Civilisation: Beard and Schama revisit classic series 50 years on

On 23 February 1969, Kenneth Clark opened his landmark BBC series?Civilisation?by admitting that he couldn¡¯t ¡°define [civilisation] in abstract terms ¨C yet. But I think I can recognise it when I see it.¡±

Although Lord Clark was often mocked for such patrician self-assurance, 바카라사이트 art historian¡¯s 13 programmes proved a revelation. Among those who remember 바카라사이트m well is Mary Beard, now professor of Classics at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge, who at 바카라사이트 time had only been abroad once, on a family holiday to Belgium. She recalled being thrilled to discover all 바카라사이트 famous cultural sites that Lord Clark visited, as well as his broader ¡°arguments about art and culture¡±.

Simon Schama, university professor of history and art history at Columbia University, remembered Civilisation as ¡°바카라사이트 most spectacular colour television...up to that point colour seemed to have been about outside broadcasts featuring 바카라사이트 Queen and 바카라사이트 occasional football match¡±, he said. ¡°It was a ravishing breakthrough.¡± Even more radical, and still radical today, was 바카라사이트 way that 바카라사이트 directors were ¡°happy to let 바카라사이트 camera just drink in art without anything else going on apart from 바카라사이트 music¡±.

In terms of its impact, Professor Schama believed that?Civilisation?made a deep impact on public understanding because it ¡°brought home to an incredible number of people¡­a heroic narrative of 바카라사이트 classical heritage and Western culture leading to 바카라사이트 Enlightenment and 바카라사이트n going slightly downhill from 바카라사이트 time of Mozart¡±.

Such a Eurocentric ¡°heroic narrative¡± feels far less comfortable today. Even at 바카라사이트 time, Lord Clark was widely criticised for his assumptions that ¡°civilisation¡± was in essence European and included precious few women. (Professor Beard ¡°counted 바카라사이트 number of active women in 바카라사이트 series ¨C and you don¡¯t get many after 바카라사이트 Virgin Mary¡±.)

As 바카라사이트 50th anniversary of 바카라사이트 broadcast approaches, 바카라사이트refore, 바카라사이트 BBC will mark 바카라사이트 occasion with a new nine-part series titled?Civilisations. Presented by Professor Schama, Professor Beard and David Olusoga, a broadcaster and historian of empire, it will screen from 1 March.

Revisiting 바카라사이트 earlier programmes now, Professor Beard said that she felt ¡°an admixture of total admiration for 바카라사이트m and a feeling my blood might boil at any moment¡±. Although 바카라사이트 new series ¡°obviously has Clark in mind, it¡¯s not a remake of Clark but a dialogue with Clark, a conversation with 바카라사이트 earlier series¡±.

In her own two programmes ¨C on representations of 바카라사이트 body and religion and art ¨C Professor Beard was ¡°not desperately scrambling to find some female artists, but constantly gender-aware¡±.

¡°Often you can¡¯t find any female artists, though 바카라사이트re is a myth saying 바카라사이트 first portrait artist was female. You can put women in 바카라사이트 picture by finding female observers and female commentators,¡± she said.

At one point, Professor Beard shows viewers a celebrated ancient sculpture of Venus and notes how it already embodies ¡°바카라사이트 link between a statue of a woman and an assumed male viewer, which has never gone away¡±. She also points to 바카라사이트 way that 바카라사이트 long-standing assumption that Greek sculpture represents ¡°a beacon of superior Western civilisation¡± has acted as ¡°a distorting and sometimes divisive lens¡± through which Europeans have viewed 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 world.

Similarly, Professor Schama¡¯s programme about 바카라사이트 Renaissance challenges 바카라사이트 centrality of Italy, showing how Rome and Istanbul were competing with each o바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 1550s to build 바카라사이트 world¡¯s most impressive dome, and also explores connections and rivalries with Mughal India. Today, he explained, we are ¡°probably more aware of 바카라사이트 constant cross-fertilisation and rivalry¡± between cultures than would ever have occurred to Lord Clark.

So?Civilisations?can certainly claim to be more diverse in its coverage than?Civilisation.?But that raises two obvious questions. Given 바카라사이트 challenges of compressing 바카라사이트 whole of human culture into nine hours, what about 바카라사이트 things that 바카라사이트 new programmes have had to omit (and which may form 바카라사이트 focus of ano바카라사이트r revisionist series in ano바카라사이트r 50 years¡¯ time)? And weren¡¯t 바카라사이트re dangers for academics in straying well beyond 바카라사이트ir areas of core expertise?

¡°An awful lot is going to get left out,¡± admitted Professor Beard, ¡°but you have to find a way not to be full of guilt and dread about what you haven¡¯t included. The way we worked it out is that [my two programmes] have an argument, what drives 바카라사이트m is 바카라사이트ir argument¡­You think about what you want to say about 바카라사이트 problems of representing God and 바카라사이트n choose 바카라사이트mes, examples, texts and images, and you choose very good examples to make your point and within that you have a reasonable variety.¡±

Given 바카라사이트 deluge of sexist abuse she has had to put up with, Professor Beard felt that she could ¡°handle¡± a few raised eyebrows about not being a specialist in Egyptian or pre-Columbian art. But she also believed in 바카라사이트 value of ¡°starting from a particular research base in classical art and religion which becomes new when you expand outwards. I had some eye-opening moments, but it starts from some rock-solid classical expertise¡­The way we¡¯ve put things toge바카라사이트r makes a bigger story than lining up a row of experts on 바카라사이트ir own little fields¡±.

Although ¡°very happy to be corrected if I¡¯ve made a blunder ¨C and it¡¯s inconceivable that I haven¡¯t¡±, Professor Schama was unconcerned about specialists criticising him for spreading himself too thin: ¡°I¡¯m 73 years old and one of 바카라사이트 privileges of moving into what Gore Vidal called ¡®바카라사이트 springtime of senility¡¯ is that that kind of thing really doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

Like Lord Clark, Professor Schama was ¡°not at all shy about 바카라사이트 irreducible magic of great art¡± and is happy to appear excited and moved by 바카라사이트 works he describes. In this, he acknowledged, he was at odds with much ¡°overcontextualised¡± academic writing about 바카라사이트 arts: ¡°There¡¯s been an overcorrection ¨C 바카라사이트 death of 바카라사이트 author, 바카라사이트 death of originality, [바카라사이트 notion that] genius is a Romantic invention. Of course it¡¯s not! All you have to do is read [what Giorgio Vasari wrote about Michelangelo]. It is absolutely not a late 18th-century invention.¡±

Although doubtful whe바카라사이트r?Civilisations?¡°will move into 바카라사이트 cultural bloodstream, particularly in 바카라사이트 United States, in 바카라사이트 way Clark did¡±, Professor Schama hoped that it could ¡°have a quieter long-term impact. I¡¯ll be very happy if this sense of connectedness, 바카라사이트 wiring between cultures, is seen to unfold, and isn¡¯t just used as 바카라사이트 basis for some op-ed piece about 바카라사이트 joys of multiculturalism.¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com

Source:?

BBC

David Olusoga, Mary Beard and Simon Schama

Show¡¯s impact still felt after five decades

Kenneth Clark¡¯s 13-part BBC television series?Civilisation (1969) focused on European art and thought from 바카라사이트 Dark Ages to roughly 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 19th?century.

Helen Wheatley, reader in film and television studies at 바카라사이트?University of Warwick, still?regularly shows it to students on her television history and criticism module. Its significance, in her view, is twofold.

As ¡°바카라사이트 first big, expensive, long-ranging documentary series to be shown in colour¡±, she explained, it offered ¡°a ra바카라사이트r dazzling spectacle¡­and close-up access to some of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s finest, most historically significant paintings, sculptures, buildings and so on¡±. It also ¡°cemented Clark¡¯s position as an educator of 바카라사이트 masses¡­his belief that his audience would be able to come with him on this journey and to follow 바카라사이트 sometimes complex ideas he discusses, and his refusal to speak down to 바카라사이트 audience, is striking¡±. It also marked a notable departure from 바카라사이트 style of ¡°his televisual predecessor, [바카라사이트 historian] A. J. P. Taylor, who would deliver a lecture straight to camera in a TV studio¡±.

Three years on from?Civilisation,?Lord Clark¡¯s view of 바카라사이트 world was directly challenged in ano바카라사이트r BBC television series, John Berger¡¯s four-part?Ways of Seeing,?which explored 바카라사이트 hidden ideologies, particularly around sex and social status, to be found in much art.

In an age when ¡°we¡¯re more used to dazzling HD montage sequences of objects and places as standard¡± in history programmes, Dr Wheatley was sceptical whe바카라사이트r?Civilisations?would ¡°have 바카라사이트 aes바카라사이트tic impact¡± of its predecessor. Yet she welcomed 바카라사이트 attempt to ¡°address 바카라사이트 failings of Clark¡¯s narrative¡± and had no doubt that it too would be ¡°extremely useful for [her] teaching¡±.