The Shock of the New

The first part of The Shock of the New - The Mechanical Paradise - was broadcast on 21 September 1980. Presenter Robert Hughes promised eight television essays on eight separate themes of modern art. His opening statement cut between multiple locations, setting out the scope of the series in a cheeky response to Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation. Hughes put modern western art in the context of the culture and social history of the times, demystifying it as never before. A best-selling book that accompanied the series quickly became a popular reference work.

The Shock of the New was filmed over three years, during which time Hughes travelled 250,000 miles. Other than visiting the places and filming the works he was talking about, the programme featured archive footage of many of the artists – an option not available to the producers of Civilisation! The Shock of the New was produced by Lorna Pegram, Hughes’s frequent collaborator.

Hughes went on to make acclaimed films about Goya and Gaudi, as well as the series American Visions, his personal view of American art. In 2004 he made The New Shock of the New, which looked at developments since 1980. The Shock of the New continues to be influential: Hughes died in 2012 but not before The Guardian named the spin-off book – which is still in print - among its 100 greatest non-fiction books.