|
Kenneth Clark's career as early television's pre-eminent art historian
started with a series of programmes made for ITV. His first attempts, such as Is
Art Necessary (ITV, 1958) and Should Every Picture Tell a Story? (ITV, 1958),
were based around studio debates. However, Clark was uncomfortable with the
format and decided that a lecture-based presentation might better suit both his
own personal style and his subject matter. The result was Five Revolutionary
Painters (ITV, 1958), which effectively cast the mould for the rest of his
broadcasting career.
BBC2's second controller, David Attenborough, was charged with introducing
colour to British TV, and he therefore needed programmes that would demonstrate
the benefits of the new service. One of his ideas was to base a series around
some of the world's "most beautiful things", set into some form of context by a
narrator. The obvious choice for the role was Clark, who refined Attenborough's
nebulous concept by adding a clearly defined historical structure.
The premise for the series, which was fully titled Civilisation: a personal
view by Kenneth Clark (BBC, 1969), was explained by Clark with a quote from John
Ruskin: "Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts - the
book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art. Not one
of these books can be understood unless we read the two others, but of the three
the only trustworthy one is the last." And for 13 weeks he attempted to show how
two thousand years of the creative urge had moulded western civilisation.
The first episode was watched by just 1 million viewers - a figure that
partly reflected the relatively few households able to receive the new channel -
but Civilisation's impact far outweighed its viewing reach. Prior to its
transmission it had been dismissed as an expensive folly - three years in the
making and with a budget of £500,000. However, it quickly became a symbol of
'quality' programming and won near universal critical acclaim.
Civilisation remains an impressive piece of work, although its emphasis on
individual creators and a narrative that built around a unified vision of the
route to modernity now looks quaint and naïve. However, Clark's doctrine that
humanity can be explored and explained through art is compelling, while his
presentational style, which often resembles an internal monologue, provides
direct access to his ideas, enabling him to speak to his audience without
condescension.
Anthony Clark
|
Extract (7:58)
