Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer at The MET

Severn students on the main interior stairs of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC 12/21/17

The first day of Winter Break most students plan to sleep late...

and then there are my students.  21 of them opted to get up on that cold December morning long before dawn, board a Greyhound bus in downtown Baltimore, breakfast and transfer in Philly, re-board a Greyhound to Port Authority NYC to take to subway and walk across Central Park to see one of the most important collections of the works of the great Renaissance master Michelangelo.

The trek was well worth it!  This historic show highlighted not only Michelangelo's architectural designs, but his creative process as both architect and what we term now, fine artist.  The Renaissance did not make such distinctions in disciplines.  Indeed, the visual arts as well as the design fields all employ the very same elements and principles with drawing as the primary vehicle for the creative process and communicating ideas.  This show brought the primacy of drawing as The tool for the creative process to the forefront.  

As a artist myself, it was an amazing privilege to have a view that spanned across the centuries into the intimate process of one of the greatest creative minds in human history.  The curation of the show allowed the viewer close access the to works and the ability to linger.  The curation cards as well as helpful audio guide, provided translations of written notes.  All further inviting the viewer into the world of Michelangelo.  Access to a world that the artist himself would have been loathe to provide.  Michelangelo was well known for his reticence, demanding standards of himself and others, as well as an intense dislike for society.  But the drawings provide visual confirmation of his admirable work ethic as evidenced in one of his most famous quotes:  "If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all."

Evidence of Michelangelo's work ethic is clear through his hundreds of working drawings that show an ever moving pen studying human anatomy, experimenting with various designs and postures, reviewing those ideas through sketching multiple views that enable his mind's eye to move around the figure, and endless detail studies. seen below. Evidence of his mastery is even more clear for many of us practice, indeed these sketches are inspiration to do so, but it is very few who are so accomplished as a result of dedication to our practice.


​

As an art educator I was profoundly touched by the following sketch where the Master has sketched an eye in profile and asked his students to copy it on the same page.  Just as today, so it was in the 1500's, students struggle with line, control of medium, and subtleties of value to create the illusion of form.  All the while, the Master gently admonishes the student in his notes on the page, "Patience, Patience!"

I certainly expected this exhibit to be a memorable one.  But, there are moments, beyond merely being memorable, when we encounter works of art that move us to the core.  Sometimes, it stems from a work that overwhelms us with its sheer beauty, perhaps it holds personal meaning for us, or even perhaps the scale of the work itself.  It can even be the assurance within the lines of the work that seem an affirmation that creating the beautiful is indeed the highest of human pursuits.  A wonderful day and gift to experience these works by Michelangelo in person!