Leading creative thinkers choose an artwork from the Museum of Modern Art, and talk about how it inspires or provokes, thrills or surprises them. Presented by Alastair Sooke.
David Henry Hwang on Martin Wong's Stanton near Forsyth Street
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Today's edition features playwright, librettist and screenwriter, David Henry Hwang. He chooses a painting by the artist Martin Wong - Stanton near Forsyth Street (1983).
Producer: Tom Alban
Main Image:
Credit: Martin Wong, Stanton near Forsyth Street, 1983. Acrylic on canvas, 48 x 64" (121.9 x 162.6 cm). Courtesy of the Estate of Martin Wong and P.P.O.W Gallery, New York, NY. Museum of Modern Art, NY, 863.2011
12/19/2019 • 13 minutes, 57 seconds
Yves Behar and the IEC's Power Symbol
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Today's edition features Swiss designer Yves Behar, whose choice is a powerful one - literally. He chooses the internationally recognised power symbol, the circle broken with a vertical line. Is it really art? That is how he sees it.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
Main Image:
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)’s Power Symbol (2011)
12/18/2019 • 13 minutes, 59 seconds
Lady Ruth Rogers on Henri Rousseau's The Dream
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Today's edition is the choice of award-winning chef, Ruth Rogers: The Dream, by Henri Rousseau.
Producer: Tom Alban
Main Image:
Henri Rousseau, The Dream, 1910. Oil on canvas, 6' 8 1/2" x 9' 9 1/2" (204.5 x 298.5 cm). Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller. Museum of Modern Art, NY, 252.1954
12/17/2019 • 13 minutes, 53 seconds
Stanley Tucci and Giacometti's Head of a Man on a Rod
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Today's edition features the choice of American ballet dancer Isabella Boylston, currently a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. It's a short Black and white film: A Study in Choreography for Camera by Maya Deren and Talley Beatty, made in 1945
Main Image:
A Study in Choreography for Camera (film still), 1945. 16mm film (black and white, silent), 4 min. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase from the Estate of Maya Deren
Producer: Tom Alban
12/13/2019 • 13 minutes, 58 seconds
Liz Diller on Marcel Duchamp's Network of Stoppages
Orhan Pamuk on Taglioni's Jewel Casket by Joseph Cornell
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Today's edition features the choice of Nobel Prize winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk. He picks American artist Joseph Cornell's jewellery box - a homage to Marie Taglioni, an acclaimed 19th-century dancer.
Main Image:
Joseph Cornell, Taglioni's Jewel Casket, 1940. Velvet-lined wooden box containing glass necklace, jewellery fragments, glass chips, and glass cubes resting in slots on glass, 4 3/4 x 11 7/8 x 8 1/4" (12 x 30.2 x 21 cm). Gift of James Thrall Soby. Museum of Modern Art, NY, 474.1953
Producer: Tom Alban
12/11/2019 • 14 minutes, 3 seconds
Sarah Sze and Siddhartha Mukherjee on Louise Bourgeois's Quarantania, I
Duro Olowu on William H Johnson's painting Children
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Today's edition features London-based fashion designer Duro Olowu. Duro chooses the 1941 painting 'Children' by William H Johnson from MoMA's collection. Johnson depicted scenes of everyday African American life in Harlem and in the south - but what will a modern fashion-conscious eye spot in the work?
Producer: Tom Alban
Main Image: William H Johnson, Children, 1941. Oil and pencil on wood panel, 17 1/2 × 12 1/2" (44.5 × 31.8 cm). Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (by exchange), Agnes Gund, Marlene Hess and James D Zirin, and the Hudgins Family, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 6.2016
10/23/2019 • 13 minutes, 56 seconds
Margaret Cho and Lady Vengeance
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Today's edition features stand-up comedian and author Margaret Cho. She has chosen the film "Lady Vengeance", a South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook. How does she react to rewatching this psychological thriller?
Producer: Tom Alban
Main Image: Park Chan-wook, Lady Vengeance, 2005. 35mm film. Gift of CJ Entertainment, The Museum of Modern Art, NY, F2014.35
10/22/2019 • 13 minutes, 49 seconds
Steve Reich on Richard Serra’s Equal
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Today's edition features composer, and chief exponent of Minimalism, Steve Reich. As he stands in front of eight steel boxes stacked in pairs, each box weighing forty tons, he reflects on the effect Richard Serra's work, "Equal" has on our sense of space. But does it change the way he thinks about his own work?
Producer: Paul Kobrak
Main Image: Richard Serra, Equal, 2015. Forged weatherproof steel, 8 blocks, each block 60 x 66 x 72" (152.4 x 167.6 x 182.9 cm). Gift of Sidney and Harriet Janis (by exchange), Enid A. Haupt Fund, and Gift of William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. J. Hall (by exchange), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 504.2015.a-d
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Today's edition features Professor Neri Oxman from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She's a world expert in combining art and architecture with biology, computing, and materials engineering. Little wonder, perhaps, she chooses Frederick Kiesler’s design for a project called Endless House - an organic structure that was never built.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
"The Way I See It" is a co-production of the BBC and the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Main Image: Frederick Kiesler, Endless House Project, 1950–1960. Ceramic, 20 x 11 1/2 x 6" (50.8 x 29.2 x 15.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York, MC 25
10/17/2019 • 13 minutes, 48 seconds
Jason Moran and Piet Mondrian
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Today's edition features jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran. He shares his view of Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie and feels moved to music by its straight lines and blocks of colour.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
"The Way I See It" is a co-production of the BBC and the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Main Image: Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie, 1942-43. Oil on canvas, 50 x 50" (127 x 127 cm). Given anonymously. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 73.1943
10/16/2019 • 13 minutes, 43 seconds
Steve Martin and the Lonely Synchromists
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Today's edition features award-winning comedian and actor Steve Martin - he finds two "lonely" works that speak to him; Stanton Macdonald-Wright’s Synchromy and Morgan Russell’s Color Form Synchromy.
Producer: Tom Alban
"The Way I See It" is a co-production of the BBC and the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Main Image: Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Synchromy, 1917. Oil on canvas, 31 x 24" (78.8 x 61 cm). Given anonymously. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 346.1949
10/15/2019 • 13 minutes, 59 seconds
Starry Night and Janna Levin
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, takes us on a deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Leading cultural figures in the series include Grammy- and Emmy-award-winning Hollywood actor and comedian Steve Martin, the author of the New York Times best-selling essay collection Roxane Gay, one of the founders of minimalism – composer Steve Reich and stand-up comedian Margaret Cho. Each episode introduces us to an important art work in the collection, but asks how our own perspective affects our appreciation of the piece.
So, how does a jazz pianist see Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie? How does one of the first black women to write for Marvel comics see the difficult truths in Kara Walker’s sweeping image of African-American history? What does a top fashion designer decode from the clothes painted by an artist in Harlem in the 1930s?
But we start with possibly the most iconic piece in MoMA's collection - Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. Professor Janna Levin is one of America's leading cosmologists; her specialism is understanding black holes. How does she see Van Gogh's night sky, painted from inside an asylum as he battled mental illness?
Producer: Paul Kobrak
"The Way I See It" is a co-production of the BBC and the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Image Credit: Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, June 1889. Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 1/4" (73.7 x 92.1 cm). Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest (by exchange). The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 472.1941
10/14/2019 • 13 minutes, 55 seconds
Welcome to The Way I See It
Leading thinkers choose an artwork from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and talk about how it inspires or provokes, thrills or surprises them. Presented by Alastair Sooke.