Vision On

Acknowledgements xi List of Illustrations xiii Preface xv INTRODUCTION 1 Lord Clark and me 1 Take three histories 3 Things to come 6 CHAPTER 1 'A MEANS TO RAISE THE PUBLIC TASTE': BRITISH TELEVISION AND THE ARTS 1951-82 10 A pre-history for the arts on film 11 Early arts on screen in Britain 13 'A specifically British modernism': the films of John Read 17 Graham Sutherland 20 'What the public wants': ITV arrives 23 The first magazine: Monitor 27 Ken Russell: the biggest director in the world 28 Tempo: 'a swinging Monitor' 31 BBC2's new line-up 33 The age of Aquarius 36 The golden years of Omnibus 38 One Foot in Eden 40 Arts from the south bank 43 CHAPTER 2 'A CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE': ARTS TELEVISION INTO THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY 47 What's this Channel Four? 49 'Here were riches': Channel 4's first five years 51 Shadows from Light 56 Their way: Arena 57 Art as the new politics: The Late Show 60 Art is dead: Michael Grade's Channel 4 65 Dance for the Camera 68 'The arts programme is not dead': the BBC in the 1990's 71 A Portrait of Arshile 76 The multi-channel new world 78 Dumb and dumber? 80 Arts and broadcasting at the millennium 83 'Everybody needs a place to think': BBC Four 87 CHAPTER 3 'THE ODD COUPLE?': THE ARTS COUNCIL AND TELEVISION 91 State patronage creeps in 91 'An emphatic success': the art film tours 93 Artists Must Live 94 First films from the Arts Council and the BFI 96 The Stained Glass at Fairford 97 A guardian angel for the arts 101 Richard Hamilton 103 The Attenborough Enquiry 106 The best of times 107 Dread Beat and Blood 112 Channel 4 changes the rules 113 Picturing Derry 116 Identity and diversity 119 Television times 122 Sound on Film 126 A new era 128 Two Melons and a Stinking Fish 131 Endgame: the Lottery and a legacy 133 CHAPTER 5 MAINSTREAM APPROACHES AND ALTERNATIVE FORMS 137 Tell and show 138 The lecture: a television (and radio) tradition 140 Beaubourg: Four Films by Denis Postle 142 Lanternists, lecturers and connoisseurs 143 John Berger strikes back: Ways of Seeing 147 A Sign Is a Fine Investment 149 Encountering the real thing 150 Tom Phillips 152 Edward Hopper 155 The drama of artists' lives 155 Animated Artists' Lives 158 Artists and filmmakers 160 Frantz Fanon: Black Skin White Mask 162 Alternative lives from the Arts Council 163 The Third Front 163 Extending the forms 165 Stones and Flies: Richard Long in the Sahara 168 Artists and collaborations 169 Expanding pictures 171 'Make it new': State of the Art 173 Correction, Please or How We Got into Pictures 175 The Brothers Quay: Anamorphosis 176 Frida Kahlo & Tina Modotti 178 Memory and Outrage 180 Dramatic screens 181 The look of surprise: the films of John Akomfrah 183 The Impersonation 184 O Blue come forth 185 Last notes from abroad 186 CHAPTER 5 FUTURE VISION 188 The continuing life of linear forms 190 Make Me Think: Bruce Nauman 192 Doing it digitally 193 So what's next? 196 Last words 199 Notes 202 Bibliography 207 Index 216