1 November 2005
Tuesday 1 November 2005 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
Philip Dodd and guests discuss the great French painter of the jungle, Henri Rousseau (1844-1910), who actually never left France
Programme details
Have you ever been puzzled by a work of art? Have you ever felt that only the initiated could possibly understand?
If the answer to both those questions is yes then the new book by Julian Spalding, The Art of Wonder: A History of Seeing may be just what you need.... It claims to look at the art of the world in a new way… a way which establishes the primacy of the emotional, human response. In Night Waves this evening Philip Dodd examines this claim with Julian and the art critic, Rachel Campbell Johnston, both in the abstract and more pragmatically in reference to Tate Modern’s big autumn show, which is devoted to the French painter, Henri Rousseau.
Philip will also be discussing the boundaries between scientific knowledge and religion with the historian of science, Bryan Appleyard, and the playwright, David Edgar, whose new version of Brecht’s classic play on this theme, The Life of Galileo, opens tonight in Birmingham. And to round off the programme there’ll be a review of The Year of Magical Thinking, the latest book by one of America’s most dazzling contemporary prose stylists, Joan Didion and a tribute to that giant of contemporary cinema, Gerard Depardieu, who surprised everyone this week by announcing his retirement from the screen.
That’s all in Night Waves with Philip Dodd here on BBC Radio 3.
Additional information:
1) Julian Spalding’s book – The Art of Wonder: A History of Seeing is published by Prestel and its out now.
2) Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris is at Tate Modern from November 3rd until 5th February 2006.
3) Joan Didion’s book – The Year of Magical Thinking is published by Fourth Estate.
