Cardinal: But, may I suggest,
in the manner of the Greeks.
Michelangelo: No, in my own manner!
Cardinal: True, no modern artist can
hope to equal the Greeks!
Michelangelo: Why not? Why shouldn’t we equal
them? Surpass them, if we can.
Cardinal: Really, Master Buonarroti,
I had heard you lacked modesty…
but do you claim to be
greater then the Greeks?
Michelangelo: – I claim to be different.
Cardinal: – For the sake of difference?
Michelangelo: Because I am different.
I’m a Florentine and a Christian…
painting in this century. They were
Greeks and pagans living in theirs.
Cardinal: Pagans? Christians? An artist
should be above such distinction.
Michelangelo: And a cardinal, especially one who
pretends to understand art…
should be above such foolishness.
I’ll tell you what stands
between us and the Greeks.
Two thousand years of human
suffering stands between us!
Christ on His Cross
stands between us.
Screenplay, The Agony and the Ecstasy
Great Art is supposed to stir the passions. Art we are indifferent to, or which is completely anodyne, may be good Art for us, but I doubt if it is great. Michelangelo may be the master artist of all time. However, if I were running a school I would want parents to know that in studying Michelangelo nudity would be involved, to give them an opportunity to opt out. Time enough as they grow older to appreciate his genius.
Bonus:
It would be good to know the details of this Principal’s forced resignation. Was he showing it to kids in kindergarten? Surely Michelangelo’s David couldn’t possibly have been the sole reason?
I would imagine that senior school students in say the later years of high school could handle studying
Michaelangelo nudity in art. After all, by that stage they would have been taught about the reproductive system in science. But I guess it would depend on each child’s level of maturity as we all know kids mature at different rates, regardless of age.
Ezabelle:
This old teacher agrees: OK for high school, not younger. But there must be something more to this story, for I can’t see this as a cause for dismissal in itself.
I saw “David” in the summer of 2003. Very impressive.
I know that everyone misspells on Twitter, but I’m just not going to listen to the educational opinions of someone who complains about a principle resigning.
Ezabelle, Mr. Byrne,
I should think a kindergartener could learn something about great art works from learning about the “David”. Boys and girls can tell there are differences between them, even at that age. They don’t need to know anything at all about sexuality to understand that David was a famous boy. I’d need to know more details about precisely what this principal was teaching to know if it went overboard.
Incidentally, the voice of the first cleric in the film clip sounds familiar, yet I can’t place him somehow. Is that Ian McKellan or Peter O’Toole? Or someone else?
Pinky- good pick up! Annie forgot the rule “your principal is always your pal”.
Peter O’Toole. How I miss him.
JLF:
I’m not sure if you have teaching experience, but school texts presenting the biology of human sexuality use diagrams, not photos or life-like images. Small children may know what LITTLE boys look like, but “David” represents an adult male, so presenting that image to small children would not happen on my watch. I’d use it myself in a high school art history class, but not for younger students.
Uh. There is so much of Michael Angelo’s work available to study, there is no reason to show any nudity unless you just choose to do so.
Well, his David and the Sistine Chapel ceiling are two of his major works.A lot of his work does involve nudity.
Well, his David and the Sistine Chapel ceiling are two of his major works.A lot of his work does involve nudity.
————————————
I was in public schools & a state college for undergrad work from 1972-1991. I took all of my required art classes—saw pictures of David & the Sistine Chapel—and did not see pictures until years later of David’s reproductive organs or the nudity in the Cistine Chapel because of selective editing. And I still understood that those works were incredible, world renowned works. I didn’t have to see sex organs to understand that. Although our high school art teacher did tell us verbally that there was full nakedness in those works & led a discussion on what a controversial thing it was at the time they were being created. I can just imagine my sweet father’s reaction to my being exposed to nudity in any medium at a young age -by my teachers. I would not have been pretty. But my daddy deliberately saw to it that I was sheltered.
Tom,
Little children can tell between Mom and Dad without knowing anything about sexuality. I think most children mostly make a fuss about nudity..because parents make a fuss. Since we don’t know what the subject-matter was, I’m willing to give the principal the benefit of the doubt. ..We’d look pretty foolish going buggy about kids seeing a picture of the David if they’re seeing a presentation about great art works. …We’d look even more ridiculous if the principal aimed to show how David was sorely overmatched by Goliath when they fought.