My good friend the late Dewitt Casey was an artist. He had a uncanny ability to reproduce things on paper, sculpture, and carving that were realistic and exhibited a polish and style which became characteristic of his work.
This hallmark was evident to the point that I became able to recognize things that he had done in the local area — even though I may not have ever seen him working on them … and I watched him work on many pieces over the years.
Most every holiday I would try to get him a sketch book and other things that would stimulate him to create just so I could see what he’d come up with next.
We often spoke of art and artisans from a historical perspective and he told me that Michelangelo was that artist which inspired him the most throughout his life. When I asked him why this was so he related that the massive body of work he created and the realism he imparted to the subject matter was the allure.
Like Dewitt, Michelangelo worked in mixed media and was not a person who worked in a single area of artistic endeavor. Like Michelangelo, Dewitt possessed that ability to impart realism on paper, canvas, and to the three dimensional sculptures he created.
I have cultivated an appreciation for Michelangelo over the years. I appreciated Dewitt from the day I met him. Though they are both gone now, they live on through their work.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
aka Michelangelo
aka Il Divino “the divine one”
March 6, 1475 – February 18, 1564
Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer.
Contemporary and rival of Leonardo da Vinci.
He inspired the artistic movement which became known as Mannerism, in which artists attempted to imitate his artistic style.
Michelangelo’s was a man of prodigious creativity.
The massive volume of sketches, paintings, frescoes, and sculptures — as well as letters and reminiscences that survive to this day makes him one of the best-documented artists of the 1500s.
Tags: Observances, People