UC Davis Professor and Alumna Discuss New ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ Ken Burns Documentary
The imaginative life of 15th century artist, inventor, scientist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci takes center stage in Ken Burns' latest documentary. The two-part documentary titled Leonardo da Vinci premiered Nov. 18 and 19 on PBS stations. UC Davis Associate Professor of Design James Housefield and art studio alumna Julia Couzens (M.F.A. ‘90) led a discussion on da Vinci at an advanced partial-screening of the documentary at PBS KVIE in Sacramento on Nov. 14.
Da Vinci’s work, including the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, are timeless artworks, remaining in the public imagination hundreds of years after their completion. In the film, Burn describes what was — and is — so remarkable about not just da Vinci’s art and work but his mind. He was a “Renaissance man,” a polymath holding a wide variety of interests and passions that, upon first glance, may seem to be in conflict.
“Our society likes to separate art and science,” Housefield noted, but da Vinci saw the bigger picture.
Housefield hopes the documentary will not just renew interest in da Vinci but that it will encourage curiosity and making connections across disciplines. Such collaborations could lead to novel and innovative insights.
“The filmmaker talked about that: the question is the point,” said Couzens. “To be willing to stay in a state of not knowing, to see our world in a different way.”
PBS KVIE premieres UC Davis ‘Eggheads’ documentary
The da Vinci documentary isn’t the only PBS program with ties to UC Davis.
PBS KVIE partnered with UC Davis earlier in November to air Unexpected Legends, a documentary about Robert Arneson and the Eggheads. The documentary premiered Nov. 13 and is available to stream on the PBS app.
The film is an extension of the Year of the Eggheads, a campus wide celebration of Arneson, longtime professor at UC Davis and creator of the five sculptures comprising the Egghead Series on campus.
Interested in events like these? Follow the UC Davis Arts Blog for weekly updates.
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