Kenneth Clark (1) (1903–1983)

Kenneth Clark's childhood reads like a demented fairy tale. He was brought up in Edwardian times when people ironed the newspapers and drank tea-time whiskies. His parent often left young Clark alone with the help while they spent their time living on yachts. As a child he gallivanted about the French Riviera, attended shooting parties and wandered music halls. But something happened when he reached the age of seven. Suddenly, works of art had the power to move him profoundly. He had the show more ability to recognize real talent. This exceptional gift developed with time, scholarship and good old fashioned experience until, at the young age of thirty, he was appointed Director of the National Gallery. After that, Clark fills his pages with a who's who of artists and others he has met. It's a fascinating story which Clark tells with such animation and enthusiasm. show less

A magisterial and opinionated overview of landscape painting up to the nineteenth century, based upon the author's 1946 undergraduate lectures at the University of Oxford, with each chapter displaying depth of knowledge of both art and English literature. It is accessible, but as it is dated (1949, with minor revisions in 1976), also makes you realise how much might be assumed knowledge for undergraduates at that time, which is now erudite (for this reader), making me aware of the loss of a show more common education, or perhaps it has always been such.
The first four chapters (over half the book) set out snapshots from the historical development of landscape painting, which was originally merely the background of religious or figurative painting. Chapters five to seven discuss landscape painting in the nineteenth century, and chapter eight is a brief epilogue looking at early twentieth century art.

Perhaps too many superlatives, but the works that he applies them to are mainly the famous works one expects. And although dated, the introduction by Will Gompertz to the Folio Society edition puts this in its historical context.
The Folio Society edition from 2013 (if you can obtain it second hand) has 147 cross-referenced colour illustrations of works discussed in the text, which make it a joy to read. show less

Kenneth Clark's 1983 book The Art of Humanism is a succinct examination of the Italian Renaissance of the fifteenth century from a humanistic perspective. Clark, who is most known for his seminal series Civilization, explores how the visual arts were transformed by a renewed sense of human greatness and potential. The book focuses on five major masters of the era: Andrea Mantegna: Classical antiquity and the heroic figure; Paolo Uccello: The compulsive, scientific study of perspective; show more Donatello: Human emotion and drama in sculpture; and Leon Battista Alberti: Architecture and the mathematical foundation of beauty.
Sandro Botticelli: Humanism's poetic and spiritual side.

"Belief in the greatness of man and the supremacy of human values" is how Clark characterizes humanism. He contends that these artists were philosophers who gave these new ideals shape in addition to being expert craftsmen. Clark's "patrician self-confidence" and "great man" approach to art history, which emphasizes individual brilliance over larger social movements, are frequently highlighted in reviews of his larger body of work. In keeping with that model, this book offers a close-knit, knowledgeable tour of particular masterpieces. show less

Tremendously rich from beginning to end. Each paragraph contains passages of deep critical observation and unexpected connections. The finest book on art history that I've read.