FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 19, 2015
Stage, Setting, Mood: Theatricality in the Visual Arts examines the formal means artists employ to impart a sense of drama and setting in their compositions. The exhibition opens with a free public reception hosted by the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico at the New Mexico Museum of Art on February 5, 2016 and runs through May 1, 2016.
In the performing arts, "stage, setting and mood" refer to the evocative and emotional experiences that can be created in the physical space of the theater with the use of backdrops, props, lighting, sound, and the work of the performers. In the visual arts, artists employ theatrical pictorial means to appeal to the senses. Colors, bold forms, and compelling subjects can be called on to elicit an emotional connection between viewer and artwork. In this exhibition, artworks that feature high drama, theatrical presentation, and narrative storytelling, demonstrate the connection between sensation and spectacle.
The exhibition comprises close to 50 artworks dating from the late 18th century to the present.
Stage, Setting, Mood runs concurrent with the New Mexico Museum of Art’s presentation of First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare: National tour from Folger Shakespeare Library (February 5 through 28, 2016) commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
Stage, Setting, Mood includes a "To Be or Not to Be" sub-theme of artist’s meditations on the human skull to fit with the Folger Library’s exhibition’s focus on Hamlet. In the staging of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the protagonist muses on the fate of "poor Yorick" while holding and addressing a human skull.
Stage, Setting, Mood features artwork from the Museum of Art’s collection and loans from the Gilcrease Museum, the Messenger Collection, and artist Billy Schenck.
Stage, Setting, Mood: Theatricality in the Visual Arts and its two companion exhibitions, First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare and Medieval to Metal: The Art and Evolution of the Guitar open at the New Mexico Museum of Art with a free public reception on Friday, February 5, 2016, from 5.30 to 7.30pm. Refreshments will be provided by the Women’s Board of The Museum of New Mexico Foundation and Antigua de Albuquerque will perform period music in costumes of the era.
Public Program
Shakespeare and New Mexico Scholar Day
February 20, 2016, 1 to 4pm, St. Francis Auditorium
Two lectures and a panel discussion. Free and open to the public
The day commences with Heather James, Associate Professor of English, University of Southern California, discussing a painting on view in Stage, Setting, Mood in The graveyard and the frontier: Hamlet among the buffaloes. This is followed by Marissa Greenberg, Associate Professor of English, University of New Mexico, presenting, The Very Large Shakespeare Array. Then, Bruce Smith, Dean’s Professor of English, University of Southern California, will convene a panel of three people who have had experience with the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays in varying contexts: himself as a Shakespeare scholar, plus a director of Shakespeare’s plays in New Mexico, and an actor who has acted Shakespeare in New Mexico. (Panelists TBD)
Please visit http://nmartmuseum.org/shakespeare/ for more information about the First Folio! tour and related programs and events in New Mexico.
Calendar editors
What: Stage, Setting, Mood: Theatricality in the Visual Arts
Where: New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 West Palace Avenue, Santa Fe.
When: February 6, 2016 through May 1, 2016 with a free public reception on Friday, February 5, 2016, from 5.30 to 7.30pm
More info: 505-476-5072, http://www.nmartmuseum.org/
Need images? Download high-res images from the media center here
Phone number for publication: 505-476-5072
For more information about the museum, log onto http://www.nmartmuseum.org/
Media Contacts:
Steve Cantrell, PR Manager
505-476-1144
Steve.Cantrell@state.nm.us
Carmen Vendelin, Curator of Art
505-476-5062
Carmen.Vendelin@state.nm.us
Captions L to R:
Trude Fleischmann, Portrait of Toni Birkmeyer, 1935, gelatin silver print, 4 7/16 × 3 5/16 in. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Jane Reese Williams Collection, Gift of Roberta DeGolyer, 1991 (1991.3.11)
James Stovall Morris, Lightning, circa 1940, oil on canvasboard panel, 20 x 24 in. On long term loan to the New Mexico Museum of Art from the Fine Arts Program, Public Buildings Service, U.S. General Services Administration (1480.23P) Photo by Blair Clark
Esquípula Romero de Romero, The Black Shawl, 1933, oil on Masonite, 17 x 11 1/2 in. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Museum purchase with funds from the Jordi M. Chilson Estate with additional support from the Friends of Contemporary Art, 1999 (1999.17.1) Photo by Blair Clark
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Founded in 1917 as the Art Gallery of the Museum of New Mexico, the New Mexico Museum of Art has been presenting innovative arts programming in downtown Santa Fe for close to 100 years. At its founding the museum collected and exhibited artworks by noted artists from New Mexico and elsewhere. This tradition continues today with a wide array of exhibitions and a significant collection featuring work from the world’s leading artists. Today, as at its founding, the New Mexico Museum of Art strives to bring the art of New Mexico to the world and the art of the world to New Mexico.
The New Mexico Museum of Art is a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, New Mexico’s cultural steward charged with preserving and showcasing the state’s cultural riches. Museum exhibitions and programs are supported by donors to the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and its Director’s Leadership Fund, Exhibitions Development Fund, and Fund for Museum Education.
The Museum is located at 107 West Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico, just off the downtown Plaza. 24 Hr. Recorded Message: 505-476-5072; Front desk: 505-476-5041. November through April the museum is open Tuesdays - Sundays: 10 am-5 pm and open for free 5 to 8 pm on the first Friday of the month. May through October the museum is open 7 days a week 10 am-5 pm and is open for free every Friday night from 5 to 8 pm. The Museum is closed on Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. Weather conditions may require the Museum to close; you can check with the Front Desk at 505-476-5041. Visit us on the web for the latest updates at www.nmartmuseum.org.
