Make an impact. Donate today.
Big Little Stage shows how designers present creative visions for stage productions through small-scale and large-scale models called maquettes. Papier-mâché, fabric, and wood are used, as well as sleeker materials like stainless steel and plexiglass. Designers also add additional appeal and dimension to their maquettes with watercolors, graphite, and cardboard.
Big Little Stage features a miniature Hanging Gardens of Babylon (1860) by Victor St. Leon and a substantial ship’s prow by William Dudley for Billy Bud (1976). Pablo Picasso’s pastel maquette for Le Tricorne (1919) and Natalia Gontcharova’s petite model for Chota Roustaveli (1946) are as striking as larger designs like the Trojan Horse by Helen Pond and Herbert Senn for Les Troyens (1972), and a futuristic set by Ralph Koltai for Shakespeare’s Othello (1985).
Additional works on paper, sculptures, and paintings by Robert Motherwell, Lynn Chadwick, Jasper Johns, and more, from the McNay’s permanent collection enhance the exhibition experience. This includes Philip Grausman’s maquette for Victoria (1992)—a 16-inch model of the now 14-foot-high sculpture on the McNay’s grounds. Big Little Stage visitors might even find themselves standing “center stage” in the Tobin Theatre Arts Gallery on a full-scale set inspired by Paul Steinberg’s whimsical La Périchole (2013) maquette.
Big Little Stage is organized for the McNay Art Museum by R. Scott Blackshire, Ph.D., Curator, The Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts; and Kim Neptune, The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund Assistant Curator, The Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts.
This exhibition is a program of The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund.
Image: Paul Steinberg, Maquette for Le Périchole, ca. 2013. Paper, board, metal, and digital photos. Collection of the McNay Art Museum, Gift of The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund, 2018.34. © Paul Steinberg
Beyond Reality presents artwork by four Texas-based artists, Carlos Donjuan, Angela Fox, Ernesto Ibañez, and Dan Lam, whose work features imagined realities.
Since 2011, Spotlight has celebrated the remarkable achievements of student artists reflecting on one work in the McNay collection. This year, over…
A collection of Art Nouveau and Art Deco glass by Jeanne and Irving Mathews from Paris flea markets in the 1960s.
The Art of Color presents a cross section of works in the McNay's Collection based on color.
the Studio is a multiuse, interactive space where visitors can relax, recharge, and engage with a variety of artwork and activities while…
Be our ghoul of honor at an exhibition hosted by creatures lured from the depths of the McNay Art Museum’s collection.
This intimate survey of the artist’s work over the course of five decades complements and celebrates the McNay’s recent commission of a…
Brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre combine trompe l’oeil wallpaper with lenticular images, transforming the AT&T Lobby wall.
The McNay’s Artists Looking at Art (ALA) series celebrates the vitality of the San Antonio contemporary art community with an installation by…