Don’t Let Perfect Get In The Way Of Imperfect: The Wisdom Of Michelangelo’s Atlas Slave
Location
Beaman A&B
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
27-10-2010 12:00 PM
Description
The Atlas Slave is one of four unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo currently on display in the Accademia in Florence. His so-called “slaves” are arranged on either side of a long hallway leading up to a rotunda that showcases one of his greatest works: the David. Visitors to the Accademia generally ignore these rough-looking, half-carved figures as they walk towards David’s perfect male physique, attracted by its fame and beauty, the true subject of their visit. By contrast, the lowly, unfinished slaves seem to best illustrate the intense labor of carving stone. Scholars refer to these and other works like them as ‘nonfinito’---yet many scholars and non-scholars alike find their imperfection as compelling as the perfect David (if not more so!). Professor Ribar explains why and how the Atlas Slave in particular holds such fascination and asks audience members to complete its interpretation in their own words.
Like Leonardo, Michelangelo left many of his major works incomplete. The marble surfaces of most of his sculptures created after the Pieta and the David do not share a uniformly ‘perfect’ finish or polish. A viewer will readily find gouges, chips, and chisel marks; roughed out surface planes and undercutting; or uneven sanding or polishing. Despite their condition, the works are prized for their pedigree, while offering viewers important insights into the creative process. The works also reflect the enormous emotional and financial pressures on Michelangelo to complete his public commissions, and how he often over-committed his personal resources. They also reveal how he even lost interest in a commission--particularly in the absence of financial support, competing patronage, aesthetic motivation and self-doubt, or, more clearly: how he lacked enough time and energy to ‘do it all’. Significantly, the Atlas Slave appeals to audiences whose taste is more accepting of the idea of the unfinished, who find themselves attracted to the ‘process-oriented’ attitudes prevalent in contemporary art. Across four and a half centuries, we find we may share Michelangelo’s own doubts about so-called ‘perfection’.
Recommended Citation
Ribar, David, "Don’t Let Perfect Get In The Way Of Imperfect: The Wisdom Of Michelangelo’s Atlas Slave" (2010). Humanities Symposium. 21.
https://repository.belmont.edu/humanities_symposium/2010/2010/21
Don’t Let Perfect Get In The Way Of Imperfect: The Wisdom Of Michelangelo’s Atlas Slave
Beaman A&B
The Atlas Slave is one of four unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo currently on display in the Accademia in Florence. His so-called “slaves” are arranged on either side of a long hallway leading up to a rotunda that showcases one of his greatest works: the David. Visitors to the Accademia generally ignore these rough-looking, half-carved figures as they walk towards David’s perfect male physique, attracted by its fame and beauty, the true subject of their visit. By contrast, the lowly, unfinished slaves seem to best illustrate the intense labor of carving stone. Scholars refer to these and other works like them as ‘nonfinito’---yet many scholars and non-scholars alike find their imperfection as compelling as the perfect David (if not more so!). Professor Ribar explains why and how the Atlas Slave in particular holds such fascination and asks audience members to complete its interpretation in their own words.
Like Leonardo, Michelangelo left many of his major works incomplete. The marble surfaces of most of his sculptures created after the Pieta and the David do not share a uniformly ‘perfect’ finish or polish. A viewer will readily find gouges, chips, and chisel marks; roughed out surface planes and undercutting; or uneven sanding or polishing. Despite their condition, the works are prized for their pedigree, while offering viewers important insights into the creative process. The works also reflect the enormous emotional and financial pressures on Michelangelo to complete his public commissions, and how he often over-committed his personal resources. They also reveal how he even lost interest in a commission--particularly in the absence of financial support, competing patronage, aesthetic motivation and self-doubt, or, more clearly: how he lacked enough time and energy to ‘do it all’. Significantly, the Atlas Slave appeals to audiences whose taste is more accepting of the idea of the unfinished, who find themselves attracted to the ‘process-oriented’ attitudes prevalent in contemporary art. Across four and a half centuries, we find we may share Michelangelo’s own doubts about so-called ‘perfection’.
Comments
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