On October 26, 2017, for our series Voices on Art, Art This Week Productions filmed Walter Issacson’s talk on the life of Leonardo da Vinci at First United Methodist Church of Dallas, a Dallas Museum of Art/Arts & Letters Live event.
From the Dallas Museum of Art’s website-
“Walter Isaacson, author of the bestselling biographies Benjamin Franklin, Einstein, and Steve Jobs, delivers Leonardo da Vinci, an engrossing portrayal of the world’s most creative genius.
Using thousands of pages from Leonardo’s astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Isaacson weaves a narrative connecting his art and science and emphasizes that his creativity, like that of other great innovators, came from having wide-ranging passions. Isaacson describes how Leonardo’s lifelong enthusiasm for staging theatrical productions informed his paintings. The artist peeled flesh off the faces of cadavers, drew the muscles that move the lips, and then painted history’s most memorable smile. He explored the math of optics, showed how light rays strike the cornea, and produced illusions of changing perspectives in The Last Supper.
Leonardo also seemed at ease with being a bit of a misfit: he was illegitimate, gay, vegetarian, left-handed, and easily distracted. Isaacson illustrates how Leonardo’s genius stemmed from skills we can improve in ourselves—passionate curiosity, careful observation, and a playful imagination. His life should remind us of the importance of being bold enough to think differently.
Walter Isaacson, University Professor of History at Tulane, has been CEO of the Aspen Institute, chairman of CNN, and editor of Time magazine.”
This event was held in conjunction with the release of Isaacson’s book, Leonardo da Vinci, published by Simon and Schuster.
Thanks to Walter Isaacson, Simon & Schuster, Dallas Museum of Art staff, Arts & Letters Live staff, and First United Methodist Church of Dallas staff for helping with production of this video.
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