Civilisation (13 Parts)
- Synopsis
- Sir Kenneth Clark’s personal view of the development of Western civilisation, concentrating on crucial episodes in France, Germany, England, Italy and America. Against the historical background are the men who re-energised civilisation, producing works of genius and expanding our understanding of the world and ourselves. In introducing the series Clark emphasised that it was not a history of the arts, but a history of life-giving beliefs and ideas made visible and audible through the medium of art.
DVD extras include an interview with David Attenborough. - Language
- English
- Country
- Great Britain
- Year of production
- 1969
- Notes
- Originally broadcast in 1969 as 13, 50-minute programmes. BBC Video will take over distribution of this title from DD Video in April 2005.
- Subjects
- History; Philosophy
- Keywords
- cultural evolution; cultural influences; history of art; history of Europe; social history
Distribution Formats
- Type
- DVD
- Format
- Region 2 PAL
- Price
- £49.99 (DD) £25.99 (BBC)
- Availability
- Sale
- Duration/Size
- 650 minutes
- Year
- 2004
Sections
- Title
- Skin of our Teeth, The
- Synopsis
- The Dark Ages, from AD 400 to AD 1000, and how European thought and art were saved by ‘the skin of our teeth’.
- Duration
- 50 mins
- Title
- Great Thaw, The
- Synopsis
- The sudden reawakening of European civilisation in the 12th century from the first manifestations at the Abbey of Cluny in France to its high point, the building of Chartres Cathedral.
- Duration
- 50 mins
- Title
- Romance and Reality
- Synopsis
- From a castle in the Loire valley, through the hill towns in Tuscany and Umbria to the Cathedral Baptistery at Pisa, Sir Kenneth explores the aspirations and achievements of the later Middle Ages in France and Italy.
- Duration
- 50 mins
- Title
- Man - the Measure of all Things
- Synopsis
- Florence, where the re-discovery of the classical past gave a new impetus to European thought, and the palaces of Urbino and Mantua, the centres of Renaissance civilisation.
- Duration
- 50 mins
- Title
- Hero as Artist, The
- Synopsis
- Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci feature in a programme on Papal Rome in the 16th century.
- Duration
- 50 mins
- Title
- Protest and Communications
- Synopsis
- The theme of protest and communication, taking in the Reformation, the Germany of Albrecht Dürer and Martin Luther, Erasmus, the France of Montaigne and Elizabethan England.
- Duration
- 50 mins
- Title
- Grandeur and Obedience
- Synopsis
- The Rome of the Counter-Reformation and of Michelangelo and Bernini. The Catholic Church in its fight against the Protestant North developed a new spelendour symbolised by St Peter’s.
- Duration
- 50 mins
- Title
- Light of Experience, The
- Synopsis
- The revelations of the telescope and the microscope, and the realism of Dutch paintings that took the observation of human character a stage further.
- Duration
- 50 mins
- Title
- Pursuit of Happiness, The
- Synopsis
- The nature of 18th century music - Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart - and the way its qualities are reflected in the best rococo architecture of the period, seen in the pilgrimage churches and in Bavarian palaces.
- Duration
- 50 mins
- Title
- Smile of Reason, The
- Synopsis
- The salons of 18th-century Paris which eventually became the precursors of revolutionary politics.
- Duration
- 50 mins
- Title
- Worship of Nature, The
- Synopsis
- Christianity suddenly declined as the chief creative force in Western civilisation after about 1730, when people came to believe in the divinity of nature.
- Duration
- 50 mins
- Title
- Fallacies of Hope
- Synopsis
- The French Revolution led not to freedom but to the Terror, the dictatorship of Napoleon and the bureaucracies of the 19th century. This programme traces the prograssive disillusionment of the artists of the Romantic Movement through the music of Beethoven.
- Duration
- 50 mins
- Title
- Heroic Materialism
- Synopsis
- Contrasts the engineering and science achievements of the past hundred years with the equally remarkable influence of such humanitarian reformers as Wilberforce and Shaftesbury. Examples range from 19th-century English industrial landscapes to space technology and the atom bomb.
- Duration
- 50 mins
Production Company
- Name
BBC Television
Distributor
- Name
2 Entertain Video
- DVDenquiryline@bbc.com
- Web
- http://www.2entertainvideo.co.uk/ External site opens in new window
- Phone
- 020 7612 3000
- Fax
- 020 7612 3003
- Address
- BBC Worldwide
33 Foley Street
London
W1W 7TL - Notes
- Specialises in distributing archival film and television titles, predominantly licensed from the BBC (the principal shareholder is BBC Worldwide). Sale on DVD through retail outlets. As of 2016 2Entertain is being gradually wound down and its output reduced. If something is not available via them it is advisable to try the BBC Store at https://store.bbc.com/
Record Stats
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