Robert Wilson

Artist

05_Robert-Wilson_©Lucie-Jansch

Born in Waco, Texas, Wilson is one of the world's leading theatre and visual artists. His works unconventionally integrate a wide variety of artistic media, including dance, movement, light, sculpture, music and text. His images are aesthetically striking and emotionally charged, and his productions have earned worldwide public and critical acclaim. After studying at the University of Texas and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Wilson set up The Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds community in New York in the mid-1960s with which he produced his early works, including Deafman Glance (1970) and A Letter for Queen Victoria (1974-1975). He co-created the opera Einstein on the Beach (1976) with Philip Glass. Wilson's artistic collaborators include many writers and musicians such as Heiner Müller, Tom Waits, Susan Sontag, Laurie Anderson, William Burroughs, Lou Reed, Jessye Norman and Anna Calvi. He has also left his mark on masterpieces such as Beckett's Krapp’s Last Tape, Brecht/Weil's Threepenny Opera, Debussy's Pelléas et Melisande, Goethe's Faust, Homer's Odyssey, Jean de la Fontaine's Fables, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Verdi's La Traviata and Sophocles' Oedipus. Wilson’s drawings, paintings and sculptures have been exhibited all over the world in hundreds of solo and group shows, and his work is held in private collections and museums the world over. He has also been the recipient of numerous awards for excellence, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination, two Ubu Awards, the Venice Biennale Golden Lion award, and the Olivier Award. Wilson has been made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the German Academy of Arts, and has been awarded eight honorary degrees. France named him a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (2003) and an Officer of the Legion of Honour (2014); Germany awarded him the Cross of the Order of Merit (2014).

Ph. Lucie Jansch

Events with Robert Wilson