ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book suggests that art histories own preoccupation with prioritizing proximity to its object of study, in this case the original artwork, can help explain why the discipline has paid such little attention to the art documentary. It explores the critical and conceptual issues shaping contemporary art documentaries within such contexts. The book examines the six documentaries that Read made for the BBC about the sculptor Henry Moore from 1951–1978, tracing how Read’s conception of a “film portrait” of the artist changed across the decades as Moore became ever more involved in the mediation of his own public identity. It aims to investigate a short-lived phenomenon in the UK that attempted to combine the exhibition documentary subgenre with the live-broadcast format of “event cinema.”.
