"How can that be, lady, which all men learn by long experience? Shapes that seem alive, wrought in hard mountain marble, will survive their maker, whom the years to dust return." - Michelangelo.
Social systems that create an environment of artistic creativity are to be emulated. Sometimes creativity is inspired despite the social environment. In any case, it is instructive to recall such times.
Detroit in the 1960s is remembered as a caldron of passions and rapid change. Many changes were for the worst. Detroit, like other cities, experienced its share of violence and destruction. Amid the ashes of social stress rose a new brand of music that transcended cultural boundaries. Combining the harmony of traditional black gospel music and the limb-limbering beat of rhythm and blues, the Motown (a recognition of Detroit's major industry) sound captured American listeners. Although other forms of music emerged from the black community, no other sound was so easily and quickly appreciated and assimilated by whites. Yet the sound could not be co-oped by the white community.
The soul behind this creative explosion in an industry and town replete with soul was Berry Gordy Jr. Gordy's parents were entrepreneurs who instilled their business acumen into their children. By the time Gordy borrowed $800 from his family to establish Motown Records in 1959, he had a dropped out of high school, spent two years in the U.S. Army, and had already written hit songs for Jackie Wilson.
Though Gordy was musically talented, there were many others with greater creative and performing abilities. Gordy's genius was his ability to recognize and nurture talent. In Motown's early years he even made sure that his artists were instructed in how to dress and comport themselves in polite company. Gordy wanted to make certain that his artists were only limited by their talents not by their social graces. Gordy's patronage incubated the talents of Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, the Supremes, Stevie Wonder and the Jackson Five.
In the sixteenth century, Florence was one of a handful of prosperous city-states on the Italian Peninsula during the Renaissance. Centrally located between the Middle East and the remainder of Europe, these city-states culturally benefited from commercial contacts with both worlds. Venice and Rome were important, but Florence stood out artistically because of the Medici Family. The Medici Family had a passion for the arts and were intelligent patrons. Among the Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent stands out.
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