“Great works of art can be produced in barbarous societies — in fact the very narrowness of primitive society gives their ornamental art a peculiar concentration and vitality. At some time in the ninth century one could have looked down the Seine and seen the prow of a Viking ship coming up the river. Looked at today in the British Museum, it is a powerful work of art; but to the mother of a family trying to settle down in her little hut, it would have seemed less agreeable — as menacing to her civilisation as the periscope of a nuclear submarine.”

— Kenneth Clark

Source: Civilisation (1969), Ch. 1: The Skin of Our Teeth

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Kenneth Clark 47

Art historian, broadcaster and museum director 1903–1983

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Kenneth Clark 47

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