| Title: |
LEONARDO'S DELUGE |
| Alternate Title: |
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| Original Title: |
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| Series Title: |
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| Edition Version: |
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| Data: |
14 min. col. video |
| Year: |
1989 |
| Country of Prod'n: |
United States |
| Language: |
English |
| Producing Agency: |
Program for Art on Film, a joint venture of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Trust |
| Sources: |
Museum of Modern Art Circ. Film Library; Films Incorporated Video |
| Int'l Sources: |
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| Director: |
Mark Whitney |
| Producer: |
Mark Whitney |
| Executive Producer: |
Benjamin B. Johnson |
| Writer: |
Mark Whitney; Carlo Pedretti; Morgan Thomas |
| Camera: |
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| Editor: |
Mark Whitney |
| Narrator: |
Anjelica Huston |
| Animator: |
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| Music Composer: |
Ian Underwood |
| Art Consultant: |
Carlo Pedretti |
| Researcher: |
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| Addl Credits: |
Assoc. Prod.: Morgan Thomas; Prod. Cons.: Michael Whitney; Post Prod. Cons.: Peter Conn; Off-line Editor: Lance Richter; Image flow choreography of motifs in Leonardo's drawings: Optomystic, John Whitney, Jr.; Software & Animation: Karl Sims; Parallel Computation: Connection Machine 2; Image enhancement and sequential animation of drawings: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Digital Image Animation Laboratory; Animation: Jeffrey R. Hall, Betsy Asher Hall; Image Digitalization: Joe Fulton; Experiments in the physics of fluid dynamics: National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois, Urbana; Research scientist: Michael Norman; Animation: Donna Cox; Add'l Funding: Gerard, Jr. Foundation; Add'l Funding: Palm Springs Desert Museum |
| Cast: |
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| Synopsis: |
Uses computer animation techniques and scenes of natural landscapes around the Arno River to underscore the symbolic significance of eleven small drawings of a deluge, by Italian artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), now in the collection of The Royal Library of Windsor Castle. Selections from Leonardo's notebooks comprise the narration, spoken by Anjelica Huston. Conceived as an experiment in state-of-the-art computer animation techniques, the digital animation was realized by means of a software program created especially for the project by computer animator Karl Sims, working with a supercomputer called the Connection Machine. Leonardo's Deluge drawings were electronically scanned and digitized using techniques originally developed for studying pictures taken in outer space. The animation of the digitized drawings was informed by scientific studies in fluid dynamics. A film by director Mark Whitney and art historian Carlo Pedretti. |
| Genre Film: |
Computer-Generated Images; Visual Essay |
| Aud./Grade Level: |
High School; College/University; Adult |
| Suggested Uses: |
General Information |
| Subject Headings: |
Drawing -- Renaissance -- Europe -- Italy -- 15C
Computer art
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| Assoc Concepts: |
Art and science |
| Artist's Name: |
Leonardo da Vinci, (1452-1519), Italian painter; sculptor; architect; engineer; musician; scientist |
| Artist on Camera: |
No |
| Reviews: |
Videography, Vol 14, Number 8 |
| Awards: |
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| Evaluation: |
The computer animation itself is fascinating and technically breathtaking; Leonardo would doubtless have had a good time with it. Creates an aura of mystery and magic that provokes discussion about the use of technology and artifice in works of art. Some evaluators thought it was too lyrical and pretty, but despite aesthetic reservations, found this video a thrilling experience, stunning. Others found the computerized "improvement" of Leonardo's drawings deeply offensive: the animation does nothing to enhance the intrinsic dynamics of the drawings, rather seems deliberately to mask them by superimposing something else. Relationship of the computer effects to the original drawings is sometimes confusing. Is the point here that Leonardo's science is accurate? The real question is: Should works of art be manipulated? (Opinions differed on this issue.) Relies solely on Leonardo's wonderful diaries for the text; the tension between the fifteenth-century commentary and the high-tech twentieth-century graphics is superb. Technical quality, content, and programming potential all judged very good. |
| Comments: |
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