The Nassau County Museum of Art’s next exhibition, At Play, surveys artists’ perennial fascination with entertainment in all forms. Framing this topic between the nineteenth-century Belle Epoque and today, the exhibition features works by Edgar Degas and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Reginald Marsh, Everett Shinn, and Red Grooms, among many others, gathered to represent a wide range of expressions, from entertainment-related activities themselves to the fascinating personalities involved.
At Play encompasses dance, music, theater, movies, circus, boating, and beach scenes, along with horse racing and various sports, both active and passive. Examples of works include photography of rock stars and Hollywood icons; Andy Warhol’s celebrity portraits of such subjects as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and John Wayne; and opera and theatre artworks, including Marc Chagall’s posters for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Georges Bizet’s Carmen.
Transcending cultures and national boundaries, the impulse to create such images reveals a universal quest for spiritual uplift through art. As many of these perspectives have persisted through even the most challenging times, the theme of entertainment is a constant aspect of the renewing character of art.