Uploaded July 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Artist Sarah Crowner draws inspiration from mid–20th-century avant-garde artists whose work combined dance, theatre, fine arts, and design. Crowner based her piece Curtain (2012) on a 1956 theatre backdrop by Polish artist Maria Jarema, composing it from large pieces of fabric she painted then sewed together. For the artist, this “highly physical way of creating paintings” brings the body into the work, an element that is pushed further by using the work as a backdrop for performance. Dancers from Boston Ballet activate Sarah Crowner's Curtain by performing a choreography by Boston Ballet principal Yury Yanowsky, courtesy of Boston Ballet. Together with the painting, they activated gallery space, noting how body language and other forms of artistic expression are powerful tools for communication.
Performance Art at the MFA is supported by Lorraine Bressler.
Artist Sarah Crowner draws inspiration from mid–20th-century avant-garde artists whose work combined dance, theatre, fine arts, and design. Crowner based her piece Curtain (2012) on a 1956 theatre backdrop by Polish artist Maria Jarema, composing it from large pieces of fabric she painted then sewed together. For the artist, this “highly physical way of creating paintings” brings the body into the work, an element that is pushed further by using the work as a backdrop for performance. Dancers from Boston Ballet activate Sarah Crowner's Curtain by performing a choreography by Boston Ballet principal Yury Yanowsky, courtesy of Boston Ballet. Together with the painting, they activated gallery space, noting how body language and other forms of artistic expression are powerful tools for communication.
Performance Art at the MFA is supported by Lorraine Bressler.
