Roseberys Watch List
8/04/2020 Prints & Multiples , News Stories & Press Release, Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian Art , Decorative Arts & Modern Design , Furniture & Rugs , Impressionist, Modern & Post War Art, Islamic & Indian Art , Artists & Makers
As the bank holiday weekend approaches Rosebery’s specialists and staff discuss their favourite Art and Antique based film & TV programmes.
Bill Forrest
Associate Director and Head of Department Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian Art
I really enjoyed Treasures of Chinese Porcelain on BBC 4, hosted by Lars Tharp – the Antiques Roadshow expert and Chinese ceramics specialist. During this four-part series, Lars goes on a journey across China with the aim to unearth why Chinese porcelain was so valuable then – and still is now. This programme is now currently available on BBC iPlayer and YouTube.
Alice Bailey
Head of Department, Islamic & Indian Art
My absolute fave is an old black and white show called Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? It was a popular television game show which ran from 1952 to 1959, presented by the BBC. Panels of archaeologists, art historians’ and architectural historians tried to guess what the unusual object was. I would also recommend watching the movie, The Thomas Crowne Affair - 1999. The story of an ultra-rich man and successful playboy, played by Pierce Brosnan, who amuses himself by stealing artworks, but meets his match in a seductive detective. So many classic auction scenes within this film.
Caroline Lemoine
Client Services Administrator
I would recommend watching Fabergé: A life of its own on Sky Arts. With unprecedented access to the most esteemed private collections, this captivating film tells the fascinating story behind Fabergé, one of the most prestigious names in luxury. I also enjoyed Velvet Buzzsaw on Netflix. A satire movie set in the contemporary art world scene of LA, where big money artists and mega-collectors pay a high price when art collides with commerce and things get spooky.
Tess O’Brien
Head of Sale Impressionist, Modern, Post War Art
Stuart Little may not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of an art and antique related film, however an interesting story related to the picture recently spiked my interest – plus is it a great feel good movie to watch during lockdown. Gergely Barki a researcher at Hungary’s national gallery in Budapest and expert I work with, noticed Sleeping Lady with Black Vase by Róbert Berény which was being used as a prop as he watched the film with his daughter. The long-lost avant garde painting has since been returned to Hungary after nine decades of being missing. You can read more about the story here. During lockdown I have also had more time to watch my favourite art show : Fake and Fortune on BBC. Journalist Fiona Bruce teams up with art dealer and detective Philip Mould to investigate remarkable stories around the world beneath the surface of paintings.
Peigi Mackillop
Marketing & PR Project Manager
I recently watched Abstract: The Art of Design on Netflix, which I would highly recommend. It is an in-depth look into computer design and modern contemporary design with some of the world's most highly regarded designers. I was particularly inspired by the Olafur Eliasson episode - the artist who brought a sun into the Tate Modern and imported chunks of Artic ice to city streets around the world. I wish I had seen this episode before visiting his most recent show at the Tate. A film I recently watched (also on Netflix ) that I believe any fellow art and design enthusiast would enjoy is Nocturnal Animals directed by Tom Ford. This film tells the story of a successful, yet unhappily re-married former artist turned contemporary art gallery owner and her broken-hearted ex who wreaks vengeance decades later with his unpublished novel.
Mark Longley, MRICS
Specialist and General Valuer – Ceramics, Works of Art, Clocks & Sculpture
I have just seen the most interesting documentary about Du Fu the Chinese poet - Du Fu: China’s Greatest Poet on BBC Four. The documentary was presented by Michael Wood, an accomplished television historian. Active before the Norman conquest by nearly 300 years, Du Fu is celebrated greatly in Chengdu. I am sure I went to his house and gardens; I shudder but only 25 years ago. The programme showed views of the Chang Jiang, the Yangtze River. Amazing landscapes, so many memories of a time when I knew nothing about China. I am still in love with this amazing country and the language, of which I understand very little, it really memorises me.
Fiona Baker
Head of Department Design: Decorative Arts 1860 to the Present Day
I would highly recommend Scandal & Beauty: Mark Gatiss based on the prodigious talent of Aubrey Beardsley, to coincide with the exhibition at the Tate Britain on BBC4. The programme follows Beardsley's fevered footsteps from his childhood in Brighton, via notoriety among the decadents of London's fin de siècle, to his early death from TB in France in 1898 at the young age of just 25.