MoMA Exhibition of Drawings for Theater, Dance, and Opera Explores Visual Experimentation on the Stage

NEW YORK, NY.- Featuring approximately 150 drawings from The Museum of Modern Art's collection, Stage Pictures: Drawing for Performance investigates the work that results when artists design for theater, dance, and opera.

The exhibition highlights set and costume studies, as well as more abstract suggestions of light and mood, from the total theaters of the Ballets Russes and the Bauhaus, to Lincoln Kirstein’s formation of the New York City Ballet, to Pop performances and contemporary epic opera.

The works, many rarely on view, span a century of visual experimentation on the stage, demonstrating how artists have used drawing strategies to translate texts into dramatic mises-en-scène, articulate illumination and shadow, imagine the form and presentation of character, manipulate bodies in space, and express duration.

Such artists as Marc Chagall, Sonia Delaunay-Terk, Jim Dine, George Grosz, David Hockney, William Kentridge, Fernand Léger, Lyubov Popova, Diego Rivera, Oskar Schlemmer, and Robert Wilson are featured alongside career set and costume designers.

Several video projections of realized performances are also shown, complementing related drawings. The exhibition, on view March 11 through August 25, 2009, is organized by Jodi Hauptman, Curator, Department of Drawings, The Museum of Modern Art.

MoMA’s commitment to stage pictures dates to 1939, when Lincoln Kirstein, a colleague of MoMA’s founding director Alfred H. Barr, Jr., and the eventual founder of the New York City Ballet, gave his personal collection of performance-related books and ephemera to the Museum, establishing a Dance Archives that would, for a brief period in the mid-1940s, become a separate curatorial department.

Though the Museum’s Department of Dance and Theatre Design (later the Department of Theatre Arts) was short lived, the Museum continues to collect theater-related work today.

While the works in the exhibition vary in emphasis—from those with roots in folk traditions, machine aesthetics, or the mass media, to others that question the architecture of the stage, make abstract forms three-dimensional, or envision a total artwork on an epic scale—they all reflect a desire to create something new, to work across mediums, and to unify the arts.

Folk traditions were exploited and modified by artists associated with Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, including Natalia Goncharova (Russian, 1881-1962), who created a city square inspired by the bold outlines of Russian icon painting and the abstract patterns of peasant embroidery for the 1937 Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo revival of Le Coq d’or. A study for this elaborate backdrop is on view in the galleries.

Inspired by the world of rapid industrialization, many artists focused on the workings of the machine, including Fernand Léger (French, 1881-1955) and Oskar Schlemmer (German, 1888-1943).

Commissioned for the 1922 Ballets Suédois production of Skating Rink, Léger’s mechanical costumes, once set in motion, reflected the artist’s sense that the rhythm of industry and the modern city’s everyday bustle were the most entrancing of spectacles.

For Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet, performed for the first time in its entirety in 1922, the artist created costumes that transformed the dancers from humans into mechanized puppets. Sketches of Schlemmer’s costumes are shown alongside a filmed reconstruction of the ballet from 1970.

Folk traditions merge with machine aesthetics in works such as Lyubov Popova's (Russian, 1889-1924) costume drawing for a 1921 Moscow production of Romeo and Juliet. For this design, Popova created a suit of armor out of hard-edged blue polygons resembling sheets of metal. The result is a costume that is both medieval and mechanical.

Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886-1957) emphasized the tension between industry and nature in designs for the 1932 Philadelphia Civic Opera Company's production of H.P. (Horsepower). In the drawings on view, costumes animate tropical fruit and gold and silver bars, while sets juxtapose flora and machines.

Pop art's impact, as well as the emancipating effect of 1960s Happenings on traditional performance, can be found in colorful collaged designs by Jim Dine (American, b. 1935) and David Hockney (British, b. 1937). Taking his cue from a Red Devil paint sample chart, Dine employed a rainbow palette in a series of drawings for a raucous 1966 performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

More recent projects by artists such as Robert Wilson (American, b. 1941) and William Kentridge (South African, b. 1955) show efforts to create multimedia productions on an epic scale.

On view is a recent acquisition, a drawing from the series Preparing the Flute (2005), Kentridge's backdrop design for Mozart's opera The Magic Flute, which he directed and co-designed in 2005.

To prepare for the production, the artist created black-and-white drawings that employ photography's positive and negative imagery to emphasize the opera's larger themes of darkness and light.

Just outside the galleries are two reconstructions of costumes by Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) for the 1917 Ballets Russes production of Parade. Picasso created set and costume designs to accompany a scenario by Jean Cocteau, music by Erik Satie, and choreography by Léonide Massine.

Accompanying these large-scale works—including The French Manager (1917), which measures almost 9-feet tall—is a video excerpt of the Joffrey Ballet's 1973 revival of Parade.

Taken From ArtDaily.org

4 Interesting Facts About Renaissance Doctors and Medicine

Do you usually link Renaissance to advances in medicine? Typically, when we talk about the Renaissance period, we talk about an explosion of learning and creativity. From paintings to music, this was a tremendous time for the arts in particular.

However, the era of the Renaissance, which lasted from the middle 1400s until the 1700s, also featured major developments in European medicine. Here are some of the important facts surrounding the Renaissance period and medicine:

1. New knowledge and inventions improved medicine

A flurry of new knowledge and inventions helped to advance medicine quickly, during the Renaissance. There were no instruments yet to observe bacteria, and thus create a need for cheap urbane scrubs.

However, diagrams of the human body and the printing press both had a huge influence on the world of medicine. Thus, doctors had a better comprehension of how the human body functioned, than during any previous era in Europe's history.

2. Galen was no longer king

During the previous Middle Ages, the medical world considered Galen's writings to be infallible. Galen was an ancient Greek living in Rome, who had developed the concepts of Hippocrates, "The Father of Medicine."

However, during the Renaissance, doctors took a more practical and academic approach to training in their profession. Medical students studied from books with realistic diagrams of humans.

In addition to better books, doctors-in-training also had access to more of them, thanks to the invention of the printing press. In fact, universities even permitted students to dissect humans, towards the end of the Renaissance. This practice had previously been limited to animals.

3. Science began to supersede spirituality

During the Renaissance, people still held to some spiritual reasoning regarding diseases. For instance, people were unaware that bacteria existed, and could spread from person-to-person. However, logic became king, due to a new wealth of knowledge available, and an efficient way to distribute it faster-the printing press.

In addition, the training for surgical procedures greatly improved. Apprentices would learn surgical techniques, from an active surgeon. Interestingly, universities themselves failed to supply doctors-in-training with these skills. Nevertheless, the improvements in textbooks about human anatomy significantly boosted the complexity of the surgeries that doctors did.

4. Many did not embrace advances in medicine

While the Renaissance ushered in a new era of medical knowledge and skills, not everyone was impressed. During the Renaissance, home remedies remained a vital aspect of medical treatment, for many people.

In fact, some people still sought treatments from local shaman who lacked formal training in the medical profession. Also, many "old-school" doctors and the Catholic Church still adhered to the teachings of Galen. However, within time, medical advances during the Renaissance would revolutionize the whole professional.

The Renaissance was clearly an era of enlightenment and developments. Besides the fantastic output in the arts, the medical profession flourished as well. While doctors were yet unaware of bacteria or the need to wear scrubs during surgeries, they were nonetheless learning. Essentially starting with the Renaissance, spiritual doctors were becoming scientific doctors!

Brent McNutt enjoys talking about cheap urbane scrubs and cheap landau scrubs as well as networking with healthcare professionals online.

How to Cut Costs with Halloween Costumes

There's no reason to overspend on Halloween costumes if you plan ahead. Here are tips for saving money at Halloween.

1. Prepare for next year - of course it's too late now, but check Halloween stores and local drugstores the day after Halloween and stock up on accessories that don't go out of style like face makeup, vampire teeth, and cobweb netting. The discounts are often as much as 90%. Garage sales also net very, very cheap Halloween costumes if you're willing to grab them when you see them.

2. Start early - It is easy to sometimes make your own, but never a good idea to start looking for good budget ideas on October 30th.

3. Look for ideas that don't tie to specific characters. It's hard to make something look like a real good knock-off of Mickey Mouse.

4. Try community sites for previously used Halloween outfits, especially in kids' sizes.

5. Involve your child - ask them what they want to be and use items your kids are already interested in. If you have football or soccer outfits, use them. This is simple and might be easier to sell to your child rather than trying to imitate what they have seen on TV.

6. Take a trip to thrift store and consider these favorites:

• Old prom dresses, along with blood for a "Carrie" costume, or for Beauty Pageant misfits
• Bridal gowns for "Bride of Frankenstein" or cut down as princess dresses
• Old tuxedos for crazy French waiters
• Retro outfits

7. Consider these cheap and easy costumes:

• Wrap a sheet and you have a mummy or a toga costume
• Safety pin odd clothing items to a single colored ensemble and go as "static cling."
• Wrap a red blanket around a child, put on a big cross or other medallion and go as a medieval crusader
• Eye patch, red turtleneck, blue jeans and a red bandana for a pirate
• Attach Smarties to your child's pants with packing tape to create a "smartie(s) pants" costume (familyfun.com idea)

8. Consult websites for ideas. Two of our favorites are:

• coolest-homemade-costumes.com - idea sharing site
• familyfun.com (even a category for last minute ideas)

There are plenty of ideas without the need for a glue gun or sewing machine. Even if you feel you aren't very creative, the websites listed above have lots of ideas of things you can put together mostly using items you have at home.

Halloween doesn't have to be expensive and can be a lot of fun, probably more so, if you use a little imagination rather than buying something off the rack at the store. Put on your creative hat and get cracking because here is an easy method for creating homemade Halloween masks for your little trick-or-treater.

Paul Banas is a founder of GreatDad.com. Discuss about planning a baby, holiday ideas, raising kids, activity with kids and other parenting related topics at his Fathers Forum.

Medieval Armor - The Replicas Of Ancient Body Armors

The epitome of medieval armor lies in its exceptional structure and significant praxis. In medieval period soldiers wore it in wars and combats, so that they can defend themselves from the sudden attacks of the enemies.

The prime usage of medieval armors was to protect the soldiers or its wearer from the strikes of the weapons. Earlier, in Greek and Roman empires these body shells were considered as the top priority for soldiers and every knight had to wear it.

These knights are most memorized for their sophisticated armors. However, apart from the excellence of armors and their battle competence, they were also considered as the style statement.

In fact, even today most of the people around the world are awestruck with medieval armors. Many people strive to collect these historical artifacts for their home collection and rummage around for the best replicas of those medieval armors which were in those days considered as the prestigious possessions.

Owning a breastplate, early medieval helmet, axes and lots of other kinds of armors can change the entire gaze and feel of your home. All these medieval armors can be used for battle reenactments also and in various movies and shows in order to regenerate the exact feel of medieval era in the mind and heart of the viewers.

All the medieval armors are usually hand made by the well versed artisans but many of them are machine made also. The material used in the construction of the armaments is also of top quality, so that they can remain for a long time to come.

If we talk about the replicas of ancient helmets, then there are varieties of these head covering like Viking helmet, Roman helmet, French helmet, Gladiator helmet, Knight helmet, Saxon helmet etc.

If you need ancient axes then medieval axe and medieval farsa are available for your requirement. Likewise, various other kinds of medieval armors in the form of chain mail, leather, breastplate can also be purchase from various online shops.

Find the most exclusive range of medieval armor at http://www.stalloneindia.com

Medieval Medicine: Ways of the Old

Within the history of medicine timeline, medieval medicine is a particularly interesting aspect to investigate, as at this time medicine was still based on some fairly archaic ideas, but by the end of the era new theories were beginning to emerge which would one day revolutionize medicine.

The timeline of medicine begins much earlier than medieval times--in fact, medicine's history extends back to the prehistoric era--but it was during the medieval age that certain medical advances were made which would prove to be particularly important in the future.

The Medieval System of Medicine

The most well-respected physician during the medieval era was Galen of Pergamum, a Greek who had lived in the second century B.C. During the time in which he lived, his work had added a great deal of important information to the store of medical knowledge--including study on inflammation, infectious diseases, and pharmacology.

At this time, qualifying as a Doctor of Medicine involved ten years' worth of study, and because of this there were relatively few doctors. Women were did not train as doctors, but many medical practitioners actually were women, until the increasing regulation of the profession began to exclude people who had not trained from practicing.

The Medieval Theory: Four Humors

During the medieval era, the prevailing medical theory was the theory of humours, which was pioneered by Hippocrates and further developed by Galen of Pergamum. The theory of humours ended up being very long-lived--it was not until the nineteenth century that it began to fall out of use.

According to the theory, the body was made up of four principal humours--fluids--called yellow bile, black bile, blood, and phlegm. All diseases were caused by imbalances in the body's proportion of the various humours.

For example, too much phlegm in the body would cause lung diseases, and would cause the lungs to cough up the excess phlegm in an attempt to restore the balance between the four humours. Each of the four humours was also associated with particular organs, climate types, elements, and even personality types.

Treating various diseases often involved the application of herbs, which were supposed to help restore the balance between the humors. Using herbs lent itself to the Christian "Doctrine of Signatures," which stated that God had provided a world in which the cure for every ailment existed, and that each cure had on it some sort of sign which proclaimed its purpose. For example, Lungwort, which was used to treat tuberculosis, had an appearance similar to that of diseased lungs.

The High Medieval Era

It wasn't until the end of the medieval era that some of those important advances were made. During this era, for example, Theodoric Borgognoni pioneered the introduction of one of the most important concepts in modern medicine: the use of antiseptic practices.

Other physicians contributed immensely to the store of knowledge, including Realdo Colombo and Michael Servetus, both of whom discovered important knowledge about the circulatory system.

Emeka Ezidiegwu is Webmaster and Internet marketer who owns and operate several web properties. Emeka has written articles on many different topics for some of his web properties like: http://www.onlinemedicineinfo.com/medieval-medicine.html

Medieval Costumes! Going Back In Time For One Knight

Medieval costumes are a popular choice for many of the renaissance lovers out there that enjoy the mystery, sorcery, and glamour of that unique era!

Becoming your favorite fantasy character is exciting when wearing a medieval costume, and when you slip one on, you will take yourself back in time when the infamous Black Knight battled gothic pirates to protect their King and Queens throne, and experience all the medieval renaissance festivities on Halloween night.

Medieval clothing took on a unique fashion of it's own, and now with a variety of great costumes available with quality authentic styles, you can easily become the Wizard that casts many spells, or Maid Marian that wins the hearts of the Renaissance Noble Men!

If being a Princess is not your castle in the sky, and you rather take the wild and crazy dungeon route, then there are many costume variations of the historical Wench. The choices are endless, and you can become a beautiful Tavern Wench with a long flowing velvet dress with lace-up corset and mop hat, or the exotic Gothic Slayer with a luxurious long flowing robe that expresses the mystery and beauty in you.

No matter which medieval fashion dress you choose, Prince Charming, Regal King, and the Royal Knight will definitely be closely following your trail. For the bad boy, the Medieval times have created the elite and also the nasty, and if you're one to sway more to the dark side, then select the well known character costume the Executioner!

It comes with a strap trimmed tunic, hood with cowl, fingerless gloves, and boot tops all trimmed with studs, plus a belt and battle axe, or you can easily become the swashbuckling renaissance pirate with the frill white shirt, pants and waist sash. Add an eye patch, and sword, and you will be enjoying Halloween night chasing the beautiful Wench's to walk your plank.

For all the men and women that love to express themselves in medieval century clothing, this Halloween you will be pleased to know that many medieval items are still available, with great costume accessories to go with your choice of outfit. However, like we speak of the medieval days that have come and gone, if you wait too long to buy your favorite Halloween Renaissance costume, they soon will also be history!

About the author: William is the owner and the author of "1st In Halloween Costumes" available at http://www.1st-in-halloween-costumes.com A great source for Halloween Medieval Costumes Costumes available to you online! You can easily find and compare online costume stores offering you a variety of quality adult Medieval costumes, sexy halloween costumes, and historical kids costumes, costume makeup, accessories, and so much more. Come check my site out, and let me help you go back in time for this Halloween.

by William Parise

A Taste of Medieval History for Your Costume Party

Put a touch of the long distant past into your party with a Medieval theme. Everyone thinks of the Medieval period as one full of knights in shining armor rescuing damsels in distress. It’s not only a taste of history when you host a medieval party, but you give your guests an opportunity to see things they may not have seen, and maybe even join in the fun.

Have you ever had dreams of being rescued by a knight? Use the Medieval party as a chance to realize a dream, and let your significant other play the part of the night who rescues you from danger. Does it sound silly? Of course it does, but aren’t parties supposed to be fun? So do what you want with your party, and let your guests do accordingly.

This is the 21st century, so where are you going to finish Medieval wear? You can find it at any stores that sell costumes, and even if you aren’t having your party around Halloween, there are still many costume stores open – after all, schools and theatres have stage productions that require costumes, and not everyone does custom-made costumes. You may have to search a little bit, but you can fight a costume that is fitting for the medieval period. If you want to be really creative with your party, you may even find a replica of a horse or find a couple of friends who are willing to play the part of the horse and make your “rescue” more authentic.

Other ideas for your party include treasure hunts and scavenger hunts that are based on items from the period, available in stores that specialize in theme parties. If time permits, you may choose to conduct in depth research and serve food, drinks, and entertainment that are in tune with the Medieval period in history.

Mrs. Party... Gail Leino is the internet's leading authority on selecting the best possible party supplies (http://partysupplieshut.com), using proper etiquette, and living a healthy life while also teaching organizational skills and fun facts. The Party Supplies Hut has lots of party ideas with hundreds of free coloring sheets, printable games, and free birthday party activities. Over 100 adorable Party Themes (PartyThemeShop.com) to fit your birthday celebration, holiday event, or "just because" parties is at the Party Theme Shop. Party themes include cartoon characters, sports, movie, TV shows, luau, western, holidays, and unique crazy fun theme ideas.

by Gail Leino