Just a warning about Sister Wendy's Story of Painting VHS

[Nestof3]

I recommended this in my Baroque artists resources, and I have made a note in that file that this VHS contains nudity. I just wanted you to be aware of it. She spends quite a bit of time focusing on breasts, the squirting of milk into a child's mouth, various lovers, and the mention of a female artist being raped.

 

 

Here is my update:

 

Warning: There is quite a bit of nudity in the paintings chosen. Please preview. The following, along with bits here and there, are nudity-free:

Diego Velasquez

Las Meninas

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/V/velazquez/meninas.jpg.html

More by him: http://www.diegovelazquez.org/

Nicolas Poussin

Rebecca at the Well:

http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/p/poussin/3/36rebecc.html

More by him: http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/tsearch?artist=1-1798&title=

Claude Lorrain

Landscape with the Father of Psyche Sacrificing to Apollo:

http://www.claudelorrain.org/Landscape-with-the-Father-of-Psyche-sacrificing-to-Apollo-large.html

More by him: http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/tsearch?artist=1-1145&title=

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I have heard the complaint before--people are unaccustomed to hearing nuns repeat those words over and over.

[radiobrain]

Well, I am glad to hear that it isn't avoided.... as I don't see how you can teach art/art history without including nudity.

[Renthead Mommy]

Well, I am glad to hear that it isn't avoided.... as I don't see how you can teach art/art history without including nudity.

 

I agree. We are going to be watching this series this year.

[nmoira]

 

I have heard the complaint before--people are unaccustomed to hearing nuns repeat those words over and over.

With apparent relish. :D

[Dana]

Our library has the Complete Collection and Netflix has the DVDs (and some segments are instant watch). Added them to the queue!

[MamaT]

My teenaged boys have always chuckled at Sister Wendy for this very thing. They make comments about her being overly focused on sensual things for a nun (in teenage slang of course!).

[Nestof3]

Yeah, I figured I'd get several of these sorts of responses. Of course I know you cannot visit an art museum and not see nudity. I figured all of that went without saying. :rolleyes:

 

I have tons of Rembrandt, for example, in books written for children that show no nudity. In her spotlight of him, she deals with his self-portraits and a painting titled Bathsheba, explaining in detail the sort of excitement she was feeling when considering cheating on her husband. I was surprised she didn't speak on Nightwatch, personally.

 

The only two paintings she discusses by Rubens (Peace and War; Helena Fourment in a Fur Wrap) include nudity. In the latter, Sister Wendy goes on and on about the privacy of the painting, and how she imagines Rubens asking Helena to lower her arm to reveal her breasts to him.

 

It's not just the nudity, but the sexual descriptions that I thought some might appreciate knowing about since many parents don't get so descriptive about sex and rape with their nine year olds.

 

It's perfectly fine that you show the film in its entirety to yours, but it also perfectly fine that I took time to let people know that unlike many of the books on Baroque artists aimed at children, the film has half of its paintings revealing nudity including the mentioning of lovers and rape. And, since I recommended it in a Baroque artists list, I wanted to make sure people were aware.

 

 

 

Well, I am glad to hear that it isn't avoided.... as I don't see how you can teach art/art history without including nudity.

[Dana]

Yeah, I figured I'd get several of these sorts of responses. Of course I know you cannot visit an art museum and not see nudity. I figured all of that went without saying. :rolleyes:

 

I have tons of Rembrandt, for example, in books written for children that show no nudity. In her spotlight of him, she deals with his self-portraits and a painting titled Bathsheba, explaining in detail the sort of excitement she was feeling when considering cheating on her husband. I was surprised she didn't speak on Nightwatch, personally.

 

The only two paintings she discusses by Rubens (Peace and War; Helena Fourment in a Fur Wrap) include nudity. In the latter, Sister Wendy goes on and on about the privacy of the painting, and how she imagines Rubens asking Helena to lower her arm to reveal her breasts to him.

 

It's not just the nudity, but the sexual descriptions that I thought some might appreciate knowing about since many parents don't get so descriptive about sex and rape with their nine year olds.

 

Specifics like that are very useful. You're telling the painting titles & more clearly what might be objectionable. The first post was much more general and just commenting on the fact that there was nudity.

 

It also is nice that Netflix has as instant watch just some of the segments on one disc. That could also be helpful for avoiding bits people want to avoid or just watching some of it.

[Nestof3]

I guess I was just avoiding typing like crazy. ;)

 

Here are the specifics about the mention of rape.

 

She deals specifically with the painting Judith Slaying Holofernes

http://www.artemisia-gentileschi.com/judith1.html

 

I enjoyed the video, particularly about Artemesia, but it is too graphic for my boys. As a woman, I am naturally interested in female artists, writers, etc. and what their lives were like in a male-dominated world.

 

The trauma of the rape and trial impacted on Artemisia's painting. Her graphic depictions were cathartic and symbolic attempts to deal with the physical and psychic pain. The heroines of her art, especially Judith, are powerful women exacting revenge on such male evildoers as the Assyrian general Holofernes. Her style was heavily influenced by dramatic realism and marked chiaroscuro (contrasting light and dark) of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573 - 1610).

 

 

 

Specifics like that are very useful. You're telling the painting titles & more clearly what might be objectionable. The first post was much more general and just commenting on the fact that there was nudity.

 

It also is nice that Netflix has as instant watch just some of the segments on one disc. That could also be helpful for avoiding bits people want to avoid or just watching some of it.

[stripe]

In her first series, ''Sister Wendy's Odyssey,'' she clucked over the ''lovely and fluffy'' pubic hair in a nude by Stanley Spencer. In ''Sister Wendy's Story of Painting,'' she describes the male bison rendered by cave muralists as ''great balls of male erotic fury, ready to explode on one another.'' Looking to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, she espies Adam, ''sprawled there in his naked male glory, but he's not alive.''

 

''All he can do,'' she says, ''is lift up a flaccid finger.''

 

-- "Sister Wendy, Cloistered,"By FRANK BRUNI, Published: September 30, 1997, NY Times

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/30/nyregion/sister-wendy-cloistered.html

[mcconnellboys]

I think that when you're looking at something from a distance, from the outside, it's simpler to have perspective and speak with detachment, LOL. Well, maybe detachment isn't the right word for Sister Wendy. Perhaps lispish gusto would be more like it. But she's all innocence and I still love her. Be straightforward in all things!

[TerriMI]

I think that when you're looking at something from a distance, from the outside, it's simpler to have perspective and speak with detachment, LOL. Well, maybe detachment isn't the right word for Sister Wendy. Perhaps lispish gusto would be more like it. But she's all innocence and I still love her. Be straightforward in all things!

 

:iagree: lol!!

[stripe]

I have to say, too, my kids have seen the (shocking?) sight of milk squirting into a child's mouth via the breast. ;)

[HappyGrace]

I didn't think anything negative about you posting-I saw it more as a heads-up, like this is what's in it, just wanted to let you know so you can make up your mind if it's appropriate for you or not. And we really appreciate it,thanks!

[nmoira]

 

I have to say, too, my kids have seen the (shocking?) sight of milk squirting into a child's mouth via the breast. ;)

I always used to joke that I could cream a coffee from across the room. And I could have. :tongue_smilie:

[imhim]

Thank you for the heads up!!! No way no how those images and comentaries in my kids minds... I will know now to avoid that video.

[at the beach]

I think that when you're looking at something from a distance, from the outside, it's simpler to have perspective and speak with detachment, LOL. Well, maybe detachment isn't the right word for Sister Wendy. Perhaps lispish gusto would be more like it. But she's all innocence and I still love her. Be straightforward in all things!

 

We love her here, too. And I think you've described her perfectly. She is all innocence. She's absolutely beautiful to listen to and watch. We get a kick out of her comments. I wouldn't have any qualms about any age child watching her programs.

 

As for squirting milk, well, that used to be pretty commonplace in my house, too. :tongue_smilie:

[Mallory]

We also love Sister Wendy ;)

[mcconnellboys]

And you know, I just have to add about her that I have always, all my life, simply detested modern art. But after viewing her video on the moderns, I was able to finally gain a little appreciation for it. I actually did a 5 week art appreciation class last fall and used primarily modern art examples and models for the kids' work in it.... We all had fun, I think, and turned out some decent looking work, too....