The Dead and the Dying Video (DVD)

The Dead and the Dying Video. "Expressing a dead body," wrote Leon Baptista Alberti, in 1435, "is one of the most difficult things in the world." This program examines the portrayal of death in art, from ancient times to the post-World War II era. Sarcophagi, paintings, sculptures, funerary statuary, news photos, cinema, mixed media, and a living pieta reveal the intricacies and nuances of rendering incidents of natural, accidental, and violent death, including Jesus' crucifixion. The impacts of Christianity on modern figurative painting and of historical watersheds such as the First World War and the Holocaust on old notions of death are explored as well. (27 minutes.) Art History, Art and Photography 2000.
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