The Theatre of Drawing

Bonnie Marranca editor Daniel Sack editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:PAJ Publications,U.S.

Published:27th Oct '26

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The Theatre of Drawing cover

An in-depth look at the creative processes of the 20th century's most groundbreaking multidisciplinary artists

The Theatre of Drawing is a dazzling selection of drawings and writings by 42 American artists from the 1960s to the present, working in theatre, dance, music, and performance. The first book to present such an expansive theatrical perspective, it includes more than 160 color images.

The individual artists’ portfolios offer a remarkably intimate look into the creative process that transforms drawing into the art of performance. Among the artists featured in the volume are Ann Hamilton, Robert Wilson, Jay Scheib, Gyun Hur, Julie Mehretu, Judith Malina, Annie-B Parson, Lucinda Childs, Mina Nishimura, Madeline Hollander, Raven Chacon, Peter Schumann, and Joan Jonas.

“An unexpectedly moving volume, in which visual lightness is anchored by emotional weight. Julie Mehretu’s 'mind breath' sketches, Laurie Anderson’s chalky smears, Trisha Brown’s wobbly, fragile lines: these and other drawings disclose the eloquent 'hesitations of the thinking body,' as Ann Hamilton calls them. Other pages compel attention by the artists’ fierce concentration, their determination to save ideas before they disappear. Throughout (as Joan Jonas says in a sentence that could apply to this whole, beautiful book), 'drawing…does draw you in.' ”
—Marc Robinson, Yale University, author of American Performance in 1976

“A thrilling selection and wide-ranging survey of artists utilizing drawing as a mode of visual thinking and conceptualization for theatre performance and dance-related works.”
—Ann Butler, Director of Library and Archives, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College

"The Theatre of Drawing is an extraordinary book showing drawing as a way to think, drawing as memory, which captures the process of thinking and living."
—Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director, Serpentine, and author of The Interview Project

ISBN: 9781555541699

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

214 pages