Richard Hamilton

Includes 'portraits' of Marianne Faithfull, Thelonious Monk and 28 others, some known, some less so.

An examination of the relationship between the life and art of Maria Martins, now recognized as one of the greatest Brazilian sculptors, in addition to her engravings and texts. The film reveals the greatness of her work and her boldness when dealing directly with the feminine perspective of sexuality, a transgression that led to attacks by Brazilian critics. In parallel, her life as the wife of an important diplomat and her connection to Marcel Duchamp, in a relationship of mutual collaboration between the two artists.

Marcel Duchamp kept a secret for over 20 years: while the art world had wrongly assumed that one of the 20th century’s most important artists had given up creating art, Duchamp was building his final masterpiece, Etant Donnes (“given”). Duchamp didn’t allow the piece to be viewed by the public until after his death in 1968. This left him shielded from the questions that developed after the piece debuted. Simply described, it is a peepshow. Through an old wooden façade, one looks through to see a sculpted open-legged nude lying in a field. The critics were stumped. What did Duchamp leave us with? This BBC documentary from 1997 dissects and examines the pieces of this assemblage.

The work and preoccupations of British painter and collage artist Richard Hamilton.

Short film by Richard Hamilton commissioned by BBC Channel 4 as part of the 'TV Sculpture' programme. Hamilton reexamines a film he shot of his 1957 exhibition with Victor Pasmore titled 'an Exhibit'. The work reflects Hamilton's interest in television as a sculptural object. Premiered 20 September 1997.