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Robert WILSON

Robert WILSON

A Letter to Queen Victoria

1973

graphite on paper
12 3/4 x 12 3/4 inches
RWS 1

Summary

Robert Wilson is an American artist and director known for his experimental theater productions. Wilson’s accomplished set lighting and stage props are what makes his contribution to the art form so unique. “The stage is different—it's not like standing on the street,” he said of theater. “To stand on a stage is something artificial. If you think it's natural, it's a lie.” Born on October 4, 1941 in Waco, TX, he received his business administration degree from the University of Texas before moving to Brooklyn in 1963 to study at the Pratt Institute. After the foundation of his experimental performance company, the Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds in 1966, Wilson began to gain recognition with inventive productions, including Japanese Noh plays and The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin (1974). He solidified his reputation with the opera Einstein on the Beach in 1976, a collaborative work with the composer Philip Glass. Over the following decades, Wilson continued to produce award-winning sets productions. Most of his props and works of art are held in the collection of the Water Mill Center in Long Island, NY, which Wilson founded in 1992. The artist currently lives and works in New York, NY.