“If you love it, the audience will feel it!” Director Agnes Wilcox was leading actors through their first stagings of theater pieces inspired by the Old Masters exhibit at the Pulitzer. The actors practiced entrances and exits through the big double doors of the Pulitzer, in and out of a cold Tuesday breeze, watched by smiling gallery assistants and Nicolas Regnier’s Self-Portrait With a Portrait on an Easel.
The language, history, and inventions of these theater pieces all come from the actors. “These words are yours!” Agnes reminds us if a scene being rehearsed feels stiff. What Agnes teaches is the art of complete emotional investment in the scenes—their characterizations and guided tours, their color theory and deep secrets, their improvisation and memorization, their art history and self-discovery—and the art of complete surrender to the scenes as engines. Read More
Posted March 26, 2009 in About the Program
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Prison arts, arts education, and Old Masters have been all over the news lately. Here are just a few articles I’ve read online.
“Read a Book, Get Out of Jail”: a wonderful alternative sentencing program in Massachusetts, Changing Lives Through Literature, grants probation in exchange for attending biweekly seminars on literature.
In an effort at community outreach, the Museum of Modern Art in New York is welcoming patrons with Alzheimer’s (as the Pulitzer is doing itself).
Spurred by the economic crisis, many states are reforming their prison policies: rethinking mandatory-minimum sentencing, expanding community-service prison alternatives, and enhancing credits inmates can earn toward release.
“Hot is the word for this show”: rare trans-Atlantic loans from the Louvre bring Old Masters to Boston.
Across the country, museums are expanding their education programs—welcoming diverse communities, and introducing art instruction and art history in tandem with local schools.
“Tycoon Taste & Wealth”: once tucked away in Norton Simon’s private collection, these works of old masters like Bassano and Rubens now have a temporary home at the Frick in New York.
Posted March 26, 2009 in About the Program
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Staging Old Masters Director Agnes Wilcox began her second day of class with her actors at 9 a.m. sharp by saying, “My first question of the day will always be about yesterday. So!” With a wave, she indicated the light-flooded interior gallery where we sat in a sleepy ring. “Yesterday you saw the Pulitzer and its paintings for the first time. My question is—what do you see now?”
“What do you see now?” could be the motto of Old Masters exhibit, due to its use of natural light and of the parallel art of the “slow look” that its paintings require. Appreciating these artworks demands an intent eye. “What do you see now?” could just as well be the motto for Staging Old Masters. Agnes’s approach to teaching movement, voice and diction, and art appreciation springs from the second look, the second attempt, the post-activity conversation. Read More
Posted March 18, 2009 in About the Program, Students
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