I believe that in spite of the recent triumphs of science, men haven't changed much in the last two thousand years; and in consequence we must still try to learn from history. History is ourselves. Kenneth Clark More Quotes by Kenneth Clark More Quotes From Kenneth Clark Those who wish, in the interest of morality, to reduce Leonardo, that inexhaustible source of creative power, to a neutral or sexless agency, have a strange idea of doing service to his reputation. Kenneth Clark agency creative ideas Opera, next to Gothic architecture, is one of the strangest inventions of Western man. It could not have been foreseen by any logical process. Kenneth Clark opera gdp men Ingres was one of those artists to whom the outline was something sacred and magical, and the reason is that it was the means of reconciling the major conflict in his art, the conflict between abstraction and sensibility. Kenneth Clark lines mean art The Cathedrals were built to the glory of God; New York was built to the glory of Mammon. Kenneth Clark cathedrals glory new-york We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs. Kenneth Clark inspiration attitude motivational Antique art has come down to us in a fragmentary condition, and we have virtuously adapted our taste to this necessity. Almost all our favorite specimens of Greek sculpture, from the sixth century onward, were originally parts of compositions, and if we were faced with the complete group in which the Charioteer of Delphi was once a subsidiary figure, we might well experience a moment of revulsion. We have come to think of the fragment as more vivid, more concentrated, and more authentic. Kenneth Clark greek art thinking No nude, however abstract, should fail to arouse in the spectator some vestige of erotic feeling, even if it be only the faintest shadow - and if it does not do so it is bad art and false morals. Kenneth Clark erotic feelings art I wonder if a single thought that has helped forward the human spirit has ever been conceived or written down in an enormous room: except, perhaps, in the reading room of the British Museum. Kenneth Clark reading museums rooms All color is no color. Kenneth Clark colour color 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. Kenneth Clark boredom long people One musn't overrate the culture of what used to be called "top people" before the wars. They had charming manners, but they were as ignorant as swans. Kenneth Clark swans war people We are part of a great whole. All living things are our brothers and sisters. Kenneth Clark brothers-and-sisters living-things brother The nude does not simply represent the body, but relates it, by analogy, to all structures that have become part of our imaginative experience. Kenneth Clark body doe beauty This became Delacroix 's theme: that the achievements of the spirit all that a great library contained were the result of a state of society so delicately balanced that at the least touch they would be crushed beneath an avalanche of pent-up animal forces. Kenneth Clark library achievement animal The illustrator is essentially a reporter: his subjects come from the outside, lit by a flash. A subject comes to the classical artist from inside, and when he discovers confirmation of it in the outside world he feels that it has been there all the time. Kenneth Clark confirmation artist world The history of art cannot be properly understood without some reference to the history of science. In both we are studying the symbols by which man affirms his mental scheme, and these symbols, be they pictorial or mathematical, a fable or formula, will reflect the same changes. Kenneth Clark fables men art Lives devoted to Beauty seldom end well. Kenneth Clark devoted wells ends Our universe cannot even be stated symbolically. And this touches us all more directly than one might suppose. For example, artists, who have been very little influenced by social systems, have always responded instinctively to latent assumptions about the shape of the universe. The incomprehensibility of our new cosmos seems to me, ultimately, to be the reason for the chaos of modern art. Kenneth Clark shapes littles art To hurry through the rise and fall of a fine, full sentence is like defying the role of time in human life. Kenneth Clark defying roles fall Sweeping, confident articles on the future seem to me, intellectually, the most disreputable of all forms of public utterance. Kenneth Clark articles utterance form
