Emma Zetterberg
2022 Graduate Research Fund Awardee
Dramatic Writing Class of 2023
Emma Zetterberg (she/her) is pursuing her MFA in Dramatic Writing at New York University. She is very excited to continue to bring her interests of story-telling and art history together. She received her BA in Theatre and Art History from Middlebury College where she was awarded the Kellogg Fellowship, a grant that allowed her to conduct in-situ research in Sweden on August Strindberg’s early paintings and plays. Before going back to school, Emma was an elementary teacher at Princeton Montessori School. While she works in many mediums and genres of writing, her favorite stories to tell and to consume are educational and escapist.
PROJECT
The Viewer
In 1907, Pablo Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, which hangs in room 503 at the Museum of Modern Art—two and a half miles from where I write about it in my Graduate Episodic II class. Within the art historical canon, Les Demoiselles is considered the beginning of Modern Art, marking the break away from traditional composition and perspective. My TV series, The Viewer, explores the question: what if this narrative is a curated lie?
The premise of the series is based around solving the mystery of a break-in at the MoMA. When the protagonist, Selma, learns she can travel back in time through the paintings she is studying, she embarks on a mission to prevent the would-be thief. However, the criminal’s identity isn’t the only information she uncovers—Selma also discovers the ugly and cruel history that isn’t found in the museum’s wall texts.
I have been interested in Picasso and Les Demoiselles since I studied Art History as an undergrad at Middlebury College. He is truly the most fascinating antagonist I have ever learned about, and his enigmatic character begs to be seen on screen. With this series, I intend to paint the full picture of the beginning of Modern Art in Paris, meaning that I will be including Pablo Picasso’s of past of rape and racism that so often is omitted from the narrative.
I will be using the TCR’s funding to travel to Paris with the hopes of gaining a fuller perspective on Picasso and the work of his artist friends living in Montmartre from 1905 to 1907. Many of the places where Picasso lived and worked are still standing today, such as Le Bateau-Lavoir and the Lapin Agile. To capture the authenticity of Bohemian Montmatre, I would like to conduct on-site research of places like these. In addition, another aspect of the time period that I am representing in my work is the rampant French imperialism of the time. I will focus on how objects of colonialism are displayed at museums like the Louvre. However, no resource will be as helpful as the Musée Picasso, which houses artifacts that document the artist’s creative process as well as the work of his contemporaries.
All of this research will culminate in a series bible with a story focused on depicting a well-rounded portrayal of art history—one with many perspectives, which after all is what Picasso specialized in.
