Best Selling Books by Kenneth Clark

A personally compelling introduction to Leonardo''s genius, a classic monograph of Leonardo''s art and his development.

Kenneth Clark''s sweeping narrative looks at how Western Europe evolved in the wake of the collapse of the Roman Empire, to produce the ideas, books, buildings, works of art and great individuals that make up our civilisation. The author takes us from Iona in the ninth century to France in the twelfth, from Florence to Urbino, from Germany to Rome, England, Holland and America. Against these historical backgrounds he sketches an extraordinary cast of characters -- the men and women who gave new energy to civilisation and expanded our understanding of the world and of ourselves. He also highlights the works of genius they produced -- in architecture, sculpture and painting, in philosophy, poetry and music, and in science and engineering, from Raphael''s School of Athens to the bridges of Brunel.

From the art of the Greeks to that of Renoir and Moore, this work surveys the ever-changing fashions in what has constituted the ideal nude as a basis of humanist form.

Discusses the styles, works, and lives of thirteen painters, sculptors, and architects from David to Rodin to illuminate a major period in the history of art.

Discussion of five masters of humanistic architecture, painting and sculpture in fifteenth century Italy - Alberti, Donatello, Uccello, Mantegna and Botticelli.

In this richly illustrated book, Lord Clark traces the changes in the western ideal of feminine beauty from Egyptian art of the second millennium BC down to the movie screens of the present day.

In this comprehensive guide to pottery Kenneth Clark explains with the help of practical and informative text together with step-by-step illustrations and examples of finished work the various aspects of pottery. These include techniques of wedge making, pinching, coiling, slab building, throwing, joining, moulding and turning. In addition Clark gives full details on techniques of decoration, tools and equipment, kilns and firing, glazes, pigments and stains finishing with a full glossary. He also suggests ways in which potters can extend their techniques of production to meet the needs of changing markets and conditions, whilst trying to keep a balance between the work of the artist innovator and the production potter or ceramicist.

This study of a great artist is both a perceptive picture of the man and an acute analysis of some of his most famous works. It shows the human qualities united with the depth of mind that is revealed only after a long contemplation of his paintings, etchings, and drawings.

Many people think that greedy lenders intent on victimizing unsuspecting borrowers caused the mortgage crisis, saddling them with loans they couldn''t afford and taking their houses through foreclosure for later sale at a profit. If that''s what you think, you''re dead wrong. It was a complex melding of events and opportunities, an economic "perfect storm" that came within a hair''s breadth of toppling the American financial system and the economies of numerous other countries. And it didn''t have to happen. In this book, Kenneth Clark, a longtime mortgage banker and financial industry insider, talks about the real root causes of the mortgage and housing meltdown and how the government''s failures and Wall Street''s greed enabled the collapse. But they were by no means alone. The seeds of destruction were sown decades ago by individuals and entities that had no idea of what they would ultimately be helping to bring about.

Contains primary source material.

The Entombment (Titian) - Las Meninas (Velasquez) - The Descent from the Cross (Rogier Van Der Weyden) - The Crusaders Entering Constantinople (Delacroix) - The Miraculous Draught of Fishes (Raphael) - L''Enseigne de Gersaint (Watteau) - The Espolio (El Greco) - A painter in his Studio (Vermeer) - Study for The Leaping Horse (Constable) - The Third of May, 1808 (Goya) - Une Baignade, Asnieres (Seurat) - The Snowstorm (Turner) - The Virgin with St. Anne (Leonarda da Vinci) - L''Atelier du Peintre (Courbet) - The Nativity (Botticelli) - Self-Portrait (Rembrandt).

Kenneth Clark''s first volume of autobiography.

Rejecting the tenet of modern art asserting that masterpieces do not exist, Clark explores those qualities which combine with the indefinable touch of genius to produce a work of art that truly represents the human spirit