Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation: A Personal View, a thirteen-part TV series about Western art and culture, first aired on the BBC in 1969 and on PBS a year later. The series was hugely popular in both countries. Today, however, it’s mostly forgotten save by specialists in TV history. A couple of weeks ago the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., hosted a panel discussion of Civilisation and its significance, but to date PBS has shown no interest in commemorating its fortieth anniversary.
In this week’s “Sightings” column for The Wall Street Journal I reflect on why Civilisation is no longer well remembered–and explain why many present-day intellectuals hold it in contempt. Pick up a copy of Saturday’s Journal and see what I have to say.
UPDATE: Read the whole thing here.
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The opening sequence of “The Skin of Our Teeth,” the first episode of Civilisation:
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
