“The greater danger is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”
Michelangelo
Just recently we had some discussion of New Year’s Resolutions. One of mine had to do with achieving some body sculpting goals. To accomplish that, I put myself on training regimen, but very soon, I noticed, “Well, I’ve done this before, and I’ve never achieved the kind of results I’m after. What’s it gonna take? What’s it really gonna take?”
So I started doing some research. I began with the knowledge that though I’ve been a jock pretty much my whole life, maybe, just maybe I did not know just exactly how to get “ripped,” and sure enough, I found that I had more than a thing or two to learn about reducing fat while increasing muscle. In fact, it was on a little motivational excerpt from one of my resources that I got the above quote.
It occurred to me that exercise and diet where aspects of a greater approach to achieving life goals. I kept noticing that the testimonials of people who achieved body building goals were reflections of the kind of patter one hears on the subject of ambition and success with any goal.
So first, I really put a crisp, clean, clearly defined goal there. A high goal. A tough goal: one I’ve never achieved since my youth (and that was because my body was still growing).
Then, magically, the things I needed to do began to happen.
First, I recognized my own ignorance and the doors of knowledge opened.
Second, I recognized my own weakness and recruited some help in the form of trainers. (I’ll share my resources with anyone interested.)
Third, I put my new knowledge in action. Though my fat measuring calipers have not arrived in the mail, after two weeks, I can clearly see results in the mirror. The muscle is building up nicely, and the fat is melting away.
And what does this have to do with art?
Everything.
I am curious about two things: How do you motivate yourself and how do you motivate other?
For example, the supreme frustration in teaching art for me was a lack of ambition on the part of students. I’d love to hear how you have succeeded at getting others to aim higher. I’d love to hear how you do it yourself.
Rex, there are situations where I find goals useful, and other situations where I don’t. I’ll use a travel analogy to explain.
When the point of what you are doing is to get to a destination (less fat, more money, pass the exam, get to NYC) then a goal is useful. You know what you want to accomplish and you can plot a course. And if there’s a way to quantify your results, you can set a goal and measure your success at reaching it.
But there are other types of travel where the point is not the destination but the journey itself. In those cases I find it more useful to define a direction rather than a goal. I put my art practice in this category.
As to motivating others, my only experience has been in teaching art, most of which was when I was in graduate school. I taught a bunch of drawing classes, as well as painting and color theory.
With the figure drawing classes, for example, I had the students first do the best half-hour drawing they could, without instruction. They handed this in and I saved it. Then, over the course of the semester, I tried to get them involved in the process of drawing rather than thinking about specific goals. The direction I set for them was to draw the figure from life as accurately as possible, and all our activities and exercises were geared toward that. But I wanted them to be totally present and involved in the process of looking and drawing, not thinking about the end result.
At the end of the semester, at our final critique, I would have them put up what they thought was their best work, and I put up those first drawings they had done (which they had forgotten about). All the students were pretty blown away at how much better they had gotten.
Thanks David,
Seeing students get a buzz off their improvements is a delight, and I’m glad to hear you have been instrumental in that.
I do understand the travel analogy, and that was a good one. I came to similar conclusions about mountain climbing, hunting, and fishing. I realized that my actual goal was to immerse myself in the wilderness experience, not to conquer, not to kill.
Just last night, I was talking with a Yoga instructor. She was describing goals as something one needed to “let go of,” but I frankly perceived her take as a half assed Western botch version of Asian patience.
We just need to recognize what we really want.
Example: This stockbroker had this goal of buying this expensive watch. Why? He wanted to impress his clients with his success, but when he realized why, he realized he did not need the watch. He needed to be a good stockbroker. THAT impressed his clients.
Rex,
I’m wondering what the source of this Michelangelo quote is. Is it from Vasari? The quote is all over the internet, but I haven’t seen a real source.
I have no idea, Karl. If it’s Vasari, then it may be a Vasari quote!
Just last night, I was talking with a Yoga instructor. She was describing goals as something one needed to “let go of,” but I frankly perceived her take as a half assed Western botch version of Asian patience.
I’m assuming the yoga instructor said that in the context of yoga practice, in which case I’d say she was correct.
I remember another stockbroker story, maybe it was from Peter Lynch, I’m not sure. A broker was trying to impress a client by showing off his big yacht, and the client asked him “but where are your clients’ yachts?”
Vasari wrote one of the original biographies of Michelangelo. There is another, I don’t remember the name of the author at the moment. Vasari is known to have made a lot of errors, but he knew Michelangelo.
I’m assuming the yoga instructor said that in the context of yoga practice, in which case I’d say she was correct.
In which case I’d say Yoga ain’t for me. :)
Great stockbroker story. (My stepdad was a stockbroker. He quit his job to take over a craft business I started when I was fourteen because I was making so much money but couldn’t drive to get all the materials I needed, so my expansion was bogged.)
12 weeks with ten to go for 9% body fat. July 4th, and the illustrations are done, and as of a day or so ago, our stats on this blog are soaring. We’re one of the top art blogs. It didn’t “just happen.”
Goals. I love ’em. Patience be DAMNED.
Patience doesn’t have to mean waiting around. It can mean being patient enough to keep working toward your goals, even when you don’t see immediate results.
I call that persistence.
Yes, persistence is patience in action.
I just love the sound of “Patience be damned,” contrary exceptions there may be.
I like “Full speed ahead and damn the torpedos,” and “Take no prisoners!” too.
Insouciance will get you everywhere.
damn the torpedos
The best Tom Petty album.
He also said “the waiting is the hardest part” :)
PS – Rex, are you an insouciant chef?
Mmm, I rarely make the same dish exactly the same way twice. I’m a jazz cook. Always improvising, never following the score. That’s pretty damn carefree, wouldn’t you say?
Speaking of which, I get to go slice up some New York Steaks for tonight’s feast and figure out just what I meant when I told the manager I was making “Bangkok Beef” for Sunday. Thai, yes, but oh dear, did I commit myself to Central Thai?
(No one will know, unless there’s a Thai, and if so, I’ll let ’em in on my secret.)
…never following the score.
That’s the difference between jazz and baseball :)
I am an author now putting the finishing touches on a book, “In the Footsteps of Michelangelo: A Traveler’s Biography”, to be published in the winter of 2008. Giorgio Vasari did a lengthy chapter about Michelangelo in his 1550 book, “The Lives of the Artists”. This is an artist’s and art historian’s viewpoint. Michelangelo, who was friendly with Vasari, disagreed on certain points, especially about whether he had learned painting from Domenico Ghirlandaio. Vasari said he did, Michelangelo said he did not. So Michelangelo did a sort of “as-told-to” biography with a young artist named Ascanio Condivi. It came out in 1553. Michelangelo died in 1564. In 1568, Vasari came out with an updated version in which he provides documentation of his assertions. We who study Michelangelo look to Vasari and Condivi for facts, stories, points of view, and psychological insights, and then add to these our own research and ideas. The quotation cited above comes from one of Michelangelo’s letters. He was an active letter-writer and also wrote beautiful sonnets. His own writings serve as more of a window into his soul than anything Vasari or Condivi tell us. Look for “In the Footsteps of Michelangelo” a year from now, please.
Fred,
Thank you. Great information. I look forward to the book. Please do give an update when it’s coming out!
Fred,
Thanks for the info. Do you have any comment on the book “Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling” by Ross King? It looked interesting from a quick glance, but I haven’t really evaluated it yet.
Rex,
Wow! I want to see what your art is looking like when you’re in this mood. Guess you’ll have to update that salesman’s duds photo soon, too.
Steve and Rex,
I have not read the Ross King book or most of the other recent books about Michelangelo, Leonardo and the rest of the gang for the simple reason that I wanted to pursue my primary research without being influenced by the work of others. I am fortunate to have been able to see every extant work by the artist and visit all of the places he is known to have lived and worked. Once I deliver my book I intend to read all of the authors (except Dan Brown) who have written about Renaissance artists.
I should clarify my first posting: Michelangelo objected to Vasari’s assertion that he learned to paint from Ghirlandaio and he gave his own version to Condivi in “The Life of Michelangelo.” But he maintained a friendship and correspondence with Vasari and I think it is fair to say now that he did learn from Ghirlandaio. But being the genius he was, his painting style became his own, just as his sculpting style was not imitative. But someone taught him to use scalpels, chisels and hammers and he never denied that.
Fred,
Again, great information. I totally understand your approach to research too. I also have a book I’m working on, and I’ve found myself dispensing with all the information but first hand accounts and archaeology. Not very scholarly of me, but definitely results in unfiltered vision.
Steve,
Not quite there yet on the photos, but a warming filter, direct frontal lighting, and no shirt are motivational things!
Just to add another quote to the mix:
“A man’s [sic] reach should exceed his grasp, Else what’s a heaven for.” Robert Browning.
And I’m not sure how I feel about the syntax or even the analogy, but I certainly agree with the concept.
Steve,
I enjoyed Ross King’s books. Brunelleschi’s Dome is a good read, as is The Pope’s Ceiling. Both books contain inaccuracies and are written for general readers, but they are enjoyable and contain a lot of good information.
Fred,
Thanks for the reference for the quote. Of course, Michelangelo did lots and lots of writing! The quote Rex used is so widespread on the internet that I doubted the attribution. Can you provide a link to the letter where it appears, or more of the text to give the context?
I agree with your research approach. I did my research and wrote the first few drafts of my essay Michelangelo Drawings, Real or Fake? without even reading the exhibition catalogue, only by studying the real drawings in Haarlem. When I did the background reading, I got some surprises, but they were all good ones, confirming my findings. If I had read the catalogue first, I might never have had the idea for the essay. The funny thing was that the museum curators did not have any good defense to my arguments.
It is Fred back on line. I was in Florida giving lectures about opera, which is my primary profession (along with writing). Where does Michelangelo fit in?…I generally describe much of my focus as being that of an Italianist, and he has been on object of study for decades.
About his writings and letters, there are numerous editions and translations, as well as good volumes in the original Italian. A recent, reader-friendly collection is published by Oxford and edited and translated by the late George Bull. A much older, more complete edition is the Symonds translation, although in some cases the gender of the object of Michelangelo’s affections is either changed or neutralized. I was familiar with the original quotation just from study, but I have not looked at it lately in the context of a letter.
I am about to set out again for another work trip and don’t have the time right now to comb through the letters and poems, but I do commend them to you.
Fred
Hi Fred,
Since you traveling and all, you might miss this comment, but I’d just like to say how much I appreciate your stopping in and providing your insights and understandings. Thanks for saying how to get at the source materials. This is true quality information, and I for one would just love to hear more from you on any subject, but in particular, your Italianist passion lends itself to all sorts of possibilities. We haven’t had much talk about opera here, but I’m sure it would be a refreshing topic.
And for me, Michelangelo ranks among the gods. Thanks again.
Dear Rex and other readers,
I will be away for a bit, but want to thank you for your comments. For musical topics, you might wish to look at my books, Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera, and Classical Music 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Classical Music. While there are “Dummies” and “Idiot’s” books for people who want to learn just enough to get by, the 101 books are for intelligent people who may not have been exposed to the subject in question but are looking for a way to immerse deeply and meaningfully into opera or classical music. There are also books in the series, by other authors, on ballet and jazz. When I complete my Michelangelo book I will write Wine 101.
For further reading on Michelangelo: the Oxford World’s Classics book I recommended on his life, letters and poetry includes a pretty good translation of the Condivi biography, which is Michelangelo’s as-told-to autobiography. As you know, I have been avoiding reading scholars on aspects of Michelangelo and only going to primary sources so that my own point of view will be unsullied. I’ll be back one day soon.
Ciao, Fred