Civilizations

NARRATOR: IN THE 19th CENTURY, THE WORLD WAS TRANSFORMED BY THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

AS THE FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE AND MODERN CIVILIZATION ADVANCED, MANY TRADITIONAL CULTURES WERE ITS VICTIMS.

ADAPTATIONS WERE UNAVOIDABLE, AND SOME WERE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN OTHERS.

FOR ARTISTS, IT WAS ALSO A TIME OF GREAT TENSION, CAUGHT BETWEEN THE EXHILARATING DREAMS OF A BRIGHTER WORLD AND THE STRUGGLE OF MANY ORDINARY PEOPLE'S LIVES.

SOME ARTISTS SOUGHT TO LEARN FROM NEW INVENTIONS AND CREATE A NEW IMPRESSIONISTIC ART THAT CAPTURED THE TRUTH IN A MOMENT...

WHILE OTHERS REJECTED THE CIVILIZED WORLD ALTOGETHER TO RETURN TO NATURE AND AN ERSATZ PAST FULL OF WONDER AND GENTILITY.

AND IN EUROPE, A NEW KIND OF BARBARISM WOULD BRING THE CULT OF PROGRESS TO AN END.

IN THE 18th CENTURY, HUMANITY LEARNED TO HARNESS THE POWER OF NATURE IN RADICAL NEW WAYS, AND ALMOST NO CIVILIZATION ON EARTH WOULD REMAIN UNTOUCHED BY THE CHANGES.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION FIRST EMERGED IN THE ENGLISH MIDLANDS.

ITS MOST POTENT SYMBOL WAS A NEW KIND OF ARCHITECTURE-- THE FACTORY.

THIS COTTON MILL WAS THE WORLD'S VERY FIRST FULLY FLEDGED MODERN FACTORY.

IT WAS BUILT IN THE 1770s BY THE ENTREPRENEUR RICHARD ARKWRIGHT AND DESIGNED AROUND HIS GREATEST INVENTION, THE WATER FRAME... A MACHINE THAT USED THE POWER OF FLOWING WATER TO DRIVE LOOMS THAT PRODUCED COTTON YARN CHEAPER AND FASTER THAN ANYBODY EVER HAD.

AND THAT MAKES THIS MILL THE BIRTHPLACE OF MASS PRODUCTION, A CRITICAL STEP FORWARD IN THE HARNESSING OF THE POWER OF NATURE.

NARRATOR: ARKWRIGHT COMMISSIONED A PAINTING OF HIS COTTON MILL BY THE ARTIST JOSEPH WRIGHT OF DERBY.

WRIGHT SAW IN THE COTTON MILL SOLID EVIDENCE OF ENLIGHTENMENT IDEAS, WHICH WERE THAT SCIENCE, REASON, AND FREEDOM OF THOUGHT SHOULD PREVAIL OVER OLDER IDEAS OF DOGMA, SUPERSTITION, AND BLIND FAITH.

OLUSOGA: WHAT REALLY FASCINATED WRIGHT OF DERBY WAS NOT ALL THE MACHINERY AND THE HARD LABOR OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, BUT THE IDEAS THAT DROVE IT.

AND THESE WERE THE GREAT IDEAS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT, OF FAITH IN REASON AND IN SCIENTIFIC METHOD, AN UNQUENCHABLE THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE, AND AN UNSHAKABLE BELIEF IN PROGRESS.

NARRATOR: IN WRIGHT'S MOST FAMOUS PAINTING, A TRAVELING SCIENTIST HAS PLACED A BIRD IN A GLASS BELL JAR AND BEGUN TO PUMP OUT THE AIR.

[COCKATOO SCREECHES SOFTLY] DEPRIVED OF OXYGEN, THE BIRD BEGINS TO SUFFOCATE.

THE ONLOOKERS RESPOND WITH A MIXTURE OF FASCINATION AND HORROR.

THIS IS SCIENCE AS THE NEW RELIGION, WITH THE POWER OVER LIFE ITSELF.

BUT WRIGHT ALSO HINTS AT THE GREAT FEAR OF THE AGE, THAT SCIENCE, THE MACHINE, AND PROGRESS ALL COME AT A GREAT COST.

[COCKATOO SCREECHES SOFTLY] AS THE 18th CENTURY DREW TO A CLOSE, ONE MOMENTOUS EVENT WOULD MARK THE START OF A NEW, ZEALOUS EXPORT OF ENLIGHTENMENT IDEAS TO OTHER CULTURES.

IN THE SUMMER OF 1798, THE ARMY OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE, LED BY NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, INVADED EGYPT.

OLUSOGA: MANY EUROPEANS REGARDED EGYPT AS THE BIRTHPLACE OF CIVILIZATION.

THEY BELIEVED THAT IDEAS THAT HAD FIRST BEEN NURTURED HERE UNDER THE PHARAOHS HAD BEEN PASSED DOWN THROUGH ANCIENT GREECE, THROUGH THE ROMAN EMPIRE, THROUGH THE RENAISSANCE, ALL THE WAY DOWN TO MODERN-ENLIGHTENMENT FRANCE, SO BY INVADING EGYPT, NAPOLEON WAS LEADING FRANCE BACK TO THE SOURCE OF CIVILIZATION.

WOMAN: NAPOLEON WAS A VERY AMBITIOUS YOUNG MAN, AND HE SEEMED TO BE, EVEN IN 1798, VERY KEEN ON CREATING HIS OWN MYTH.

THE LURE OF THE EAST, EVEN FOR THE GREEKS AND ROMANS, HAD BEEN A SOURCE OF MYSTICAL KNOWLEDGE AND POWER.

AND SO, WHEN NAPOLEON DECIDED TO GO EAST, HE WASN'T JUST GOING WITH AN ARMY, BUT HE WAS GOING TO GO WITH A HUGE NUMBER OF LEARNED PEOPLE TO OBSERVE AND TO TAKE NOTES TO ACQUIRE SOME OF THIS DIFFERENT KIND OF KNOWLEDGE.

NARRATOR: NAPOLEON'S SCHOLARS SET ABOUT STUDYING EVERY ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY THEY HAD CONQUERED, ESPECIALLY THE ANCIENT RUINS THAT LAY HALF-BURIED BENEATH THE SAND.

THEY WOULD PUBLISH THEIR FINDINGS IN A MONUMENTAL, MULTI-VOLUME WORK, "THE DESCRIPTION OF EGYPT."

IKRAM: THESE BOOKS ARE FABULOUS.

THEY'RE HUGE VOLUMES OF PLATES.

IT MADE AVAILABLE ANCIENT EGYPT, MONUMENTS, DECORATIVE STYLES, CONTEMPORARY EGYPT--EVERYTHING-- TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC, AND IT HAD A GREAT IMPACT ON ART AS WELL AND CLOTHING AND DESIGN.

SO THIS IS WHEN YOU START SEEING EGYPTOMANIA IN EUROPE REALLY COMING INTO THE FORE, AND THIS SLOWLY IMPACTED THE REST OF THE WORLD, SO YOU SEE IT IN NORTH AMERICA AS WELL, WHERE YOU HAVE EGYPTIANIZING ELEMENTS, WHETHER IT IS IN JUST PURE DECORATION OR IN THE LINES OF BATTERS OF WALLS OR LITTLE BITS OF CORNICING.

AND WE CAN, AGAIN, LAY THIS TO SOME EXTENT AT NAPOLEON'S DOOR.

NARRATOR: BUT NAPOLEON'S INVASION WAS ABOUT MORE THAN UNCOVERING THE SECRETS OF ANCIENT EGYPT.

IT WAS ALSO THE MOST SIGNIFICANT EUROPEAN FORAY INTO THE ISLAMIC WORLD SINCE THE CRUSADES.

[TRAFFIC NOISE AND OVERLAPPING CHATTER] WOMAN: ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE SHOULD BEAR IN MIND WHEN WE THINK ABOUT CIVILIZATION AS A CONCEPT IS THAT WHEN EUROPEANS WERE USING THAT CONCEPT IN THE 19th CENTURY, THEY WERE THEMSELVES, OF COURSE, DRAWING ON AN IDEA OF CIVILIZATION THAT THEY HAD FORMED IN RELATION TO THE CLASSICAL ERA, AND THEY HAD AN UNDERSTANDING OF CIVILIZATION AS SOMETHING THAT STOOD IN CONTRAST WITH BARBARISM.

IT MIGHT BE NON-CHRISTIAN, IT MIGHT BE NON-WHITE, IT MIGHT BE THE TREATMENT OF WOMEN OR THINGS PEOPLE ATE OR THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CLOTHES THAT THEY WORE.

IT COULD TAKE MANY, MANY FORMS, BUT IT WAS ALWAYS IN OPPOSITION TO CIVILIZATION, AND THAT GAVE EUROPEANS, I THINK, A REAL SENSE OF SMUGNESS, THAT THE ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD WAS PROGRESS.

NARRATOR: FOR EUROPEAN ARTISTS, ISLAMIC CULTURE BECAME A SOURCE OF EXOTIC, OFTEN SEXUAL FANTASIES, A CANVAS ON WHICH TO PROJECT IDEAS LONG REPRESSED IN EUROPEAN THOUGHT AND POLITE SOCIETY.

THIS IS THE PAINTING THAT INSPIRED AN ENTIRE GENRE OF 19th-CENTURY EUROPEAN ART--ORIENTALISM.

IT'S THE WORK OF THE FRENCH ARTIST EUGENE DELACROIX, WHO PAINTED IT IN THE 1830s AFTER HE'D ACTUALLY GONE ON A VISIT TO ALGERIA.

AND THIS IS THE FIRST REAL, SERIOUS ATTEMPT TO PORTRAY ORDINARY LIFE IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD.

BUT LIKE MANY OF THE ORIENTALIST PAINTINGS THAT WE FOLLOW, NOT EVERYTHING ABOUT IT IS WHAT IT SEEMS.

THE TITLE IS "WOMEN OF ALGIERS IN THEIR APARTMENT," AND DELACROIX CLAIMS TO HAVE BASED THE COMPOSITION ON A VISIT HE'D MADE TO AN ARAB HOUSEHOLD.

BUT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY UNUSUAL FOR A MALE STRANGER TO BE GIVEN ACCESS TO THE WOMEN OF AN ARAB HOUSE, SO THERE'S EVERY CHANCE THAT THESE WOMEN WERE, IN FACT, JEWISH.

AND THERE'S OTHER ELEMENTS OF THIS PAINTING WHICH WERE EITHER EMBROIDERED OR FABRICATED BY DELACROIX.

THE PAINTING WAS COMPLETED IN PARIS USING EXOTIC COSTUMES, AND THE MODELS ARE PARISIAN MODELS.

AND THIS FIGURE OF THE BLACK SERVANT, OR PERHAPS BLACK SLAVE, WAS OF DELACROIX'S INVENTION.

NARRATOR: SO WHAT SEEMS LIKE A REAL SCENE IS, IN FACT, A PARISIAN REVERIE OF A SUPPOSED EXOTIC, SENSUOUS WORLD THAT DOESN'T EXIST IN EUROPE.

MANY ORIENTALISTS INVENTED SCENES THAT REVELED IN THE DECADENCE AND DESPOTISM WHICH EUROPEANS CONSIDERED TO BE ORIENTAL QUALITIES... CONCUBINES LANGUISHING IN HIDDEN HAREEMS... NAKED FEMALE SLAVES FOR SALE IN BUSY MARKETPLACES.

ORIENTALIST THEMES BECAME SO POPULAR THAT INGRES, MASTER OF THE CLASSICAL NUDE, SET ONE OF HIS LAST MASTERPIECES IN AN IMAGINED WOMEN'S BATHHOUSE, EVEN THOUGH HE'D NEVER BEEN TO THE MIDDLE EAST.

THESE WERE EUROPEAN FANTASIES, AND THEY SUGGEST A DESIRE TO ESCAPE THE TURMOIL AND ANOMIE OF LIFE IN DARK INDUSTRIAL EUROPE.

IT WAS IN SEARCH OF WIDE-OPEN SPACES AND A NEW LIFE OF OPPORTUNITY THAT THOMAS COLE EMIGRATED FROM LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND, IN 1818.

BUT SETTLING IN NEW YORK, HE FOUND THE CITY CROWDED AND UNPLEASANT, AND IN 1825, HE SET OFF ON A TRIP TO THE CATSKILL MOUNTAINS TO CAPTURE ON CANVAS THE UNSPOILED LANDSCAPE OF HIS ADOPTED HOMELAND.

MAN: THOMAS COLE SAW NEW YORK CITY AS A MANIFESTATION OF, YOU KNOW, WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE COUNTRY.

HE HAD MISGIVINGS ABOUT THE CONSTANT FLUX, THE CONSTANT NOISE, THE CONSTANT INSULT OF CITY LIFE; MORE THAN ONCE EXPRESSED THE SENTIMENT, "BOY, I CAN'T WAIT TO GET OUT OF TOWN" OR UP TO CATSKILL.

OLUSOGA: THOMAS COLE REGARDED THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE AS BEING WHAT HE HIMSELF CALLED "THE UNDEFILED WORK OF GODS."

IN THIS YOUNG COUNTRY THAT JUST DIDN'T HAVE WHAT EUROPEANS RECOGNIZED AS A HISTORY, MOUNTAINS AND CANYONS AND WATERFALLS WERE TO REPLACE THE CLASSICAL RUINS SO BELOVED OF EUROPEAN LANDSCAPE ARTISTS.

IN AMERICA, NATURAL HISTORY WAS TO STAND IN FOR HISTORY ITSELF.

AVERY: COLE HAD THE PICTORIAL LANGUAGE TO PAINT AMERICA WILD BECAUSE IT'S MORE THAN JUST SEEING WHAT'S THERE, IT'S ALSO PUTTING IT TOGETHER SO THAT IT REALLY, YOU KNOW, BETOKENS WILDERNESS.

SOME OF THE, YOU KNOW, ROCK FORMATIONS AND THE BLASTED TREE TRUNKS IN THE FOREGROUND, THESE WERE CONTRIVANCES, BUT THE IMPORTANT THING WAS THAT, TO HIS AUDIENCE, THAT WAS WILD AMERICA.

NARRATOR: UNDERPINNING COLE'S WORK WAS THE EXPERIENCE OF SEEING FIRSTHAND THE RUINS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, WHICH MADE HIM THINK THAT THE AMERICAN WILDERNESS WOULD ALSO BE DESTROYED IN THE PROCESS OF CREATING A NEW NATION.

AND IN 1830, COLE WAS GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS HIS FEARS.

A GENEROUS BENEFACTOR OFFERED HIM SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS-- TENS OF THOUSANDS IN TODAY'S MONEY-- TO PAINT HIS CHOSEN SUBJECT, THE RISE AND FALL OF EMPIRE.

AVERY: "THE COURSE OF EMPIRE" WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT TWO CONDITIONS.

ONE IS THAT HE SAW THE ROMAN RUINS IN ROME, SO, YOU KNOW, HE'S PRIMED WHEN HE COMES BACK, AND THEN HE FINDS A PATRON WHO ASKED HIM TO DO WHATEVER HE WANTED, ESSENTIALLY, AND COLE HAD BIG IDEAS.

THE 5 PICTURES WERE MADE TO BE HUNG OVER A MANTELPIECE: THE PRIMITIVE STATE, SHOWING THE PREHISTORIC EMPIRE; THE PASTORAL, SHOWING THE ARCHAIC, SORT OF PRE-GOLDEN-AGE- GREECE KIND OF SETTING; THE MIDDLE PICTURE-- AND THE LARGEST--BEING THE CONSUMMATION, THE ZENITH OF EMPIRE WITH ITS BIG, ALABASTER CLASSICAL BUILDINGS AND ITS GILDED STATUARY AND RICH HANGINGS; THE DESTRUCTION OF EMPIRE ON THE OTHER SIDE, WHICH SHOWS THE EMPIRE BEING INVADED FROM WITHOUT; AND FINALLY THE NOCTURNAL SCENE, THE DESOLATION, WHICH, IN A WAY, BROUGHT THE VIEWER TO THE RUINS THAT HE HIMSELF HAD SEEN, YOU KNOW, AND INSPIRED THIS MEDITATION OF HIS OWN.

IT WAS REMARKABLY WELL-RECEIVED, CONSIDERING, IN A WAY, HOW ARCANE IT WAS FOR AN AMERICAN AUDIENCE.

BUT IT'S ALSO TRUE TO SAY THAT CRITICS, EVEN AS THEY ADMIRED THE PAINTING, THEY'RE SAYING, "WELL, THIS IS HOW IT HAS BEEN.

"IT DOESN'T APPLY HERE.

WE'RE A DEMOCRACY.

THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT HERE."

NARRATOR: BUT COLE'S BELIEF IN THE CYCLICAL NATURE OF HISTORY WAS VIEWED AS NOTHING MORE THAN NOSTALGIA BY 19th-CENTURY WHITE AMERICA.

MUCH MORE COMMON WAS THE BELIEF IN MANIFEST DESTINY, AMERICA'S SELF-DECLARED MORAL DUTY TO TAKE ITS SUPERIOR CIVILIZATION TO THE FURTHEST EDGE OF THE CONTINENT.

[TRAIN CHUGGING] BY THE 1860s, MANIFEST DESTINY WAS JUSTIFYING ONE OF THE GREATEST LAND GRABS IN HISTORY.

FOR NATIVE AMERICANS, SEEN HERE IN THE DISTANCE, THIS DRIVE WEST WOULD ALSO MARK THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THEIR RESISTANCE TO THE SETTLERS.

PAINTER ALBERT BIERSTADT WAS ONE OF THOSE DRAWN TO THE JOURNEY WEST.

FOR HIM, NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES CAME TO EMBODY MAN'S HARMONIOUS RELATIONSHIP TO NATURE.

AVERY: BY THAT TIME, THE INDIANS, THEY WERE BEING CHASED OFF.

THEY COULDN'T GATHER THEIR FOOD THE WAY THEY USED TO-- BUFFALO WERE BEING KILLED, ET CETERA-- AND, YOU KNOW, THE DESCRIPTIONS OF HOW FILTHY THEY WERE, YOU KNOW, BEGGING FOR FOOD.

AND THEN THEY SHOW UP IN THIS PICTURE AS BASICALLY A KIND OF CIVIC COMMUNITY.

THERE'S HYPOCRISY IN IT.

I DON'T THINK THERE'S ANY QUESTION OF THAT.

BUT, YOU KNOW, IT'S A HYPOCRISY IN THE CONTEXT OF ITS TIME.

NARRATOR: THIS ATTITUDE TOWARD THE NATIVE AMERICANS WAS TAKEN A STEP FURTHER IN THE WORK OF GEORGE CATLIN.

CATLIN MADE IT HIS LIFE'S WORK TO RECORD THE DISAPPEARING CULTURES OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS.

OVER THE COURSE OF 5 TRIPS TO THE WESTERN FRONTIER, CATLIN PAINTED PORTRAITS OF HUNDREDS OF NATIVE AMERICAN MEN AND WOMEN.

OLUSOGA: GEORGE CATLIN WAS BY NO MEANS INDIFFERENT TO THE SUFFERINGS OF THE PEOPLE WHOSE FACES APPEAR IN THESE PAINTINGS.

AND UNLIKE SOME ARTISTS, HE WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO ACCURATELY NAME HIS SITTERS.

THESE ARE INDIVIDUALS.

THEY'RE NOT TYPES.

AND THROUGH HIS ART, CATLIN DEMONSTRATED TO ANYONE WHO CARED TO LOOK THAT THERE WERE NUMEROUS, DIFFERENT, DISTINCT NATIVE AMERICAN NATIONS, ALL OF THEM WITH THEIR OWN TRADITIONS AND CULTURES AND ALL OF THEM UNDER THREAT AS THE UNITED STATES PUSHED EVER WESTWARDS.

BUT CATLIN DIDN'T PRODUCE THESE PAINTINGS IN ORDER TO TAKE PART IN SOME CAMPAIGN TO SAVE THE NATIVE AMERICANS, AS WE MIGHT LIKE TO THINK.

CATLIN ACCEPTED THAT THESE PEOPLE WERE, AS HE SAID, "DOOMED AND MUST PERISH."

NARRATOR: CATLIN ORGANIZED HIS PAINTINGS INTO A UNIQUE COLLECTION HE CALLED "THE INDIAN GALLERY" AND TOURED THE COUNTRY, AND LATER THE WORLD, DISPLAYING HIS "NOBLE SAVAGES" TO FEE-PAYING CROWDS.

MAN: HE WAS AN ENTREPRENEUR, BUT CATLIN'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT VERY, VERY STAIDED, KIND OF HORRIBLE FRONTAL POSE.

PRINCIPALLY, THE PROBLEM WITH THAT IS IT'S SINGULAR.

IN THE NATIVE WORLD, YOU'RE NEVER BY YOURSELF.

WE DON'T HAVE A KING OR A QUEEN; THERE'S A COUNCIL.

IF WE'RE GOING TO DANCE, WE'RE GOING TO DANCE TOGETHER.

WE'RE GOING TO PRAY, GET IN LINE, AT LEAST IN THE PRAIRIE TRIBES THAT I'M FROM, SO IT JUST KIND OF BUSTED THAT ARCHETYPE APART AND MADE IT INTO THIS VERY FOUL THING, YOU KNOW.

NARRATOR: BUT ALONG WITH THEIR STILTED POSES, CATLIN'S NATIVE AMERICAN SUBJECTS ALSO INVARIABLY KEPT THEIR MOUTHS CLOSED.

THIS CLICH OF THE SILENT INDIAN RESIGNED TO HIS FATE HAD A CURIOUS ORIGIN IN CATLIN'S OWN UNUSUAL IDEAS ABOUT HEALTH.

HEAP OF BIRDS: HE HAD A VERY BIZARRE THESIS THAT'S CALLED "SHUT YOUR MOUTH," AND HIS WHOLE THESIS WAS YOU SHOULD CLOSE YOUR MOUTH TO BE HEALTHY, AND THAT HE WROTE A BOOK CALLED "SHUT YOUR MOUTH" AND THAT HE ALSO THEORIZED THAT INDIANS WERE VERY HEALTHY 'CAUSE THEY DIDN'T OVER-OPEN THEIR MOUTH.

SO HE'S A CRACKPOT GUY.

HE REALLY WAS.

NARRATOR: WHILE DEEPLY FLAWED, CATLIN'S WORKS REMAIN AN IMPORTANT RECORD OF THE CULTURES OF NORTH AMERICA THAT WERE VICTIMIZED BY THE EXPANSION OF EUROPEANS.

IN CONTRAST, THE ATTEMPTS BY NATIVE AMERICANS TO TELL THEIR OWN STORY THROUGH ART HAVE LONG BEEN OVERLOOKED.

ONE SUCH WORK IS A VISUAL RECORD BY THE CHEYENNE NATION KNOWN AS "WAR DEEDS."

OLUSOGA: IT'S A DEPICTION OF THE BATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN IN 1876, ONE OF THE FEW MAJOR NATIVE AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE SO-CALLED INDIAN WARS.

AND THROUGH ARTIFACTS LIKE THIS, THE NATIVE AMERICANS RECORDED THEIR PLIGHT IN THEIR OWN ARTISTIC TRADITIONS, AND THERE ARE, INEVITABLY, MANY MORE IMAGES OF DEFEAT THAN VICTORY.

THIS IS THE WORK OF PEOPLE WHO WERE THE VICTIMS, NOT THE BENEFICIARIES, OF MANIFEST DESTINY.

NARRATOR: TODAY, SOME INDIGENOUS AMERICAN ARTISTS HAVE ADAPTED OLD ART FORMS TO EXPLORE THEIR EXPERIENCE OF MODERN AMERICA.

OTHERS HAVE USED ART TO TRY AND CONNECT TO THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES AND TRADITIONS.

HEAP OF BIRDS: COLLECTIVELY, IT'S THIS STANDING CIRCULAR FORM THAT'S ABOUT THE UNIVERSE AND LOCATES WHERE YOU ARE.

BUT YOU CAN'T EXPECT TO TAKE YOUR CONTEMPORARY ART TO THE RESERVATION AND HAVE EVERYONE GO TO GALLERY, YOU KNOW, SO IT'S GOOD, I THINK, TO HAVE OTHER WAYS TO ENGAGE, YOU KNOW, CITIZENS OF YOUR TRIBE.

AND I ENCOURAGE, YOU KNOW, ALL ARTISTS TO GO HOME, HELP THE ELDERS.

THEY NEED YOUR HELP.

YOU KNOW, THEY CAN'T DO IT BY THEMSELVES.

AND SO, YOU KNOW, IF YOU LOVE IT, GO HELP IT.

DON'T JUST CLAIM IT.

NARRATOR: ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD, ANOTHER INDIGENOUS PEOPLE HAS LEFT A UNIQUE ARTISTIC RECORD OF THEIR EXPERIENCE ADAPTING TO THE ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS.

DESCENDED FROM POLYNESIAN SAILORS, MAORI TRIBES TRADITIONALLY IDENTIFIED THEIR ALLEGIANCES THROUGH BODY ART.

THESE PAINTED WOOD CARVINGS ARE SAID TO BE THE LIMBS OF TRIBAL MEETING HOUSES; THE ROOF BEAMS, THE BACKBONE AND RIBS.

FOR MAORI, CREATING A BODILY LIKENESS CAN HELP KEEP ALIVE THE SPIRITUAL POWER OF A DEAD ANCESTOR, CALLED THEIR MANA.

IN 1874, CZECH ARTIST GOTTFRIED LINDAUER ARRIVED IN NEW ZEALAND TO DOCUMENT ITS VANISHING INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, MUCH LIKE GEORGE CATLIN.

BUT TO HIS GREAT SURPRISE, MAORI WERE DEFYING ALL EXPECTATIONS.

HAVING LEARNED TO READ AND WRITE ENGLISH FROM CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES, THEY APPOINTED ENVOYS TO LIVE AMONG THE NEWCOMERS, CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRADE AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE.

AND THEY FOUND LINDAUER'S PORTRAITS TO BE FULL OF LIFE AND RICH WITH MANA.

MAN: OH, CHIEFS WERE REALLY QUITE TAKEN, CAPTIVATED, MESMERIZED WITH THE REALNESS, THE LIKENESS OF THE HUMAN FORM THAT HE COULD CAPTURE IN PAINT AND IN COLOR.

AND THEY HAD NO COMPARISON, THEY HAD NOTHING TO MEASURE THAT AGAINST.

NARRATOR: NOW, LINDAUER FOUND A LUCRATIVE NEW SOURCE OF PATRONAGE-- MAORI CHIEFTAINS.

FOR SUCCESSFUL MAORI BUSINESSMEN LIKE TE RANGIOTU, COMMISSIONING LINDAUER TO PAINT THEIR PORTRAIT WAS A MARK OF STATUS.

DO YOU KNOW, A LOT OF THEM WERE TRADERS OR ENTREPRENEURS OR BUSINESSPEOPLE THEMSELVES?

SO THEY WANTED TO BE-- MAKE SURE THAT THEY WERE SEEN IN THAT LIGHT, AS OPPOSED TO BEING DRESSED UP IN THE CUSTOMARY ATTIRE.

WOMAN: RANGIOTU, HE'S WEARING A POCKET WATCH, WHICH IS A EUROPEAN PIECE OF JEWELRY.

AND HE'S ALSO WEARING EUROPEAN DRESS, AND I THINK THIS REALLY SIGNIFIES THE FACT THAT HE EXISTS IN TWO WORLDS.

HE'S MADE A LOT OF MONEY FOR HIS FAMILY THROUGH TRADE AND FARMING, BUT HE'S ALSO STILL CONNECTED TO HIS PEOPLE.

THIS PORTRAIT COST HIM �30 BACK IN THE DAY, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN A LOT OF MONEY, AND I THINK, BY COMMISSIONING THIS PAINTING, HE'S SAYING, "YOU KNOW, I HAVE THE WEALTH AND THE MANNER TO DO THIS."

NARRATOR: TODAY, HIS PORTRAIT STILL HANGS IN THE COMMUNITY'S MEETING HOUSE, WHERE HIS DESCENDANTS STILL GATHER.

SMALL: BY HAVING YOUR IMAGE CAPTURED IN ANY FORM WAS A WAY OF CAPTURING YOUR SPIRIT AND PRESERVING IT FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.

SO FOR US, AS A FAMILY, IT'S LIKE RANGIOTU IS STILL HERE.

HE'S PART OF OUR LIVES, AND HE'S PART OF THE COMMUNITY.

YOU KNOW, HIS LIFE FORCE IS CAPTURED IN HIS PICTURE.

NARRATOR: LINDAUER'S PORTRAITS CHART MAORI CULTURE AT A TIME OF GREAT CHANGE.

HIS EARLY PORTRAITS ARE A REMINDER OF A TIME WHEN MAORI CHIEFS PROUDLY WORE THEIR TATTOOS... AND IT'S ONCE AGAIN ENCOURAGING MANY TO RESCUE AN ART FORM THAT MAORIS CALL TA MOKO.

A RELATIVELY WIDE BLADE OF ALBATROSS BONE OR SHARK'S TEETH, BOUND TO A PIECE OF WOOD, IS TAPPED INTO THE SKIN.

WOMAN: ALL OF OUR ART FORMS ARE CONNECTED.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TA MOKO AND ALL THE OTHER ART FORMS IS THAT YOU'RE DEALING WITH BLOOD, SO IT'S VERY SACRED.

YOU'RE ALSO WORKING ON PARTS OF THE BODY THAT ARE SACRED, LIKE THE HEAD.

MAN: IT IS A STATEMENT.

WE ARE TANGATA WHENUA, WE ARE THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND, THE ESSENCE OF THE LAND, THE SPIRIT OF THIS LAND.

THAT IS WHAT MOKO IS ABOUT, AND THERE IS A LITTLE BIT OF VANITY TO IT AS WELL.

[CHUCKLES] THE ART OF MOKO HAS GROWN, AND IT MAKES ME HAPPY.

NARRATOR: BACK IN THE CAPITALS OF 19th-CENTURY EUROPE, LIFE WAS ALSO CHANGING BEYOND ALL RECOGNITION.

AND THESE CHANGES WERE BEING RECORDED BY A REVOLUTIONARY NEW MACHINE THAT SOUGHT TO REPRODUCE IMAGES IN THE SAME WAY AS THE HUMAN EYE.

IN THE 1830s, ONE OF THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY NEW TECHNOLOGIES OF THE INDUSTRIAL AGE WAS INVENTED HERE IN PARIS.

THIS WAS A MACHINE THAT RECORDED IMAGES OF THE WORLD AS THEY APPEAR TO THE HUMAN EYE, A MACHINE THAT SATISFIED OUR SEEMINGLY IN-BUILT DESIRE FOR IMAGES OF OURSELVES.

THE AGE OF THE CAMERA AND THE AGE OF THE PHOTOGRAPH BEGAN ON THE DAY LOUIS-JACQUES DAGUERRE MADE AN IMAGE, USING HIS NEW DAGUERREOTYPE PROCESS, OF A PARISIAN STREET.

NARRATOR: THIS IS THE FIRST HUMAN BEING CAPTURED BY DAGUERRE'S NEW INVENTION.

HE'S HAVING HIS SHOES SHINED IN AN EERILY EMPTY STREET...

EMPTY BECAUSE WITH AN EXPOSURE TIME OF 10 MINUTES, THE PEOPLE, HORSES, AND CARRIAGES ARE MOVING TOO FAST TO BE CAPTURED ON THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATE.

WHAT THIS PICTURE ALSO DOESN'T REVEAL IS THE OVERCROWDING, DISEASE, AND SOCIAL UNREST OF RAPIDLY INDUSTRIALIZING PARIS.

THIS WAS TO CHANGE IN 1853, WHEN AN AMBITIOUS URBAN PLANNER CALLED EUGENE HAUSSMANN WAS GIVEN THE TASK OF TRANSFORMING PARIS' CRAMPED, MEDIEVAL STREETS INTO THE VERY SYMBOL OF MODERNITY, WITH GRAND BOULEVARDS AND UNIFORM, TERRACED APARTMENTS.

PERHAPS THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY IMAGES OF THE NEW PARIS WERE TAKEN FROM A TETHERED HOT-AIR BALLOON KNOWN AS "THE GIANT."

THIS WAS THE FIRST AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY, AND IT GAVE PARISIANS A WHOLLY NEW AND NOT ALWAYS COMFORTABLE PERSPECTIVE.

JASANOFF: I THINK PEOPLE WORRIED THAT WITH NEW KINDS OF TECHNOLOGIES, NEW KINDS OF TRAVEL, NEW WAYS OF COMMUNICATING WITH EACH OTHER, THERE WAS ALSO POTENTIALLY A WAY FOR SOCIETIES TO CHANGE IN WAYS THEY DIDN'T ENTIRELY LIKE.

SO THE ADVENT OF PHOTOGRAPHY, FOR EXAMPLE, OPENS UP WONDERFUL POSSIBILITIES.

NOW YOU CAN DOCUMENT THE WORLD IN PHOTOGRAPHY.

BUT WAIT.

WHAT ABOUT PAINTING?

BECAUSE NOW WHAT IS PAINTING GOING TO BE DOING?

IN MUCH THE WAY THAT WE FIND PEOPLE TODAY CELEBRATING THE INTERNET, FOR EXAMPLE, AND THE DIGITAL WORLD AND ALL OF THE WONDERFUL WAYS THAT WE'RE KNITTED TOGETHER, PEOPLE WORRY NOT WHAT WE'RE ALL GETTING FRAGMENTED, THAT, "OH, NO, PEOPLE ARE NO LONGER HAVING CONVERSATIONS WITH EACH OTHER ANYMORE."

IN THE LATE 19th CENTURY, PEOPLE WORRIED ABOUT THAT KIND OF THING, TOO.

NARRATOR: THE PHOTOGRAPHER WHO TOOK THESE PICTURES WAS KNOWN AS NADAR.

A PIONEER OF THIS NEW ART FORM, NADAR ALSO ATTRACTED CELEBRITIES TO HIS STUDIO.

REJECTING THE USUAL, STYLIZED BACKGROUNDS OF EARLY PORTRAIT PHOTOS, HE CHAMPIONED A DOCUMENTARY APPROACH, OFTEN USING NATURAL LIGHT... AND HIS STUDIO WOULD ALSO BECOME THE FOCUS OF A REVOLUTIONARY NEW GROUP OF LIKE-MINDED ARTISTS.

THESE ARTISTS WOULD BECOME KNOWN FOR THE IMPRESSIONS THEY COULD CREATE WITH THEIR BOLD USE OF BRUSH STROKES, COLOR, AND LIGHT.

PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR'S PAINTING OF WORKING-CLASS PARISIANS, DRESSED UP FOR A DAY OF DRINKING AND DANCING, IS TYPICAL OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS' FOCUS ON THE SPECTACLE 19th-CENTURY PARIS HAD TO OFFER... AND IT WAS A NEW VISION OF REALITY THAT WOULD SHOCK THE ESTABLISHMENT AROUND THEM FOR ITS FOCUS ON LIFE AS IT WAS, AND NOT AS IT SHOULD BE.

OLUSOGA: FOR A YOUNGER GENERATION OF PARISIAN ARTISTS, THE CAMERA WAS BOTH A CHALLENGE AND AN INSPIRATION.

THEY'D TURNED THEIR BACKS ON THE ART ESTABLISHMENT, AND ITS OBSESSIONS WITH GRAND HISTORICAL THEMES AND CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY.

WHAT THEY WANTED TO PAINT WAS EVERYDAY MODERN LIFE, AND RATHER THAN COMPETE WITH THE CAMERA, THEY SET OUT TO EXPLORE WHAT THE CAMERA COULDN'T-- OUR HUMAN, SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCES OF THE WORLD AND HOW THEY'RE AFFECTED BY LIGHT, COLOR, AND EMOTION-- FEELINGS.

NARRATOR: BY ATTEMPTING TO CAPTURE THE FLEETING MOMENTS OF MODERN LIFE, THE IMPRESSIONISTS REVEALED SOCIETY IN ALL ITS REAL-LIFE COMPLEXITY, RATHER THAN ITS IDEAL FORM.

MARY CASSATT, AN AMERICAN IMPRESSIONIST AND PIONEER OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS, PAINTED AN ELEGANTLY DRESSED WOMAN AT THE OPERA...

BUT JUST AS SHE IS NOT GAZING DOWN AT THE OPERA, BUT ACROSS TO ANOTHER BOX, SO SHE HERSELF DOES NOT ESCAPE THE VOYEURISTIC GAZE OF A DISTANT MALE VIEWER, AS HE STARES AT HER THROUGH HIS OPERA GLASSES.

OTHER IMPRESSIONISTS WEREN'T AFRAID TO TURN THEIR GAZE UPON THEMSELVES.

FOR FORMER ART DEALER GUSTAVE CAILLEBOTTE, THIS IS THE WEALTHY PARISIAN ELITE IN WHAT HE FINDS IS THE ALIENIZATION OF BOURGEOIS LIFE, A WET STREET WHERE NOBODY LOOKS AT EACH OTHER, EVERYONE PRIVATELY COCOONED IN THE RECOGNIZABLE, SELF-ABSORBED ANONYMITY OF CITY LIFE.

MAN: GUSTAVE CAILLEBOTTE DECIDED--VERY SHREWDLY, I THINK, AND VERY PROVOCATIVELY-- TO DEPICT THE HUMAN FIGURE AS THOUGH IT DOESN'T BELONG, ALMOST LIKE A PUPPET, SO THOSE FIGURES HAVE LOST THEMSELVES.

I THINK THAT'S ONE OF THE ASPECTS OF THE URBANIZATION, THE INDUSTRIALIZATION PROCESS THAT WE SEE THROUGHOUT THE 19th CENTURY, THAT STRUCK A NUMBER OF THE ARTISTS AS WELL.

NARRATOR: IN WHAT'S CONSIDERED HIS LAST GREAT WORK, EDOUARD MANET CHOSE THE NOTORIOUS MUSICAL "FOLIES-BERGERE" TO CREATE A MASTERPIECE THAT WAS DEEPLY UNSETTLING TO CRITICS AT THE TIME.

IT'S FAMED AS A MASTER CLASS IN AMBIGUITY AND VISUAL SUBVERSION.

THIS IS A GLIMPSE INTO THE GLAMOROUS, GLITTERING WORLD OF PARISIAN HIGH SOCIETY, BUT IT'S NOT A WORLD THAT WE GET TO SEE DIRECTLY.

WE ONLY SEE IT IN REFLECTION, ON A MIRROR BEHIND A BAR.

HER REFLECTION ADDS TO THE CONFUSION BECAUSE IT'S NOT WHERE WE THINK IT SHOULD BE.

IT'S OFF TO THE RIGHT, AND IN HER REFLECTION, SHE'S NOT LOOKING AT US, SHE'S TALKING AND LEANING IN TO THIS MAN IN A TOP HAT.

NOW I'D REALLY LIKE TO BELIEVE THAT HE IS SOMEBODY SPECIAL TO HER, BUT EVERYTHING IN THIS PAINTING IS SUGGESTING THAT HE'S ACTUALLY A CUSTOMER, THAT HE'S A MAN WHO'S AFTER MORE THAN JUST A ROUND OF DRINKS.

THIS IS A MASTER CLASS IN AMBIGUITY.

THIS IS A PAINTING THAT IS A REFLECTION, IN MORE THAN JUST ONE SENSE, OF A PARIS THAT IS BOTH REAL AND UNREAL, A CONSUMER SOCIETY IN WHICH EVERYTHING'S FOR SALE, A CITY THAT IS A CONSTRUCTED REALITY, THAT DOESN'T BEAR CLOSE SCRUTINY.

NARRATOR: BUT AS WELL AS SUBVERTING VISUAL CONVENTION, MANET ALSO DARINGLY REVERSES THE SOCIAL CONVENTION THAT ONLY PEOPLE OF STATUS OUGHT TO BE CENTER-STAGE IN A PAINTING.

PISSARRO: THERE'S THIS VERY POWERFUL INTENTION OF THE ARTIST TO GIVE THIS PERSON A PRESENCE THAT IS USUALLY GRANTED TO THE HIGH DIGNITARIES OF SOCIETY.

WHAT MANET SUCCEEDS IN DOING IS TO CREATE A VISION OF THAT PERSON THAT IS VERY INSPIRING, VERY IMPRESSIVE, AWESOME.

MANET IS TWISTING THE VERY ESSENCE OF WHAT THE PICTORIAL TRADITION HAS BEEN ABOUT FOREVER.

NARRATOR: ANOTHER CHALLENGE TO CONVENTION WAS MADE BY CLAUDE MONET, WHO OFTEN CREATED NOT A SINGLE, DEFINITIVE PICTURE, BUT A WHOLE SERIES OF PAINTINGS-- LIKE THE SAINT-LAZARE RAILROAD STATION IN PARIS-- IN AN EFFORT TO CAPTURE THE FLUIDITY OF TIME.

PISSARRO: THE USUAL DEFINITION YOU HEAR ABOUT IMPRESSIONISM IS IMPRESSIONISTS WERE THERE TO PAINT LIGHT.

THERE IS TRUTH TO THAT, BUT WHAT'S MUCH MORE FASCINATING TO ME IS TIME.

THEY WERE PAINTING TIME.

WHEN YOU GO TO THE TRAIN STATION, WHAT DO YOU DO?

FIRST THING YOU DO IS YOU WATCH YOUR TIME, YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THE TRAIN, AND THIS TO'ING AND FRO'ING OF THESE STEEL BEASTS, MONET MANAGES TO CAPTURE THIS.

YOU SEE THE GESTURE OF THE BRUSH STROKE GOES IN ALL DIRECTIONS AND DOESN'T EXACTLY SEEM TO REPRESENT ANYTHING, BUT YOU GET THIS SENSE OF THIS CEASELESS ENERGY, THIS BUSTLE THAT IS ABSOLUTELY CONTINUOUS AND MUST HAVE BEEN DEAFENING IN MANY WAYS.

NARRATOR: BUT THERE WAS ANOTHER ARTIST WHO DIDN'T SEEK TO COMMENT ON THIS INDUSTRIOUS WORLD OF ENERGY AND MOVEMENT; HE WISHED TO REJECT IT OUTRIGHT.

PAUL GAUGUIN HAD BEEN A FRIEND OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS, BUT NOW WANTED TO TURN HIS BACK ON PARISIAN LIFE.

GAUGUIN WAS DETERMINED TO ESTABLISH A STUDIO IN ONE OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE'S MOST FAR-FLUNG OUTPOSTS.

HE EVENTUALLY SET SAIL FOR TAHITI IN FRENCH POLYNESIA, A PLACE HE IMAGINED TO BE BEYOND THE CONTAMINATION OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, WHERE HE COULD BE REBORN.

THE FIRST FRENCH EXPLORERS, WHO HAD ARRIVED IN TAHITI IN THE 1760s, REGARDED THE PEOPLE THEY FOUND THERE AS THE MOST CONTENT ON EARTH, LIVING PROOF OF THE IDEA OF THE NOBLE SAVAGE, LEADING A SIMPLE AND UNSPOILED WAY OF LIFE.

BUT THAT'S NOT THE TAHITI GAUGUIN FOUND.

PISSARRO: WHEN HE ARRIVES, HE FINDS THAT THERE ARE REALLY JUST MISSIONARIES FROM THE WEST.

IT'S, IN FACT, A COLONY OF THE BARBARIC, CIVILIZED WORLD THAT HE WAS HOPING TO HAVE LEFT.

NARRATOR: BUT GAUGUIN FOUND BEAUTY IN THE LANDSCAPE AND IN THE PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY THE YOUNG WOMEN.

GAUGUIN QUICKLY FOUND HIMSELF A LOCAL MISTRESS, A GIRL OF AROUND 14 CALLED TEHAMANA, WHO ALSO BECAME HIS MODEL AND HIS MUSE.

OLUSOGA: THERE WERE MANY REASONS TO NOT LIKE PAUL GAUGUIN.

HE WAS A MAN WHO SPENT MUCH OF HIS LIFE WALLOWING IN SELF-PITY OR ELSE ENGAGED IN AN ENDLESS CAMPAIGN OF SELF-PROMOTION.

AND THE RELATIONSHIPS THAT HE HAD WITH YOUNG TAHITIAN GIRLS IS SOMETHING THAT WE TODAY FIND DEEPLY DISTURBING.

AND YET, FOR ALL HIS FAULTS, THE ART THAT HE PRODUCED HERE ON THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC WAS RADICAL, VIVID, AND STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL.

NARRATOR: GAUGUIN'S TAHITIAN PAINTINGS DREW ON THE MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE COUNTRY'S PAST.

BUT ALTHOUGH HIS USE OF COLOR IS STRIKING AND IDIOSYNCRATIC, GAUGUIN'S WORK IS NO MERE FANTASY OF A CAREFREE PARADISE.

DESPITE THE VIVID COLORS, THERE IS MELANCHOLY IN GAUGUIN'S PAINTING, LOSS, AND AN ATTEMPT TO GIVE AN HONEST ACCOUNT OF A PEOPLE BEING CONTAMINATED BY PROGRESS AND COLONIALISM.

GAUGUIN'S TAHITIAN PAINTINGS CAN CERTAINLY BE SEEN AS EXOTIC, BUT HE WAS TOO COMPLEX AND TOO CONFLICTED AN ARTIST JUST TO REGURGITATE THE STANDARD EUROPEAN FANTASY VERSION OF AN ISLAND PARADISE.

LIKE MOST EUROPEANS, HE SAW THE WORLD AS BEING DIVIDED BETWEEN THOSE WHO LIVED CIVILIZED, SOMEWHAT ARTIFICIAL LIVES AND THOSE WHO HAD REMAINED IN A NATURAL, SAVAGE STATE.

BUT HE BELIEVED HE HIMSELF WAS MIXED-RACE-- FRENCH, PERUVIAN, BUT ALSO PARTLY INCA-- AND THOSE TWO STATES, THE NATURAL AND THE SAVAGE, EXISTED WITHIN HIM, LITERALLY IN HIS BLOOD.

SO IN TAHITI, HE WASN'T JUST LOOKING FOR A LOST ISLAND PARADISE; HE WAS SEARCHING FOR A LOST PART OF HIMSELF.

NARRATOR: GAUGUIN'S ENDLESS SEARCH WOULD TAKE HIM ON INCREASINGLY TREACHEROUS VOYAGES TO EVER MORE REMOTE ISLANDS.

PISSARRO: HE EVENTUALLY FINDS HIMSELF PRETTY MUCH AS FAR AWAY FROM THE CIVILIZATION AS HE EVER WILL BE ABLE TO GET.

HE ENDS UP IN THIS ABSOLUTE, TRAGIC, LONELY SITUATION, BUT AS FAR AWAY FROM THE CIVILIZATION THAT HE WAS HOPING TO REACH.

HE IS CONSTANTLY, CONSTANTLY DISAPPOINTED.

AND IN EFFECT, THE REAL VOYAGE THAT HE SUCCESSFULLY MANAGED TO REALIZE AND COMPLETE IS THE ONE THAT HE TOOK THROUGH HIS OWN PICTORIAL ACTIVITY.

NARRATOR: GAUGUIN'S COMPLEX PAINTINGS QUESTION THE LEGITIMACY OF COLONIALISM.

BUT BACK IN THE SO-CALLED CIVILIZED WORLD, THE NEW MEDIUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY WAS ALSO EXPOSING THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF PROGRESS.

FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF AMERICAN CIVIL-WAR PHOTOGRAPHERS LIKE MATHEW BRADY AND ALEXANDER GARDNER WOULD EXPOSE THE BRUTALITY OF THE WORLD'S FIRST INDUSTRIAL WAR.

PHOTOJOURNALISTS LIKE JACOB RIIS WERE TURNING THE CAMERA LENS ON AMERICA'S URBAN POOR AND HELPING TURN PHOTOGRAPHY INTO A DOCUMENTARY ART.

LIBERATED BY THE INVENTION OF FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY, RIIS WAS ABLE TO WORK AT NIGHT, CAPTURING POWERFUL IMAGES OF SLUM LIFE IN NEW YORK'S LOWER EAST SIDE, WHICH HE PUBLISHED IN A COLLECTION CALLED "HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES" IN 1890.

PHOTOGRAPHY CHALLENGED CONVENTIONAL WISDOM BY DEPICTING THE VICTIMS OF PROGRESS WITH A PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN AND UNFLINCHING REALISM.

AND THIS SENSE OF EXPOSING THE DISTURBING POWER RELATIONS AT THE HEART OF MODERN SOCIETY WOULD BE TAKEN UP BY THE YOUNG PABLO PICASSO IN THIS MASTERPIECE.

OLUSOGA: IT'S IMPOSSIBLE FOR US TODAY TO IMAGINE HOW SHOCKING THIS PAINTING WAS TO THE PEOPLE WHO SAW IT IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY, AND THAT'S BECAUSE THE ART THAT SEPARATES THEN FROM NOW, SO MUCH OF IT WAS INFLUENCED BY THIS PAINTING.

WE'RE LOOKING INTO THE RECEPTION ROOM OF A BROTHEL.

THE CURTAINS HAVE BEEN OPENED, AND THESE 5 WOMEN ARE THE PROSTITUTES, WAITING FOR CUSTOMERS.

NOW, THIS WASN'T THAT RADICAL A SUBJECT FOR ART IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY.

DEGAS, TOULOUSE-LAUTREC HAD BOTH PAINTED PROSTITUTES.

BUT IF THE SUBJECT MATTER IS RELATIVELY CONVENTIONAL, NOTHING ELSE ABOUT THIS PAINTING IS BECAUSE THIS ISN'T A PAINTING YOU COULD JUST COME AND VIEW.

THIS IS A PAINTING THAT STARES BACK, WITH 5 PAIRS OF BLACK, POINTED, ACCUSATORY EYES.

NOW, THE ANGULAR, DISTORTED FACES OF THE 3 WOMEN ON THE LEFT ARE SAID TO BE DERIVED FROM ARCHAIC SPANISH SCULPTURE THAT PICASSO HAD ENCOUNTERED.

BUT THE TWO WOMEN ON THE RIGHT-- THEIR ANGULAR, BROKEN, IRREGULAR FACES-- THEY WERE INSPIRED BY THE ART OF AFRICA, BY TRIBAL AFRICAN MASKS.

NARRATOR: AT AROUND THE SAME TIME, PICASSO HAD PAID A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY AT THE TROCADRO IN PARIS, WHERE HE CAME FACE-TO-FACE WITH A DISPLAY OF OBJECTS AND MASKS FROM THE PACIFIC ISLANDS AND AFRICA.

WOMAN: PICASSO'S VISIT IN THE MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY IN THE TROCADRO WAS A VERY IMPORTANT TURNING POINT IN HIS LIFE AS AN ARTIST.

AT THE FIRST LEVEL OF THIS MUSEUM, THERE WERE NON-WESTERN ART ROOMS, GALLERIES, YOU KNOW, BUT THEY WERE NOT WELL KNOWN AT ALL, SO HE JUST, UH, WELL, WENT UP THE STAIRS AND DISCOVERED THAT.

NARRATOR: PICASSO LATER WROTE OF HIS VISIT, SAYING, "MEN HAD MADE THOSE MASKS FOR SACRED PURPOSE, "IN ORDER TO OVERCOME THEIR FEAR AND HORROR BY GIVING IT A FORM AND AN IMAGE."

FULGENCE: IT'S REALLY A MOMENT WHERE HE TOTALLY UNDERSTOOD A WAY FOR HIS CREATION.

AND HE UNDERSTAND THOSE OBJECTS MAYBE ARE A KIND OF MEDIATION BETWEEN NON-HUMAN FORCES AND HUMAN BEINGS.

AND HE SAY, "MY PURPOSE IS TO GET RID OF THE ACADEMISM "AND TO BE ABLE TO TRANSMIT THROUGH MY DRAWING INSTINCT OR EVEN THINGS I DON'T KNOW FROM WHERE THEY COME," YOU KNOW?

NARRATOR: PICASSO SPENT A WHOLE YEAR WORKING ON HIS CANVAS OF "LES DEMOISELLES D'AVIGNON," FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGING THE ORIGINAL COMPOSITION UNTIL HE WAS FINALLY SATISFIED.

FULGENCE: HE WILL CALL THE "DEMOISELLES D'AVIGNON" "MY FIRST EXORCISM PAINTING."

HE BEGAN TO DECONSTRUCT DEFINITELY CLASSICAL REPRESENTATION.

THE QUESTION OF THE LOOK WILL BE VERY IMPORTANT, AND OF THE EYES WILL BE VERY IMPORTANT.

OF COURSE, THEY ARE REAL PERSONS, BUT THEY ARE REALLY UNIVERSAL AND ETERNAL FIGURES OF WOMEN; UNIVERSAL BECAUSE PART OF THEM ARE MASKS, AND SO THEY ARE CONNECTED TO THE IDEA OF FEAR IN FRONT OF DEATH, IN FRONT OF...

YES, FRIGHTENING THINGS.

SO WE HAVE A LOT OF DIFFERENT SYMBOLS IN THIS PAINTING.

AND I THINK, EVEN IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE STORY, YOU CAN FEEL THAT BECAUSE IT'S VERY STRONG.

NARRATOR: FOR MANY, PICASSO'S WORK WAS AN EXPLORATION OF THE UNCONSCIOUS BARBARISM LURKING AT THE VERY HEART OF SUPPOSEDLY CIVILIZED MODERN SOCIETY.

LESS THAN A DECADE LATER, IN 1914, THAT BARBARISM WOULD BE UNLEASHED IN A WAR TO END ALL WARS.

NOW, A VERY DIFFERENT KIND OF MASK WOULD COME TO SYMBOLIZE THIS NEW BARBARISM, AS THE GENERALS TRIED DESPERATELY TO BREAK THE STALEMATE OF TRENCH WARFARE.

THE GAS MASK REPRESENTED THE TERRIFYING FLIP SIDE OF TECHNOLOGICAL POWER AND THE FLAWED IDEALS OF EMPIRE, AS EUROPE NOW TURNED ON ITSELF.

OLUSOGA: OTTO DIX WAS ONE OF THE MILLIONS OF YOUNG EUROPEAN MEN WHO ENTHUSIASTICALLY RUSHED TO ENLIST AT THE OUTBREAK OF FIGHTING IN 1914, AND HE WENT ON TO SPEND 3 YEARS IN THE MUD AND THE SLIME OF THE TRENCHES, SERVING ON BOTH THE WESTERN AND THE EASTERN FRONTS.

AT ONE POINT, HE SERVED IN A MACHINE-GUN UNIT, WIELDING THE ULTIMATE INDUSTRIAL WEAPON, THE LITERAL FUSION OF THE GUN AND THE MACHINE.

AND THROUGHOUT ALL OF THIS, OTTO DIX PRODUCED SKETCHES, HUNDREDS OF THEM, THAT GRAPHICALLY RECORDED WHAT THESE NEW WEAPONS DID TO THE FLESH AND THE BONE OF HIS DOOMED GENERATION.

NARRATOR: WAR WAS NO LONGER ABOUT CONQUERING SUPPOSEDLY BACKWARD PEOPLES FOR THE GLORY OF ENLIGHTENED EUROPEAN EMPIRES.

THE LIE WAS EXPOSED, JUST AS DIX'S MASKS EXPOSED THE IMPERSONAL SAVAGERY AND MUTILATION THE OLD WORLD HAD COME TO INFLICT UPON ITSELF.

INDUSTRIAL WARFARE HAD TRANSFORMED THE SOLDIER FROM WARRIOR TO VICTIM, EMACIATED AND COWERING LIKE A WOUNDED ANIMAL.

OTTO DIX'S MOST DEFINITIVE ARTISTIC STATEMENT ON THE FUTILITY OF WAR WAS PAINTED AFTER IT WAS OVER, WHILE GERMANY BURIED ITS DEAD AND LANGUISHED UNDER THE HARSH TERMS OF PEACE.

OLUSOGA: THE SOLDIER IS DRAGGING A WOUNDED COMRADE OFF THE BATTLEFIELD, THROUGH THE BROKEN BODIES.

BUT THAT SOLDIER IS OTTO DIX HIMSELF, HIS FACE UTTERLY TRAUMATIZED.

BUT IT'S THIS CENTRAL PANEL THAT'S THE MOST POWERFUL AND THE MOST SHOCKING.

IT IS THE GREAT, PUTRID SCAR OF MUD AND DECAYING, ROTTING FLESH THAT'S BEEN CUT ACROSS THE FACE OF EUROPE.

THIS SKELETAL FIGURE LEERING OVER THE BATTLEFIELD IS A REFERENCE TO THE CRUCIFIXION, AS IS THIS FIGURE, WITH HIS GHASTLY, BULLET-RIDDEN LEGS SHOOTING UP INTO THE SKY AND HIS HAND OUTSTRETCHED WITH A BULLET THROUGH HIS PALM.

THIS IS THE WORK OF A MAN WHO WAS TRAPPED INSIDE HIS OWN RECURRING NIGHTMARE.

OTTO DIX AND HIS GENERATION HAD BORNE WITNESS TO THESE HORRORS, BUT THEY'D ALSO BEEN WITNESS TO THE DEATH OF THE 19th-CENTURY FAITH IN INEVITABLE, UNSTOPPABLE PROGRESS.

SAVAGERY AND BARBARISM WEREN'T EXTERNAL, TO BE FOUND ONLY IN THE COLONIES, BUT INSIDE ALL OF US.

THEY HAD SEEN THAT INDUSTRY AND PROGRESS AND THE SUPPOSED TRIUMPH OF ENLIGHTENMENT, RATIONALISM DID NOT GUARANTEE THE SURVIVAL OF CIVILIZATION.

AND IT WAS THEM--THE POETS AND THE ARTISTS AND THE PAINTERS OF THE TRENCHES--WHO BEST UNDERSTOOD WHAT EUROPE HAD BEEN THROUGH AND WHO BEST FORESAW THE HORRORS THAT LAY AHEAD.

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