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| Henri Matisse (Artists of the 20th Century) | 
 enlarge | Director: Dpm
Studio: Kultur International Films
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $11.26
You Save: $8.73 (44%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (5 reviews)
Sales Rank: 50180
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 56 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: D2670D
ISBN: 0769726704
UPC: 032031267091
EAN: 9780769726700
ASIN: B0001L3LR2
Release Date: April 13, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
One Hour of Matisse's Paintings February 27, 2008
That's what this DVD comes down to, 56 minutes of watching Matisse's paintings click by in chronological order. If you are a fan of Matisse, buy it. If you aren't, netflix it. This DVD is simply a slide show with narration. The narration leaves much to be desired, as it is very monotone. The biggest drawback is that you don't know which of the paintings are going to be talked about in detail or just have their titles given. If you are looking for a deep study or understanding of Matisse's oeuvre, you should keep looking. This DVD is more along the lines of an undergrad paper.
 Narrated slide show with biography & work analysis November 27, 2007
This documentary presents hundreds of works by the artist. It is a narrated slide show. The commentary is very detailed, competent, and comprehensive. It includes extensive biography mixed with a very professional painting analysis encompassing influence of other artists with examples of their works. The quality of video and sound is good.
 A 56-minute challenge to stay awake September 5, 2005
7 out of 15 found this review helpful
I started watching some of these Artists of the 20th Century DVDs in order to gain some familiarity with and - hopefully - a measure of understanding of modern art. They certainly increase one's familiarity with each artist's work, since they consist of nothing more than images of that work, but they aren't doing much in terms of helping me understand it. The only thing I clearly understand at this point is that I really dislike modern art. I don't think anyone could logically argue that these DVDs are anything but exceedingly boring. The narrator may use all sorts of intense words, but his constantly soporific monologue spoken to the accompaniment of light piano music cannot help but put one to sleep. This was especially the case in terms of this look at the artwork of Matisse, given the fact that I personally didn't see any single piece of the artist's work that I could even begin to like.
I feel it is important for me to repeat the fact that I know nothing about modern art. My ignorance on this subject is one of the reasons I wanted to sample some of the most celebrated artwork of recent decades. It's hard for me to see how a Matisse could have been so popular and so influential - and this DVD didn't really enlighten me at all. The description of Matisse's influences rushed right past me, and there's virtually no discussion of Matisse's influences on later artists; in terms of biographical information, you'll learn much more by reading the back of the DVD case than by watching the DVD itself. The whole manner of presentation of these DVDs is seemingly designed to put you to sleep, not to enlighten you at all. As for Matisse, I was struck by how primitive and vague his paintings were. While he never really descended into abstract art, his creations are painted in broad strokes revealing little detail. The narrator may rave about his use of color, but I find it hard to get excited about seeing strange colors in strange places. Virtually all of the paintings shown in this video slideshow looked half-finished to me, as there is virtually no detail in Matisse's work. Human models are ill-shaped and oftentimes drawn out of proportion, and many details the narrator celebrates are quite invisible to my eyes. I daresay you could hang several Matisse paintings among those at an elementary school art show, and I would be hard pressed to identify which is which. If you like detail in your paintings, Matisse clearly isn't your guy.
Naturally, those with an interest and appreciation of modern art will view Matisse's work much differently than I do - but I doubt any of them would really recommend this DVD. You get no details on Matisse's life, the narrator's comments about each painting chosen to display here seem random at best, and the work of Matisse's later years -which is radically different from what he had done before - is given short shrift indeed. My advice is to skip this DVD entirely and find a few good, informative Matisse art galleries online.
Beautiful pictures; soporific narration January 1, 2005
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I love Matisse and have spent many happy hours gazing at a single painting, drawing, collage, sculpture -- even at a photograph of the artist, himself. This DVD is something I enjoy because of its chronological presentation of many important paintings. I enjoy it when I remember, from the beginning, to TURN THE SOUND OFF.
The narrator's monotone and the stultifying script put me to sleep every single time. What a pity! Here are some of the most exciting works of recent centuries, works that have provoked controversy and opened frontiers, and the soundtrack makes me, a would-be Matisse groupie, cry with the boredom of it all. There is one humorous moment when the narrator reads what should probably be the word "congenial" as "congenital" instead, and one can admire the narrator's pronunciation of French, to the extent that French titles are used (and they should be used more, I think, in this).
For a DVD to be watched with sound off and remote close at hand so that one may linger over what appeals on a given day and race past some of the oddly chosen close-ups, two stars is a generous rating. But any visual presentation of Matisse's work is always worth a look. Let's just hope for a better DVD on the magnificent Matisse.
booooring!!!! July 23, 2004
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is just an art appreciation lecture on disc. I guess art lovers without access to museums or art historians' work would need something like this. However, live art lectures have a question-and-answer format that makes them interactive and fun. This work was just dull. The disc does a good job in mentioning that Matisse worked in several styles. Still, it's just one piece after another. Nothing moves on the entire disc, making everything feel so static and overly two-dimensional. This disc leaves many questions to be answered. For example, they show a painting of Madame Matisse and never once mentioned when the Matisses got married. They mention a series of dancing female nudes and then a picture of male musicians. They never say anything about the men being airbrushed or the obvious Japonisme influence on the piece. Though an average-length documentary, it feels like an eternity due to the dullness of the work. Blah! and yawn!
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