A Conversation with Dr. Victor Coonin - Michelangelo’s David: Then and Now
Saturday, March 5th 2022
The recording of this session is available for $10.
Professor Victor Coonin is the author of From Marble to Flesh: The Biography of Michelangelo’s David, described by the New York Times, the “definitive” book on what has become the world’s most famous statue. Professor Coonin, a scholar specializing in the field of Italian Renaissance Art who teaches art history at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, will share stories about the original appearance and meaning of the David, highlighting some of the more controversial and lesser-known aspects of this work, and offer insights into why Michelangelo’s masterpiece remains so relevant to our modern times.
With degrees from Oberlin College, Syracuse University, and Rutgers University, Professor Coonin has published widely on the Italian Renaissance as historian, critic, and reviewer. He is author of the recently published book Donatello and the Dawn of Renaissance Art, and the monograph From Marble to Flesh: The Biography of Michelangelo’s David. He has also edited or co-edited four other books on Renaissance Art, and has written dozens of influential articles, encyclopedia essays, and catalogue entries for leading European and American venues, including The Metropolitan Museum Journal, The Burlington Magazine, Artibus et Historiae, and The Sculpture Journal. Professor Coonin is a former Fulbright Fellow and an active member of the College Art Association, Italian Art Society, Renaissance Society of America, and the Archaeological Institute of America. He also appears occasionally on radio and television as an expert. His work has been supported by grants from the Mellon Foundation and Kress Foundation, among others. Professor Coonin lives in Memphis with his wife and two children.
