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Dwarfs in Art: A New Perspective

This documentary explores the lives of dwarfs through centuries of representations in art and culture, revealing society's shifting attitudes towards people with dwarfism.

This documentary explores the lives of dwarfs through centuries of representations in art and culture, revealing society's shifting attitudes towards people with dwarfism.

Presented by Richard Butchins, a disabled film-maker, artist and journalist, the film shows how people with dwarfism have been seen as royal pets, creatures from a separate race, figures of fun and freaks; and it reveals how their lives have been uniquely intertwined with mythology in the popular imagination, making it it all but impossible for dwarfs to simply get on with their everyday lives.

The film features interviews with artists, like Sir Peter Blake, who saw dwarfs in the circus as a young man and has featured them prominently in his work; academics, like Professor Tom Shakespeare, who has dwarfism himself and feels strongly about how dwarfs are represented in art; and ordinary people with dwarfism who would just like dwarfs to be seen like everybody else. It also features artists with dwarfism who offer us a glimpse of the world from their perspective, revealing the universal concerns that affect us all, regardless of stature.

Taking in relics from antiquity, garden gnomes and some the greatest masterpieces of Diego Velazquez, the film uncovers a hidden chapter in both the history of art and the history of disability.

59 minutes

Last on

Thu 23 Apr 2020 01:30
BBC Four

Clip

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:02

    Gorillaz

    Kids With Guns

  • 00:20

    Baxter Dury

    Picnic On The Edge

  • 00:51

    Bruce Springsteen, O'Brien, Brendan

    All The Way Home

  • 00:59

    Bruce Springsteen

    Hungry Heart

Credits

Presenter Richard Butchins
Director Simon Lloyd
Production Manager Elanor Lee
Executive Producer Claire Whalley
Production Company What Larks! Productions

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