Attending: Markeeta Bundschuh, Carol Burford, Judy Caruthers, James Garvey, Sandra Garvey, Al Glatt, Elaine Glatt, Diane Greeneich, Ed Greeneich, Kriss Ham, Sherri Heitz, Kathie Janda, Larry Janda, Sandy Kautz, Betty Jean Kennedy, Antonine Koval, Ila Larson, Linda Strauss Lewis, Lou Strauss Lewis, Marsha Lisle, Marsha Lyons, Nevin Nelson, Barbara Rossi, Paula Rudd, Shirley Smith, Thea Smith, Lucille Thomas, Louis Stifter, Nancy Stifter and Sherri VanSchaick. Photo by Nancy Stifter.
Louis Stifter
PebbleCreek Art Club members and their guests toured the Michelangelo: Sacred and Profane exhibition of Masterpiece Drawings from the Casa Buonarroti at the Phoenix Art Museum on Wednesday, January 20, 2016.
Two docent-led groups of fifteen people each viewed twenty-six rare drawings from the renowned collection of the Casa Buonarroti in Florence, Italy, comprising one of the most important Michelangelo exhibitions in America in nearly three decades. The Casa Buonarroti, once owned by the artist, is the world’s largest repository for Michelangelo’s drawings, architectural studies and memoirs.
The images in Sacred and Profane are memorable figurative studies and architectural drawings by the hand of Michelangelo. Included is one of Michelangelo’s most admired and complete drawings, the large Madonna and Child. Additional images include preparatory drawings for later paintings. The Head of the Madonna is a study for his painting Doni Tondo, and the sublime sketch of the Head of Leda was made for Leda and the Swan, a painting now lost and known today only through copies.
A renowned sculptor and painter in his own time, Michelangelo’s legacy as an architect was no less monumental. Highlighted in the exhibition are several of his innovative architectural plans. Among them are drawings for the Façade of San Lorenzo in Florence and his innovative Plan for the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome. These works help demonstrate Michelangelo’s lasting influence on architecture and scholar Adriano Marinazzo considers these designs to be “among the most fascinating architectural projects of the entire Renaissance.”
This exhibition is an exceptional opportunity for the PebbleCreek Art Community as well as the city of Phoenix and the state of Arizona as Michelangelo’s works rarely travel outside of Italy.
Our docents led us through each of the works with commentary and reference materials showing the context of the works. After touring the Michelangelo exhibit, the docents led the groups through some of the Phoenix Art Museum’s permanent collection of Renaissance paintings demonstrating Michelangelo’s influence on later artists.
Following our tour of Michelangelo: Sacred and Profane, the group enjoyed a catered lunch in one of the museum’s private areas off the sculpture garden and were then free to browse the other exhibits on an individual basis.
This event was one of a series of PebbleCreek Art Club excursions planned for 2016 to further our understanding and appreciation of the arts.