1. More Human Than Human....this was a good video. Learned that the human body dominates the lives of people in art, but images don't really look like actual people, always exaggerated to look better. The 25,000 year olf venus of Willendorf is worth 60 million bucks, it exaggerates pregnancy since it was so valuable then. the Egyptians stopped exaggeration, they wanted consistency with art, it was a cutural value of theirs. They used grids to keep drawings of people consistent. The 1972 discovery of the Riace statues showed the greeks wanted perfect bodies, more god-like. These statues may be the greatest ever made. I like the mysterious music on the video when these statues were discovered. Greeks tried to work with the Egyptians, but could not. Kritios Boy was realistic, but decided to be boring. Since boring, artists went back to exaggerating. Even now a days, skinny unrelaistic models are the standard, same as bodybuilders. This was really a great video, liked it a lot, especially the riace statues, never heard of them before. better than text, as usual.
2. Birth of the Middle Ages. I have always been interested in the mysterious middle ages, so I picked this video, and the next 2 videos of the Middle Ages. Middle age feudalism still exists today in Cameroon. Japan maintained feudalism for a long time into the 19th century. The Dark Ages started around 500 AD after Rome fell, after 8 centuries of rule. No more official laws, ethics, art, stability, or learning. Superstition was popular. Medieval fortified cities were started. Some culture was maintained by monks. The Renaissance , or rebirth, was started in 1000 AD, and life improved, art flourished, many churches were built. Thhis video did not add too much to the text, did not really learn too much from it.
3. Art and Life in Middle Ages: Luttrell Psalter. I loved this video. Geoffrey Luttrell in 1345 gave his unbelievable prayer book to the monks. Very detailed writings and illustrations of life in the middle ages, but included confusing pictures of make believe monsters. These detail pictures are priceless, show things like farming, planting seeds, harvesting, making clothes, milling, games and parties, acrobats, feasts, hunting with falcons, jousting, crusades. there were also Bible scenes and 150 psalms. Saints were shown, including how they died. This was an amazing book, with amazing pictures. Never knew it existed. A great video.
4. Cataclysm: Black Death Visits Tuscany. A good video that described the horrors of the Black Death better than the book. Talked about Siena and Florence in Italy, very prosperous cities with business, construction, a good life. Then the plague hit in the the 1330's in China, and spread to Italy in 1348. the plague lasted 7 months and killed half of europe. Many people moved to the countryside to escape the Black Death. The "horrors of hell" were drawn in artwork by bartolo to show the plague. Incredible times, i like the video, learn more than the text.
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