Students in a drawing class sketch 19th century Argentine gauchos

Students sketched scenes and designed sets for a play about the cultural history of gauchos, Argentine cowboys who in the 19 ^th Century helped create the tango, during a figure drawing class led by Robert Schiffhauer, associate professor of architecture.

During four class sessions, students rendered scenes of the play, a work-in-progress by Susan Gordone, wife of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Texas A&M professor [Charles Gordone] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2011/4/28/schiffhauer-gordone-exhibit/) .

On a makeshift stage, visiting models dramatized scenes from the play, about two contemporary New York filmmakers, whose families have roots in Argentina, who travel to Buenos Aires to create a documentary.

“Students also developed an appreciation of Argentina’s art history through learning about gauchos’ contributions to the development of the tango,” said Gordone.

Schiffhauer’s students collaborated with Gordone and students in the university’s performance studies program in the spring 2013 semsester, [creating collages] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2013/6/4/mexicanmurals/) to research the historical context of a Gordone play about a renaissance of Mexican art in the early 20 ^th century.