Waldemar Januszczak

Art critic, television documentary producer and presenter Waldemar Januszczak introduces a screening of an episode of his new three-part BBC Four documentary series on the golden age of American art and follows it up with a question-and-answer session.

Januszczak investigates where and how American art found itself at last. His ambitious artistic road trip culminates in the heroic achievements of abstract expressionism, but also features scores of artists who are overlooked and undervalued. The first film is set in the Wild West, and begins with the sublime art of the Hudson River School whose 19th-century evocations of the vastness of America did so much to fuel the myth of the promised land. Another huge influence was the mysterious rock art of the Native Americans, which set such a stirring precedent for non-naturalistic painting. The film culminates in a celebration of Jackson Pollock, born in Cody, Wyoming, who arrived in New York wearing a stetson and cowboy boots, and whose famous drip paintings were influenced heavily by both the moods of the American West and the example of Native American artists.

Januszczak is a former arts editor of the Guardian and former head of arts at Channel 4.

This event lasts 90 minutes