Clark, Kenneth. The Nude. New York: Pantheon Books, 1956.
Although the short title may fool the reader, The Nude is a very lengthy and thorough discussion of the human figure and its influence in Western Art. The book begins with an introduction that is absolutely eye-opening. By the end of the first chapter, my mind had been changed about the role of the figure in art. Clark's idea that struck home for me was the nude regarded as a form of art, not the subject of art.
Giving examples of the nude, beginning with the Greeks, he explains the different styles of the greatest Greek sculptors. Clark points out that Polykleitos' intentions were similar to the Neo-Impressionist Seurat. Clark believes that Polykleitos' art was so calculated to an idealized canon of proportion that the carved hairs on the Doryphoros' head were measured to the same degree as the rest of the figure. This is a good comparison. By calculating optical color mixtures, Seurat could bring color to the eye in its purest form. He had turned his art into the borderline of a science, losing all its emotional quality. This reminds me of Mondrian, who did the same thing.
These artist were consumed, I think, by a single element of art. They separated one element from the rest, and pushed that element to it limits, despite the effect of emotion upon the viewer. Polykleitos, I believe, chose his method as a way to meet the ideals of his culture, rather than his individual ideals. The Greeks, as Clark explains, had a formula for everything. Everything in life was based on mathematics and geometry. I believe Polykleitos was a genius to be able to meld the natural grace of the human figure with the lifeless calculating of mathematics into a whole form.
The book continues with the influence of the ideal Greek nude in all art from the Gothic through to Post-Modern art. Clark supplies great examples of this influence accompanied by photos. During the Renaissance, the figure was constructed in the same manner as in ancient Greece. Parts were taken from many different models to construct the ideal human form. Many artists copied other artists work to "borrow" parts for their own figures. An example Clark uses is a figure drawing of a female nude by Raphael of "Leda," which he copied directly from Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the same subject. Raphael then used the lower portion of the same figure in his own painting of "Adam and Eve." Limitations of the church made it difficult for artists to openly view antique sculpture as well as the nude. Artists would study works from other artists and borrow what appealed to them for their own works.
It is rare for a book to hold my attention for so long without many quality photographs. Now that I've read this book, it will become part of my art library at home. Clark's knowledge of art is very evident in this book. To be able to speak on one subject, the nude in western art, for so long without becoming redundant, is impressive. I would like to read other books by him if I come across them.
Kenneth Clark was born in 1902. He was educated at Winchester and Oxford. At the age of thirty, he became Director of the National Gallery and remained there until 1945. From 1946 to 1950, he was Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford. He was Chairman of the Arts Council from 1953 to 1960. Clark has many publications on art to include; Leonardo da Vinci (1939), Landscape into Art (1949), The Nude (1956), Ruskin Today (1964), Rembrandt and the Italian Renaissance (1966), A failure of Nerve (1967), Civilization (1969), Looking at Pictures (1972), The Artist Grows Old (1972), The Romantic Rebellion (1973), Henry Moore Drawings (1974), The Drawing by Sandro Botticelli Dante's Divine Comedy (1976), Animals and Men (1977), An Introduction to Rembrandt (1978). Clark was made both Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 1969. In 1970, Clark was awarded the US National Gallery of Arts medal, and in 1976, the Order of Merit. Lord Clark died in May 1983.