Synopsis
Time magazine critic and writer of the highly acclaimed study of modern art, The Shock of the New, Robert Hughes now addresses his largest subject: the history of art in America.
Episodes
Season 11E1The Republic of VirtueRobert Hughes charts the foundation of a national identity that sought architectural inspiration from Greece and Rome. He also looks at America's earliest major painters.600m2E2The Promised LandRobert Hughes explains how America was shaped by Europeans.60m3E3The Wilderness and the WestArt critic Robert Hughes looks at America's majestic landscapes, exploring how artists have contributed to the religious and patriotic connotations of nature.60m4E4The Gilded AgeRobert Hughes considers how the Civil War industrialised society, bringing steam power, the Brooklyn Bridge, plutocrats and an urban underclass. Nostalgia for loss entered the culture and brought the Museum Age.60m5E5A Wave from the AtlanticMass immigration at the turn of the century confirmed America as a multicultural society but also brought increased poverty and slum life. Robert Hughes examines how this was often reflected in art.60m6E6Streamlines and BreadlinesRobert Hughes considers America during the 1920s and 30s, including the skyscraper as the image of modernism, the Depression, regionalist art and black art.60m7E7The Empire of SignsRobert Hughes examines America's development into the art capital of the west between 1945 and the late 1960s, with the advent of abstract expressionism and pop art.60m8E8The Age of AnxietyRobert Hughes focuses on work that responded to the Vietnam War and civil strife. He traces the development of minimalism and ends up on top of an extinct volcano.60m
Cast
