The Masterpieces
1. The Greatest Night In Pop (2024)
The Greatest Night in Pop is a Netflix documentary (2024, dir by Bao Nguyen) about the single night during which the charity single We Are The World was recorded. The song was written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian.
The contributors included Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Tina Turner and Diana Ross (amongst others!).
The background to it was the Ethiopian Famine of 1983-85 which left perhaps 2.5 million dead. This American single was inspired by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas released 4 months before.
2. The Bright Field by R. S. Thomas (1975)
R. S. Thomas (1913-2000) was described by one critic as ‘the finest living Welsh poet writing in English’. An ordained minister in the anglican Church in Wales, he was passionate about Wales and the Welsh language. Despite that, most of his published verse was in English.
The Bright Field is one of his most beloved poems, written in 1975. Here is a clip of Thomas reading it himself.
3. Nighthawks by Edward Hopper (1942)
Edward Hopper (1882-1967) was an American painter from New York, the city which became as much his subject as it was the backdrop to his work. He often painted on a grand scale, evoking the dehumanising effects of the urban landscape.
Nighthawks is one of his most famous paintings, painted in 1942.
In response to a query on loneliness and emptiness in the painting, Hopper outlined that he “didn’t see it as particularly lonely”. He said, “Unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city.” (Kuh, Katherine (1962). The Artist’s Voice: Talks With Seventeen Artists, Harper & Row. p. 134.)
Go here for more on The Art Institute of Chicago
Other Mentions
Bible Passages alluded to in The Bright Field:
- The Burning Bush in Exodus 3
- The parables of the hidden treasure and pearl in Matthew 13
The Eisteddfod festival in Wales (mentioned by Sophie)
