Museum of Fine Arts: Art of the Stage

A century of arts comes alive (literally) at MFA Art of the Stage

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 eff ort 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 fi lm 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 fl ow to this large exhibit that covers so many art movements. He decided to divide it into six themes, setting the stage in the entrance gallery by celebrating the legendary Ballets Russes. The famed dance company was founded in Paris in 1909 by Serge Diaghilev, and united the most daring visual artists (Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso), choreographers (Vaslav Nijinsky), dancers (Anna Pavlova), and composers (Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky) of the time to create innovative, avant-garde performances. Scenes from legendary ballets grace the walls, while the spotlight here shines on a dramatic cape of brocade metallic embroidery trimmed in ermine fur designed for The Firebird (1909-1911).

Oil paintings are costume designs from Le Coq d’Or (The Golden Cockerel), Natalia Goncharova (c. 1922) . Below, Lesley Dill’s Paris Speaking Dress (1996)

The exhibit’s largest gallery is dedicated to Russian avantgarde artist, painter, costume designer, writer, illustrator, and set designer Natalia Goncharova. She was one of the most prominent artists of the Ballets Russes; her folkloric art introduced Western audiences to Slavic culture. Her bold, colorful work encompassed many styles from Cubism to Futurism and Expressionism, and her paintings and costumes here are lively and a joy to behold. One of the exhibit’s stunners is Goncharova’s colorful backdrop for the French production of the Russian operaballet Le Coq d’Or (The Golden Cockerel) 1913, an ethnic scene in brilliant reds and golds.

Revolutionary Russia follows in a gallery that screens a silent black and white futuristic epic, Aelita Queen of Mars (1924), based on the Alexei Tolstoy novel of the same name and perhaps one of the fi rst ever science fi ction fi lms. It tells the story of a young Russian engineer who dreams that he travels from Moscow to Mars, where he helps to overthrow its oppressive leaders.

Here we see sketches and paintings of structured, geometric costume design by Cubo-Futurist painter Alexandra Exter, who was hired to design the Martian costumes and sets. (A highlight of the performances will surely be when the band La Lucha performs a live soundtrack to a screening of Aelita Queen of Mars on April 17 and April 19.) Aelita was promoted like no Soviet fi lm before it -- leafl ets announcing its premiere were dropped from airplanes over Moscow.

In the fi nal Pop and Contemporary Art gallery, we fi nd costumes by noted designers Lesley Dill and Robert Indiana and art by David Hockney, who all worked with directors, composers and dance companies. Indiana’s costumes for the 1966 fi lm and 1976 stage production of The Mother of Us All, takes us to the days of the women’s suff rage movement.

Lesley Dill’s stunning costume gowns, particularly the Red Ecstasy dress that was worn in Divide Light, are showstoppers. Dill loved making statements and her powerful Paris Speaking Dress from a 1996 performance in Paris, is a fl owing creation of rough cream covered in ribbons of text, all words from Emily Dickinson cascading from the bodice. Finally, David Hockney’s circus-like posters for a French Triple Bill brings Art of the Stage full circle.

For a complete schedule of events, check out www.mfastpete.com

Dancer/choreographer Helen Hansen French performs with Open/ Space Collective on the exhibit stage April 16 from 5 to 7 pm and and April 30 from 6 to 8 pm, with a fi nal performance on Saturday, May 2 from 2 to 4 pm. Included with museum admission.

Red Ecstasy Dress from Divide Light by Lesley Dill (2008). Right, Scene design for Le Coq d’Or (The Golden Cockerel), Natalia Goncharova (1913)