Kenneth Clark's fine tv show: Civilisation

Stourton's book was published in 2017

I knew Kenneth Clark (1903-83) from watching his Civil­is­at­ion series on tv in 1969 and from his involvement with one of my favour­ite art historians Bern­ard Beren­son. And more recently I read Kenneth Clark: Life, Art and Civil­isation by James Stourton (Collins, 2016). 

Born in 1903 into a wealthy textile-based family, Clark progressed through Winchester and Oxford Uni, helped by supportive nannies and teachers. Then he was mentored by Bern­ard Beren­son in Flor­en­ce.

Stourton’s book analysed Clark’s mixed experiences. Clark was a product of the Edward­ian wealthy classes and by 28 he’d became Keeper of Fine Art at the Ashmolean. And King George V (1910-35) per­sonally encouraged Clark to become Keeper of the King’s Pict­ur­es. His classy family back­ground and education ensured a successful career.

Stourton analysed Clark’s emotional and intellectual contra­dictions. He loved his wife Jane (d1976) who had also read history at Ox­ford; they married in 1927 and had 3 children. Jane won his praise early on for her elegance and her role as a host­ess, despite her tem­p­er and booze. Meanwhile Clark’s mistresses fared no better than the wife. Independent women rarely appeared in Civil­isation, neither as creative art­ists nor as patrons. When a woman seemed unfitting, she was des­cr­ibed as an unstable spouse of a long-suffering husband who was forced to seek sol­ace else­where. Clark’s tv present­at­ion of women as objects of desire or insp­ir­ation was close to how his own women were portrayed.

The Civ­ilisation programme had focused largely on Europe, but Clark saw 2 big problems: 1]he loathed the megalomania of Vers­ail­les and wanted to exclude it from Civilisation and 2]the series avoid­ed Spain because it was still ruled by Franco. I Helen have another problem - why did BBC make a series that excluded the cul­tures of the Far East, In­dia, Africa and Central-South America? His omis­s­ions were not because of other cultures’ inferiority, but because of his ignorance. Yet de­spite the concentration on Europe, Clark’s tastes since child­hood had been far from Euro­cen­tric.

Clark became Director of the National Gal­lery in 1938. He had the National Gallery’s masterpieces evacuated to the Welsh mines; and he rein­vented the remaining gal­lery as a cultural centre in wartime Lon­don, including concerts and temporary exhibitions. And great acq­uisitions of art by Bosch, Rubens, Rembrandt, Hogarth and Ingres were protected. Yet the staff were almost ent­irely against him, which led to his re­signation as soon as the war ended.

Clark defined civilised values as moral virtues, using the Enlight­enment’s rationality and the Victorians’ human­itarianism as great examples. But con­trary evidence from his own life suggested that civilisation may have been imp­lic­ated in acquisitive vice.

Clark was laughed at for his uber-priv­il­eged background but he had a great range of expertise. Unlike other authors, Clark’s books were very readable documents, the most famous: Leon­ardo da Vinci 1939, Piero della Francesca 1951, The Nude 1956 and Feminine Beauty 1980. [Clark’s art hero John Ruskin also wrote very readably]. Many people did think Clark was arrogant and snobbish. Blushing at his own inher­it­ed privileges, Clark saw himself as a toff who’d been pro­moted to the status of a sage. So he did the right thing - he sec­retly depos­it­ed funds in the bank acc­ounts of artists who needed subsid­­ies.

In 1954 Clark accepted the chairmanship of the Independent Television Authority and, to the dismay of the BBC, defended the crud­ity of the new commercial channel. But Clark was a nat­ural on screen and he’d already made dozens of programmes for ITV.

Pazzi Chapel in one of the cloisters

in the complex of the Cathedra of Santa Croce, Florence

Expressing Renaissance values-peace, harmony, order, noble striving

Clark presented his history at a time when TV still had interest in educating and exciting millions. So TV history did not need to be uber-scholarly, but it had to express Clark’s love for the arts in clear English. He was Chancellor of the University of York from 1967-78. 

He was 66 when he made Civilisation. I don’t remember my opinion of Clark way back in Feb 1969, but in the first ep­is­ode he must have looked posh and con­fident. Although some were critical, the programme succeeded; Clark’s tv programme earned him a life peerage in 1969.

1968-9 was an awful time in human history, and Clark was afraid that western civilis­ation might vanish. His programme appeared while Czech­oslovakia was invaded, Vietnam’s wars intensified, civil unrest in Paris was chaotic and Martin Lut­her King was murdered. Sadly for Kenneth, his tough right-wing son Alan Clark became a Thatcher minister in 1983, the year Kenneth died.

Civilisation by Kenneth Clark

published in 1970

Clark studied da Vinci’s works in Royal Collection Windsor Castle,

and then Christ Mocked, by Hieronymus Bosch

The National Gallery

Despite criticisms, he was one of the most influent­ial figure in C20th British art. In 2014 The Tate organised "Ken­neth Clark: Looking for Civilisation", an exhibition that examined his role as a pat­ron, collector, art historian, public servant and popular broadcaster.

Read Michael Prodger, "In Defence of Civilisation", in History Today, 2014. Richard Nilsen, A Civilised TV series, 2014. And The Ideal Museum: Art Historian Kenneth Clark on the Formation of Western Institutions, in 1954 in ARTnews.