Waldemar (gotta’ love that name] has been growing on me. I mean, I disagree with him quite a lot, not only in his assessments of art and artists, but just in terms of how he describes what we are looking at. He might declare a painting morose that I find quite chipper. But after initially being disappointed with what I saw as his shortcomings, I’ve come to enjoy them. He tries to be as grandiose as the legendary Robert Hughes, but it comes off as a performance. Nevertheless, in this day, it is refreshing to have a pompous narrator give us a tour of western art, even if he sensationalizes a bit too much for my tastes. His imperfections put him on our own level a bit more, like a friend we can have a discussion with over coffee, and hammer out our differences of perspective. That said, he is an authority on art, with enormous breadth, and the only living art critic I’m aware of that has attempted a comprehensive video survey of art history. Also, because he’s got a fairly different vantage point on art history than I do, he finds things I wouldn’t look for, and thus I learn new things about artists like Van Gogh, who I’m pretty much an expert on at this point. [Note: I never get sick of Vincent, and he only gets better over time.]
Perspective has uploaded 29 of his art documentaries so far — I have no idea how many there are in total — and new ones are appearing every few days. They are at least positive, entertaining, and thoroughly watchable. As a veteran of several college art history courses, I can honestly recommend you save your money and just watch what you can find on YouTube instead, including these videos, for free. An added bonus is you can avoid all (OK, most) the political indoctrination and demonization of western art and artists that is typically taught in place of art appreciation in our esteemed institutions of higher learning [I speak from experience]. This is for people who love art and art history, not so much for those who love to hate it.
Here’s a link to the playlist: Waldemar Januszczak – Perspective.
And here are some I’ve watched recently and enjoyed. Uh, I’ve been in an Impressionist/Post Impressionist mood the last several days:
I’ve seen Waldemar’s videos on Renaissance, Baroque, and American art months ago on another platform, but I may re-watch them.
Also, if you are getting a little bored with a steady diet of being told western civilization is evil, bankrupt, and all creativity has been appropriated from other cultures, these videos can put reality in a little bit better perspective, and at very least help one to not internalize the malignant rhetoric of the day.
~ Ends
Art & Crit by Eric Wayne 
oy! thank you! i actually love watching this guy. His one on the meaning behind the Cistine Chapel art was pretty good. Thanks for listing more…cant wait to watch!
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p.s…after clicking on the first one- realized i had seen this series..now off to look for more:)
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I’m watching the one on Rubens, who never has intersted me before. But now I’m starting to see what the fuss is about.
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very cool…waldemars personality makes me giggle…so glad i found him at one point…some art history documentaries make me yawn. He at least attempts to keep me intrigued…thanks again for the reminder- i spent a few more hours sifting through the you tube stuff:)
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Right. He’s a bit pretentious and whatnot, but, he does his best to share his passion and make it interesting. For me, he largely succeeds, though as I said I do disagree with him fairly strongly here and there.
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Just what I need right now, thanks Eric. Look forward to dipping in there.
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Thanks for the links I look forward to watching these especially now that Bolton is in tier 3 of lockdown.
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I have seen most of these, but now will watch the rest, thanks. Pompous narrators are a gift by them selves when they are not pontificating for profit on politics anyway. Speaking of Robert Hughes, you have seen https://watchdocumentaries.com/the-mona-lisa-curse/ haven’t you?
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I love many of his documentaries. He has a way of drawing you in in a non-fussy way. He’s obviously passionate about these subjects and that in itself is contagious. I really enjoyed his Baroque and Renaissance series.
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Reblogged this on Thinking in Pictures and commented:
This is an amazing blog post.
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I really enjoy him too, he’s even odder(a word?) looking than I am and walks about the same😃. Don’t you get a kick out of the point on his head? Did you ever see the animated movie “The Point”? Anyway, I watch his videos on You Tube often. I refuse to pay for any TV subscription, so I feed my brain a steady diet of You Tube stuff…Art Stuff I mean, not the Murder stuff…well, maybe not ALL art stuff…I enjoy your site very much, and find your Art Crit very educational and entertaining! Thanks!
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You mention you have watched his documentaries on another platform, am struggling to find where I can watch all of them, what platform is it. Currently content is not available on Perspective on some of them, many thanks
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Hi Debbie:
I had to track this down. Sorry for the delay. This site has some of them, including a 3-part series on Vincent which I might not have seen [I’ve seen so many on him that it’s become a blur].
Enjoy!
https://hdclump.com/vincent-van-gogh-the-full-story/
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i enjoy his documentaries very much and i am very grateful, specially in these days of the plague
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