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The Gothic Revival: An Essay in the History of Taste
/ / History of art / Engels / English / Anglais / Englisch / soft cover / 16 x 22 cm / 237 .pp /
236 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1928
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About the author
Kenneth M. Clark
68 books59 followersSir Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (1903 -1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television, presenting a succession of programmes on the arts during the 1950s and 1960s, culminating in the Civilisation series in 1969.
The son of rich parents, Clark was introduced to the arts at an early age. Among his early influences were the writings of John Ruskin, which instilled in him the belief that everyone should have access to great art. After coming under the influence of the connoisseur and dealer Bernard Berenson, Clark was appointed director of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford aged twenty-seven, and three years later he was put in charge of Britain's National Gallery. His twelve years there saw the gallery transformed to make it accessible and inviting to a wider public.
During the Second World War, when the collection was moved from London for safe keeping, Clark made the building available for a series of daily concerts which proved a celebrated morale booster during the Blitz.
After the war, and three years as Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford, Clark surprised many by accepting the chairmanship of the UK's first commercial television network. Once the service had been successfully launched he agreed to write and present programmes about the arts. These established him as a household name in Britain, and he was asked to create the first colour series about the arts, Civilisation, first broadcast in 1969 in Britain and in many other countries soon afterwards.
Among many honours, Clark was knighted at the unusually young age of thirty-five, and three decades later was made a life peer shortly before the first transmission of Civilisation. Three decades after his death, Clark was celebrated in an exhibition at Tate Britain in London, prompting a reappraisal of his career by a new generation of critics and historians. Opinions varied about his aesthetic judgment, particularly in attributing paintings to old masters, but his skill as a writer and his enthusiasm for popularising the arts were widely recognised. Both the BBC and the Tate described him in retrospect as one of the most influential figures in British art of the twentieth century.
The son of rich parents, Clark was introduced to the arts at an early age. Among his early influences were the writings of John Ruskin, which instilled in him the belief that everyone should have access to great art. After coming under the influence of the connoisseur and dealer Bernard Berenson, Clark was appointed director of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford aged twenty-seven, and three years later he was put in charge of Britain's National Gallery. His twelve years there saw the gallery transformed to make it accessible and inviting to a wider public.
During the Second World War, when the collection was moved from London for safe keeping, Clark made the building available for a series of daily concerts which proved a celebrated morale booster during the Blitz.
After the war, and three years as Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford, Clark surprised many by accepting the chairmanship of the UK's first commercial television network. Once the service had been successfully launched he agreed to write and present programmes about the arts. These established him as a household name in Britain, and he was asked to create the first colour series about the arts, Civilisation, first broadcast in 1969 in Britain and in many other countries soon afterwards.
Among many honours, Clark was knighted at the unusually young age of thirty-five, and three decades later was made a life peer shortly before the first transmission of Civilisation. Three decades after his death, Clark was celebrated in an exhibition at Tate Britain in London, prompting a reappraisal of his career by a new generation of critics and historians. Opinions varied about his aesthetic judgment, particularly in attributing paintings to old masters, but his skill as a writer and his enthusiasm for popularising the arts were widely recognised. Both the BBC and the Tate described him in retrospect as one of the most influential figures in British art of the twentieth century.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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March 7, 2024A fuddy-duddy he may have been, but Clark was a damn fine writer, and it's a real pleasure to be guided by him, even as his older self despairs from the footnotes at his youthful ignorance.
January 2, 2016
If I understood this, I would give it a four. If I were the author, who seems not to like his book, I'd give it a two. Since I'm not the author, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and gave it a four. Clark badmouths his book in the introduction and then throws in negative comments, directed at his earlier self, later on. So I ended up not knowing that to believe. That is, if I had understood it enough to believe anything.
But Clark is a funny writer when I could understand him.
But Clark is a funny writer when I could understand him.
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November 20, 2025How, when, and why was a certain taste for "all things gothick" born?
This question will not escape any lover of art history, and it will certainly not escape anyone who lives in England and happens to walk past a church, a museum, a train station… anything built in the 19th century, really. Indeed, for better or for worse, sometime around two hundred years ago this island decided to coat itself in spires, glazed windows, and pointed arches - and the rest of Europe was to follow shortly after.
But why Gothic, and not some other style? Was it for convenience, for necessity, or perhaps simply for lack of a better reference? These are some of the questions that art historian Kenneth M. Clark, only 25 years old at the time of writing, tries to answer in this brief but dense essay, while also comically failing to hide just how deeply rooted his disdain for this architectural movement truly is.
The search for an answer, though, makes for quite the captivating journey. Starting from the literary roots of the movement (Gray, Walpole, Shelley) and continuing through the work of its most prominent promoters (Pugin, Scott), we progressively discover just how central a role Neo-Gothic played in the definition of British identity. At a time when England was establishing itself as a truly global empire, the revival of Gothic -and its implicit rejection of Classicism- served primarily as a reaffirmation of British roots in monarchism, conservatism, and Anglicanism, in opposition to the republican and liberal ideals flourishing in France and gaining ground across the Atlantic.
There is, however, an inherent contradiction in Gothic Revivalism: no Gothic style can be purely British in the Anglican sense, since Britain was still very much a Catholic country at the time Gothic churches were being built. This meant that no authentically Gothic reference could be adopted for the Revival without risking accusations of "Popery". This inner contradiction was never truly resolved, and the most fascinating consequence is that Neo-Gothic, both as an architectural form and as an ideology, is very much a modern invention, bearing little relation to the actual Gothic architecture of the past.
This question will not escape any lover of art history, and it will certainly not escape anyone who lives in England and happens to walk past a church, a museum, a train station… anything built in the 19th century, really. Indeed, for better or for worse, sometime around two hundred years ago this island decided to coat itself in spires, glazed windows, and pointed arches - and the rest of Europe was to follow shortly after.
But why Gothic, and not some other style? Was it for convenience, for necessity, or perhaps simply for lack of a better reference? These are some of the questions that art historian Kenneth M. Clark, only 25 years old at the time of writing, tries to answer in this brief but dense essay, while also comically failing to hide just how deeply rooted his disdain for this architectural movement truly is.
The search for an answer, though, makes for quite the captivating journey. Starting from the literary roots of the movement (Gray, Walpole, Shelley) and continuing through the work of its most prominent promoters (Pugin, Scott), we progressively discover just how central a role Neo-Gothic played in the definition of British identity. At a time when England was establishing itself as a truly global empire, the revival of Gothic -and its implicit rejection of Classicism- served primarily as a reaffirmation of British roots in monarchism, conservatism, and Anglicanism, in opposition to the republican and liberal ideals flourishing in France and gaining ground across the Atlantic.
There is, however, an inherent contradiction in Gothic Revivalism: no Gothic style can be purely British in the Anglican sense, since Britain was still very much a Catholic country at the time Gothic churches were being built. This meant that no authentically Gothic reference could be adopted for the Revival without risking accusations of "Popery". This inner contradiction was never truly resolved, and the most fascinating consequence is that Neo-Gothic, both as an architectural form and as an ideology, is very much a modern invention, bearing little relation to the actual Gothic architecture of the past.
June 1, 2024
This book was very fun to read! It is so exaggerated in its early disdain that even a fool like myself can fully understand the generally accepted attitude towards the Gothic Revival in the early part of the 20th century. The mellowing of opinion in the introduction and at the end also provides some much needed nuance. I ordered this book out from the central library and I was quite intimidated by the fact it looked so old and impenetrable but it was in fact very approachable.
November 25, 2023
(I read the Harper Icon edition from 1962.) The most hilarious art history book I have ever read — one of the funniest books of any kind, in fact. Every page is full of zingers. Aside from its entertainment value, the book is important as the foundation for the study of this architectural movement and as a historiographical moment in itself.
June 9, 2022
Useful for the (very) early Gothic Revival, and wildly enjoyable for Clark's own footnotes from 20 or more years after he wrote the book, in which he very performatively doesn't understand or disapproves of what he originally wrote.
January 8, 2020
Funnier than I thought.
Want to read
May 20, 2021Kathy Carroll
June 14, 2021
Enjoyed this v much, especially Clark's later footnotes telling himself off for being such a prig.
October 11, 2015
I love this book. I especially love the Romanticism chapter of the book where he explains in vivid detail how the Romantic era could influence and inspire the Gothic architecture. The heartbreak, the pain, the passion...it's all in this book. Instead of making it seemed like a real boring historical book, the author made it seemed like a one big story. I will never look at a Gothic building the same again.
January 4, 2019
Not a work of popularization like Clark’s later (and excellent) Civilisation book and television series, this is demanding art history and aesthetics. It asks to be read slowly and carefully, yielding the most value if you pause and think after each paragraph, sometimes just after a single sentence.
June 8, 2019
The book was a little confusing to read throughout. The author displays a sort of comedic negativity througout the book, which was really confusing at the beginning, and became a mild annoyance as the book progressed. The points covered in the story were compelling. Would recommend if you like history with small amounts of writer's imput here and there.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews