In the past few weeks I've been studying a familiar work of art in the Western cultural zeitgeist - DaVinci's Vitruvian Man illustration. Equal parts mathematical, scientific, and art illustration, this figure is widely-used to represent the medical-field.
You already know it. It's the drawing of a long-haired male, ,facing dead-center, arms akimbo, legs stretched with feet flexed parallel. Behind the figure is another super-imposed, standing in the messiah-pose. His abs, chest, and pelvis are all well-defined, but the picture is formal and straightforward. He is encircled, but then an box is aligns with the circle. The iconic drawing has been widely discussed, taught, and parodied. My favorite is the Homer Simpson version here.
In my web-crawling, I've found that the question it sparked for me has already been explored and addressed by countless others: "Why is there no Vitruvian woman?"
Apparently, there is. The attempts to remedy this query range from rudimentary and simple, to crude and pornographic. The ones I found a Google search were lacking, like the one below (which relies a little too heavily on computer drawing tools and seems cartoon-ish.)
I know some artist has drawn a fat or "ethnic-looking" one. Several feminists, history-buffs, and people into divine-feminine iconography have tried their hands at it. It's interesting to see how it's been perceived and discussed within and outside of academia.
So, what put this picture back on my radar after having learned it in grade school and filling it away in my knowledge-base? Serendipity. No, seriously. You know how sometimes a concept or image can suddenly be in your sphere of existence. Many of spiritual folks say, "It's God talking to you." I can't venture to guess what he's trying to say, but for the past few weeks, DaVinci's work has been in my cypher.
My interest re-sparked at the beginning of summer, when I got an inbox from a sorority sister. A t-shirt vendor was floating around a t-shirt idea for my sorority. The design called, "Vitruvian Ivy", follows the standard Greek-letter organization paraphernalia conventions - basically, "I rep XYZ organization. We're the best. I shall explain with the following graphic." On the design, A Vitruvian figure is superimposed over a popular graphic used in my sorority's iconography, surrounded by an over-generous sprinkling of graffiti-like words and images. It borders on gaudy and loud, but I like the bow to the prototypical nature of Alpha Kappa Alpha, so I bought it. No good picture of it exists on the web right now, which sparks a little rant. I have reservations about this particular vendor's ethics. How do you copyright images and ideas that you've stolen from someone else? Is there really a copyright? Are you just that paranoid that some other vendor will use the graphics you've borrowed from others? There is absolutely no honor there. UGH! Anyway, honor be damned, they got my money and for that, I get to tell the world my sorority is the bomb.*
After the t-shirt-sighting, my favorite pop-star, Beyonce premiered her "Sweet Dreams" video and I took note. (I try soooo hard not to make frequent references to her, but why conceal the fan-dom? I'm caving, guys.) For a brief second, the director had her strike the Vitruvian pose and later added computer-graphics to make her the Vitruvian woman. Genius! That part should have been longer, as it only flashes on the screen for a second or two.
Then my little sister, anurse, brought a notebook home from work that featured the Vitruvian man prominently on the front-cover. Thus, my dive into the culture-barrel and my appreciation. Read up on it.
Things I'm Feeling
You already know it. It's the drawing of a long-haired male, ,facing dead-center, arms akimbo, legs stretched with feet flexed parallel. Behind the figure is another super-imposed, standing in the messiah-pose. His abs, chest, and pelvis are all well-defined, but the picture is formal and straightforward. He is encircled, but then an box is aligns with the circle. The iconic drawing has been widely discussed, taught, and parodied. My favorite is the Homer Simpson version here.
In my web-crawling, I've found that the question it sparked for me has already been explored and addressed by countless others: "Why is there no Vitruvian woman?"
Apparently, there is. The attempts to remedy this query range from rudimentary and simple, to crude and pornographic. The ones I found a Google search were lacking, like the one below (which relies a little too heavily on computer drawing tools and seems cartoon-ish.)
I know some artist has drawn a fat or "ethnic-looking" one. Several feminists, history-buffs, and people into divine-feminine iconography have tried their hands at it. It's interesting to see how it's been perceived and discussed within and outside of academia.
So, what put this picture back on my radar after having learned it in grade school and filling it away in my knowledge-base? Serendipity. No, seriously. You know how sometimes a concept or image can suddenly be in your sphere of existence. Many of spiritual folks say, "It's God talking to you." I can't venture to guess what he's trying to say, but for the past few weeks, DaVinci's work has been in my cypher.
My interest re-sparked at the beginning of summer, when I got an inbox from a sorority sister. A t-shirt vendor was floating around a t-shirt idea for my sorority. The design called, "Vitruvian Ivy", follows the standard Greek-letter organization paraphernalia conventions - basically, "I rep XYZ organization. We're the best. I shall explain with the following graphic." On the design, A Vitruvian figure is superimposed over a popular graphic used in my sorority's iconography, surrounded by an over-generous sprinkling of graffiti-like words and images. It borders on gaudy and loud, but I like the bow to the prototypical nature of Alpha Kappa Alpha, so I bought it. No good picture of it exists on the web right now, which sparks a little rant. I have reservations about this particular vendor's ethics. How do you copyright images and ideas that you've stolen from someone else? Is there really a copyright? Are you just that paranoid that some other vendor will use the graphics you've borrowed from others? There is absolutely no honor there. UGH! Anyway, honor be damned, they got my money and for that, I get to tell the world my sorority is the bomb.*
After the t-shirt-sighting, my favorite pop-star, Beyonce premiered her "Sweet Dreams" video and I took note. (I try soooo hard not to make frequent references to her, but why conceal the fan-dom? I'm caving, guys.) For a brief second, the director had her strike the Vitruvian pose and later added computer-graphics to make her the Vitruvian woman. Genius! That part should have been longer, as it only flashes on the screen for a second or two.
Then my little sister, anurse, brought a notebook home from work that featured the Vitruvian man prominently on the front-cover. Thus, my dive into the culture-barrel and my appreciation. Read up on it.
Things I'm Feeling
- B. Scott - Because he's just funny and has a sweet spirit. Be warned, though - He's gay, he's femme, he's opinionated, he ♥'s to self-promote.
- My library's renovation
- The fake-me-out frozen shrimp marinade I concocted with shrimp, lemon-juice, and dill.
- Road trips
- Coutouture
- Classical Baby - I can't wait to introduce my kids to culture (waiting on the Lord)
- This .gif is the best explanation of TrueBlood, ever. I love it!
- Revisiting Lil' Wayne in this song
Be easy, breezies!
*For the record, I'm of the school that news about my sorority not related to our centennial or public service, won't be fodder for public discussion in real-life or on the Web. I'll leave that to other people, curious media personnel and gossip-blogging hacks who have unusual fixations with our internal business. Nothing to see here, folks.☺
*For the record, I'm of the school that news about my sorority not related to our centennial or public service, won't be fodder for public discussion in real-life or on the Web. I'll leave that to other people, curious media personnel and gossip-blogging hacks who have unusual fixations with our internal business. Nothing to see here, folks.☺
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