Elizabeth Peyton: Manon Lescaut

On the occasion of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Manon Lescaut
February 12 – May 7, 2016

Elizabeth Peyton has been passionately devoted to the opera ever since she saw Wagner’s Die Walküre at the Metropolitan Opera in 2011. Last summer, she was invited by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich to see Jonas Kaufmann and Kristine Opolais sing the lead roles in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. When I heard that Peyton was working on a series of monotypes based on the opera and these two stars, I immediately made plans to show them at Gallery Met, to coincide with the Met’s new production of Manon Lescaut. Five of the works in the show are titled “Love.” “I was just blown away by how the singers conveyed emotion,” Peyton says. “They managed to evoke love, despair, and death without it being too literal. This is so hard to do. I think sometimes we need help with how to feel these emotions.” — Dodie Kazanjian

Elizabeth Peyton
Love (1) (Jonas Kaufmann and Kristine Opolais; Manon Lescaut) #1, 2015
Monotype on handmade paper
38 1/2 x 30 1/2 inches
Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels

Elizabeth Peyton
Love (1) (Jonas Kaufmann and Kristine Opolais; Manon Lescaut) #2, 2015
Monotype on handmade paper
38 1/2 x 30 1/2 inches
Courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London

Elizabeth Peyton
Love (2) (Jonas Kaufmann and Kristine Opolais; Manon Lescaut) #1, 2015
Monotype on handmade paper
30 1/2 x 38 1/2 inches
Collection of Aurore Bloemendal, Brussels

Elizabeth Peyton
Love (2) (Jonas Kaufmann and Kristine Opolais; Manon Lescaut) #2, 2015
Monotype on handmade paper
30 1/2 x 38 1/2 inches
Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels

Elizabeth Peyton
O my weary beloved (ML), 2015
Monotype on handmade paper
38 1/2 x 30 1/2 inches
Courtesy the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels

Elizabeth Peyton
Manon Lescaut; Plácido Domingo and Renata Scotto, 2015
Linocut on hahnemüle 300 gram paper
16.54 x 11.81 inches (42 x 30 cm)
Courtesy of the artist