The Arts of Jean Cocteau (Nov/Dec 2000)

Home

Museums

Back Issues

Membership

The Arts of Jean
Cocteau opens November
5, 2000

The opening gala on
the evening of November 4 at The Warhol kicks-off a three-month exhibition
of works by the unconventional, groundbreaking French poet, novelist, playwright,
painter, designer, and filmmaker Jean Cocteau (1889-1963). Like Warhol,
Cocteau was a pioneering multi-media artist and a great promoter of other
artists. He was wholly interested in creativity and, as Warhol did later,
he encouraged the burgeoning young talents he encountered throughout his
career. Cocteau was also interested in eradicating the lines that separated
different disciplines of art, working at times with Pablo Picasso, Ballet
Russes “impresario” Sergei Diaghilev, and composers Erik Satie and Igor
Stravinsky.His talents as a crossover
artist confounded the critics of his day.

“If
Warhol had an early 20th Century role model, it would have been Cocteau,”
avers Museum Director Thomas Sokolowski. “Both in breadth of stylistic
influence and flamboyance of personal lifestyle, these two artists indelibly
touched the wide circles of intellectuals, dilettantes and social butterflies
with which they surrounded themselves.”

“Cocteau and Warhol’s
work share an…ironic detachment,” observes Phil Watts, Associate Professor
of the French Department at the University of Pittsburgh. “There’s also
a common sensibility in their works, a common aestheticization of the body,
of the male body…. I know that Jean Marais was one of Cocteau’s favorite
stars, and he may have had the same function in Cocteau’s films as some
of the Factory stars had for Andy Warhol’s films. 

“Cocteau was a galvanizer
of talent, a catalyst in the art world” continues Watts, confirming further
uncanny similarities between the French surrealist and pop’s largest icon.
“He’s someone who discovered new talent, who encouraged new talent. He’s
one of the people who discovered the writer Raymond Radiguet , and who
helped to publish Jean Genet, who had started writing his novels in prison.
Cocteau was sort of a prominent figure in a the gay world,” notes Watts,
“and he brought a lot of underground gay writers to the attention of the
public. 

The exhibit contains
more than 200 works spanning Cocteau’s varied career, as well as manuscripts,
books, photographs, and decorative arts.Eleven
of Cocteau’s highly influential films will be screened during the Museum’s
Good Fridays programs throughout the exhibit.

In a joint collaboration,
The Warhol and the Pittsburgh Symphony will present performances by the
Pittsburgh Chamber Music Project at The Warhol. One program will be The
Pittsburgh Chamber Music Project’s production ofPoulenc’s
one-act opera “La Voix Humaine,” based on text written by Cocteau.The
Pittsburgh operatic first will be presented November 13 and 14. In another
collaboration, Quantum Theatre will perform the play November 9 through
21.The opera will follow the Quantum
Theatre performance on November 13 and 14.

[Sponsor Acknowledgement]

Special thanks to USAirways,
the Carrier of Choice for The Arts of Jean Cocteau exhibition.The
exhibition was made possible in part by agnes b., The Cultural Services
of the Embassy of France, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state
agency.

Assistance with The
Arts of Jean Cocteau was also provided by the Pittsburgh Chapter of
The French-American Chamber of Commerce and Alliance Française de
Pittsburgh.

Off the Wallwith
Warhol

The Warhol has opened
its doors to things new and exciting in the world of multi-discipline art
forms, and its new “Off the Wall” series (in collaboration with the Three
Rivers Arts Festival and New York’s Performance Space (P.S.) 122–the country’s
preeminent performance art venue) sets new standards for such ventures. 

“Offthe
Wall” audiences have the rare opportunity to catch performances by seasoned
artists, as well as newcomers to the field of performance art. Each of
the six remaining performances (part of a series of eight that opened in
September) is unique, and each pushes the envelope of expectations about
performance art.“It’s a mix,” says
Mark Russell, executive/artistic director of P.S. 122, of the series. “It’s
a great snapshot of what is the strongest work happening in experimental
performance at the moment…these are people with sort of the most buzz about
them.”

Universes (November
25)This group of young spoken-word
artists hails from the Bronx, N.Y., and their performance will be an exclusive
Pittsburgh preview of a piece they are organizing for presentation at the
New York Theatre Workshop–the launching pad for such commercially significant
works as Rent and Dirty Blonde,Russell
notes, “The show is kind of about how language mutates from street games
on up into very heightened poetry.”

Bill “Crutch” Shannon
(December 16)Choreographer,
videographer, dancer, street performer, (and Pittsburgh native), Shannon
has been touring the world of late and this past summer opened the Central
Park Summerstage Music and Dance series.He
combines his enthusiasm for breakdancing and skateboarding with different
dance movement styles, and disability-based crutch techniques. “He’s quite
amazing,” confirms Russell. “He started out as a visual artist and then
became a breakdance artist; now he’s combining both of them [in his performances].”

Claude Wampler (January
27, 2001)Butoh dancer, trained
opera vocalist, and and acclaimed visual artist, Wamplerincorporates
elements from each of these disciplines into her performances.Her
“Off the Wall” performance will be designed for and exclusively performed
as part of the series. “She’s a really amazing, multi-threat artist,” enthuses
Russell.

Karen Finley (February
17 and 18)Perhaps the best-known
(and infamous) performer on the roster, Finley always has a few surprises
up her sleeve. Her performances have left audiences agape and politicians
embroiled in heated “what-constitutes-art?”-debates for years. Her “Off
the Wall” performance “may involve a lot of honey, nudity, and a surfeit
of strong language.”

Will Power (March
10)brings “The Gathering,” his
reknowned solo show, to “Off the Wall”.In
it, he uses his body to conjure up entire jazz orchestras and basketball
teams as he provides his own views of black men in America. 

John Kelly and David
Del Tredici (May 18)Vocalist
and experimental theater artist, Kelly is one of the top composers of our
time. He and Pulitzer Prize winner Del Tredici will provide “Off the Wall”
audiences with an exclusive preview performance of their new song cycle
based on Kelly’s poems, with Kelly’s singing and Del Tredici’s music providing
live accompaniment.

“These are people that who have something
to say to the nation, to the world,” says Russell.”They’re
not just doing this for themselves; they’re doing this for an audience…and
it’s very approachable material.Their
work is in a different category than that of a performance artist who is
a really strange person doing this for ten of his best friends in a loft
in New York.This is not that kind
of work.”

“A
lot of the arts resources of the country are located in museums, and it’s
thrilling that Thomas [Sokolowski] is opening up the resources of the museum,
and the museum itself, to something as tough to put on as performance art.I
think it’s entirely in line with what Andy Warhol would have wanted, and
in his spirit.I hope that what we
do here can help open up other museums to take a chance on live performance
a little more. It’s been muscled-out of this area for a long time.”

 
 

This series is supported
by a generous grant from The Heinz Endowments.

 

Home

Museums

Back Issues

Membership

Copyright (c) 2000 CARNEGIE magazine 
All rights reserved. 
E-mail:   carnegiemag@carnegiemuseums.org