Greece Hotels Travel - Civilisation: The Complete Series
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List Price: $79.98
greece-hotels-travel.com Price: $60.99
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Manufacturer: BBC Warner
Starring: Kenneth Clark
Directed By: Michael Gill, Peter Montagnon
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0794051260628
Format: Box set
Label: BBC Warner
Manufacturer: BBC Warner
Number Of Items: 4
Publisher: BBC Warner
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2006-06-27
Running Time: 670
Studio: BBC Warner
Theatrical Release Date: 1969
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Editorial Reviews:
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The eminent art historian Sir Kenneth Clark was commissioned to write and present an epic examination of Western European culture, defining what he considered to be the crucial phases of its development. Civilisation: A Personal View by Lord Clark would be more than two years in the making, with filming in over 100 locations across 13 countries. The lavish series was hailed as a masterpiece when it was first transmitted in 1969.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: 40 years later: Still fascinating and relevant
Comment: 40 yrs have passed since I first saw Civilisation...and read the companion book. In the intervening period I have travelled, studied Western art and society, and seen a great many terrific documentaries. This first documentary on the history of art and the West remains unparalleled..fascinating overview with opinions that are worth thinking about. His final "Heroic Materialism" still rings true to me. It deserves to be back on television and for a now-huger audience.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Demanding but essential viewing of European history through art
Comment: Kenneth Clark's Civilisation is important because without this format there would not have been Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man, or any of David Attenboroughs nature programs or Carl Sagan's Cosmos. This is the brand that started them all however the subject matter is very different from those science-orientated programs.
Clark believed that he could encapsulate the development of European civilization (he does a little bit on America too) through its art. It is a very audacious project and to some extent Clark is making television history by doing something that has never been done before. Throughout the 13 episodes Clark picks an era and discusses the main mood, expressed through art and how it progresses civilization or how civilization advances art. Art history is a feedback system with one adding to the other.
Clark discusses the historical context and the impact it has on the art which eventually leads to the art having an impact on history that starts up the historical context of the next episode. Sometimes keeping his comments to a minimum, he hopes that the artwork will express itself although Clark does speak at length about their central themes. This is very much a scholarly effort with a lecturer brimming with his life's work experience. The vastness of his knowledge on the topic of art history is incredible and he presents us with the very best of what art has to offer.
Here are some examples of what you can expect to learn about...
Episode 1: "The Skin of Our Teeth"
The collapse of civilizations. Works of art in civilization. The Viking ships. The Apollo. Status of civilizations by their art. Expressions of an ideal. The aqueduct. Gibbon's The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire. Enemies of civilization such as fear, the supernatural and boredom. Confidence. The exhaustion of the Greek and Roman empire. Barbarian invaders. Christian Roman Empire. Islam. Christianity in Ireland. Pagans. Dark ages. Anglo-Saxons. Gold. Craftsmanship. Iona. Celtic designs for the illiterate. Book of Kells. The Norsemen. The Vikings. Vikings in Persia. The Franks. Charlemagne. Writing and reading. Byzantine Empire. Holy Roman Empire. The problem of static absolute power such as Egypt. Lothar Cross. The crucifixion as a new 10th century symbol.
Episode 2: "The Great Thaw"
Periods of intensification of existence. Canterbury cathedral. Durham cathedral. Confidence in construction. Ecclesiastical power and internationality. Cluny Abbey. Bernard of Clairvaux. Cistercian style. Monasticism. Pilgramages to Jerusalem. The crusades. Sainte-Foy of Conques. Romanesque art. Peter Abalard. Vézelay Abbey. The Basilica of Saint Denis. Abbot Suger and the concept that the dull mind rises to the absolute through sensing the material world. Gothic architecture. Cathedral of Chartres. Cult of the virgin. Chartres sculptures based on Greek influence. Flying buttress. Stained glass.
Episode 3: "Romance and Reality"
Medieval times (Middle ages). Lady of the unicorn tapestry. Cathedral of Chartres. Courtly love. Feudalism. The Madonnas. Roman de la Rose. Boethius. Tristan und Isolde. Duke of Berry. Nature in art. Francis of Assisi. Giotto. Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi. Rejection of the cult of poverty. Church banking. Capitalism. Palazzo Pubblico, the town hall of Siena. Giotto and spacial dimensions in paintings. Dante. Baptistry of Pisa.
Episode 4: "Man the Measure of All Things"
Florence. Protagoras. Pazzi Chapel. Brunelleschi. The architecture of humanism. Dawn of the Renaissance architecture. Leonardo Bruni. Francesco Petrarca. San Marco. Perspective. Open air markets. The spirit of criticism. The statue of David by Donatello. Busts. Death masks. Leone Battista Alberti. Donatello's equestrian statue of Gattamelata. Realistic portraits. Jan van Eyck. Selling our labour and goods just transferred. Lorenzo de medici. Birth of Venus. Neoplatonism. Urbino. Raphael. The Prince by Machiavelli. The Book of the Courtier (Il Cortegiano). Mantua. Adoration of the lamb. Venetian painting. Giorgione. Hamlet. The problem of social separation during the Renaissance.
Episode 5: "The Hero as Artist"
Rome. Vatican. Popes and civilization. Pope Julius II. Old Saint Peters. Apollo Belvedere. Andrea Mantegna. Triumphs of Caesar. Verrocchio. Michelangelo. Sistine Chapel ceiling. Raphael. The School of Athens. Leonardo da Vinci.
In later episodes Clark discusses the reformation, Shakespeare, the counter-reformation, St. Peter's, the telescope, the microscope, Dutch paintings, music from Bach, Handel, Mozart, the age of enlightenment, Voltaire, Jefferson, the worship of nature, romanticism, the Alps, Turner, Constable, the French revolution Napoleon, Beethoven, Byron, Delacroix, Rodin before rounding up with modern materialism, cities, skyscrapers, New York, science, Brunel, Rutherford, Wilberforce, Shaftsbury and space exploration.
This show was developed specifically to show the power of color television (which had failed in America) and which was reinvented for BBC2 in the UK with a new technical color system. Every episode also flourished with music. K. Clark was really doing something very new. It was more than just a glorified lecture. This was television history in the making.
However it is a very personal view and this show is just as much about Clark as it is about his subject matter. He had to omit Spain because he didn't know how to deal with the inquisition and bull fighting but the achievement is still remarkable none-the-less.
It does have some other weaknesses. The presentation of Civilisation is a bit of a hybrid and a title is a little bit misleading. "A European History of Art" is really what it is. It is not exactly a well rounded history of Europe but it is of European art. In fact it leans so much in the direction of art for its presentation that it often leaves its historical context far behind. For this reason many people who want a presentation on Civilisation but may not like art will find it, quite simply, frustrating. It is so heavy on art throughout the ages that there are bound to be episodes that one prefers over the others. Even the best of art appreciators may find it challenging. It is hard to relax to it.
There is also so much more (like science) that could have gone into it but alas Clark couldn't do everything and the producers made other shows, like Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man, based on the same program design to make up for it. Still if it is a presentation of art or history you are looking for then Civilisation is probably where it all started and to be honest you could not be in any better hands than K. Clark. There is nothing like it really.
Pros:
History through art must be seen
K. Clark scholarly presentation
The widest range of European art ever presented
Cinematography is splendid
Art direction is top class
Cons:
Very heavy on art as the medium for presenting history
May not be something you can watch from start to end quickly (personally took me over a year to view it all).
Customer Rating:
Summary: Far more limited than the title would imply
Comment: The title of this series is highly misleading. Far from being an examination of the development of civilization - which would imply looking at Mesopotamia, Sumer, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China and perhaps parts of South America - Kenneth Clark focuses entirely on post-classical western civilization. And even within this limited remit he doesn't really address the wider theme of civilization at all. Instead, he gives us an art historian's take on some of the elaborations of civilization: the sculptures, the paintings, the architectural wonders, most especially of the Catholic branch of the Christian church. In fact, Clark is very much a parochial Anglo-Catholic/High Churchman who sees all of western art through this very narrow and inadequate lens. In short, the series does not support the weighty aspiration of its title.
Much of Clark's treatment has not aged well. His is a view of received wisdom regarding the art of the middle ages, the Renaissance, and modern times. He inspires us to visit Urbino and persuades us once more to tolerate the confusion and dirt of Rome but for the most part leaves us wanting so much more. Lacking any measure of economic, geo-political, military, or scientific background Clark cannot identify the missing pieces of his theme, far less stitch them together into a satisfying account of how civilization can arise from near-barbarism. He defines civilization very narrowly, as being that state of society in which splendid artistic innovations can be made and to some degree sustained. This is a very sparse definition indeed and unless the viewer is an avid art history student with no other interests whatsoever it is likely to disappoint. I found myself wishing again and again that he would engage with his material in a more compelling manner, abjuring the stiff formality of an art historian and looking into the underlying realities. Why, for example, in Renaissance painting are faces always shown either with closed mouths or with open mouths in which the lips hide the teeth? Because discolored, uneven, and rotted teeth are unappealing and everyone had such teeth in those days, even the very wealthy (in fact the wealthy most of all, because of their addiction to sugar in all their meals). Clark would have scorned such a comment as having nothing to do with his subject but this simple fact helps illuminate that long-gone world in a very concrete and immediate way. Likewise the appearance of natural light in paintings: the removal of a foolish tax on glass led to more people being able afford windows and thus to enjoy natural light and this in turn improved the health of their dwellings which in turn led to longer lives which in turn permitted people to learn more and pass on more before they died, thus adding to the overall stock of civilization. Clark treats light as merely an artistic breakthrough whereas in fact it was important far beyond the paintings of Van Eyck and Vermeer. Equally the commerce of the period did more to advance civilization than all the sculptures combined - but Clark admits he knows nothing of commerce and in the habit of a patrician is blithely dismissive of "hard headed businessmen" and their achievements.
Clark himself is not a very compelling presenter. He appears stiff, uncomfortable with the conventions of television, and his sibilant speech and determinedly English pronunciation of foreign words is frequently distracting. He never engages the viewer in the way that all good presenters do, becoming a living conduit between the subject and the viewer. Instead, Clark is akin to the boring old college professor whose lectures we all had to sit through and whose erudition we appreciated while we yearned for something much more inspiring. As a quaint piece of television history this series is worth a cursory look, but for anyone looking for a real account of what civilization is and means, Clark's effort is only going to disappoint.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The very best very personal view of Western culture. A complete joy.
Comment: The aim of education is to end up with the investment, the passion, that Lord Clark brings to this overview of our roots. Watching this series is to profit from his erudition and his delightful personality.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the most important documentaries ever made
Comment: I bought the DVDs at the store on the spur of the moment, and having never heard of Kenneth Clark. I have watched the whole thing many times now and have since spent time looking at art in Italy, France, and Spain.
What really impressed me the first few times watching the videos were the slow pace at which the camera showed the art and architecture. The viewer actually gets time to dwell on and think about what is on the screen, instead of, as in more modern documentaries, getting half a second before moving on.
What really impressed me in later viewings was the fact that this would be an important work even if it was just audio. Kenneth Clark's words are more than what one usually finds in a textbook. They are the conclusions he has come to after a lifetime of thinking about art, mankind, and civilization. It is too easy to hear a sentence and pass right over the amazing gems of profundity that it contains. It takes viewing the videos with the mind of a student seeking enlightment to truly understand what is said. Some ignorant reviewers have claimed the series is simplistic. Far from it, it is highly concentrated wisdom. The more one studies art, architecture, and civilization, and the older one gets, the more meaning Clark's words yield.
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