The photographs of Pablo Picasso, the private art collection of Edgar Degas, Andy Warhol’s love affair with glamor and fashion, a treasury of art from Britain’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the masterpieces of rediscovered Renaissance painter Pietro Perugino and a celebration of “Star Wars” are among the subjects highlighting the new museum exhibition season in America this fall.
In theater, Neil Simon has a new romantic comedy called “Proposals,” Paul Simon has created a Latin doo-wop gospel rock musical called “The Capeman,” Christine Andreas and Terrance Mann star in a musical version of “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” Betty Buckley and F. Murray Abraham star in a comical musical called “The Triumph of Love,” Disney’s “The Lion King” comes to Broadway as a musical and Patrick Stewart plays a white Othello to an otherwise all black cast.
Picasso the photographer
“The Dark Mirror,” the first exhibition ever in the United States of Picasso’s work as a photographer, opens Nov. 16 at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts (1001 Bissonnet Ave.; 713-639-7300).
The show contains more than 200 images, donated to the French government from the artist’s personal collection after his death in 1973. As much a testament to his versatility, inventiveness and adventurousness as his paintings, these photographs include camera portraits of himself and friends (Georges Braque, Henri Rousseau and Guillaume Apollonaire among them), as well as pictures taken in collaboration with mistress Dora Maar, who died in July. Also in the collection are photos of places and people who inspired some of Picasso’s most important paintings, including “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.”
Closing next Feb. 1, this is the exhibition’s only U.S. venue.
Degas the collector
Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was not only one of the greatest artists of his time, but he was also one of the great art collectors of his era, acquiring more than 5,000 pieces by the time of his death.
Though he had once hoped to have his own museum, these works are scattered among museums and private collections worldwide. But New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 5th Ave.; 212-879-5500) has assembled some 200 of the paintings, pastels, watercolors, drawings and prints Degas owned for this show.
In keeping with his taste, the artists represented here are mostly from 19th Century France or artists who were working there. Honore Daumier, Camille Pissarro, Eugene Delacroix, Paul Cezanne (Degas loved his handless clock), Mary Cassatt (Degas’ protege and amie), Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin are perhaps the most notable. But he collected lithographs by the likes of Japanese artists Katsushika Hokusai and Ando Hiroshige and paintings by Spain’s El Greco as well.
One major segment of this exhibition, “The Private Collection of Edgar Degas,” Oct. 1 through Jan. 11, is devoted to Degas’ own works that he kept for himself.
Warhol the fashionable
As befits a former window-dresser at Horne’s Department Store in Pittsburgh, Andy Warhol loved glamor and fashion (he haunted New York fashion shows right up until his death in 1987). A new exhibition at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art (945 Madison Ave.; 212-570-3676), from Nov. 8 through Jan. 18, depicts Warhol and fashion as a symbiotic relationship, each giving as much as each got.
Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and transvestite superstar Candy Darling are among the “females” who figure largely in “The Warhol Look/Glamour Style Fashion,” with some 500 paintings, photographs, illustrations, costumes, old magazines, films and videos and reconstructed window displays.
And more–much more
Starting Oct. 12, the Baltimore Museum of Art, North Charles and 31st Streets (410-396-7100) will host one of the richest collections of art treasures ever to visit American shores: “A Grand Design: The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum.” Its some 250 pieces represent 2,000 years of art–from Japanese lacquerware and Chinese ceramics to Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks to paintings by John Constable and Dante Gabriel Rossetti to Charles Dickens’ original manuscript of “Bleak House.” It closes Jan. 18.
– He was Raphael’s teacher and was a colleague of Da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli. He contributed to the art of the Sistine Chapel. But Pietro Perugino (1446-1523) has been relatively little known in the U.S. “Perugino: Master of the Italian Renaissance,” a new show running from Nov. 16 through Feb. 1 at the Grand Rapids Art Museum (155 Division North; 616-459-4676), ought to raise his profile considerably. The first Perugino exhibition ever staged in the United States, it presents 35 of his masterworks, drawn from collections in Italy as well as from the Metropolitan Museum, Washington’s National Gallery of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.
– Hordes of visitors are expected at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum this fall for a Hollywoodesque homage to the Star Wars trilogy, “Star Wars: The Magic of Myth.” Running Oct. 31 through October 1998, the show will display some 200 replicated characters, props, weapons, space vehicle models, costumes and original art used in the making of the movies, which transfixed two generations of Americans. Some purists think the museum ought to stick to aerospace science exhibits, but it has long exhibited space-related art in its extensive galleries and likes to present pop culture. Air and Space is at 7th Street and Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington; 202-357-2700. Admission to the exhibit will be free but first-come, first-serve same-day passes will be required.
– Among other exhibitions of note this season is a grimly compelling one at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (151 3rd St.; 415-357-4000) called “Police Pictures: The Photograph as Evidence.” These official photos, which include images of bloody corpses and 19th Century female pickpockets, were not intended as art but are as effective as anything hanging in a frame. The show runs from Oct. 17 through Jan. 20.
– Spanish art and its influence on Latin American and American Latino art is the focus of “El Alma Del Pueblo,” Oct. 17 through Jan. 4 at Texas’ San Antonio Museum of Art (200 W. Jones Ave.; 210-978-8100). This is a huge show, with 300 pieces on loan from 30 museums and private collections from both sides of the Atlantic.
– Leonardo da Vinci’s priceless scientific manuscript “Codex Leicester,” recently bought by computer mogul Bill Gates, will be on view at the Seattle Art Museum (100 University St.; 206-654-3100) from Oct. 23 through Jan. 4. This all-important, illustrated document, recording the genius’ observations on all matter of natural phenomena and forces, will be accompanied by several of his drawings and paintings and also more contemporary art derived from his, including diverse “Last Suppers.”
– Video has taken its place as an important component of contemporary art. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (5905 Wilshire Blvd.; 213-857-6000) will highlight its fall season Nov. 2 through Jan. 11 with a mind-expanding exhibition of the highly religious and philosophical videos of Californian Bill Viola. Co-curator for this attention-getting show is Peter Sellars, familiar to Chicagoans and New Yorkers for his avant garde work in opera.
– Even edgier art will be featured in two important shows at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (11 W. 53rd St.; 212-708-9400) this fall: “On the Edge,” including very daring works by Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, Richard Serra and the highly provocative Cindy Sherman, among others (Sept. 30 through Jan. 20); and “Egon Schiele: The Leopold Collection,” 150 works by the World War I era Austrian modernist noted for his brilliant draughtsmanship and obscene subject matter (Oct. 12 through Jan. 4).
– Highly recommended is “The Artist’s Eye,” Oct. 8 through Jan. 4 at New York’s National Academy Museum (1083 5th Ave.; 212-369-4880), a collection of 40 portraits by some of America’s greatest practitioners, among them George Bellows, Thomas Benton, Richard Diebenkorn, Thomas Eakins, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler and Andrew Wyeth.
– From Oct. 6 through Dec. 5, New York’s PaineWebber Gallery (1285 6th Ave.; 212-713-2885) is showing “Direct From Broadway: 200 Years of New York City Theater,” with paintings, posters, photographs, costumes and other stuff dating back to 1750.
Broadway bound
Headed for the actual Broadway is Neil Simon’s new comedy “Proposals,” which will premiere first at Washington’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Oct. 1-26, before moving on to New York later in the season.
Set in the Pocono Mountains of heart-shaped bathtub fame, the romantic comedy is about a summertime family reunion that rekindles some old flames and starts some new fires, with quips and unexpected guests dropping in everywhere. It stars Ron Rifkin (“Three Hotels”), Kelly Bishop (“A Chorus Line”) and much-talked about new actress L. Scott Caldwell.
– Previews for musical artist/impresario Paul Simon’s new “The Capeman” don’t begin at New York’s Marquis Theatre (1535 Broadway) until Dec. 1, but tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster (212-307-4100). Simon wrote 30 songs for the show, which is about New York Puerto Rican gang member Salvador Agron, who was sentenced to death at age 16 for murder. Ruben Blades and salsa star Marc Anthony head a cast of more than 40.
– Opening Oct. 23 at New York’s Royale Theater (242 W. 45th St.) “Triumph of Love” stars Betty (“Sunset Boulevard,” “Cats”) Buckley and F. Murray (“Amadeus”) Abraham and is a “lust at first sight” musical that advertises three seductions and 15 original musical numbers. Comedian Elayne Boosler also headlines the show.
– Two-time Tony nominee Christine Andreas (“Oklahoma”) joins Terrence Mann (“Les Miserables”) in the costume period musical “The Scarlet Pimpernel.” It’s about an effeminate, ridiculous 18th Century Englishman who leads a double life as a brave and cunning hero rescuing innocents from the tyranny of the French Revolution. It opens Nov. 9 at the Minskoff Theatre (200 W. 45th St.).
– Disney continues its invasion of big-time Broadway with another stage musical in the screen-to-boards vein of “Beauty and the Beast.” Its “Lion King” opens Nov. 13 at the New Amsterdam Theatre (214 W. 42nd St.) It has no big-name stars in its 46-member cast but, with these real-life animation Disney productions, the costumes are what count. The music is by Elton John and Tim Rice.
– Veterans Jack Klugman and Tony Randall are bringing back Neil Simon’s “The Sunshine Boys” under the auspices of Randall’s National Actors Theatre repertoire company. After playing at Florida’s Coconut Grove Playhouse Oct. 28 through Nov. 23, it opens in early December at the Lyceum Theatre (45th Street just east of Broadway).
Beyond Broadway
Washington’s Kennedy Center will also be premiering the national company of the big Broadway hit “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” a revue of great Leiber and Stoller pop and rock classics that were sung by Elvis Presley and others in the 1950s and 1960s. It runs from Dec. 23 through Jan. 18.
– The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington (450 7th St., N.W.) probably the greatest Shakespearean company in America today and run by Michael Kahn, director of the Julliard School of Drama, will be making mixed-casting history Nov. 11 through Jan. 4 with a new version of “Othello.” Instead of a Moor, Othello is a white man, played by “Star Trek” star and Shakespearean veteran Patrick Stewart. The rest of the cast is African-American.
– The capital’s Arena Stage (1101 6th St., S.W.) turns to high and low comedy with a stage adaptation of the Marx Brothers film classic “Room Service,” starring and adapted by the zany Flying Karamazov Brothers, who are to juggling (and theater) what the Marx Brothers were to grand opera. The show, just opened, runs through Oct. 19.
– Ellen McLaughlin, the actress who originally played the Angel in the Broadway production of “Angels in America,” has turned playwright and come forth with “Tongue of a Bird,” the story of a search-and-rescue pilot named Maxine who hunts for an abducted girl and also the secret behind the mysterious death of her mother. This powerful new drama receives its world premiere Sept. 17 through Oct. 12 at Seattle’s Intiman Playhouse in the Seattle Center (201 Mercer St., 206-269-1900).
