Michelangelo’s wide artistic range included masterpieces of fresco paintings, such as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
By BENJIE HERSKOWITZDETAIL FROM Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’ fresco (1509) in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
There were few in the history of art as talented and versatile as the genius who went by the name of, and here’s a mouthful: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni.Michelangelo’s wide artistic range included masterpieces of fresco paintings, such as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. This small room is so popular among tourists that – in pre-corona times – more than 25,000 people would daily be rushed through to view it (by the way, that averages to about 42 people every minute of a 10-hour day).His virtuosity also included the architectural design of buildings. The dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican – redesigned by him in 1547 – rising 41 stories, remains the tallest dome in the world.He also expressed himself using the written word in prose and poetry. In fact, he wrote more than 300 poems.But he always considered himself a sculptor, and that’s how he’s best known today.Legend has it that Michelangelo would personally hand-select the slabs of white marble from the stone quarries of Carrara, Italy. He’d claim that he was not so much sculpting as releasing the figure he saw “imprisoned” in the stone itself. In his day, there were critics who accused him of actually covering live models with stone, upon seeing his lifelike sculptures. Of course, his sculpture David, perhaps his most famous piece, laid those rumors to rest, as it towers nearly 5 meters tall.WELL, IT is certainly true that very few in history have been as talented, but the good news for us is that one does not need to be endowed with such God-given talent as Michelangelo to be creatively fulfilled.There are many examples of people who have discovered that they possess hidden talents in the field of art – some with surprisingly respectable results – despite having little to no formal art training. Winston Churchill, Johnny Cash, Sir Anthony Hopkins have all "illustrated" this notion quite well.A short, personal story:After graduating from a yeshiva high school and then returning from two years of yeshiva study in Israel, I was accepted to the School of Visual Arts in New York City. I admit to feeling intimidated, not possessing the art background of my fellow students.On the very first day of the graphic design course, our instructor enters and without a word, hangs on the wall a photo of Abraham Lincoln. (At the time he was still a president admired by all political streams whose statues were securely in place.) The instructor then hands us all paper and pencils and asks us to draw the 16th president of the US.For the next three hours, hardly a sound was heard, but much sweat dripped, as we all worked intently, trying to do our best to impress the teacher as well as the other students.Finally, he collects all of the drawings, piles them up, gives a little quick flip through as though they were a deck of cards and proceeds to rip them all up into tiny pieces before our unbelieving eyes!We were all outraged, to say the least.The instructor looks up at us and says words that still echo in my memory: “My lesson for today is that one need not know how to draw beautifully in order to be creative. Dismissed.”Honestly, the memory still pains me. However, he taught me two important lessons.1. A message is especially effective when – ta-da – presented dramatically.2. He was 100% correct; there are numerous ways to be fulfilled creatively without possessing superior drawing skills.So, grab your apron and recipe files, retrieve those semi-dried up tubes of oil paints from your storage area, visit your local crafts store and be like Witherspoon and create, and who knows? you may feel yourself grow 5 meters tall.The writer is a graphic designer and artist; his latest project is "Israel Tour In A Bag." benjietc@gmail.com
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