Invitation to Art; Vincent Van Gogh

WGBH Educational Foundation · 1962

Throughout his life van Gogh asked himself, "How can I be useful?" This, says Dr. O'Doherty, is the key to understanding the artist's passion, violence, and essential humanity. Again following a chronological sequence of paintings, Dr. O'Doherty traces van Gogh's thoughts and techniques as they evolved through the years, first in The Netherlands, then in Paris, and finally in the south of France. Of particular interest is Dr. O'Doherty's reading of van Gogh's letters to his beloved brother Theo, letters that reveal Vincent's hopes, his fears, and his theories about his work. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche) This series explores man and the world around him through the eyes of artists, past and present, and aims to develop an understanding of art as a direct expression of universal emotions. As the host, Dr. Brian O'Doherty, young Irish poet, painter, and art critic, brings a fresh, witty and warmly human point of view to the visual arts. In the first season (episodes 1 - 15), O'Doherty follows, through these arts, the cycle of man from childhood to old age and explores the society in which man lives in all its aspects - tragic, comic, and mundane. Dr. O'Doherty uses works of art now on display in the galleries of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, to illustrate the episodes. Patricia Barnard of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts supervises production. Her assistant is Thalia Kennedy of the Museum staff. In the second season (episodes 16 - 30), each episode either examines in detail the work and thought of one of the great artists of the past, or consists of skillful and sympathetic interviews by Dr. O'Doherty of distinguished living artists who have had a powerful influence upon the art of today. In the third season (episode 31 - 34), Dr. O'Doherty interviews a distinguished American artist who have had a powerful influence upon the art of today. In the fourth season (episodes 35 - 41), a pattern of ideas evolves, revealing the various roles of the artist. This series was originally record in black and white on kinescope. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)