Kenneth Clark : Life, Art and Civilisation

A SUNDAY TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEARA SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEARAN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEARA NEW YORK TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEAR From his time as Bernard Berenson's protege to being the Keeper of the Western Art at 27 and his appointment as the youngest-ever director of the National Gallery Kenneth Clark displayed precocious genius. No voice has exercised so much power and influence over the arts in Britain as Clark's. A formidable aesthete his coterie included John Betjeman Winston Churchill Margot Fonteyn E.M. Forster Vivien Leigh the Queen Mother and Henry Moore. Hidden from view however was his wife Jane's alcoholism and his own philandering. In James Stourton's dazzling biography Clark is shown as a man who conveyed the profound beauty and importance of art architecture and civilisation for generations to come.