A review of “Civilizations”

A modern series inspired by Kenneth Clark’s “Civilisation” (which aired in 1969) …

Before watching this program, I knew next to nothing about the visual arts – and, to a large degree, I still don’t. Although I have watched the original “Civilisation” series by Kenneth Clark – which this series was “inspired by,” in the words of its DVD case – I can claim no expertise on its subject matter. Nonetheless, I am a history buff, and am very interested in world history to boot. More to the point, I loved the original Kenneth Clark series from 1969, and wanted to see if this series would be as good as the original. Sadly, though, I did not see this modern reboot as it was originally shown on the BBC. I watched the PBS version, which made some major changes from the BBC source material. Most significantly, it featured the narration of actor Liev Schreiber throughout the series, which is not as good as that of the three scholars who were hosting this program. Their influence is still evident here, because their own talking-head pieces are still used even by PBS. But the narration was completely taken over by Liev Schreiber, and I found his narration to be less to my liking than the original clips from the three scholars.

The Taj Mahal, an Indo-Islamic building

Whereas the Kenneth Clark series focused on Western art, this series tries to cover the art of the entire world …

The most important difference between “Civilizations” and its predecessor was probably in its focus. This series is a nine-hour survey of the art of the entire world, whereas its predecessor was a ten-hour look at the art of the Western world. The original series also paid more attention to chronological order, whereas this series hops around from one period to another in more thematic fashion. Its episodes are organized around such themes as “How Do We Look?” (depictions of the human body), or “The Cult of Progress” (how technology has changed the world). In each theme, it samples relevant art from several different areas of the world. Thus, its explorations of religious art are as likely to explore Muslim and Hindu religious themes, as they are to explore Jewish and Christian religious themes. Which focus is more interesting may depend somewhat upon your point of view, but each of them definitely has something to offer. This shows how certain features that we take for granted are associated with our own culture – such as depicting a single moment in linear time, rather than several moments within the same frame (which would be more common in some Eastern art).

Notre-Dame de la Belle-Verrière, part of the Chartres Cathedral in France

… although this series covers classical history better than the Kenneth Clark series does

Like its predecessor, this series surveys art from paintings to sculpture to architecture – the latter of which may be just as much about artistic beauty as it is about functional engineering. This series shows such beautiful buildings as the Taj Mahal in modern India, and not just Western buildings like the Chartres Cathedral in France – although the stained-glass windows of the latter speak to me powerfully, in a way that most art does not. This series distinguishes itself most in its discussion of some non-Western topics, but surpasses its predecessor even in discussing some (prior) Western topics. This is because its predecessor started at the fall of the Roman Empire, and ended its first episode at the conclusion of the Dark Ages. Thus, the Kenneth Clark series did not even attempt to cover the prior classical art of the West, from the Ancient Greeks and Romans. By contrast, this series dives into Greek and Roman art on a number of occasions, particularly in its discussion of how they depicted the human body in statues and vases. I am not a fan of art that depicts nudity, and so I am turned off by much of Greek and Roman art for this reason. But I still enjoyed another series focusing on classical art in the West, which shows its influence upon the later Western art discussed by Kenneth Clark. It’s not always easy to draw the line between art and pornography, in my opinion, even though there is a major distinction between them. (More about that here, at this external website.)

Ancient Greek vase

The Kenneth Clark series was more focused on the power of ideas than this series is …

There is another major difference between this series and its predecessor, which is that the Kenneth Clark series was much more focused on the power of ideas. For Kenneth Clark, art was partly a vehicle for talking about the intellectual history of the West. By contrast, this series tries to stick to a discussion of the art itself, and a discussion of what the artists were trying to do in their works. Ideas are discussed only in a historical analysis of certain artistic works, and how they were a departure from prior works of their own kind. For these scholars, ideas seem to be more of a vehicle for talking about the art, rather than having the art be a vehicle for talking about the ideas. Of the non-Western ideas discussed here, the one that I find most foreign is the prohibition against depicting the human form in some Muslim faiths. Depicting the human form in general (and the Prophet Muhammad in particular) is strictly forbidden in many Muslim faiths. This makes Muslim art very different from any other kind of art, and this difference is prominent in this program’s depiction of the different cultures. In fairness, Muslim artists have contributed much in many other kinds of art, and I do not wish to paint all Muslims with the same brush.

“The School of Athens,” a sixteenth-century fresco by Raphael

Some comments on the talking heads in this latter series, including Simon Schama …

Some of the themes covered in this series are the contacts between the different cultures during the age of exploration, the European Renaissance and the Islamic Golden Age, reactions to European colonialism and imperialism, and artistic depictions of nature and the environment. I cannot possibly do justice to these kinds of topics, in a review of this length. Nonetheless, the three scholars do a great job of discussing their respective topics, with Simon Schama having a slight majority of the nine episodes. The other programs are covered by Mary Beard and David Olusoga, both of whom clearly know what they are talking about. This series has interviews with a number of other art historians, including an American history professor named Maya Jasanoff. I am a big fan of some of Simon Schama’s other programs, such as his history of Britain, or his story of the Jews. Thus, it was good to see him as one of the contributing scholars for this program. He shows that he is familiar with some art outside of the West, and that his expertise is not confined to Jewish and Christian religious art (although he does clearly know much about these latter two topics).

Hall of Supreme Harmony in China's “Forbidden City”

My personal favorite is still the series by Kenneth Clark (although this series is still good)

Of the two series being discussed here, my personal favorite may still be the original by Kenneth Clark. This is partly because I am primarily interested in Western culture, and its Jewish and Christian themes. It is also partly because I prefer its discussion of the ideas, to this series’ focus on the art itself. I love intellectual history, and I love talking about the history of the ideas – especially in reference to Western civilization. I never took an art class – or even an art history class – and thus probably would have some trouble passing either of these kinds of classes (although I do strongly respect these disciplines nonetheless). But this series adds some discussion of other world cultures that Kenneth Clark never really attempted to cover. It has enough semblance to the original to be worth seeing on this account as well. More importantly, it helps to get a new generation interested in art history, and in the broader history of humanity as a whole.

Trailer on YouTube

DVD at Amazon

If you liked this post, you might also like:

A review of “Great Epochs of European Art: Art of the Ancient Greeks & Romans”

A review of “The Dark Ages: An Age of Light” (BBC)

A review of “The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance” (PBS Empires)

A review of Kenneth Clark’s “Civilisation” (BBC, shown on PBS)

A review of Michael Wood’s “The Story of India” (BBC, shown on PBS)

A review of Michael Wood’s “The Story of China” (BBC, shown on PBS)

A review of “Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire” (PBS Empires)