---
title: "3 Composition Quotes By Kenneth Clark"
description: "3 Composition quotes by Kenneth Clark. Plus more from Kenneth Clark and more Composition sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/kenneth-clark-9681_adapted_antique-art-has-come-down-to-us-in-a-fra_519136.png"
---

> [Antique art has come down to us in a fragmentary condition, and we have virtuously adapted our taste to this necessity. Almost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/antique-art-has-come-down-to-us-in-a-fragmentary-condition-and-we/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/kenneth-clark-9681_adapted_antique-art-has-come-down-to-us-in-a-fra_519136.png)

> [Only the bad artists of the nineteenth century were frightened by the invention of photography; the good ones all welcomed it and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/only-the-bad-artists-of-the-nineteenth-century-were-frightened-by-the/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab3/kenneth-clark-9681_accurate_only-the-bad-artists-of-the-nineteenth-c_984676.jpg)

> [Evidently one cannot look for long at the Last Supper without ceasing to study it as a composition, and beginning to speak…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/evidently-one-cannot-look-for-long-at-the-last-supper-without-ceasing/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d73/kenneth-clark-9681_composition_evidently-one-cannot-look-for-long-at-th_2430258.jpg)

## Other authors on Composition

## More by Kenneth Clark

> [To hurry through the rise and fall of a fine, full sentence is like defying the role of time in human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/to-hurry-through-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-fine-full-sentence-is-like/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [All color is no color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/all-color-is-no-color/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [The nude does not simply represent the body, but relates it, by analogy, to all structures that have become part of our imaginative experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/the-nude-does-not-simply-represent-the-body-but-relates-it-by-analogy/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [Ruthless, greedy, tyrannical, disreputable they have had one principle worth all the rest, the principle of delight!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/ruthless-greedy-tyrannical-disreputable-they-have-had-one-principle/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [Those who wish, in the interest of morality, to reduce Leonardo, that inexhaustible source of creative power, to a neutral or sexless agency, have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/those-who-wish-in-the-interest-of-morality-to-reduce-leonardo-that/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [It is often said that Leonardo drew so well because he knew about things; it is truer to say that he knew about things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/it-is-often-said-that-leonardo-drew-so-well-because-he-knew-about/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [A lot of people you think you know you don't know until you find out you don't know then it may be too late…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/a-lot-of-people-you-think-you-know-you-don-t-know-until-you-find-out/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [The dark ghettos are social, political, educational and-above all-economic colonies. Their inhabitants are subject peoples, victims of the greed, cruelty, insensitivity, guilt, and fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/the-dark-ghettos-are-social-political-educational-and-above-all/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [Devotion to the facts will always give the pleasures of recognition; adherence to the rules of design, the pleasures of order and certainty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/devotion-to-the-facts-will-always-give-the-pleasures-of-recognition/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [Over and above the political, economic, sociological, and international implications of racial prejudices, their major significance is that they place unnecessary burdens upon human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/over-and-above-the-political-economic-sociological-and-international/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [Racial prejudices are indication of a disturbed and potentially unstable society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/racial-prejudices-are-indication-of-a-disturbed-and-potentially/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [Fine colour implies a unified relationship, in which each part is subordinate to the whole, and the transitions between them are felt to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/fine-colour-implies-a-unified-relationship-in-which-each-part-is/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [Energy is eternal delight; and from the earliest times human beings have tried to imprison it in some durable hieroglyphic. It is perhaps the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/energy-is-eternal-delight-and-from-the-earliest-times-human-beings/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [All great civilizations, in their early stages, are based on success in war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/all-great-civilizations-in-their-early-stages-are-based-on-success-in/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

> [This became Delacroix 's theme: that the achievements of the spirit all that a great library contained were the result of a state of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/this-became-delacroix-s-theme-that-the-achievements-of-the-spirit-all/)

[Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/kenneth-clark/#itemlist",
            "name": "3 Composition Quotes By Kenneth Clark",
            "numberOfItems": 3,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Antique art has come down to us in a fragmentary condition, and we have virtuously adapted our taste to this necessity. Almost all our favorite specimens of Greek sculpture, from the sixth century onward, were originally parts of compositions, and if we were faced with the complete group in which the Charioteer of Delphi was once a subsidiary figure, we might well experience a moment of revulsion. We have come to think of the fragment as more vivid, more concentrated, and more authentic.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Kenneth Clark"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/antique-art-has-come-down-to-us-in-a-fragmentary-condition-and-we/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/kenneth-clark-9681_adapted_antique-art-has-come-down-to-us-in-a-fra_519136.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/kenneth-clark-9681_adapted_antique-art-has-come-down-to-us-in-a-fra_519136.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/kenneth-clark-9681_adapted_antique-art-has-come-down-to-us-in-a-fra_519136.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Antique art has come down to us in a fragmentary condition, and we have virtuously adapted our taste to this…” — Kenneth Clark",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Only the bad artists of the nineteenth century were frightened by the invention of photography; the good ones all welcomed it and used it. Degas liked it not only because it provided an accurate record, but because the snapshot showed him a means of escape from the classical rules of design. Through it he learnt to make a composition without the use of formal symmetry.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Kenneth Clark"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/only-the-bad-artists-of-the-nineteenth-century-were-frightened-by-the/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab3/kenneth-clark-9681_accurate_only-the-bad-artists-of-the-nineteenth-c_984676.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab3/kenneth-clark-9681_accurate_only-the-bad-artists-of-the-nineteenth-c_984676.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab3/kenneth-clark-9681_accurate_only-the-bad-artists-of-the-nineteenth-c_984676.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Only the bad artists of the nineteenth century were frightened by the invention of photography; the good…” — Kenneth Clark",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Evidently one cannot look for long at the Last Supper without ceasing to study it as a composition, and beginning to speak of it as a drama. It is the most literary of all great pictures, one of the few of which the effect may largely be conveyed - can even be enhanced - by description.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Kenneth Clark"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/evidently-one-cannot-look-for-long-at-the-last-supper-without-ceasing/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d73/kenneth-clark-9681_composition_evidently-one-cannot-look-for-long-at-th_2430258.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d73/kenneth-clark-9681_composition_evidently-one-cannot-look-for-long-at-th_2430258.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d73/kenneth-clark-9681_composition_evidently-one-cannot-look-for-long-at-th_2430258.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Evidently one cannot look for long at the Last Supper without ceasing to study it as a composition, and…” — Kenneth Clark",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/kenneth-clark/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/kenneth-clark/",
            "name": "Composition Quotes by Kenneth Clark",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/kenneth-clark/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/kenneth-clark-9681_adapted_antique-art-has-come-down-to-us-in-a-fra_519136.png"
            },
            "description": "3 Composition quotes by Kenneth Clark. Plus more from Kenneth Clark and more Composition sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/kenneth-clark/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/kenneth-clark/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Composition",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Kenneth Clark",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/kenneth-clark/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
