Detail of soldiers, Saint Paul Seized at the Temple of Jerusalem tapestry in a set of The Story of Saint Paul. Designed by Pieter Coecke van Aelst, ca. 1529–30. Probably woven under the direction of Jan van der Vyst (Flemish), before 1546. Wool and silk; 13 ft. 10 1/8 in. x 26 ft. 6 1/8 in. (422 x 808 cm). KBC Bank Collection, Leuven. Photograph by Bruce White
Best-selling author, internationally renowned blogger, and marketing guru Seth Godin will join Elizabeth Cleland, the chief curator of Grand Design: Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Renaissance Tapestry, for a discussion about the exceedingly entrepreneurial Pieter Coecke van Aelst on December 1 at 6:00 p.m. in the Museum's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium. This conversation is part of the Museum's ongoing SPARK Series of talks. Julie Burstein, SPARK host, author, and Peabody Award–winning creator of public radio's Studio 360, will guide the evening's discussion. I recently spoke with Burstein about SPARK and why she decided to introduce Seth Godin to Pieter Coecke.
Sarah Mallory: Pieter Coecke was an exceptionally prolific designer who worked across many media, including creating designs for stained glass, goldsmith's work, and tapestries. He also translated and published important architectural treatises and was an accomplished panel painter. Seth is also a very accomplished writer, blogger, and thinker, but he isn't an artist in the same sense as Coecke. What is the spark (if you will) that ignited your connection between Seth Godin and Pieter Coecke van Aelst?
Julie Burstein: When Lizzie Cleland told me about Pieter Coecke van Aelst's extraordinary tapestries, the books he published, and the trip he took to Turkey to try to sell his art to the sultan, she described him as "an entrepreneur before the word had been coined." Thinking about the ways in which Coecke was able to spread his ideas also made me immediately think of Seth Godin. Seth is an author of many books (my favorite is Tribes), a serial entrepreneur, and a daily blogger whose wisdom about creating in the twenty-first century is read by more than a million people each day. He encourages his readers to not wait to be picked, but to pursue their ideas on their own terms, and to use all of the technologies available today to reach audiences directly. Pieter Coecke van Aelst seems to be an artist who also understood that, and who used all of the technologies available to him in the sixteenth century to pursue his art. That's why I'm eager to have a conversation with Lizzie and Seth about art and ideas!
Sarah Mallory: It is true that Coecke was an exceptional entrepreneur, and the Grand Design exhibition really highlights the beautiful marriage between his artistry and business acumen. How do you think this conversation fits within the larger series of SPARK talks?
Julie Burstein: The purpose of the series is to amplify the extraordinary stories and objects at the Met, and explore their resonance in contemporary culture.
Sarah Mallory: Pieter Coecke's approach to creating and spreading his ideas is startlingly modern, and maybe even still a little unconventional. He worked across many media for many clients; he did not necessarily wait for a commission before designing and producing a large tapestry series (his first series, The Story of Saint Paul, was done on speculation); and he had a diverse network of collaborators in two important centers for art making: Antwerp, important for printing and panel painting, and Brussels, important for tapestry weaving.
Many of Coecke's contemporaries were narrower in their design abilities, and it would have been unusual to produce an expensive, monumental tapestry series without first receiving a commission. He also took it upon himself to translate and publish Dutch, German, and French editions of Sebastiano Serlio's popular Italian architectural treatises, all without the author's approval. Coecke even added some of his own work to these translations, including a beautiful alphabet in a script of his own design. Coecke's blend of possibility and profitability was unusual, to say the least. But it seems like SPARK celebrates unusual collaborations and new ways of thinking.
Coecke's own alphabet, which he added to his unauthorized translation of Serlio's architectural treatises. Reigles generales de l'Architecture, sur les cincq manieres d'edifices, a scavoir, Thuscane, Doricq[ue], Ionicq[ue], Corinthe, & Co[m]posite, avec les exemples danticquitez, selon la doctrine de Vitruve (Book IV). Sebastiano Serlio, translated by Pieter Coecke van Aelst (into French). Published by Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Antwerp, ca. 1545. Woodcut illustrations and letterpress text; 14 1/8 x 9 3/4 x 7/8 in. (36 x 25 x 2.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of W. Gedney, 1941 (41.100.138)
Julie Burstein: Since I began hosting SPARK talks at the Met in 2013, it's been a wonderful opportunity to talk with curators about the art they are so passionate and knowledgeable about, and bring into the conversation writers and thinkers whose work intersects with the art in interesting ways: I've had a physicist and a children's book author speaking with a medieval curator about time, and an architect, neuroscientist, and theologian exploring how our experience of music changes with the space it's performed in.
Sarah Mallory: What sort of issues can we expect Lizzie and Seth to discuss?
Julie Burstein: As the host and moderator of the SPARK talks, I prepare by formulating questions, always thinking about the arc of the conversation. Certainly, entrepreneurship will be one of our topics. The official title of the event, Ideas That Spread, encompasses several intriguing ideas. But, I have to say, my favorite moments are when things happen that I hadn't anticipated, when the participants begin speaking to each other and wrestle with an idea together.
Event Information
SPARK: Ideas That Spread
Monday, December 1, 6:00 p.m.
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium (Show location on map)
Tickets: $30
Purchase tickets now.