The Shock of the New

The Shock of the New is a television series that aired on the BBC in 1980, written and presented by the Australian art critic Robert Hughes, detailing the developments of Modernism in art since Impressionism and in context with the socio-political environments of the time, along with the influence/ramifications of mechanisation on Western society through industrialisation. It was also accompanied by a book of the same title and is seen as an important review of the development of art in that period of time.

The BBC is currently re-showing this series as I type (I imagine due to the recent death of Robert Hughes) and annoyingly they have each episode down for a brief moment of time on IPlayer. Episode 1 has come and gone already while Episode 2 which "examines the relationship between art and authority by looking at Dadaism and the art of political movements such as fascism and Soviet communism" is viewable till the 10th of September (2 days left!).

I think it's most worthy of a watch so get there before its to late!... Unless someone -John- knows other means of getting to watch this piece of 80's documentary after the BBC have hidden it away in their digital archive.

Enjoy!

Kit