Name	Adam
Spouse	Eve
Children	CainAbelSethmore sons and daughters }}

Adam (Hebrew: אָדָם‎, Arabic: آدم‎) is a prominent figure in Abrahamic religions. He is the first man created by God in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Adam appears originally in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Genesis and is referenced throughout the Qur'an. His wife was Eve. In the Quran, his wife was Hawa.

Individual/humanity and etymology

''Adam'' (Hebrew: אָדָם‎, Arabic: آدم‎) in Biblical (as well as modern) Hebrew is sometimes used as the personal name of an individual and at other times in a generic sense meaning "mankind", in the same way as the earlier Canaanite '' 'adam''. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, its use in is generic, while in and the generic and personal usages are mixed.

The usage of the word as personal pre-dates the generic usage. Its root is not the standard Semitic root for "man" which is instead '''-(n)-sh'' but is attested as a personal name in the Assyrian King List in the form ''Adamu'' showing that it was a genuine name from the early history of the Near East. The generic usage in Genesis meaning "mankind" reflects the view that Adam was the ancestor of all men. Etymologically it is the masculine form of the word ''adamah'' meaning ground or earth and related to the words ''adom'' (red), ''admoni'' (ruddy) and ''dam'' (blood)

Christianity and Judaism

Hebrew Bible

The story is told in the book of Genesis, contained in the Torah and Bible. These texts have a central role in both Judaism and Christianity. Adam is discussed in and , with some additional elements in chapters 4 and 5. These might present two accounts of the creation story. Several apocryphal books, such as the Book of Jubilees, Life of Adam and Eve and Book of Enoch also contain details of Adam's life.

Creation

According to Genesis 1, God (Elohim) created human beings. "Male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam..." (). "Adam" is a general term, like "Man" and could refer to the whole of humankind. God blessed them to be "fruitful and multiply" and ordained that they should have "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" ().

The account in records that God first formed Adam out of "the dust of the ground" and then "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life", causing him to "become a living soul" (). God then placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, giving him the commandment that "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" ().

God then noted that "It is not good that the man should be alone" (). He then brought every "beast of the field and every fowl of the air" () before Adam and had Adam name all the animals. However, among all the animals, there was not found "a helper suitable for" Adam (), so God caused "a deep sleep to fall upon Adam" and took one of his ribs, and from that rib, formed a woman (), subsequently named Eve.

Lilith

In Jewish folklore, Lilith is the name of Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time and from the same earth as Adam. She left Adam after she refused to become subservient to Adam and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with archangel Samael. Her story was greatly developed, during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadic midrashim, the Zohar and Jewish mysticism. The resulting Lilith legend is still commonly used as source material in modern culture, literature, occultism, fantasy and horror.

Expulsion

Adam and Eve were subsequently expelled from the Garden of Eden, were ceremonially separated from God, and lost their innocence after they broke God's law about not eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This occurred after the serpent (understood to be Satan in many Christian traditions) told Eve that eating of the tree would result not in death, but in Adam and Eve's eyes being opened, resulting in their being "as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3.4-5). Convinced by the serpent's argument, Eve eats of the tree and has Adam do likewise (Gen. 3.6).

As a result, both immediately become aware of the fact that they are naked, and thus cover themselves with garments made of fig leaves (Gen. 3.7). Then, finding God walking in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve hide themselves from God's presence (Gen. 3.8). God calls to Adam "Where art thou?" (Gen. 3.9, KJV) and Adam responds "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself" (Gen. 3.10, KJV). When God then asks Adam if he had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam responds that his wife had told him to (Gen. 3.11-12).

As a result of their breaking God's law, the couple were removed from the garden (Gen. 3.23) (the Fall of Man according to Christian doctrine) and both receive a curse. Adam's curse is contained in Gen. 3.17-19: "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (KJV).

Post-expulsion

After his expulsion from Eden, Adam was forced to work hard for his food for the first time. According to the Book of Genesis, he bore three children with Eve named as Cain, Abel, and Seth. The Book of Jubilees, a second century BC text which is not considered canonical by most Abrahamic faiths, gives Adam the daughters Azura and Awan, who married Seth and Cain, respectively, in incestuous unions.

According to the Genealogies of Genesis, Adam died at the age of 930. With such numbers, calculations such as those of Archbishop Ussher would suggest that Adam would have died only about 127 years before the birth of Noah, nine generations after Adam. In other words, Adam's lifespan would have overlapped that of Lamech (father of Noah), at least fifty years. Ussher and a group of theologians and scholars in 1630 performed calculations and created a study that reported the creation of Adam on October 23, 4004 BC at 9:00 am and lived until 3074 BC. There was controversy over the fact that Ussher believed the whole creation process occurred on that day.

Although the Book of Joshua mentions a "City of Adam" at the time that the Israelites crossed the Jordan River on entering Canaan, it doesn't suggest any relationship between this city and the first man of Genesis. Traditional Jewish belief, on the other hand, says that following his death, Adam was buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron.

He appears to an extent in both Eastern and Western Christian liturgies.

The New Testament

The relevance of Adam is not solely with the Old Testament. In the New Testament, the first Adam is compared with the second Adam. The first Adam brought about the Fall of Man, which cursed man with the knowledge of sin. Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden and out of God's presence. The second Adam (Jesus) came to the world to save mankind from Adam's original sin that everyone inherits. With the first Adam there is death, but with the second Adam there is life.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses view Adam and Eve as the ones who brought sin, and thus death, into the world by committing the original sin, by disobeying Jehovah's clear command not to eat of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil.

Eve's sin is counted as deliberate disobedience, as she did know that Jehovah had commanded them not to eat, but she is held to have been deceived by the Serpent. (She was deceived only about the effect of their disobedience, not about the will of God on the matter.) Adam's sin is considered even more reproachable, as he had not been deceived. Rather, when confronted with his sin, he attempted to blame both his wife Eve, and Jehovah himself. Genesis 3:12 NWT - "The woman who you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree and so I ate.". By his sin, he forfeited human perfection and was therefore unable to pass it on to his offspring.

Latter Day Saint (LDS) view

The Latter Day Saint movement holds that Adam and Michael the archangel are the same individual. Michael the archangel fought against and cast out Lucifer (who became Satan) and his followers at the conclusion of the War of Heaven during the pre-mortal existence (see Book of Revelation ). Michael was born into this mortal existence as the man "Adam, the father of all, the prince of all, the Ancient of Days" (see Doctrine and Covenants and ). Mormons also consider Adam to be the first among all the prophets on earth. Brigham Young and other early leaders spoke favorably about the Adam–God theory, the idea that Adam and God the Father were the same person, but it did not become church doctrine and has since been repudiated by the church.

The Latter Day Saints hold the belief that the "Fall" was not a tragedy, but a necessary part of God's plan. They believe that Adam and Eve had to partake of the forbidden fruit in order to fulfill God's will, and that it is good that they did so.

Seventh-day Adventist view

Seventh-day Adventist believe that the importance of the literal creation time-line is pivotal to the story of humanity, their relationship to God, and the plan of salvation and atonement for Adam and Eve’s transgression (fall), by which all their descendants are under subjugation. The Bible states, “Since by man (Adam) came death, by man (Jesus the Christ) came also the resurrection... (I Cor. 15:21).” To disavow a literal creation and our first parents (Adam and Eve) nearly 6,000 years ago negates a fundamental, orthodox doctrine and the supremacy of the Holy Bible that the sovereign, triune God --“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth,” (Genesis 1:26 NASB)—according to His own purpose and counsel and for His own glory, created humanity in the Biblical/Torah account.

Islamic view

In Islam, Adam is considered the first Prophet of God (Allah) and the husband of Eve (arabic - Hawa, pronounced Hauwwa) who was also created by the will of God. Allah created Adam from dust (arabic - turaab). Allah commanded "Be" and he was. Satan (The Devil) had lured Adam and Eve/Hawa into disobeying God by tasting from the forbidden tree (although no reference is necessary as to what he may have tasted). This was the first act of revenge from Satan for being banished from heaven due to mankind. According to the Qur'an, Adam and Eve/Hawa were both tempted by Satan and therefore equally guilty:

"Then began Satan to whisper suggestions to them, bringing openly before their minds all their shame that was hidden from them (before): he said: 'Your Lord only forbade you this tree, lest ye should become angels or such beings as live for ever.' And he swore to them both, that he was their sincere adviser. So by deceit he brought about their fall: when they tasted of the tree, their shame became manifest to them, and they began to sew together the leaves of the garden over their bodies. And their Lord called unto them: Did I not forbid you that tree, and tell you that Satan was an avowed enemy unto you?"

The Qur'an also mentions that Adam was forgiven by God after much repentance.

Bahá'í view

In the Bahá'í view, Adam was the first Manifestation of God in recorded history. He is believed by Bahá'ís to have started the Adamic cycle 6000 years ago, which has culminated with Bahá'u'lláh. The Biblical story of Adam and Eve, according to Bahá'í belief, is allegorical and is explained by `Abdu'l-Bahá in Some Answered Questions.

Druze religion

In the Druze religion, Adam and Eve are seen as dualistic cosmic forces and are complementary to one another. Adam represents the universal mind and Eve, the universal soul.

See also

Adam and Eve

Adam Kadmon

Banu (Arabic)

''Paradise Lost''

Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions

Y-chromosomal Adam

Mahabad (prophet)

Notes

Category:Burials in Hebron Category:Gnosticism Category:Hebrew Bible people Category:Old Testament saints Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar Category:Prophets of Islam Category:Book of Genesis

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bgcolour	#EEDD82
name	Michelangelo
birth name	Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
birth date	March 06, 1475
birth place	Caprese near Arezzo, Republic of Florence (present-day Tuscany, Italy)
death date	February 18, 1564
death place	Rome, Papal States (present-day Italy)
nationality	Italian
field	Sculpture, painting, architecture, and poetry
training	Apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio
movement	High Renaissance
works	''David'', ''The Creation of Adam'', ''Pietà'', Sistine Chapel Ceiling
signature	Michelangelo Signature2.svg }}

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci.

Michelangelo's output in every field during his long life was prodigious; when the sheer volume of correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences that survive is also taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century. Two of his best-known works, the ''Pietà'' and ''David'', were sculpted before he turned thirty. Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created two of the most influential works in fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and ''The Last Judgment'' on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library. At 74 he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan, the western end being finished to Michelangelo's design, the dome being completed after his death with some modification.

In a demonstration of Michelangelo's unique standing, he was the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive. Two biographies were published of him during his lifetime; one of them, by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that he was the pinnacle of all artistic achievement since the beginning of the Renaissance, a viewpoint that continued to have currency in art history for centuries. In his lifetime he was also often called ''Il Divino'' ("the divine one"). One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his ''terribilità'', a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur, and it was the attempts of subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelo's impassioned and highly personal style that resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance.

Life and works

Early life

Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, Tuscany. (Today, Caprese is known as Caprese Michelangelo). For several generations, his family had been small-scale bankers in Florence, but his father, Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti di Simoni, failed to maintain the bank's financial status, and held occasional government positions. At the time of Michelangelo's birth, his father was the Judicial administrator of the small town of Caprese and local administrator of Chiusi. Michelangelo's mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena. The Buonarrotis claimed to descend from the Countess Mathilde of Canossa; this claim remains unproven, but Michelangelo himself believed it. Several months after Michelangelo's birth, the family returned to Florence, where Michelangelo was raised. At later times, during the prolonged illness and after the death of his mother in 1481 when he was just six years old, Michelangelo lived with a stonecutter and his wife and family in the town of Settignano, where his father owned a marble quarry and a small farm. Giorgio Vasari quotes Michelangelo as saying, "If there is some good in me, it is because I was born in the subtle atmosphere of your country of Arezzo. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, with which I make my figures."

Michelangelo's father sent him to study grammar with the Humanist Francesco da Urbino in Florence as a young boy. The young artist, however, showed no interest in his schooling, preferring to copy paintings from churches and seek the company of painters. At thirteen, Michelangelo was apprenticed to the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio. When Michelangelo was only fourteen, his father persuaded Ghirlandaio to pay his apprentice as an artist, which was highly unusual at the time. When in 1489 Lorenzo de' Medici, de facto ruler of Florence, asked Ghirlandaio for his two best pupils, Ghirlandaio sent Michelangelo and Francesco Granacci. From 1490 to 1492, Michelangelo attended the Humanist academy which the Medici had founded along Neo Platonic lines. Michelangelo studied sculpture under Bertoldo di Giovanni. At the academy, both Michelangelo's outlook and his art were subject to the influence of many of the most prominent philosophers and writers of the day including Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Poliziano. At this time, Michelangelo sculpted the reliefs ''Madonna of the Steps'' (1490–1492) and ''Battle of the Centaurs'' (1491–1492). The latter was based on a theme suggested by Poliziano and was commissioned by Lorenzo de Medici. While both were apprenticed to Bertoldo di Giovanni, Pietro Torrigiano struck the 17-year-old on the nose, and thus caused that disfigurement which is so conspicuous in all the portraits of Michelangelo.

Early adulthood

Lorenzo de' Medici's death on 8 April 1492 brought a reversal of Michelangelo's circumstances. Michelangelo left the security of the Medici court and returned to his father's house. In the following months he carved a ''wooden crucifix'' (1493), as a gift to the prior of the Florentine church of Santo Spirito, who had permitted him some studies of anatomy on the corpses of the church's hospital. Between 1493 and 1494 he bought a block of marble for a larger than life statue of Hercules, which was sent to France and subsequently disappeared sometime circa 18th century. On 20 January 1494, after heavy snowfalls, Lorenzo's heir, Piero de Medici commissioned a snow statue, and Michelangelo again entered the court of the Medici.

In the same year, the Medici were expelled from Florence as the result of the rise of Savonarola. Michelangelo left the city before the end of the political upheaval, moving to Venice and then to Bologna. In Bologna, he was commissioned to finish the carving of the last small figures of the Shrine of St. Dominic, in the church dedicated to that saint. Towards the end of 1494, the political situation in Florence was calmer. The city, previously under threat from the French, was no longer in danger as Charles VIII had suffered defeats. Michelangelo returned to Florence but received no commissions from the new city government under Savonarola. He returned to the employment of the Medici. During the half year he spent in Florence he worked on two small statues, a child ''St. John the Baptist'' and a sleeping ''Cupid''. According to Condivi, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, for whom Michelangelo had sculpted ''St. John the Baptist'', asked that Michelangelo "fix it so that it looked as if it had been buried" so he could "send it to Rome...pass [it off as] an ancient work and...sell it much better." Both Lorenzo and Michelangelo were unwittingly cheated out of the real value of the piece by a middleman. Cardinal Raffaele Riario, to whom Lorenzo had sold it, discovered that it was a fraud, but was so impressed by the quality of the sculpture that he invited the artist to Rome. This apparent success in selling his sculpture abroad as well as the conservative Florentine situation may have encouraged Michelangelo to accept the prelate's invitation.

Rome

Michelangelo arrived in Rome 25 June 1496 at the age of 21. On 4 July of the same year, he began work on a commission for Cardinal Raffaele Riario, an over-life-size statue of the Roman wine god, ''Bacchus''. However, upon completion, the work was rejected by the cardinal, and subsequently entered the collection of the banker Jacopo Galli, for his garden.

In November of 1497, the French ambassador in the Holy See commissioned one of his most famous works, the ''Pietà'' and the contract was agreed upon in August of the following year. The contemporary opinion about this work – "a revelation of all the potentialities and force of the art of sculpture" – was summarized by Vasari: "It is certainly a miracle that a formless block of stone could ever have been reduced to a perfection that nature is scarcely able to create in the flesh."

In Rome, Michelangelo lived near the church of Santa Maria di Loreto. Here, according to the legend, he fell in love with Vittoria Colonna, marchioness of Pescara and a poet. His house was demolished in 1874, and the remaining architectural elements saved by the new proprietors were destroyed in 1930. Today a modern reconstruction of Michelangelo's house can be seen on the Janiculum hill. It is also during this period that skeptics allege Michelangelo executed the sculpture Laocoön and His Sons which resides in the Vatican.

Statue of David

Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1499–1501. Things were changing in the republic after the fall of anti-Renaissance Priest and leader of Florence, Girolamo Savonarola (executed in 1498) and the rise of the ''gonfaloniere'' Piero Soderini. He was asked by the consuls of the Guild of Wool to complete an unfinished project begun 40 years earlier by Agostino di Duccio: a colossal statue portraying David as a symbol of Florentine freedom, to be placed in the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. Michelangelo responded by completing his most famous work, the Statue of David in 1504. This masterwork, created out of a marble block from the quarries at Carrara that had already been worked on by an earlier hand, definitively established his prominence as a sculptor of extraordinary technical skill and strength of symbolic imagination.

Also during this period, Michelangelo painted the ''Holy Family and St John'', also known as the ''Doni Tondo'' or the ''Holy Family of the Tribune'': it was commissioned for the marriage of Angelo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi and in the 17th century hung in the room known as the Tribune in the Uffizi. He also may have painted the Madonna and Child with John the Baptist, known as the ''Manchester Madonna'' and now in the National Gallery, London.

Sistine Chapel ceiling

In 1505 Michelangelo was invited back to Rome by the newly elected Pope Julius II. He was commissioned to build the Pope's tomb. Under the patronage of the Pope, Michelangelo had to constantly stop work on the tomb in order to accomplish numerous other tasks. Because of these interruptions, Michelangelo worked on the tomb for 40 years. The tomb, of which the central feature is Michelangelo's statue of Moses, was never finished to Michelangelo's satisfaction. It is located in the Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli in Rome.

During the same period, Michelangelo took the commission to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which took approximately four years to complete (1508–1512). According to Michelangelo's account, Bramante and Raphael convinced the Pope to commission Michelangelo in a medium not familiar to the artist. This was done in order that he, Michelangelo, would suffer unfavorable comparisons with his rival Raphael, who at the time was at the peak of his own artistry as the primo fresco painter. However, this story is discounted by modern historians on the grounds of contemporary evidence, and may merely have been a reflection of the artist's own perspective.

Michelangelo was originally commissioned to paint the 12 Apostles against a starry sky, but lobbied for a different and more complex scheme, representing creation, the Downfall of Man and the Promise of Salvation through the prophets and Genealogy of Christ. The work is part of a larger scheme of decoration within the chapel which represents much of the doctrine of the Catholic Church.

The composition eventually contained over 300 figures and had at its center nine episodes from the Book of Genesis, divided into three groups: God's Creation of the Earth; God's Creation of Humankind and their fall from God's grace; and lastly, the state of Humanity as represented by Noah and his family. On the pendentives supporting the ceiling are painted twelve men and women who prophesied the coming of the Jesus. They are seven prophets of Israel and five Sibyls, prophetic women of the Classical world.

Among the most famous paintings on the ceiling are The Creation of Adam, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the Great Flood, the Prophet Isaiah and the Cumaean Sibyl. Around the windows are painted the ancestors of Christ.

Under Medici popes in Florence

In 1513 Pope Julius II died and his successor Pope Leo X, of the Medici family, commissioned Michelangelo to reconstruct the façade of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence and to adorn it with sculptures. Michelangelo agreed reluctantly. The three years Michelangelo spent in creating drawings and models for the façade, as well as attempting to open a new marble quarry at Pietrasanta specifically for the project, were among the most frustrating in his career, as work was abruptly canceled by his financially strapped patrons before any real progress had been made. The basilica lacks a façade to this day.

Apparently not the least embarrassed by this turnabout, the Medici later came back to Michelangelo with another grand proposal, this time for a family funerary chapel in the Basilica of San Lorenzo. Fortunately for posterity, this project, occupying the artist for much of the 1520s and 1530s, was more fully realized. In 1527, the Florentine citizens, encouraged by the sack of Rome, threw out the Medici and restored the republic. A siege of the city ensued, and Michelangelo went to the aid of his beloved Florence by working on the city's fortifications from 1528 to 1529. The city fell in 1530 and the Medici were restored to power. Completely out of sympathy with the repressive reign of the ducal Medici, Michelangelo left Florence for good in the mid-1530s, leaving assistants to complete the Medici chapel.

Last works in Rome

The fresco of ''The Last Judgment'' on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Clement VII, who died shortly after assigning the commission. Paul III was instrumental in seeing that Michelangelo began and completed the project. Michelangelo labored on the project from 1534 to October 1541. The work is massive and spans the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel. ''The Last Judgment'' is a depiction of the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse; where the souls of humanity rise and are assigned to their various fates, as judged by Christ, surrounded by the Saints. In that work, the position of the figure of Christ appears to pay tribute to that of Melozzo's Christ in the ''Ascension of our Lord'', once in the Santi Apostoli, now in the Quirinal Palace.

Once completed, the depiction of Christ and the Virgin Mary naked was considered sacrilegious, and Cardinal Carafa and Monsignor Sernini (Mantua's ambassador) campaigned to have the fresco removed or censored, but the Pope resisted. After Michelangelo's death, it was decided to obscure the genitals (''"Pictura in Cappella Ap.ca coopriantur"''). So Daniele da Volterra, an apprentice of Michelangelo, was commissioned to cover with perizomas (briefs) the genitals, leaving unaltered the complex of bodies. When the work was restored in 1993, the conservators chose not to remove all the perizomas of Daniele, leaving some of them as a historical document, and because some of Michelangelo’s work was previously scraped away by the touch-up artist's application of “decency” to the masterpiece. A faithful uncensored copy of the original, by Marcello Venusti, can be seen at the Capodimonte Museum of Naples. Censorship always followed Michelangelo, once described as "inventor delle porcherie" ("inventor of obscenities", in the original Italian language referring to "pork things"). The infamous "fig-leaf campaign" of the Counter-Reformation, aiming to cover all representations of human genitals in paintings and sculptures, started with Michelangelo's works. To give two examples, the marble statue of ''Cristo della Minerva'' (church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome) was covered by added drapery, as it remains today, and the statue of the naked child Jesus in ''Madonna of Bruges'' (The Church of Our Lady in Bruges, Belgium) remained covered for several decades. Also, the plaster copy of the David in the Cast Courts (Victoria and Albert Museum) in London, has a fig leaf in a box at the back of the statue. It was there to be placed over the statue's genitals so that they would not upset visiting female royalty.

In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed architect of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, and designed its dome. As St. Peter's was progressing there was concern that Michelangelo would pass away before the dome was finished. However, once building commenced on the lower part of the dome, the supporting ring, the completion of the design was inevitable. Michelangelo died in Rome at the age of 88 (three weeks before his 89th birthday). His body was brought back from Rome for interment at the Basilica of Santa Croce, fulfilling the maestro's last request to be buried in his beloved Tuscany.

Last sketch found

On 7 December 2007, Michelangelo's red chalk sketch for the dome of St Peter's Basilica, his last before his death in 1564, was discovered in the Vatican archives. It is extremely rare, since he destroyed his designs later in life. The sketch is a partial plan for one of the radial columns of the cupola drum of Saint Peter's.

Disputed works

A number of works attributed to Michelangelo are disputed. These include the Palestrina Pietà and the paintings, The ''Manchester Madonna'' and ''The Torment of Saint Anthony'', newly acquired by the Kimbell Art Museum, USA (previously attributed to "Workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio", and having had two previously unsuccessful attempts at attribution to the hand of Michelangelo). In addition, the ''Cupid'' sculpture "rediscovered" in the French Embassy in New York in 1996 (now on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art) has also been inconclusively attributed to Michelangelo.

Architectural work

Michelangelo worked on many projects that had been started by other men, most notably in his work at St Peter's Basilica, Rome. The Campidoglio, designed by Michelangelo during the same period, rationalized the structures and spaces of Rome's Capitoline Hill. Its shape, more a rhomboid than a square, was intended to counteract the effects of perspective. The major Florentine architectural projects by Michelangelo are the unexecuted façade for the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence and the Medici Chapel (''Capella Medicea'') and Laurentian Library there, and the fortifications of Florence. The major Roman projects are St. Peter's, Palazzo Farnese, San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, the Sforza Chapel (''Capella Sforza'') in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Porta Pia and Santa Maria degli Angeli.

Laurentian Library

Around 1530 Michelangelo designed the Laurentian Library in Florence, attached to the church of San Lorenzo. He produced new styles such as pilasters tapering thinner at the bottom, and a staircase with contrasting rectangular and curving forms.

Medici Chapel

Michelangelo designed the Medici Chapel and in fact used his own discretion to create its composition. The Medici Chapel has monuments in it dedicated to certain members of the Medici family. Michelangelo never finished the project, so his pupils later completed it. Lorenzo the Magnificent was buried at the entrance wall of the Medici Chapel. Sculptures of the "Madonna and Child" and the Medici patron saints Cosmas and Damian were set over his burial. The "Madonna and child" was Michelangelo's own work. The concealed corridor with wall drawings of Michelangelo under the New Sacristy discovered in 1976.

Personal life

In his personal life, Michelangelo was abstemious. He told his apprentice, Ascanio Condivi: "However rich I may have been, I have always lived like a poor man." Condivi said he was indifferent to food and drink, eating "more out of necessity than of pleasure" and that he "often slept in his clothes and ... boots." These habits may have made him unpopular. His biographer Paolo Giovio says, "His nature was so rough and uncouth that his domestic habits were incredibly squalid, and deprived posterity of any pupils who might have followed him." He may not have minded, since he was by nature a solitary and melancholy person. He had a reputation for being ''bizzarro e fantastico'' because he "withdrew himself from the company of men."

Sexuality

While clearly having a keen appreciation for the nude form resurgent in the Renaissance, fundamental to Michelangelo's art is his love of male beauty which seems to have particularly attracted him both aesthetically and emotionally. In part, this was an expression of the Renaissance idealization of masculinity. But in Michelangelo's art there is clearly a sensual response to this aesthetic.

The sculptor's expressions of love have been characterized as both Neoplatonic and openly homoerotic, Recent scholarship seeks an interpretation which respects both readings, yet is wary of drawing absolute conclusions. One example of the conundrum is Cecchino dei Bracci, whose death, only a year after their meeting in 1543, inspired the writing of forty eight funeral epigrams, which by some accounts allude to a relationship that was not only romantic but physical as well: :{| | style="width:160px;"|La carne terra, e qui l'ossa mia, prive de' lor begli occhi, e del leggiadro aspetto fan fede a quel ch'i' fu grazia nel letto, che abbracciava, e' n che l'anima vive. |The flesh now earth, and here my bones, Bereft of handsome eyes, and jaunty air, Still loyal are to him I joyed in bed, Whom I embraced, in whom my soul now lives. |} According to others, they represent an emotionless and elegant re-imagining of Platonic dialogue, whereby erotic poetry was seen as an expression of refined sensibilities (Indeed, it must be remembered that professions of love in 16th century Italy were given a far wider application than now). Some young men were street wise and took advantage of the sculptor. Febo di Poggio, in 1532, peddled his charms—in answer to Michelangelo's love poem he asks for money. Earlier, Gherardo Perini, in 1522, had stolen from him shamelessly. Michelangelo defended his privacy above all. When an employee of his friend Niccolò Quaratesi offered his son as apprentice suggesting that he would be good even in bed, Michelangelo refused indignantly, suggesting Quaratesi fire the man.

The greatest written expression of his love was given to Tommaso dei Cavalieri (c. 1509–1587), who was 23 years old when Michelangelo met him in 1532, at the age of 57. Cavalieri was open to the older man's affection: ''I swear to return your love. Never have I loved a man more than I love you, never have I wished for a friendship more than I wish for yours.'' Cavalieri remained devoted to Michelangelo until his death.

Michelangelo dedicated to him over three hundred sonnets and madrigals, constituting the largest sequence of poems that he composed. Some modern commentators assert that the relationship was merely a Platonic affection, even suggesting that Michelangelo was seeking a surrogate son. However, their homoerotic nature was recognized in his own time, so that a decorous veil was drawn across them by his grand nephew, Michelangelo the Younger, who published an edition of the poetry in 1623 with the gender of pronouns changed. John Addington Symonds, the early British homosexual activist, undid this change by translating the original sonnets into English and writing a two-volume biography, published in 1893.

The sonnets are the first large sequence of poems in any modern tongue addressed by one man to another, predating Shakespeare's sonnets to the fair youth by fifty years. {| |- | :I feel as lit by fire a cold countenance :That burns me from afar and keeps itself ice-chill; :A strength I feel two shapely arms to fill :Which without motion moves every balance. ::— (Michael Sullivan, translation) |}

Late in life he nurtured a great love for the poet and noble widow Vittoria Colonna, whom he met in Rome in 1536 or 1538 and who was in her late forties at the time. They wrote sonnets for each other and were in regular contact until she died.

It is impossible to know for certain whether Michelangelo had physical relationships (Condivi ascribed to him a "monk-like chastity"), but through his poetry and visual art we may at least glimpse the arc of his imagination.

See also

Michelangelo and the Medici

Michelangelo phenomenon

Renaissance art

Restoration of the Sistine Chapel frescoes

The asteroid 3001 Michelangelo and a crater on the planet Mercury were named after Michelangelo.

The 1965 feature film ''The Agony and the Ecstasy'' features the story of Michelangelo and his travails in painting the Sistine Chapel. He is portrayed in the film by Charlton Heston.

Portraits of Michelangelo

Footnotes

:a. Michelangelo's father marks the date as 6 March 1474 in the Florentine manner ''ab Incarnatione''. However, in the Roman manner, ''ab Nativitate'', it is 1475. :b. Sources disagree as to how old Michelangelo was when he departed for school. De Tolnay writes that it was at ten years old while Sedgwick notes in her translation of Condivi that Michelangelo was seven. :c. The Strozzi family acquired the sculpture ''Hercules''. Filippo Strozzi sold it to Francis I in 1529. In 1594, Henry IV installed it in the Jardin d'Estang at Fontainebleau where it disappeared in 1713 when the Jardin d'Estange was destroyed. :d. Vasari makes no mention of this episode and Paolo Giovio's ''Life of Michelangelo'' indicates that Michelangelo tried to pass the statue off as an antique himself.

References

Further reading

Einem, Herbert von (1973). ''Michelangelo''. Trans. Ronald Taylor. London: Methuen.

Gilbert, Creighton (1994). ''Michelangelo On and Off the Sistine Ceiling''. New York: George Braziller.

Hibbard, Howard (1974). ''Michelangelo''. New York: Harper & Row.

Hirst, Michael and Jill Dunkerton. (1994) ''The Young Michelangelo: The Artist in Rome 1496–1501''. London: National Gallery Publications.

Pietrangeli, Carlo, et al. (1994). ''The Sistine Chapel: A Glorious Restoration''. New York: Harry N. Abrams

Saslow, James M. (1991). ''The Poetry of Michelangelo: An Annotated Translation''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Seymour, Charles, Jr. (1972). ''Michelangelo: The Sistine Chapel Ceiling''. New York: W. W. Norton.

Summers, David (1981). ''Michelangelo and the Language of Art''. Princeton University Press.

Tolnay, Charles de. (1964). ''The Art and Thought of Michelangelo''. 5 vols. New York: Pantheon Books.

Wilde, Johannes (1978). ''Michelangelo: Six Lectures''. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

External links

Where to find Michelangelo's works in Florence

"The Divine Michelangelo – Timeline of Michelangelo's Life and Major Works"

Michelangelo in the "A World History of Art"

Michelangelo in the "Vatican Secret Archives" A letter by Michelangelo

Photographs of details at the Campidoglio

The Digital Michelangelo Project

The BP Special Exhibition Michelangelo Drawings – closer to the master

Michelangelo's Drawings: Real or Fake? How to decide if a drawing is by Michelangelo.

Models he used to make his sculptures and paintings

, suggesting Michelangelo's coded use of his knowledge of anatomy.

"Michelangelo: The Man and the Myth"

Category:1475 births Category:1564 deaths Category:Architects of Roman Catholic churches Category:Artist authors Category:Figurative artists Category:Italian architects Category:Italian ecclesiastical architects Category:Italian painters Category:Italian Roman Catholics Category:Italian sculptors Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar Category:People from the Province of Arezzo Category:Renaissance artists Michelangelo Buonarroti Category:Roman Catholic Church painters Category:Roman Catholic Church sculptors Category:Tuscan painters

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name	Jacque Fresco
birth date	March 13, 1916
birth place	Brooklyn, New York
residence	Florida
occupation	Futurist, Social Engineer, Structural Engineer, Industrial Designer, Author, Lecturer
nationality	American
known for	The Venus Project, Resource-Based Economy, Sociocyberneering
notable works	''Looking Forward'' (1969), ''The Best That Money Can't Buy'' (2002)
influences	B. F. Skinner, Jacques Loeb, Alfred Korzybski, Buckminster Fuller, Thorstein Veblen, Stuart Chase, Edward Bellamy, H. G. Welles, Howard Scott, Norbert Wiener, Arthur Radebaugh }}

Jacque Fresco (born March 13, 1916), is a self-educated structural designer, philosopher of science, concept artist, educator, and futurist. His interests span a wide range of disciplines including several in philosophy, science, and engineering. Fresco writes and lectures extensively on his view of subjects ranging from the holistic design of sustainable cities, energy efficiency, natural resource management, cybernated technology, advanced automation, and the role of science in society, focusing on the benefits he claims this will bring. With his colleague, Roxanne Meadows, he is the founder and director of an organization known as The Venus Project, located in Venus, Florida.

In contemporary culture he has been popularized by three documentaries, ''Future By Design'', ''Zeitgeist Addendum'', and ''Zeitgeist: Moving Forward'', His Venus Project has been inspirational worldwide, especially to activists.

Early life

Youth

Born on March 13, 1916, Jacque Fresco grew up in the minority neighborhood of Bensonhurst in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Precocious as a child, Fresco's interests did not pertain to the topics presented to him at school. Unwilling, or unable, to conform with the setting of formal education, he sought a self-directed education throughout his later teen years. Fresco spent many days of his youth at the local library. For a short time, Fresco took an interest in attending the Young Communist League wherein he caused commotion. After brief discussion and disagreements with the League president, Fresco was physically removed. Thereafter, Fresco turned his attention to Technocracy. Fresco had long taken an interest in designing flying saucers and tried to interest the aircraft industry at a time when experimental construction was underway. Eventually, Fresco demonstrated such designs in the 1930s. After departing from Douglas due to safety design disagreements, he traveled to Hawaii in late 1939 where he then traveled to the South Sea Islands where he interacted with native islanders. Fresco claims that his visit to these islands effectively helped shape his understanding of cultural relativism and the flexibility of human values in alternate environments. In California, Fresco took various residence in Hermosa Beach and Los Angeles. where he would produce up to forty designs a day. Among Fresco's many designs, a design of a radical variable camber wing attempted to optimize wing thickness for lift and flight. It received a patent and was thereafter given to the Army Air Force. He was eventually discharged.

In the mid-1940s, Fresco began working with Earl Muntz and Michael Shore who employed Fresco to design a new low cost form of modernistic housing. Its design of light weight, high strength, and long lasting materials allowed for reduced production costs and streamlined production which increased its economic viability. The structure was first exhibited in 1947 at Stage 8 of the Warner Brothers Sunset boulevard. It would go on to attract over 20,000 visitors. The proceeds were donated to The Cancer Prevention Society to build part of a new hospital. For the next few years the Trend Home was to undergo mass production and was considered by the U.S. government as a possible solution for soldiers returning from World War II. near Hollywood, where he also lived, lectured, and taught technical design, meanwhile researching and working on inventions as a freelance inventor and scientific consultant. Fresco claims that many of his inventions were patented by his employers. During these years, Fresco had difficulty managing finances and would face auctioneers as they entered his lab to compensate for his lack of payments.

Also during Fresco's years in Los Angeles, he worked as model designer for science-fiction movies Fresco was noted for his high quality models and special effects despite the low budgets of the B-movie productions. His talents were recommended to Roger Corman for the film ''The Beast with a Million Eyes'', but Corman could not accommodate Fresco into the budget (of $23,000). Fresco also worked as technical adviser in the film industry, most notably for the 1956 Oscar nominated documentary ''The Naked Eye''. Eventually, in the mid-1950s, Fresco left California after his lab was commandeered to build the Golden State Freeway.

Midlife

Pursuing his affinity for the tropics, in 1955 Fresco moved to Miami, Florida, where he lived on a boat for a short time. He began practicing private therapy sessions, and at a time when the American Psychological Association was pressuring therapists lacking approved credentials to relinquish their practice, Fresco received criticism for his therapy service. In Miami, Fresco held public lectures throughout the late 1950s and 1960s. On the lecture circuit, Fresco sometimes utilized the title of "Dr." based on a doctorate of philosophy that he obtained from Sierra State University in California. It was not recognized as an accredited university by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. As a result, Fresco's degree came under scrutiny when he was practicing his therapy service. Fresco would eventually hold the doctorates degree only as an honorary title. Eventually, he disregarded the title entirely. Later, he acknowledged his lack of formal credentials as being a detriment in academic circles and has made it difficult for him to gain influence.

From the mid-1950s and throughout the 1960s, Fresco developed what he called "Project Americana." It was a ten year plan for American social change. His vision included a circular city and the application of full cyber-automation of city operations wherein machines direct other machines to operate. Such was Fresco's conception of a "thinking city" in "The Machine-Machine Age." The national plan also included methods for aiding struggling nations by erecting prefabricated factories that produce prefabricated products for building, and a new curriculum for schooling. In 1962, CBS approached Fresco about developing a series on his ideas after appearing on two successive episodes of ''On the Town'' with Fred Fischer.

Fresco spent much of his time in Miami trying to showcase his designs of a circular city and raise funds to get it built. He also designed a three-wheeled car that was to have only 32 moving parts, which he strove to fund as well. Fresco made much of his living working as an industrial designer for various companies such as Alcoa and the Major Realty Corporation and from draftsman inventions through Jacque Fresco Enterprises Inc.

In 1969, with Ken Keyes, a book was written about Fresco's ideas, entitled ''Looking Forward''. The first half of the book was dedicated to detailing some of the causes of many problems in humanity's thinking and behavior, the changes that humanity will have to make as it enters the future, and a description of three components which can be used to best correctly analyze the future: humanity's values, methods of thinking, and tools i.e. technological developments. All three are described as being interdependent much like a set of gears. The second half of the book was dedicated to a speculative look at the future revolving around the experiences of the fictional characters, Scott, and, Hella. It was one of the earliest publications to theorize the possible social implications of a central network knowledge bank (Corcen) used to bring about a "humanized man-machine symbiosis". Fresco and Keyes gave consideration for a wide range of technological and social possibilities resulting from the technologically governed societal design.

Sociocyberneering

Fresco's ideas for Project Americana continued to evolve and became what was known as Sociocyberneering Inc, a non-profit organization founded in 1971 for which Fresco was president. It was a non-political and non-sectarian membership organization having, at its peak, 250 members, many of whom became Fresco's pupils. Fresco frequently hosted educational lectures in Miami Beach and at his home in Coral Gables. His lecture topics pertained to society, social change, science, technology, engineering, architecture, religion, prudence, semantics, anthropology, psychology, systems theory, and education, among other topics. Aside from educating, Fresco worked with members of the organization to produce designs, films, and literature pertaining to the aims and goals of the organization.

The term "sociocyberneering" was defined as "the application of the most sophisticated forms of computer technology in the management of human affairs." The stated goal of Sociocyberneering was to apply "the most sophisticated forms of science and technology toward problem solving ... an approach at the restructuring of society in humanistic terms," and dedicated to finding practical solutions that could be rapidly applied to the many problems that faced society. The primary focus was to "investigate alternative solutions based in conservation of energy, international cooperation in all areas of social endeavor, and the assimilation of a systems approach for the design of cities." There was also heavy emphasis on the prospects of cybernated technology in the societies of human beings, arguing that, "the future of man and his cities does not depend on whether or not this or that design is preferred. It is determined by the forces of social and environmental evolution in which computerized approaches to human and environmental systems will ultimately emerge as the ultimate technique in all areas of the social sequences."

By this time Fresco had designed his circular city to be one mile in diameter with radially connected concentric rings "resembling the spokes of a wheel." Each ring was dedicated to a general function such as agriculture, recreation, housing, among others. At the nucleus center, in the dome, was a supercomputer that was intended to function as the centralized data management system for the automated processes throughout the city.

Throughout the 1970s Fresco worked to expand the organization and elevate its exposure to the general public by lecturing at universities and appearing on radio and television. Fresco became acquainted with Larry King when King's career was emerging out of Miami. King featured Fresco on his television show and radio show several times to discuss, with academics and local callers, the proposals of Sociocyberneering.

At the apex of the organization's membership, they began investing in 40 acres of land in Naples. The organization set out to construct an experimental community in which they would live and expand. They encountered a setback in 1978 when members feared that the Collier County zoning board would complicate implementation. The result was a partial dissolution of Sociocyberneering membership. The investment was abandoned and the land was resold. Fresco sold his home and new land was located in rural Venus. Upon an old tomato patch he established a research center for Sociocyberneering in 1980. With the help of remaining members, Fresco constructed buildings based on the designs of his futuristic renderings. After the move, Sociocyberneering became less popular as many members remained in Miami. Eventually, Sociocyberneering became much less active and through the 1980s Fresco dedicated his time to designing and studying alongside Roxanne Meadows who remained with Fresco as his colleague.

Later life

In 1994, Fresco rebooted Sociocyberneering Inc. under the new title The Venus Project. By this time, Fresco had accumulated a large quantity of designs and models that could represent a general outline of how his vision may look and operate, and were used to gain exposure for the organization through educational films and literature distributed to teachers and universities. Aside from their educational materials, Fresco and Meadows continued to support the project throughout the '90s through freelance structural designing, such as for Pratt and Whitney, industrial engineering, and conventional architectural modeling. In the process, some of Fresco's futuristic designs succeeded in inspiring some development companies. At one point, Fresco claimed that The Venus Project was under consideration for developing plans to build a theme park/experimental city in Turkey. A similar consideration occurred with Dubai. In 2002, Fresco published his main work ''The Best That Money Can't Buy''. In 2006, William Gazecki directed the semi-biographical film about Fresco, "Future by Design" in which Fresco was compared to the Renaissance polymath Leonardo Da Vinci. In 2008, Peter Joseph featured Fresco in the film ''Zeitgeist Addendum'' wherein his vision of the future was presented as a possible solution for the societal and environmental crisis expounded in the film. The reaction that followed was manifested by the development of The Zeitgeist Movement which actively professes Fresco's ideas and considers itself the "activist arm" of The Venus Project.

In 2010, Fresco attempted to trademark the phrase "Resource-Based Economy" in the midst of its popularization to preserve his definition of it. The phrase was reviewed and found to be too generic to qualify. The action to trademark Fresco's specific meaning was therefore blocked. Other small Internet organizations now profess a version of a resource-based economy based on Fresco's original conception.

Throughout 2010, Fresco traveled with Meadows on a world wide tour in response to the growing popularity of The Venus Project. On January 15, 2011, ''Zeitgeist: Moving Forward'' was released in theaters, again featuring Fresco and a more elaborate articulation of his vision as a possible solution for planetary dilemmas. and has initiated the funding of a major motion picture that may be made which will depict The Venus Project future.

The Venus Project

The Venus Project is an organization depicting, as well as professing, the culmination of Fresco's life work and serves as a foundation that represents his vision of a future without poverty, crime, war, corruption, or waste. It was founded in 1980 and took its name in 1994. It is located in central Florida near west Lake Okeechobee about fifty miles northeast of Fort Myers. On its 21.5-acre lot, there are ten buildings designed by Fresco, which showcase limited versions of Fresco's architectural designs. It is partly a research center for Fresco and Roxanne Meadows, and partly an educational center for supporters of the project. They produce videos and literature depicting and explaining the future vision and the goals to actualize it. Among these goals, the salient are to produce a major motion picture portraying the future world the project promotes; constructing a theme park with the intention of exhibiting technologies and the ideas of the Venus Project; and constructing an experimental city in an attempt to test Fresco's hypotheses. Its ultimate aim is to improve society by moving towards a global, sustainable, technological social design that is termed a "resource-based economy".

Personal life and family

Fresco was born to immigrants from Turkey, Isaac and Lena Fresco. His father was born in 1880 and around 1905 immigrated from Istanbul to New York where he worked as a horticulturalist. He died in 1963. Fresco's mother was born in 1887 in Jerusalem and also migrated to New York around 1904. She died in 1988. Fresco was brother to two siblings, a sister, Freda, and a brother, David. His brother was born in 1909. He was a draftsman, a private during World War II, and became a theater actor and a character actor in Hollywood. he resurrected his career in the 1960s eventually appearing in many films and television shows. He died in 1997.

Fresco had one marriage when he lived in Los Angeles, California and through his first couple years in Miami. He divorced in 1957. His wife, Patricia, gave birth to a son, Richard, in 1953 and a daughter, Bambi, in 1956. Richard was an army private and died in 1976. Bambi died of cancer in 2010.

Vision

Fresco's vision has formed as the culmination of many disciplines and schools of thought. The dominant features of it have been compared to earlier thinkers from as early as the nineteenth century. Titles such as ''The Paradise within the Reach of all Men without Labor by Powers of Nature and Machinery'', ''Emigration to the Tropical World for the Melioration of All Classes of People of All Nations'', and ''The New World or Mechanical System'' were written in the 1800s by John Adolphus Etzler who has been described as an early forerunner to Fresco's vision. Likewise, Ebenezer Howard and his book ''Garden Cities of Tomorrow'', as well as the Garden City Movement during the early 1900s has been described as another predecessor. Fresco's vision removes the mechanics of modern economics and his view toward modern economics has been compared to Thorstein Veblen's concept of "the predatory phase in human development." Other facets of Fresco's vision have been labeled a "tabula rasa approach."

Fresco himself cites several theorists and authors for contributing to his vision, such as Jacques Loeb, who established the ''Mechanistic Conception of Life''; Edward Bellamy, who wrote the extremely influential book, ''Looking Backward''; Thorstein Veblen, who influenced the Technocracy movement and Howard Scott, who popularized it; Alfred Korzybski, who originated General Semantics; H. G. Wells, and many others. Fresco has often been heard stating, "I have been able to achieve what I have achieved because I stood on the shoulders of giants," paraphrasing Einstein, (though the metaphore was first made famous by Isaac Newton, and stated by others before him).

Resource-based economy

Primary in Fresco's vision is the concept of a "resource-based economy." It incorporates sustainable cities and values, along with the goals of energy efficiency, natural resource management, and advanced automation, focusing on the benefits that it might bring to humanity as a whole.

According to Fresco, poverty, crime, corruption and war are the result of scarcity created by the present world's profit-based economic system. He theorizes that the profit motive also stifles the progress of socially beneficial technology, and instead he favors a system that fosters the purpose motive. Fresco claims that the progression of technology, if it were carried on independently of its profitability, would make more resources available to more people by producing an abundance of products and materials. This new-found abundance of resources would, according to Fresco, reduce the human tendency toward individualism, corruption, and greed, and instead rely on people helping each other.

A resource-based economy replaces the need for the current monetary economy, which is "scarcity-oriented" or "scarcity-based". Fresco argues that the world is rich in natural resources and energy and that — with modern technology and judicious efficiency — the needs of the global population can be met with abundance, while at the same time removing the current limitations of what is deemed possible due to notions of economic viability.

Reception

Critics and advocates of Fresco's vision are sharply divided. Throughout his life Fresco has been labeled a "dreamer," an "eccentric," an "utopian," an "idealist," a "crackpot," a "charlatan," etc., halfheartedly by some magazine and newspaper writers among others. Some feel that his vision is impractical, idealistic, and/or borderline science fiction. The books ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' or ''Brave New World'' are sometimes referenced in relation to The Venus Project. These attitudes continue today across some Web sites. Even further, some claims have labeled him a cult leader due to his figurehead status in The Zeitgeist Movement. Others accuse him of affiliations with conspirators of a New World Order. Fresco dismisses these accusations.

His hypothesis of a resource-based economy is sometimes equated with Marxism, socialism, communism or technocracy. Fresco responds to these comparisons by stating, "The aims of The Venus Project have no parallel in history, not with communism, socialism, fascism or any other political ideology. This is true because cybernation is of recent origin. With this system, the system of financial influence and control will no longer exist."

One writer notes, "it's also true that his system of governance, in which authority is given to the expert in each field — in this case, specially programmed computers — is one that many writers, including Nobel-prize-winner Friedrich Hayek, have shown to be disastrous."

Another writer reviewing one of Fresco's films writes,

''the more I listened to Fresco's specifics and fuzzy non-specifics it seemed to me I was encountering a God-like hubris coupled with the standard sci-fi dreamer's naivete vis á vis human nature. But just as I was jotting this last down in my notes, Fresco cautioned viewers — and it gave me the shivers, since he seemed to be responding directly to my written reservations — to remember that human nature is not synonymous with human behavior; the latter can be changed. Although Fresco's futurist scenario is — in my humble opinion — rife with problems, it's not every day that somebody comes along ambitious enough to offer a blueprint for re-designing the world.''

Other criticisms have implied a scientistic approach due to Fresco's heavy emphasis on science alone to overcome humanity's obstacles,

''His vision is eminently practical, and although this constitutes an innovative and welcome element with reference to previous utopian projections, his focus on science alone makes him fail as a generalist – the criticism Fresco himself passed on academics and scientists. Today's pressing problems require a holistic approach – various disciplines, arts science, philosophy working on a "convergence mode", unfortunately Fresco's vision seems to consolidate the long established view that the "two cultures" (Science and Art) are antagonistic.''

Focusing on accusations of utopianism, a writer from the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies remarks, "For most people, the promise of the project sounds like an unattainable utopia, but if you examine it more closely, there are surprisingly many scientifically founded arguments that open up an entire new world of possibilities." Another writer for CIFS points out,

''Perhaps the modern interpretation of the word "utopia" is to blame when the Renaissance man and futurist Jacque Fresco says ... he doesn't want to call his life work, The Venus Project, a utopia. However, this visionary idea of a future society has many characteristics in common with the utopia. ... the word utopia carries a double meaning, since in Greek it can mean both the good place (eutopia) and the nonexisting place (outopia). A good place is precisely what Fresco has devoted his life to describing and fighting for."''

In response to association with utopianism, Fresco has stated, "We do not believe in the erroneous notion of a utopian society. There is no such thing. Societies are always in a state of transition. We propose an alternative direction, which addresses the causes of many of our problems. There are no final frontiers for human and technological achievement." One writer suggests instead that "The Venus project is no static utopia, rather a dynamic one: it requires an incremental process driven by an ever-changing extropic ideal."

Art historian Hans-Ulrich Obrist notes, "Fresco's future may, of course, seem outmoded and his writings have been subject to critique for their fascistic undertones of order and similitude, but his contributions are etched in the popular psyche and his eco-friendly concepts continue to influence our present generation of progressive architects, city planners and designers."

When asked by a reporter why he has such difficulty actualizing his many ideas, Fresco responded, "Because I can't get to anybody. I have no credentials." Nevertheless, positive attitudes toward Fresco regard him as "a genius, a prophet, and a visionary." General praise appears among futurists, especially the World Future Society who have considered him a visionary engineer in review of his work in the ''Futurist'', commenting, "Whether the future Fresco envisions is probable or even possible is open to debate, but he succeeds in conveying the power of thinking of the future on a grander scale than we're used to." Fresco's work has been compared to the work of Paolo Soleri and especially Buckminster Fuller for all attempting to actualize their vision against great odds, as well as Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and Da Vinci for sharing affluence in prolific innovation. The elaborate scope of Fresco's designs intrigued Forest Ackerman and Arthur C. Clarke who, late in his life, briefly tried to help Fresco get exposure for The Venus Project. Synergetics theorist Norman Arthur Coulter appreciated Fresco's vision for his attempt to accomplish it "not for profit, but to meet the needs of human beings." Author, Harold Cober, comments, "Once you've seen the man's ideas and buildings, you can't let go of it." Bruce Eisner mentions that the Venus Project shares similar aims as his Island Sanctuary Project. Commenting on what he sees as Fresco's inspirational and charismatic teaching methods, physicist, Paul G. Hewitt, cites Fresco as being one of the three major sources of inspiration, turning him away from work as a sign painter and toward a career in science.

Psychologist and scientist, Jack Catran, notes,

''Contemplate the staggering realistic views of the future published by Jacque Fresco ... There are many futurists, "geniuses", and self-styled seers in our midst who, upon careful examination, turn out to be disappointingly commercial and exploitive. Most extrapolations into the future are made from fixed and narrow points of view. We are all products of today's mediocrity-breeding culture, but if anyone can be called a genius in our money system society, Jacque Fresco should be singled out as the broadest, most aware, individual of our time.''

At Drexel University, sociologist and futurist, Arthur B. Shostak, often incorporated Fresco's ideas into his writing and teaching, stating,

''His contribution to futuristics is singular, as few, if any around the globe, dare the sweep, the depth, and the drama of his vision. When he writes or speaks, futurists grow quiet, pensive, and finally, appreciative — as his work is sound in its call for a thorough examination of the assumptions under which we labor. While little of his vision may materialize in the lifetime of us all, our grandchildren may yet salute much of what Jacque first helped them set in motion.''

In 2008 the Raelian Movement gave Fresco their Honorary Guide award for dedicating "his life to the betterment of humanity as a whole." In 2010, it was announced that Fresco has been selected to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Exemplar-Zero Initiative in the summer of 2011.

Works

Books

Articles

''Modern Food Production''

''Designing the Future: A Cybernetic City For the Next Century'' in ''The Futurist''. Vol. 28, No. 3. pp. 29–33. (May/June 1994).

''The Future and Beyond'' The Venus Project, Inc. (2000)

with Meadows, Roxanne. ''Beyond Utopia'' in ''Utopian Thinking in Sociology: Creating the Good Society.'' pp. 86–92 edited by Arthur B. Shostak. American Sociological Association. (2001). OCLC 49561995.

with Meadows, Roxanne. ''The Future by Design: Beyond Money and Politics'' in ''Viable Utopian Ideas: Shaping a Better World.'' pp. 197–205 edited by Arthur B. Shostak. London/Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. (2003). ISBN 0765611058. OCLC 473852611.

with Meadows, Roxanne. ''Reinventing Iraq'' in ''In the Shadow of War.'' pp. 147–154 edited by Arthur B. Shostak. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House. (2004). ISBN 9781438124681. OCLC 646806392.

Films

''The Venus Project: The Redesign of a Culture'' (1994)

''Welcome to the Future'' (1998)

''Cities in the Sea'' (2002)

''Self-erecting Structures'' (2002)

''Designing the Future'' (2006)

References

Durrani, Noni. (2007). ''The Future: Jacque Fresco On The Future'', ''Forbes''

Gia Films. (2010). ''Frequency of Genius'', Gia Film Productions

Gazecki, William. (2006) ''Future By Design'', Docflix

Hoving, K. (2002). ''Engineering the Impossible'', Discovery Channel

Joseph, Peter. (2008). ''Zeitgeist Addendum'', Gentle Machine Productions

Joseph, Peter. (2011). ''Zeitgeist: Moving Forward'', Gentle Machine Productions

Maja Borg, M. (2011). ''Future For Sale'', Sonja Henrici, SDI Productions Ltd.

Wachtmeister, J. (2007). ''Great Expectations: A Journey through the History of Visionary Architecture'', Solaris Filmproduktion

External links

www.thevenusproject.com — The Venus Project

www.youtube.com/user/thevenusprojectmedia — The Venus Project YouTube channel

Category:1916 births Category:American social sciences writers Category:Futurologists Category:Living people Category:People from Florida Category:Critics of work and the work ethic

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