Civilisation with Kenneth Clark

  “Kenneth McKenzie Clark, Baron Clark, OM, CH, KCB, FBA (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British author, museum director, broadcaster, and one of the best-known art historians of his generation. In 1969, he achieved an international popular presence as the writer, producer, and presenter of the BBC Television series, Civilisation.”   Kenneth Clark Quotations

§  "The great artist takes what he needs."

§  "Heroes don't often tolerate the company of other heroes."

§  "Seen by itself the David's body might be some unusually taut and vivid work of antiquity; it is only when we come to the head that we are aware of a spiritual force that the ancient world never knew. I suppose that this quality, which I may call heroic, is not a part of most people's idea of civilisation. It involves a contempt for convenience and a sacrifice of all those pleasures that contribute to what we call civilised life. It is the enemy of happiness."

§  "Opera, next to Gothic architecture, is one of the strangest inventions of Western man. It could not have been foreseen by any logical process."

§  "People sometimes tell me that they prefer barbarism to civilisation. I doubt if they have given it a long enough trial. Like the people of Alexandria, they are bored by civilisation; but all the evidence suggests that the boredom of barbarism is infinitely greater."

§  "It is lack of confidence, more than anything else, that kills a civilisation. We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs."

§  "Lives devoted to Beauty seldom end well."

§  "I wonder if a single thought that has helped forward the human spirit has ever been conceived or written down in an enormous room."

§  "The great achievements of the Catholic Church lay in organising, harmonising, civilising the deepest impulses of ordinary, ignorant people."

§  "The stabilising, comprehensive religions of the world, the religions which penetrate to every part of a man's being--in Egypt, India or China--gave the female principle of creation at least as much importance as the male, and wouldn't have taken seriously a philosophy that failed to include them both...It's a curious fact that the all-male religions have produced no religious imagery--in most cases have positively forbidden it. The great religious art of the world is deeply involved with the female principle."

§  " I cannot distinguish between thought and feeling, and I am convinced that a combination of words and music, colour and movement can extend human experience in a way that words alone cannot do. For this reason I believe in television as a medium,...". Civilisation: A Personal View (1969) p xv.

 

“Twelve hours mainlining culture with Kenneth Clark  

The BBC is repeating its mammoth 1969 documentary series Civilisation. But will today's reality TV-addled audiences be up to the job of watching it? Our correspondent takes in the lot in one sitting

Stuart Heritage

The Guardian, Saturday 5 February 2011

Civilisation: can our man make it through the history of culture in one sitting? Illustration: Matt Blease

The BBC HD channel as we know it is largely a showcase for wildlife shows and Michael Portillo's face. Things will take a swing upmarket this week however thanks to its sparkling new hi-def conversion of Civilisation, Kenneth Clark's landmark 1969 arts history documentary series. But how well will Civilisation play to today's flabby generation of microscopic attention spans? According to my editor, the surest way to find out is to make me consume all 13 50-minute episodes in a single sitting and see if I die of boredom in the process. Let's start the clock …

00:05 Right from the outset it's clear that Civilisation isn't interested in easy answers. After an opening burst of terrifying church organ, Kenneth Clark strolls up to the camera and says, "What is civilisation? I don't know." This is going to be a long day.

00:20 It may have just started but Clark has already discussed the little pockets of humanity that held out following the decline of the Roman empire, preserving civilisation against the forces of barbarianism. Clark is a stylish chap, too. Always dressed sharply in a suit and tie, he comes off as a kind of dapper Lane Pryce figure. From this, I predict that he'll get off with a bunny girl during a future episode.

01:25 During the second episode, we've covered Christianity's 10th-century adoption of the crucifix as a logo – and the influence of the Crusades on western culture – and now we've arrived at the dawn of the gothic era. It's fascinating. I'm so engrossed by Clark's description of flying buttresses – a supporting architectural structure that allowed early cathedrals to become taller and more grandiose – that I almost forget to snigger at the word "buttress". Almost.

02:30 I'm already starting to falter. I completely tune out through an entire section on Giotto, the man described as the forefather of the Renaissance movement. The DVD notes suggest he was the first man who could draw people properly or something. But I guess now I'll never know.

03:10 Compared to modern documentaries, Civilisation is incredibly ponderous. Just now, Clark finished a section on the importance of Castiglione's The Book Of The Courtier – a 1528 guide to etiquette that was as popular as the Bible in its time – by simply letting the episode continue in silence for 25 seconds. Imagine if Fearne Cotton did that. No, really, imagine it. It'd be brilliant.

04:45 This was inevitable. I'm only up to episode five – The Hero As Artist – and I've already had an involuntary nap. If I were a bus driver, the result of this lapse in concentration would have been catastrophe and certain death. Instead I just miss a short description of Noah's representation in the Sistine Chapel.

05:50 After a short, sanity-prolonging break, it's time for Protest And Communication, the reformation episode. "On balance, I suppose that the printing press has done more good than harm," Clark says. Somewhere, his ghost is reading this article and frantically revising this opinion.

07:00 I've fallen asleep again. And this time I'm blaming Kenneth Clark. He won't shut up. He just won't shut up. He's been droning on for seven hours now. I'm starting to hate him. I'm starting to hate a man who's been dead for 28 years. I'm a monster.

07:15 On the plus side, I'm still learning. Without Civilisation, for example, I would have never known the kinetic wonder of Bernini's David. Another upside: if I had been forced to watch 12 hours of Justin Lee Collins, there's no question I would be in a coma by now.

07:45 Perhaps I've been too hard on Kenneth Clark. It doesn't matter that he won't stop talking. I've fallen madly in love with him. His suits. His posture. His barely concealed contempt for Marxism. If it wasn't for his teeth – which look like someone's filled his mouth with dinner plates and then let a hand grenade off – I'd want to crawl inside my television and tongue-kiss him. We're meant to be together. I see that now.

09:00 On the other hand, It's just occurred to me that Kenneth Clark is the only human being I've seen all day. Stockholm syndrome must be kicking in.

10:00 Now for the Romantic period – the age of Turner and Wordsworth, where men started believing in the divinity of nature and Jean-Jacques Rousseau was sufficiently moved to note "I feel therefore I am". Meanwhile I'm missing EastEnders, where Phil Mitchell is probably clouting some nonce over the head with a lead pipe.

10:45 Somehow, Civilisation has got me hooked. Over the last three hours, I've learned about the role of The Royal Society in shaping art, and the difference between baroque and rococo architecture – baroque drew upon elements of the Renaissance, while rococo is basically what Donald Trump's bathroom looks like. It's honestly brilliant television.

11:15 Actually, scrap that. I fell asleep again. This time I missed a bit about how good Rodin was at doing bums.

11:30 Luckily I'm awake for the final episode, which so far consists of Kenneth Clark sneering at New York from a boat, trying to hide his fear of the moon landing, and accurately predicting the entire plot of The Terminator. Amazing. I love you, Kenneth Clark.

12:30 It's over. The whole series polished off in a day. I'm certainly a better person for it: I know that modern romantic values are informed by a 1,000-year-old fetish with the Virgin Mary, that Michelangelo's David is quite a lot bigger than I thought, and that nobody knows why anybody likes opera. Most of all, though, I know that Kenneth Clark was much, much cooler than me. In fact, I'm pretty sure that, thanks to Civilisation, I know everything. EVERYTHING. Except anything that's happened since 1969. I'm not a machine.”