help me find mini-documentaries on visual artists or art history?

My 14-year-old's passion is the visual arts. For the past several years, she has spent most of her free time drawing, and was accepted into a visual arts magnet program for high school. I'm so proud of and excited for her. We have a weekly father-daughter check-in/hangout, where we spend an hour or so together reviewing her latest work.

My contribution to this check-in is that I share some of my knowledge of art with her. Most of MY artistic knowledge is around music though, so it'll be me telling her about bands and playing their songs. For example, the past three weeks, we discussed Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, and the Mountain Goats, because I heard aspects of those artists in a musician she likes, Sparkbird. Those musicians went over really well, but sometimes, it has been clear that she has been tolerant of my rambling about bands.

Sometimes I'll convince her to watch a movie together, if I think maybe it relates to her current work or interests. We watched O Brother Where Art Thou, for example, because she was including a lot of references to Greek mythology in her art. And we watched Willard because some of her drawings involve rats. But in general, she is not much of a cinema person.

I want to share things that would be more suited to her interests. I enjoy the visual arts casually, but it's a sphere of knowledge I've always been on the outside of. I've done some digging around on YouTube and found short documentaries that have been fun to watch and instructive for both of us. These videos have included a mixture of art history, biography, and in some cases, the artists themselves talking about their processes. Examples of stuff we've watched:

Roberto Benavidez’s piñatas inspired by medieval manuscripts (Craft in America)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-hmoV813W4

Jean-Michel Basquiat for kids (Miss Teresa Art)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVHBDY-XKqA

Joni Mitchell’s painting segment (from the tv show American Made – 1987)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThufzFQjXo8

Art Nouveau in 8 Minutes: Why has it never gone away (Curious Muse)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lfM0z9cV4k

Anyway, I figured I'd solicit the ILX hivemind for suggestions of artists or art topics that you think might be important and fun for a kinda weirdo teenager. If you can think of specific streamable documentaries, or documentary series, that'd be a plus too. Short-form is preferred, but if there are feature-length art docs or biopics that are "must-watch," I'd consider those as well. And, although she is interested in art from across the ages, we've both enjoyed videos that include interviews with the artists or footage of them in the process of creation.

Thanks!

The big auction houses Christie's, Sotheby's & Bonhams all have YT channels that highlight the stuff they are selling, often really nicely done little bite-size videos.

I started watching some of the auctions themselves during lockdown, they are a good way to get some context, see a lot of art in quick succession, and get to know what the ridiculous market values are.

Kind of dreamy ambient documentary about Leonora Carrington? It's 50 mins so maybe a bit long. Old BBC stuff is likely a great option for things around half an hour to an hour, but are you looking for super short things, like 10 mins?

I don't know if a 14 year old would be into this but what about Sister Wendy? Come for the dorky British nun lols, stay for the p astute art analysis.

Brevity is what we've been working with so far, but I could potentially test longer stuff out with her and see if she sticks around. Leonora Carrington's work definitely looks like something she'd be interested in.

do you have a KG acct peace, man?

https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/painters-painting-1

https://www.albersfoundation.org/videos/film-from-anni-et-josef-albers-lart-et-la-vie-at-the-musée-dart-moderne-de-paris-2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3xpTtn7zo8

https://www.sedatpakay.com/josef-and-anni-albers-art-is-everywhere

https://www.nziff.co.nz/2017/nelson/beuys-art-as-a-weapon/

https://vimeo.com/110857936

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZw97FcafxQ

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2952772/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVueGlKQTE8

andy goldsworthy - rivers and tides

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT7VBmd4J6w

congrats to your daughter, that's awesome!
most of these aren't super short and I'm just kinda dropping the links without judgement, which is to say I like some of these films more than others.
they all have some substance that makes them worth seeing. the Chihuly one emphasizes that you don't have to create images to be an artist, for example.
stopping now just cause I have to get on with my day, but I could be a little more selective maybe

there's a ton of stuff on KG if you're on it

this is a really nicely presented bite-size dip into later michelangelo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KkOmOseCa4

a pet subject of mine but the most beautiful art i've had the privilege of seeing the past few years is indigenous rock art - this instagram account has some amazing stuff in it and is well-presented: https://www.instagram.com/nolonelyroads/

oh this one is great and only 2 and a half minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoNd254KrjU

xp nice!

art 21 series is great. the one with margaret kilgallen and barry mcgee is an all time fave

john berger's ways of seeing for bbc

comic book confidential was a big deal when I was a teen, Crumb (the doc) as well

the Christo short doc (which I think is at the Criterion Channel? they also have several art docs, same as Kanopy)

will think of others later

I like the Architectural Digest videos with that architect explaining design of buildings, airports, etc – he's always good, and it's kinda cool to see those, because you can also watch someone applying visual ideas from paper to another media/canvas, such as cities and public places

If she’s interested in the abstract expressionists there’s a few documentaries on YouTube from the ‘Strokes of Genius’ series.

Willem de Kooning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhBhv_jZK5k

Franz Kline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6WkT4LhZZk

Jackson Pollock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghyhAnuxBXc

And not really art documentaries as such but BBC’s ‘Fake or Fortune’, looks at artists techniques and places them in the context of their times.

I know he’s divisive but I’d recommend Matthew Collings’ ‘This is Modern Art’ series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObhNiJaoVow

Wow - thank you all so much. This will definitely give me a boost.

2nding the art 21 rec; a zillion dope videos of contemporary artists on their youtube channel, 10-20 minutes apiece 😘👌 & congrats on having a rad kid

Some recent documentaries I liked:
Paula Rego, Secrets & Stories: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6392918/
National Gallery: https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/national-gallery-0 (Frederick Wiseman's doc on the National Gallery in London)