Embodied Response to Art

Okay, I know the image above is both religious and a bit uncomfortable. But I decided to add it to my blog after reading Complete Engagement: Embodied Response in Art Museum Education (Hubard 2007).

Pretend for a moment that the above sculpture, the Pieta by Michelangelo, is no one named Jesus or Mary. Pretend it is just a mother and her son.

The reason I chose to post this image is because this is the first time I recall an embodied response to a piece of art. My mother and I took a trip to Rome, where art is just everywhere-- literally everywhere-- you look. And with all its pomp and circumstance, age, and decadence. I was impressed but never emotionally touched by the art I witnessed. Most of the time I was looking at headless naked male statues with a fig leaf over anything interesting or angels with wings and swords. And, when we visited the Vatican, it was the same art, different day. Except for the moment I saw this sculpture at St. Peter's Basilica. It took my breath away. It brought tears to my eyes. Honestly, it feels callous to cut and paste such an intimate image into a blog.

I should mention when I first walked up to this scupture, I was pregnant, at the time, with my second child. I had some challenges with this pregnancy, and had my son as my only child.

So, again, lets remove the names from this sculpture and simply look at the sculpture itself. A mother holding the body of her dead, grown son. Even in death, he seems to fold into his mother for comfort, but his mother is neither sad nor angry, she is numb and pensive and prayerful, but able to comfort her son even in death. And, when you look closely, she looks larger than he is. He is limp in her arms, on her lap, and she is holding her son, her heart, in her arms.

It took my breath away. And, Michelangelo was quite intentional in his raw and realistic portrayal of a dead son in his mothers arms. And so I think about the fact that is was an embodied response to this work of art. And, I wonder how I can bring this same emotional, engaged, and memorable response to learning in the classroom. I don't yet have an answer to this question, but hope for answers as these weeks unfold.

Reference:

Hubard, O. (2007). Complete engagement: Embodied response in art museum education. Art Education, 60(6), pp. 46-53.