Artist:
Jamie Wyeth
(American, b. 1946)
Sitter:
Rudolf Nureyev
(Russian, 1938 - 1993)
Curtain Call
Medium: Combined mediums on archival cardboard
Date: 2001
Dimensions:
80 × 60 in. (203.2 × 152.4 cm)
Accession number: 2006.6.20
Copyright: © The Wyeth Foundation, 2002
Label Copy:
In 1977, Jamie Wyeth began a year of intensive observation of the famous ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. The artist studied Nureyev in ballet classes, rehearsals, and performances. He produced a large and important body of work that captures Nureyev’s sinewy physique and dynamic personality.
After Nureyev’s death in 1993, Wyeth continued to explore the dancer as a subject in new, vibrant, and imaginative compositions such as in Curtain Call. The painting depicts Wyeth’s memory of Nureyev on stage at the conclusion of a performance of Sleeping Beauty. The artist dramatized the image by contrasting an overall dark tone with the stage lighting that highlights the figure and casts an eerie glow over dancer’s white tights and stage makeup. The pronounced shape of the figure’s shadow framed by the purple and gold backdrop is balanced by a dark background beyond the spotlight enhancing Nureyev’s enigmatic image.
In 1977, Jamie Wyeth began a year of intensive observation of the famous ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. The artist studied Nureyev in ballet classes, rehearsals, and performances. He produced a large and important body of work that captures Nureyev’s sinewy physique and dynamic personality.
After Nureyev’s death in 1993, Wyeth continued to explore the dancer as a subject in new, vibrant, and imaginative compositions such as in Curtain Call. The painting depicts Wyeth’s memory of Nureyev on stage at the conclusion of a performance of Sleeping Beauty. The artist dramatized the image by contrasting an overall dark tone with the stage lighting that highlights the figure and casts an eerie glow over dancer’s white tights and stage makeup. The pronounced shape of the figure’s shadow framed by the purple and gold backdrop is balanced by a dark background beyond the spotlight enhancing Nureyev’s enigmatic image.