Robert Indiana Designs "The Mother of Us All"

Cut paper maquette

One of the many things on my "to do/see" list before our homes became our worlds was the "Art of the Stage: Picasso to Hockney" exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Pete.  Does that sound right up my alley or what? Happily, a bit of the exhibit was brought to me at home when the MFA's Margaret Murray Zoomed with Philomena Marano, former studio assistant to Robert Indiana.

Perhaps you, like me, flash immediately to Indiana's ubiquitous "LOVE" sculptures upon hearing his name. It turns out Indiana also had a foot in the theater world, as he designed the costumes and sets for two productions of "The Mother of Us All." Marano worked with Indiana on the Bicentennial production at the Santa Fe Opera, and she shared her insights as we watched a slide show of cut paper maquettes from which the costumes and sets were created. It was an enjoyable break from what has become a rather humdrum existence.

"The Mother of Us All" is an avant garde opera with music by Virgil Thomson and libretto by Gertrude Stein. It was their second undertaking together, after the groundbreaking "Four Saints in Three Acts" with its all-black cast. In "The Mother of Us All," Thomson and Stein take on the subject of women's suffrage, with Susan B. Anthony front and center. But her journey is anything but the one with which we are familiar, as Thomson and Stein created a non-linear work in which historical and fictional figures find themselves side by side.

Stein herself is a character in the opera, although that wasn't her intention. Unfortunately, Stein passed away before having the opportunity to see the opera performed. Thomson decided to honor her by adding her character to the show. But how, since she wasn't included in the libretto? Thomson turned to friend and lover Maurice Grosser for assistance. Grosser added both Stein and Thomson as commentators on the pageantry. It seems fitting.

Murray noted that Stein was quite fashion-forward and was fast friends with couture designer Pierre Balmain. In fact, Stein wrote a piece about Balmain for Vogue in 1946, complete with photos by photographers like Horst P. Horst. Stein herself was one of Horst's subjects. (Click here to see the photo.) This little tidbit about Stein's connection with the fashion world kind of blew my mind. I always envision her wearing the frumpy dress from the portrait by Picasso.

Stein made sure the opera included Pauline, her beloved Model T. (The car was named after Stein's favorite aunt.) It worked for Indiana, who spent a lot of time driving around with his parents when he was growing up. It was these travels that inspired his use of letters and numbers in his art, resulting in his referring to himself as a "sign painter."

Marano said creating the paper maquettes was like "drawing with an Exacto blade." ("Blades" would be more accurate, since she apparently exhausted dozens of blades when creating these near life-sized works.)  It was a multi-step process, as she would trace Indiana's drawing for each costume on velum and then on paper. (Apologies for missing why the velum step was necessary.) She recalled the painstaking work of cutting out the black pants for Daniel Webster's attire. Tweezers were a staple in her toolbox for placement of small embellishments, as were Q-Tips for the glue. The maquettes were then used to create the performers' costumes, which were oddly made out of felt. I can only imagine how uncomfortable those unforgiving outfits must have been for the singers.

Although the maquettes are faceless (in the tradition of silhouette art), Marano noted the audience could get a sense of the characters' personalities just by looking at them. From Webster's black hat, we have no difficulty identifying him as a bad guy in the story. (In the opera, he debates Susan B. to show the audience the type of opposition she faced.) Indiana Elliot has a much more easygoing temperament.

While it was interesting to hear about the design process, my curiosity was even more piqued about the opera itself.  With the centennial of women's suffrage upon us, it could hardly be more timely.  And so I went down a bit of a rabbit hole, reading Zachary Woolf's review in The New York Times of a production performed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in February. The four performance run featured singers from Juilliard and musicians from the New York Philharmonic.  Here's a portion of Woolf's review:

"With its stylized (almost abstract) interweaving of the romantic and public lives of its characters -- its account of personal and political achievement as both resulting from endless trudging struggle -- the piece remains as fresh as ever. Each time I see it, it feels like it's been ripped from the day's headlines.

Ink drawing of Susan B.'s drawing room

For example, Stein's Susan B. on male politicians: 'They fear women. They fear each other. They fear their neighbor. They fear other countries. And then they hearten themselves in their fear by crowding together and following each other.' And Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, writing in The New York Times on Feb. 5 about the impeachment vote: 'In the United States Senate, like in many spheres of life, fear does the business.'

This production's final image has that fear explode into sudden violence: In the silence after the serenely despairing final aria, a trio of men stomp a ballot box until it's crushed. Even after voting rights are extended to all, we see clearly that they're hardly secure. The fight is never over, though banners lowered from the balconies assure us that 'failure is impossible.'"

Photo from the Santa Fe Opera production.

Powerful stuff indeed. To watch a performance of the opera by the New York Metropolitan Opera, click here. (It runs one hour and 45 minutes and has subtitles despite being in English.) To listen to the music from the final scene from the Santa Fe Opera production, click here.

Last, but not least, to see all of Indiana's cut paper designs and ink sketches for "The Mother of Us All," click here. The collection is housed at the McNay Art Museum's Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts.  (Note to self: Get to San Antonio when travel is safe.) "Art of the Stage: Picasso to Hockney" is scheduled to run at the Museum of Fine Arts through August 9th. Here's hoping the MFA will be able to reopen in some manner before then.

Stay safe, and don't forget to vote!