How Art Made the World

In 1908, an archaeologist at a site in Austria discovered a 25,000-year-old, four-inch-tall statuette of a woman—subsequently dubbed the Venus of Willendorf—featuring extremely exaggerated breasts and buttocks. Beginning with our fascination for distorted (slightly or greatly) representations of the human face and form (“the reality is we humans don't like reality,” says our photogenic host, Cambridge professor Dr. Nigel Spivey), How Art Made the World—a beautifully-lensed five-part BBC series that looks at how ancient art helped shape the contemporary world—takes viewers back 100,000 years and spans five continents to look at cave paintings (and the connection with shamanistic trances), ruler's faces on coins (and the beginnings of political propaganda), Trajan's column (and the genesis of visual narrative), and the Christian cross (a unique symbol representing both death and redemption). Combining gorgeous on-location footage, compelling interviews, and topnotch 3D graphics and animations, the production values are simply excellent. Unfortunately, as is often the case when TV tackles complicated issues, Spivey has a tendency to present interesting theories (that are being hotly debated in studies of ancient art and history) as bona fide “answers” to questions posed in each episode. Still, even if you have to take some of the material here with the proverbial grain of salt, How Art Made the World is head and shoulders above a number of similar productions. DVD extras include a 12-minute behind-the-scenes featurette and a brief interview with Spivey and series producer Mark Hedgecoe. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)