In the keynote lecture for Laguna Art Museum's Art & Nature 2016, renowned British art historian Martin Kemp, acknowledged as the world authority on Leonardo da Vinci, speaks about the iconic Mona Lisa.
Kemp is Emeritus Research Professor in the History of Art at Oxford University. He has curated a series of exhibitions on Leonardo and other themes, and has written and broadcast extensively on imagery in art and science from the Renaissance to the present day. He speaks on issues of visualization and lateral thinking to a wide range of audiences. Leonardo da Vinci has been the subject of a number of his books.
In its annual Art & Nature festival, Laguna Art Museum presents special exhibitions, a commissioned work of art, lectures, panel discussions, films, and family activities on the theme of art’s engagement with the natural world.
The event serves a number of purposes: to provide a festival of art and ideas for the community; to inspire artists; to find and develop connections between art and science; to raise awareness of environmental issues; and to celebrate Laguna Beach as a center for the appreciation of art and nature.
The theme of Art & Nature speaks particularly to the identity of Laguna Beach, which for over a hundred years has fostered art, the love of nature, and environmental awareness. In 1929, when the Laguna Beach Art Association built a gallery to show and sell their work, they chose a commanding location on the coastline, close to the natural wonders they loved to paint. The present museum occupies the same site. There could be no more appropriate venue in which to explore the art-nature connection.