New Orleans 2010 Opera Ball

The New Orleans Opera Association chose Atlanta artist (and New Orleans native) Charles H. Reinike III to create the painting for the 2010 Opera Ball. His painting titled Facade was auctioned at the Ball on April 10, 2010 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans.

The Opera Ball's theme was "The Great Gatsby" to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the opera by John Harbison.

 

My paintings are visual allegories that employ an architectural tableau, which is much like a stage set. As in most of my paintings, I use the arch as a symbol of passage. Additionally, in Facade, the columns, steps and a frieze of reckless dancing flappers set the stage.

The viewer is beckoned into a shallow room filled with yellow light and then lured into the darkness beyond where a lone figure stands gazing across the water toward the green light on the opposite shore.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's story is filled with symbols as subtle as the mentions of colors and as obvious as the eyeglasses of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg and Owl Eyes. I have scattered many of the author's symbols throughout the painting for the viewer's discovery.

- Charles H. Reinike III

The Metropolitan Opera commissioned the opera to celebrate the 25th anniversary of James Levine's company debut. It is loosely based on the original novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The painting was used for a signed and numbered poster which patrons received. It was also reproduced on the front of the invitation and the auction catalogs.

Reinike created the painting using the symbols found in Fitzgerald's book.

 

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