How To Look At A Painting | Human Form

How To Look At A Painting is an art series never seen before on television and provides viewers with a fresh and exciting perspective on how to truly appreciate and better understand the world of painting.

The series is based on the best-selling book of the same name written by Christchurch Art Gallery's senior curator, Justin Paton. In the series Justin, who also presents the show, embarks on a highly visual journey of exploration across the painted world to uncover and examine the marvels and mysteries of painting.

The heart of the series is Justin's engaging commentary on a wide variety of artworks, appealing to novice viewers, skeptics and experts alike. It is a thematic journey through the painted world of both New Zealand and international art and artists. Each episode focuses on a different topic and provides viewers with visual answers to Justin's search for understanding. From abstract to religious, contemporary to historical, portrait to landscape and from installations to paintings that seem like nothing at all - this is a journey through the unpredictable and wonderful, ever-changing world of art.

Tonight, before photography became the norm for portraying the human form painters used to have the body all to themselves. Nowadays naked bodies are all around us - in magazines, on television and even on billboards. Where is the nude in painting today? Justin takes us on a journey of discovery to find how artists are painting the body beautiful in these modern times.