When Philadelphia’s University of the Arts slammed its gates with only one week’s notice on June 7th, it was an abrupt conclusion to its 150-year history. Among the countless artists the school fostered were the Brothers Quay, Stephen and Timothy, the unnerving stop-motion animators, who, by coincidence, were born on this date in 1947.
The first film I ever saw by them, on the big screen, was “Street of Crocodiles” (1986) – moody, atmospheric, surreal, unsettling, claustrophobic, and even a little creepy. It’s like an animated cabinet of curiosities, or perhaps being locked overnight inside Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum. If you’re not familiar with it, the museum is home to a preserved nine-foot colon from 1892, a collection of syphilitic skulls, a two-headed fetus, a segment of Einstein’s brain, and a tumor removed from the jawbone of President Grover Cleveland. Book your reservation now! Having lived in Philadelphia for 32 years myself, I’d say, yes, the Quays pretty much nailed it. Philadelphia, after all, left its mark not only on the brothers, but also David Lynch. It’s a good introduction to their aesthetic sensibility. Experience “Street of Crocodiles” here:
The Quay Brothers have always been strongly influenced by literature and classical music. They’ve even expanded into stage design for live opera productions of works such as Prokofiev’s “The Love for Three Oranges” and Louis Andriessen’s “Theatre of the World.”
I say they were born on this date “by coincidence,” as today also happens to be the anniversary of the birth of Igor Stravinsky, and my original intention had been to share a link to the Quays’ 1983 short, “Igor, The Paris Years Chez Pleyel.” You can experience that here too:
The University of the Arts’ post-closure drama continues, with the most recent news announcing tentative agreements with six other schools now poised to try to help displaced students to pick up the pieces of their lives and continue their education. These include the already overburdened Moore College of Art and Design, Drexel University, Temple University, Montclair State University, Point Park in Pittsburgh, and The New School in New York City. In the meantime, there’s a gaping hole left in Center City, all around the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, home of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
With the announcement earlier this year of the discontinuation of the degree program at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, a 200 year-old institution located at Broad and Cherry Streets, it’s a double black eye for Philadelphia’s so-called Avenue of the Arts.
And you thought “The Rite of Spring” was brutal.
Happy birthday, Igor Stravinsky – and the Brothers Quay!
https://believemedia.com/brothers-quay
Curious about visiting the Mütter?
160 years after its founding, the museum continues to stir controversy
https://www.phillymag.com/news/2023/09/23/mutter-museum-ethics-controversy/
