“Ward maintained the curator’s presence in ‘Hide/Seek,’ defending the exhibition amid political controversy, while also, like the historian he is, seeking to understand why the controversy erupted as it did.”
Archives for December 29, 2013
Herb Geller, 85, Saxophonist And Composer
“Initially, he was prominent among the musicians who created the west coast jazz style, picking up combo gigs and recording dates with the best players in California. Later, after the death of his first wife, he relocated to Europe and established himself as a salaried artist in a subsidised orchestra.”
Where Pulp Fiction Bridges The Ideal And The Real
“Battered between competing allegiances to the idealized homeland and the reality of home, culture was often the life vest. Books, movies, clothing, and ritual — they bridged the chasm between the old world and the new by taking you to the place you could no longer go.”
Freed Pussy Riot Members Renew Call For Sochi Olympics Boycott
“They also stressed that they have no plans of capitalizing on the Pussy Riot brand or even using it in the future.”
Lawsuit Against Calder’s Art Dealer Dismissed
“The suit claimed that Perls and his family held on to hundreds of Calder’s works, cheated the artist’s estate out of tens of millions of dollars over the course of three decades and sold fake Calder works.”
The Year Music Escaped The Concert Hall
“This has been the year of sound art, a year when museums and galleries, alternative spaces and train stations, parks and Beverly Hills formal gardens, even the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva went after a decent-sized piece of the acoustical action. Why now?”
Wojciech Kilar, 81, Composer For ‘The Pianist’ And More
When Francis Ford Coppola asked the Polish composer what it took to write music like that in the movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Kilar cryptically replied: ‘You need to live in Katowice.'”
What Exactly Do Playwrights Do When They Reside?
“Already I’ve been using the title to open some doors. … Yet, the role itself feels delightfully and frustratingly vague.”
Actually, The Movies This Year Were Pretty Great
“Back in the movie wasteland of last January, no one could have guessed what a bounty of good films the year would bring. Not just good films, but several that measure up to our idealized notions of what the medium once was.”
Does Hollywood Actually Make A Political Difference?
Yes, sometimes, and not so much.
Finding A Magritte That’s Been Cut Up And Painted Over
That is, by the artist himself.
An Especially Excited Statue Gets A Little Cover
“Critics did not interpret the animal’s grip on the man — its paws gently resting on the man’s hips — as a bear hug. Moreover, the man appears to be experiencing sensations other than fear: He has an erection.”
Lost Van Dyck Turns Up On Antiques Roadshow (Yes, Really)
The painting “was bought for £400 by a priest in Nottingham, but experts say the restored 17th century portrait could be worth around £400,000.”
Making The Oscars Into The World’s Best, Not Just Hollywood’s Best
“There’s the Oscar lesson, proven year after year: You might win with a dark vision, but in general, keep it light and keep it in English.”
Can Changing Our Reading Habits Even The Balance?
“Establishing quotas is not inherently progressive, but it can help us examine our choices, to consider books or writers we might otherwise ignore or resist, and sometimes – as was the case for me with the wonderful Croatian author Dubravka Ugresic – recognize that we were missing out not having read them sooner.”
As Illustrations Grow More Popular, Museums Get Priced Out
“The rising prices are proving prohibitive for some; Davis says that high prices for works by Rockwell and Parrish have made purchases by museums such as his more difficult.”
Today’s top AJBlog posts 12/29/13
Very angry tweet: French birds demand share of Messiaen’s royalties
Source: Slipped Disc | Published on 2013-12-29
China’s violin method: ‘Study and train hard, according to a scientific method’
Source: Slipped Disc | Published on 2013-12-29
My “Porgy and Bess” Playlist
Source: Unanswered Question | Published on 2013-12-28
In NYC: Catching Up With Peter Schumannand the Bread and Puppet Theater
Source: Straight|Up | Published on 2013-12-27
In New York, Some Stagehands Make A Lot (A LOT) Of Money
“Even as organized labor in the United States has weakened significantly, the nearly 2,600 active members of Local 1 have retained their clout, allowing them to push for good wages and work rules.”
The Last Business Days Of A Typewriter Repairman
“Mr. Gan is also not a huge fan of Francis Ford Coppola, but he did service the Olivetti that Mr. Coppola used to write the Oscar-winning screenplay for ‘The Godfather.'”
The Return Of ‘The Lady And The Unicorn’ Tapestries
“Now they have been cleaned and rehung we have some idea of how they might have looked in the Middle Ages. They are really extraordinary.”
One Day In The Life Of A Bookstore Clerk
“I’m looking for a book.”
“Would you happen to have the title?”
“It’s a long shot, but I was in my car about a month ago and heard an author on the radio. Sounded really interesting.”
What’s The Matter With Minnesota?
“Any orchestra could slide off the road into the ditch the way Minnesota has done.”
The Most Exciting Magazine Of All Time
“No contemporary magazine could duplicate Life’s success, and not just because 1945 was such a monumental year. No modern magazine has remotely close to its influence. “
The Art Dealer With Deep Nazi Ties
“Gurlitt, the ‘art dealer to the Führer,’ reinvented himself: as a victim of the Nazis, a man who had saved precious artworks from destruction and someone who had never done anything malicious.”
Is That A Sequel – Or A Sell-Out?
“Continuation literature – as it has been hailed – falls into two camps: works that are licensed by writers’ estates and those that, like Austen, are in the public domain.”
Is Arts Journalism Only Going To Survive As The PR Wing For Institutions?
“In the new media landscape, everyone is a content provider, and thus everyone is in competition. All true. To some extent.”
Is This The Book Of The Future? (*Seriously* Not Digital)
“It stretched over our desks and across a little table. It slouched perilously near an open container of glossy doughnuts. A colleague braced the middle, another took the far end, and still the thing sagged in places.”
What Were The Most Powerful Images Of 2013?
Let The Atlantic show you in this three-minute video of 80 photos culled from the year in photography.
When You Consume Culture, Spare A Thought For The Creatives
“Those circulating copyrighted content can be as Scrooge-like as they please, because there’s no Tiny Tim to think of. Except that there is.”
The In-Jokes Onstage (Starting With ‘The Nutcracker’)
“The bodice of the principal dancer is adorned with a small oval cameo-style portrait of Balanchine. The women in the corps de ballet wear cameos of Lincoln Kirstein.”