Clan Rising

Clark Family Champion

Sir Kenneth Clark(1903–1983)

Kenneth McKenzie Clark, Baron Clark, OM, CH

The Paisley cotton-thread heir who became Director of the National Gallery at thirty, Surveyor of the King's Pictures through the war, the first chairman of the Arts Council, and the presenter of the BBC's Civilisation, the popular art-history series of the twentieth century.

Kenneth McKenzie Clark was born in Mayfair on 13 July 1903, only child of a Paisley cotton-thread heir whose family business, J & P Coats, was one of the largest companies in the United Kingdom. He read modern history at Trinity College, Oxford, took a first in 1925, and had decided by his second year that art history would be the work of his life.

The foundational training was the Berenson apprenticeship. He spent two years between 1925 and 1927 at I Tatti outside Florence as assistant to the connoisseur Bernard Berenson, cataloguing the collection of Italian Renaissance drawings and learning the attribution tradition that was the discipline's apprenticeship. He came home to be Keeper of Fine Art at the Ashmolean in 1931, and was offered the Directorship of the National Gallery in 1933, at thirty.

The directorship ran eleven years. He rehung the collection on the chronological-and-national-school principle that has been the gallery-display orthodoxy since, strengthened the early-Renaissance holdings, and ran the wartime evacuation: from 1939 the pictures spent the war in controlled-humidity storage in the Manod slate quarry in north Wales, the empty Trafalgar Square gallery given over to the Myra Hess lunchtime concerts.

He was simultaneously Surveyor of the King's Pictures from 1934 to 1944, publishing the reference Catalogue of the Leonardo da Vinci Drawings at Windsor Castle, and went on to chair the Arts Council of Great Britain and the Independent Television Authority, the regulatory body for the new ITV network.

Civilisation, the thirteen-part BBC colour series on the visual-cultural history of Western Europe, was first broadcast in 1969, written and presented by Clark himself across three years of production. It was the popular art-history success of the post-war era and its book sold over a million copies in six years. He was knighted in 1938, made a Companion of Honour, given the Order of Merit in 1976, and raised to the peerage as Baron Clark of Saltwood in 1969. He died at Saltwood Castle in Kent on 21 May 1983, seventy-nine years old. The Clark name, the medieval occupational cleric, he carried from the Paisley thread fortune into the foundation of post-war British popular-television art history.

Achievements

  • ·Assistant to Bernard Berenson at I Tatti, Florence, 1925 to 1927
  • ·Keeper of the Department of Fine Art, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1931 to 1933
  • ·Director of the National Gallery, London, 1933 to 1944
  • ·Surveyor of the King's Pictures, 1934 to 1944
  • ·Evacuated the National Gallery collection to the Manod slate quarry, north Wales, 1939
  • ·Chairman of the Arts Council, 1953 to 1960
  • ·Wrote and presented BBC Civilisation, 1969
  • ·Created Baron Clark of Saltwood, 1969; Order of Merit, 1976

Where this story lives

Frequently asked

What is Sir Kenneth Clark famous for?

The Paisley cotton-thread heir who became Director of the National Gallery at thirty, Surveyor of the King's Pictures through the war, the first chairman of the Arts Council, and the presenter of the BBC's Civilisation, the popular art-history series of the twentieth century. Kenneth McKenzie Clark was born in Mayfair on 13 July 1903, only child of a Paisley cotton-thread heir whose family business, J & P Coats, was one of the largest companies in the United Kingdom.

When was Sir Kenneth Clark born?

Sir Kenneth Clark was born in 1903 in Mayfair, London. The full biographical record sits on the dedicated page on Clan Rising, set alongside the wider history of the Clark family.

When did Sir Kenneth Clark die?

Sir Kenneth Clark died in 1983. That gave a lifespan of about 80 years.

How long did Sir Kenneth Clark live?

Sir Kenneth Clark lived for around 80 years, from 1903 to 1983. The page records the substantive years in full, with the achievements and the geography that frame the life.

Where was Sir Kenneth Clark born?

Sir Kenneth Clark was born in Mayfair, London. The atlas links the birthplace to its tile page so the surrounding geography and other families of the area can be explored from the same record.

Where did Sir Kenneth Clark live and work?

Sir Kenneth Clark's life and work were concentrated in Renfrewshire. Each location has its own page on the atlas with the broader historical context for the area.

What is Sir Kenneth Clark's connection to the Clark family?

Sir Kenneth Clark is recorded on Clan Rising as a Clark Family Champion, a figure whose life is inseparable from the surname. The Clark family page sets the wider context for the name and links through to every other notable bearer.

What did Sir Kenneth Clark achieve?

Headline achievements recorded for Sir Kenneth Clark include Assistant to Bernard Berenson at I Tatti, Florence, 1925 to 1927, Keeper of the Department of Fine Art, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1931 to 1933, Director of the National Gallery, London, 1933 to 1944 and Surveyor of the King's Pictures, 1934 to 1944. The full list and the surrounding biographical record sit on the dedicated champion page.

Was Sir Kenneth Clark a Clark?

Yes. Sir Kenneth Clark is filed on Clan Rising under the Clark family. The naming convention follows the surname a diaspora reader would search for today; titles, particles and pen names sort under that same canonical surname.