The Quay Brothers

The 6th annual Coolidge Award allowed our audiences to double their pleasure!

With Animation as the selected category for this year’s award, the planning committee was unanimous in the vote to choose our recipient. Without hesitation, the Quay Brothers, masters of exquisitely subjective puppet animation films, were the clear favorites, exemplifying the spirit of the Award – work that is consistently challenging and original.

Their film Street of Crocodiles was recently recognized by auteur filmmaker Terry Gilliam (Monty Python, Brazil, etc.) as one of the greatest animated films of all time. The Quays are masters of minaturization. Their tiny sets suggest long repressed dreamlike vistas of childhood landscapes of wonder and horror. They made their first live action feature length film in 1994, Institute Benjamenta. In 2005, they premiered their second feature, The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes.

The Brothers Quay have also designed for theatre and opera. In 1998, they won a Tony nomination on Broadway for Ionesco's The Chairs. In 2000, they made In Abstentia, an award-winning collaboration with avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. They also worked on two dance films, The Sandman and Duet. Working with director Julie Taymor, the twins created the dream/nightmare sequence for Frida, the biopic of artist Frida Kahlo.

The Quays are not only recognized for their use of miniatures, but for puppets and technology-related characterizations as well. Though not always dark, their body of work has a perceptible edge to it. This edginess can be visually embracing. There is an inner beauty and visceral truth layered in their work. They are artistic masters of visually portraying an imaginary constantly changing  sculptural universe.