Martin Kemp (art historian)
Martin Kemp | |
|---|---|
 Kemp in 2014 | |
| Born | Martin John Kemp 5 March 1942 |
| Known for | Leonardo da Vinci scholarship; Images in art and science |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Downing College Courtauld Institute of Art |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Art history |
| Institutions | Department of History of Art, University of Oxford |
| Website | www |
Martin John Kemp FBA (born 5 March 1942) is a British art historian and exhibition curator who is one of the world's leading authorities on the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci.[1][2] The author of many books on Leonardo, Kemp has also written about visualisation in art and science, particularly anatomy, natural sciences and optics. Instrumental in the controversial authentication of Salvator Mundi to Leonardo, Kemp has been vocal on attributions to Leonardo, including support of La Bella Principessa and opposition of the Isleworth Mona Lisa.
From 1995 to 2008 he was professor of art history at the University of Oxford and has continued since then as an emeritus professor. He previously held posts at University of St Andrews (1981–1995) and University of Glasgow (1966–1981). He holds honorary fellowships of both Trinity College, Oxford and Downing College, Cambridge and is also a fellow of the British Academy.
Early life
In his youth, Kemp attended
Career
| Martin Kemp Professorships[4][5] |
|---|
For more than 25 years he was based in
Books
Kemp has written many books about
He has written a regular column called "Science in Culture" in the scientific journal Nature. Selections of these columns have been published as Visualisations (OUP, 2000) and Seen and Unseen (OUP, 2006): the latter exploring his concept of "structural intuitions". Reviewing Visualisations, the historian of ideas Scott L. Montgomery described Kemp as like a "master gardener" who "for nearly two decades, [...] has helped shape this new field in major ways, planting a wide array of topics, arranging the colors of their importance, surveying and reconstituting the efforts of others, all the while adding original species of insight and subject matter."[15] In 2011 he published Christ to Coke: How Image becomes Icon (OUP, 2011).[16][17]
Salvator Mundi
The Salvator Mundi is a painted wooden panel depicting Christ. It was exhibited in 2011 as an original work by Leonardo da Vinci, but the attribution has been controversial, with some scholars describing da Vinci as a contributor but not the main artist.[18] Kemp's research supported its attribution to da Vinci.[19][20] He said that as soon as he viewed the painting, he recognised the presence and "uncanny strangeness" of da Vinci's works.[21] The painting was sold in 2017, setting a new record for the most expensive painting ever sold at public auction.[22] In a 2019 book, Kemp identifies symbolism in the painting that is familiar from da Vinci's other religious paintings.[18] He is interviewed in the 2021 documentary about the work, The Lost Leonardo.
La Bella Principessa
In 2010 he published a monograph together with French engineer Pascal Cotte, recounting the story of how a team of experts – under his guidance – pieced together the evidence for the theory that the painting now named La Bella Principessa was by Leonardo. The book, entitled La Bella Principessa (2010), narrates the steps Kemp and Cotte took in researching the painting. The 2012 Italian edition, La bella principessa di Leonardo da Vinci[23] produces evidence about its origins.[6]
Exhibitions
- Guest curator for Circa 1492 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1992.[24]
- Spectacular Bodies: the Art and Science of the Human Body from Leonardo to Now at the Hayward Gallery, London (2001) (curated with Marina Wallace)[25] A review of the exhibition catalogue described it as "a fascinating overview of the efforts over the past five centuries to understand the body through the intersecting lenses of art and science".[26]
- Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment, Design at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2006)[27][28]
- Seduced: Art and Sex from Antiquity to Now at the Barbican Art Gallery, London (2007)[29]
- Hockney's Eye (co-curator) at the Downing CollegeHeong Gallery, Cambridge (2022)
Selected bibliography
- Kemp, Martin (1990). The Science of Art: Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat. New Haven: Yale University Press. OCLC 18832748. reprinted with revisions in 1992.
- —— (1997). Behind The Picture: Art and Evidence in the Italian Renaissance. New Haven: Yale University Press. OCLC 37195363.
- —— (2006). Leonardo Da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man. Oxford: ISBN 978-0-19-920778-7.
- —— (2006). Seen/Unseen: Art, Science, and intuition from Leonardo to the Hubble Telescope. Oxford: Oxford University Press. OCLC 69331733.
- ——; Wells, Thereza (2011). Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna of the Yarnwinder: A Historical and Scientific Detective Story. London: Artakt & Zidane Press. OCLC 267206478.
- —— (2012). Christ to COKE: How Image Becomes Icon. Oxford: Oxford University Press. OCLC 763156933.
- —— (2013). The Chapel of Trinity College, Oxford, 1691-94: 'A Beautiful Magnificent Structure'. London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers. OCLC 834412864.
- —— (2015). Art in History, 600 BC - 2000 AD. London: Profile Books. OCLC 905983684.
- —— (2004). Leonardo. Oxford: OCLC 55682608.
- —— (2011) [2004]. Leonardo (Revised ed.). Oxford: OCLC 0199583358.
- —— (2011) [2004]. Leonardo (Revised ed.). Oxford:
- —— (2016). Structural Intuitions: Seeing Shapes in Art and Science. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. OCLC 936204711.
- ——; Pallanti, Giuseppe (2017). Mona Lisa: The People and the Painting. Oxford: Oxford University Press. OCLC 966534826.
- —— (2018). Living with Leonardo: Fifty Years of Sanity and Insanity in the Art World and Beyond. London: Thames & Hudson. OCLC 1029249747.
- ——; Dalivalle, Margaret; OCLC 1127668595.)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - —— (2019). Leonardo da Vinci: The 100 Milestones. New York: OCLC 1099590992.[30]
- —— (2019). Leonardo by Leonardo. New York: OCLC 1083154267.[30]
- —— (2021). Visions of Heaven: Dante and the Art of Divine Light. London: Lund Humphries. OCLC 1183423539.
- As editor
- Vasari, Giorgio (2019). The Life of Leonardo da Vinci. Translated by Kemp, Martin; Russell, Lucy Emma Victoria. New York: Thames & Hudson. OCLC 1079261129.
- Leonardo da Vinci (2019). Laurenza, Domenico; Kemp, Martin (eds.). Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester: A New Edition (First ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. OCLC 1108727522.
Notes
- ^ Now known as The Windsor Boys' School
- ^ A constituent college of the University of Cambridge
References
- New York Times. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ Charney, Noah (6 November 2011). "The lost Leonardo". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^ Lankford, Mike (17 August 2018). "The Keeper of the Keys Tells His Tale". lareviewofbooks.org. Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Martin J Kemp: Curriculum Vitae". martinjkemp. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Honigman, Ana Finel. "Universal Leonardo". artnet. Artnet Worldwide Corporation. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Professor Martin John Kemp". dow.cam.ac.uk. University of Cambridge. July 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ a b c "Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art". ox.ac.uk. University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ The British Academy. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ "Professor Martin Kemp". hoa.ox.ac.uk. University of Oxford. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- The British Academy. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ Wecker, Menachem (25 November 2022). "5 Surprising Things We Learned About Leonardo da Vinci From Historian Martin Kemp's New Online Masterclass". ArtNet. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "The Da Vinci masterclass (short course) | Royal Institution". www.rigb.org. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- . Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- S2CID 191517909.
- ISSN 0021-1753.
- ^ "What makes an image an icon?". blog.oup.com. Oxford University Press. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- ^ York, Peter (9 December 2011). "Christ to Coke: How Image Becomes Icon, By Martin Kemp". The Independent. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- ^ ISSN 0013-8266.
- ^ Kinsella, Eileen (12 June 2019). "Debunking This Picture Became Fashionable': Leonardo da Vinci Scholar Martin Kemp on What the Public Doesn't Get About 'Salvator Mundi". artnet. Artnet Worldwide Corporation. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ Brown, Mark (11 October 2018). "World's most expensive painting is authentic Leonardo, insists expert". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
- ^ Goldstein, Andrew M. (17 November 2011). "The Male "Mona Lisa"?: Art Historian Martin Kemp on Leonardo da Vinci's Mysterious "Salvator Mundi"". Blouin Artinfo.
- ^ Au-Yeung, Angel (15 November 2017). "At Auction, Billionaire Sells Da Vinci Painting For A New World Record Price". Forbes. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
- ISBN 978-88-7461-173-7
- JSTOR 431678– via JSTOR.
- ^ Conrad, Peter (21 October 2000). "Spectacular Bodies". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
- S2CID 145615453.
- ^ "Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment, Design". vam.ac.uk. Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
- New York Times. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ Castle, Tim (11 October 2007). "London show strips bare 2,500 years of erotic art". Reuters. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
- ^ New York Times. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
Further reading
- Grann, David (5 July 2010). "The Mark of a Masterpiece". The New Yorker. Condé Nast.
- White, Katie (28 April 2020). "The Art World Works From Home: Leonardo da Vinci Scholar Martin Kemp Is Thinking About Dante and Whipping Up Indian Food". Artnet.
External links
- Official website
- Martin Kemp at IMDb
- Martin Kemp's articles on The Guardian
- Mona Lisa and the Body of the Earth: A Lecture by Martin Kemp at The Laguna Art Museum (11.15.16) – Vimeo
