The Shock of the New
1980 film
The Shock of the New is an eight-part documentary television series about the development of modern art written and presented in 1980 by Australian art critic Robert Hughes for the BBC, in association with Time-Life Films. Hughes also wrote a book to accompany the series. It was produced by Lorna Pegram, who also directed three of the episodes.
In 2004 Hughes created a one-hour update to The Shock of the New titled The NEW Shock of the New.
Series outline
The series addressed the development of modern art since the Impressionists and was accompanied by a book of the same name.
The series consisted of eight episodes each one hour long (58 min approx). It was re-broadcast on PBS in the United States. In the three case where PBS changed the titles, they are given in square brackets below. Quotations are spoken by Judi Dench and Martin Jarvis.
Mechanical Paradise – how the development of technology influenced art between 1880 and end of World War I. Cubism and Futurism
Cézanne, Picasso, Braque, Gris, Leger, Delaunay, Marinetti, Boccioni, Balla, Severini, Picabia, Duchamp
The Powers That Be [Shapes of Dissent] – examining the relationship between modern art and authority.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Shock of the New” as 1980 film. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1980 film. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7763882. The first chronological checks are 1980, 2004 and 1880.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Shock of the New”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Shock of the New primary sources, The Shock of the New archive and Shock research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Shock of the New” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.