Kenneth Clark

Civilisation—in full, Civilisation: A Personal View by Kenneth Clark—is a television documentary series outlining the history of Western art, architecture and philosophy since the Dark Ages. The series was produced by the BBC and aired in 1969 on BBC2. Both the television scripts and the accompanying book version were written by art historian Kenneth Clark (1903–1983), who also presented the series. The series is considered to be a landmark in British Television's broadcasting of the visual arts.

Washington National Opera presents Blue, a contemporary opera about racism in the United States today, with a libretto by Tazewell Thompson and music by Jeanine Tesori. Blue tells the tragic story of an African-American police officer whose son is killed by a fellow officer during a demonstration. The play, which strongly alludes to the Black Lives Matter movement, is equally groundbreaking on the opera stage thanks to its intimate and multi-layered portrayal of African American family life.

Sir Kenneth Clark made his name as a scholar of Leonardo da Vinci by a Critical Catalogue of Leonardo’s drawings at Windsor Castle, published in 1935, which was recognized as establishing the subject on a firmer chronological basis. Four years later he produced this short book on Leonardo as an artist, which has been generally regarded as the clearest and sanest introduction to this great and controversial subject.