He brings the artists to life and gives us a better understanding of their character and the context in which they created their work. However, the audio quality is poor. The volume level will go from good to bad often enough to be distracting.
Customer Rating:
Summary: More, more...
Comment: I am a serious photographer, who is trying to find his way through the hassle of the modern world. What makes you to shoot a really "good" photograph? That's the search for every individual, who is in the need of expressing himself/herself in an artistic form. Is it equipment? Well! May be. But surely not exactly. So, I decided to dig deeper and try to understand how visual art was created in the good old ages when people were not technologically strongly supported to create an image as they are now. And during my research, I came across with this set of DVDs. Each episode is concentared on one masterpiece that the artist created. In the creation phase of the masterpiece, additional background information about the social happenings, the personality of the artist, the important steps in the artist's life on the way to the creation of the masterpiece are mentioned. It's very very useful for art enthusiasts to create awareness abour certain concepts, trends and styles. But surely an entry tool to warm you up to go further. In the endless sea of art, 8 artists are really not too much. But these 8 artists are selected to cover a significant poriton of the understanding of art history. When you watch the DVDs, I believe you would wish to know at least this much information about the other masters of art and their famous work. You will surely feel yourself richer and your approach to look at a visual art subjects or sculpture will surely change.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great for beginners
Comment: I recently wrote my first review on Amazon which of course compelled me to add some more. Not long ago I bought these series and I have to say they are great. I am an artist myself and it is always nice to be reminded of the great ones, in "plain English". Simon makes things interesting, if not perhaps a little overly dramatic, but this does add the entertainment factor. I think that the information is good, and well presented, and that if you have had none or almost no exposure to any of these artists, this is certainly a good way to start.
All in all, I enjoyed it, but would have liked something a little more thorough (but that's because I have years of art school behind me). If you want to get started or just add a some more to what you already know, buy this product, you won't be disappointed.
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