BBC Four Goes Abstract: When Art Broke Free

8 August 2014

Explore one of art's most groundbreaking forms with a season of special programmes, unique archive, and exclusive online content including films, features & timelines.

BBC Four Goes Abstract is a week-long season of programmes including Abstract Artists in their Own Words, which unlocks the archives to tell the story of abstract art in Britain, and The Rules of Abstraction, which sees art critic and painter Matthew Collings explore the rise of abstract art and how it rose to prominence in both the art world and in modern culture. At a time when conceptual art seems to dominate the art world, Collings argues instead that abstraction is the key artistic story of the 20th century.

Collings also features on Your Paintings, where he chooses key works by great abstract artists and reveals how to read them.

Here on BBC Arts we take an in-depth look at the influence of abstract art on modern design with renowned designer Peter Saville; saxophonist Soweto Kinch explores how jazz embraced abstract through its album cover iconography; Alastair Sooke talks technique as he gets inside the world of abstract master Jackson Pollock, finding out just how challenging it is to create one of his famous drip paintings.

Also, watch original abstract-themed works in the form of four specially commissioned BBC Four channel idents by the 2013 Turner Prize-winning artist Laure Prouvost, acclaimed artists John Smith, Sebastian Buerkner and this year's Turner Prize nominee James Richards, with insight from the artists on what abstract art means to them.