[HOME ] [ABOUT] [PHOTOS] [VIDEO] [BLOG] [HOUSTON] [TEXAS] [U.S. NEWS] [WORLD NEWS] [SPORTS] [POP CULTURE] [CONTACT]
The next president should avoid excelling in one area at the expense of others
Potential US Presidents (L-R Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney)
by Joseph Ernest June 24, 2011
*This article is about pursuing balance and I will infuse it with historic analogies
Newscast Media HOUSTON, Texas -- The 2012 presidential race is beginning to shape up with several candidates on the GOP side in the ring. The two prominent names that are missing so far are Rick Perry and Sarah Palin. Even though it is highly unlikely that Palin will run, it is more than likely that Texas Gov. Rick Perry will run. He however, is in danger of making the same mistake that Fred Thompson made, who waited a little too long before announcing his candidacy.
When George W. Bush was president, he was accused of focusing too much on fighting terrorism and expanding government. It was toward the end of Bush's administration that the housing market collapsed, triggering the multi-billion bailouts for the banksters. Barack Obama did not learn from Bush's mistakes of excelling in area at the expense of others, and continued to grow big government and increase the deficit, while ignoring the small business sector, which is the lifeblood of the American economy.
We can learn from history how individuals single-handedly changed their generations such that their impact is still being felt today. After experiencing the Dark Ages, Crusades and Bubonic plague, western civilization was not crippled by these setbacks, rather, the result was a burst of knowledge that the West had never experienced before. In the Renaissance, pioneers excelled in applying their God-given abilities in the Arts, Sciences, Music, Literature, Religion and Architecture, to usher in an era that would forever transform our world.
During the Renaissance, three figures dominated the visual arts and these were: Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. In his book Lives Of The Artists, Giorgio Vasari, an artist and biographer, cautioned the revolutionaries of his day to be "Well-balanced and not excel in one area at the expense of another." If one looks at the work of Michelangelo, it is easy to determine that he excelled in the male nude, yet when you look at his female figures, they lack grace and beauty because Michelangelo had focused his energy on perfecting drawings, sculptures and paintings of the male body.
When Pope Julius II commissioned him to paint the fresco of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo showed the world once and for all that he had mastered and absorbed classical antiquity, and upon unveiling the ceiling, his contemporaries hailed him as "The Divine" or il divino.
About Michelangelo, the biographer Giorgio Vasari in Lives Of The Artists wrote: "…Meanwhile, the benign ruler of heaven graciously looked down to earth, saw the worthlessness of what was being done, the intense but utterly fruitless studies, and the presumption of men who were farther from true art than night from day, and resolved to save us from our errors. So he decided to send to the world an artist who would be skilled in each and every craft, whose work alone would teach us how to attain perfection in design…
…Moreover, he determined to give this artist the knowledge of true moral philosophy and the gift of poetic expression, so that everyone might admire and follow him as their perfect exemplar in life, work, and behavior and in every endeavor, and he would be acclaimed as divine." (page 325)
However, there was another artist who even eclipsed the divine Michelangelo in stature – Leonardo da Vinci. He perfected the weaknesses that plagued Michelangelo's art. His female figures had such beauty, grace and a sweetness to them that was lacking in Michelangelo's paintings. Even though the most famous painting in the world is the Mona Lisa, da Vinci's sweetest work of art is the Virgin and child with St. Anne and John the Baptist. SEE PICTURE BELOW
da Vinci's Virgin and Child with St. Anne and John the Baptist
Despite eclipsing his contemporary, Leonardo wasn't as proficient in portraying the male body as Michelangelo was, yet da Vinci himself excelled in drawing and painting the female body and explored other areas outside the arts, and excelled at everything he turned his hand to.
Wrote Vasari about da Vinci: "In the normal course of events, many men and women are born with various remarkable qualities and talents; but occasionally, in a way that transcends nature, a single person is marvelously endowed by heaven with beauty, grace, and talent in such abundance that he leaves other men far behind, all his actions seem inspired, and indeed everything he does clearly comes from God rather than from human art. Everyone acknowledged that this was true about Leonardo da Vinci, an artist of outstanding physical beauty who displayed infinite grace in everything he did and who cultivated his genius so brilliantly that all problems he studied, he solved with ease." (page 255)
There was yet another artist who not only eclipsed Michelangelo, but also da Vinci and became the true embodiment of the consummate artist. His name was Raphael. Even though he was much younger than both his contemporaries, Raphael studied and absorbed their work, overcame the weaknesses that had plagued both Michelangelo and da Vinci's work, and by far surpassed any renaissance artist, past or in his present day, when it came to portraying the male and female figures, harmony and perspective, beauty and grace, as is evident in his The School of Athens and The Transfiguration.
All three artists lived during the same period and the biographies were written while these artists were still alive. Raphael perfected and captured the beauty and grace of the female figure, and was known as the painter of the Madonnas; his most famous ones being the Madonna of the Chair and the Sistine Madonna. The one thing these revolutionary artists had in common was that they treated their chosen profession as a calling.
About Raphael, Vasari wrote: "Nature sent Raphael into the world after it had been vanquished by the art of Michelangelo and was ready, through Raphael, to be vanquished by character as well. Indeed, until Raphael, most artists had in their temperament a touch of uncouthness and even madness that made them outlandish and eccentric; the dark shadows of vice were often more evident in their lives than the shining light of the virtues that can make men immortal.
So nature had every reason to display in Raphael, in contrast, the finest qualities of mind accompanied by such grace, industry, looks, modesty, and excellence of character as would offset every defect, no matter how serious, and any vice, no matter how ugly. One can claim without fear of contradiction that artists as astoundingly gifted as Raphael are not simply men but, if it be allowed to say so, mortal gods, and that those who leave on earth an honored name in the annals of fame, may also hope to enjoy in heaven a just reward for their work and talent." (page 284)
The next president of the United States should look back to his or her predecessors and avoid a repeat of their mistakes, yet draw from their strengths and infuse those policies and qualities with his or her own blueprint, as a means to restore America back to her original glory, both domestically and worldwide. The only way this can happen, is for the presidency to be looked upon as a calling that transcends any obligation to please donors, special interests or lobbyists. Add Comments>>
|
|
Join the Newscast Media social networks
for current events and multimedia content.
Copyright© Newscast Media. All Rights Reserved. Terms and Privacy Policy