ARTS & CULTURE
Art of the Stage
A century of arts comes alive (literally) at MFA BY MARCIA BIGGS It may be the most dramatic exhibit yet for the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, and rightly so. Art of the Stage: Picasso to Hockney is all about drama. The expansive show features more than 100 scene, costume, stage and program designs created by noted artists from the 19th century to the present. Complementing those visuals is a diverse program featuring dozens of dance, music, opera and theater performances. Two years in the planning, this colossal collaborative effort is impressive in its depth and diversity. The exhibition is culled from the McNay Art Museum’s prestigious Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts in San Antonio, Texas, and includes works by Henri Matisse, Natalia Goncharova, Pablo Picasso, David Hockney, Robert Indiana, and Lesley Dill. These artists contributed greatly to world-renowned plays, operas, and ballets, such as Pulcinella, La Création du Monde (The Creation of the World), King Arthur,
and The Mother of Us All. For MFA Executive Director Kristen Shepherd, the opportunity to pair live performances was part of the appeal for presenting Art of the Stage. “This is an unprecedented collaboration of visual and performance arts, a chance for our community and visitors to experience how these practices intersect,” she said at the media opening. To bring Art of the Stage to life, a theater stage was built inside the exhibition space. Live classical music, opera, dance, theater and poetry, as well as film screenings and lectures will continue on select days throughout the run of the exhibition which ends May 10. Exhibition designer Rush Jenkins of WRJ Designs (who wowed us with Jewels of the Imagination: Jean Schlumberger) had a challenge in creating a cohesive flow to this PHOTOS/MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS ST. PETERSBURG
Left, Red Ecstasy Dress from Divide Light by Lesley Dill (2008). Right, Scene design for Le Coq d’Or (The Golden Cockerel), Natalia Goncharova (1913)
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StPeteLifeMag.com
March/April 2020
