This week the McNay Art Museum is unveiling an exhibit that is both scary and heartwarming. Behind the Screen: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas returns to the McNay for the first time since 2013 and features puppets and set pieces filmed for the 1993 cult classic stop-animation movie that has delighted generations of Halloween and Christmas fans around the world. It will be on display in the main Theatre Arts gallery and the puppets and pieces will be staged more theatrically to help take visitors on a journey. The exhibit opens on Thursday September 28 and will be on display through Sunday December 31. (McNay Art Museum, 2017)

San Antonio native Robert LB Tobin acquired the pieces from a Southeby’s auction in New York City two months after the movie opened in theaters. The movie tells the story of Jack Skellington, King of Halloween Town and his heartfelt yet misguided attempt to take the place of Santa Claus in Christmas Town. It became a surprise hit and has evolved into a holiday movie-watching tradition from Halloween through New Year’s Day. The exhibit will give visitors a rare opportunity to discover how camera crews shot 24 stills for each second of film. The trick-or-treating Lock, Shock, and Barrel have removable heads for different expressions. Holes in the Clubhouse floor indicate the positions of the bathtub that carries the three on a mission to kidnap “Sandy Claws.” Puppets of Jack Skellington, his faithful ghost dog Zero, and his Halloween Town rival Oogie Boogie also are among the collection.

Two other McNay exhibitions with similar themes complement this exhibit. One is Stage Frights, Madness, Monsters, Mayhem which will be on display from Thursday September 28 through Sunday December 31 and features scene and costume designs for plays, operas, and ballets by writers and composers from Shakespeare to Lorca to Anne Rice’s adaptations and from Wagner to Stravinsky to Scott Joplin. Drawing on diverse folklore traditions and popular-culture forms, scene and costume designs entice both adults and children to explore the dark side of their imaginations and the world. The other consists of two large murals by renowned muralist and Blue Star Contemporary’s Artist-in-Residence Alex Rubio with a Dia de los Muertos theme.

McNay Art Museum
6000 N New Braunfels Ave
San Antonio, TX 78209
(210) 824-5368