The da Vinci Codex

A codex is a compilation of manuscripts, much like the journals that Leonardo da Vinci used to record his experiments, observations, and designs. And today, we could easily assemble a new codex of all the news stories, research, and (conspiracy) theories about Leonardo that have appeared in recent years.

Take a few minutes and visit the websites for Time Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, the Discovery Channel, or How Stuff Works, and search for stories on da Vinci. What recent discoveries have been made? Is Dan Brown any good at art history? What was Leonardo's life story? Where might you be able to see exhibitions on Leonardo in a museum near you? Who stole the Mona Lisa?

Tell us about something you read, and how it compares to what you already know (or thought you knew) about this true Renaissance man. And finally, why are we still so interested in him?

This one's due Thursday, 11/5.

Invoking the Muses

The title of our blog, of course, comes from the Greek goddesses of artistic inspiration, the Muses. The ancient Greeks recognized nine sacred forms, or media, of art.

If you could be dazzlingly gifted in an art form, what would it be, and why? Do you have the soul of a poet? Do you think you can dance? Are you entranced by stage lights?

Also: we will begin our unit on artistic media with visual art. What do you know about art/art history? What types/genres/periods of visual art (painting and sculpture) and artists appeal to you?

A Good Woman?

This unit's theme is function in art, and we have studied everything from the most functional art form (architecture), to arguably the least: Oscar Wilde's aesthetic comedy of manners, Lady Windermere's Fan/A Good Woman. Wilde maintained, in critical essays like "The Decay of Lying," that art should be beautiful and purposeless; its only function to bring beauty and self-expression into the world. Yet, as Wilde says, "The well-bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves."

Is Wilde's play really purely aesthetic art? Does it have a function, and if so, what? Why? And, since we're on the subject, what makes A Good Woman, according to Wilde? Do you agree?


Warning to those not yet finished the movie: possible spoilers ahead! Cover your eyes if you don't want to know!!!