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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

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The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: Under the Influence: Under the Influence

The Essay: Under the Influence: Under the Influence: Part 4: Tom Hunter

Under the Influence

Part 4 Part 4: Tom Hunter

Tom Hunter

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Photographer and artist Tom Hunter on the impact that Vermeer has had on his work.

Photographer and artist Tom Hunter considers the profound impact that the painter Vermeer has had on his work.

Tom Hunter's most famous image is of a young woman by a window, reading a letter. An infant in a bright red pullover lies nearby. It is called 'Woman reading a Possession Order'. Anyone who who has seen Vermeer's 'A Girl Reading at an Open Window' will recognise the composition immediately. It shares something of Vermeer's stillness and light, too. Yet Hunter's picture is that rare thing, a work of art that has caused something to happen. Or, rather, caused something not to happen. The young woman was a neighbour living in a squat, who had received an eviction order. The response to Hunter's photograph was so strong that the eviction did not take place. In this essay Hunter considers how his art, influenced by the old master Vermeer, can focus on real people and the issues affecting their lives.

Producer: Julian May.

The Essay: Under the Influence

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

People working in the arts discuss important influences on their careers

Series in which creative figures and those involved in the arts discuss important influences on their careers

Five figures working in the arts reveal important influences in their careers

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