Educational Media Reviews Online

The Glory of Byzantine Art is a 12 minute treatment of a topic which deserves a much longer and in-depth discussion. This video is a segment from "The News Hour with Jim MacNeil," which accounts for its brevity. The result is newsy rather than scholarly. It covers an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with the same title as the video and includes a discussion between journalist Paul Solman and art historian Ioli Kalavrezou.

The number of topics touched upon in the video points out the lack of depth with which they are covered. Briefly covered are topics such as: the history and context of the Byzantine Empire; the importance of Byzantine art as a bridge between the Classical and later periods; the emergence of abstraction in Byzantine art; and the religious nature of Byzantine art. On the other hand, the period of iconoclasm in Byzantium is mentioned so briefly that viewers without previous experience in Byzantine art would not understand its significance.

The videography is well done, especially the close-ups, which offer an interesting perspective and allow the viewer to see some of the intricate detail in Byzantine art. This video is only appropriate for the most general viewer with little or no background in art history. Because of its brevity and lack of depth in dealing with this subject, this video does not seem as if it would support academic course work. Therefore, it is not recommended.