Pres. Obama Nominates First African-American, First Woman Librarian Of Congress

PEOPLE Posted: February 25, 2016 4:45 am

If confirmed by the Senate, she’ll also be only the second person in the position to have made a career as a librarian.

15 Past Presidents of AAMD Sign Letter Calling for Baltimore Museum to “Reconsider” Planned Sales

Can you stop a speeding freight train before it crashes? Some 15 (and counting?) former presidents of the Association of Art Museum Directors are giving it a try: In an 11th-hour letter to Clair Zamoiski Segal, board chair of the Baltimore Museum of Art, they have urged the museum to... Read more

Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2020-10-28
A ‘Noir’ Drawing Brings the 15th Century into the Light

Gerard Bellaart, an admirer of Hans Badung Grein (who studied with Durer and was his favourite pupil), notes that Grein’s mastery of engraving was so great that his engraved self-portrait, for example, “somehow looks like a silverpoint.”... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2020-10-28
Snapshot: Vladimir Horowitz plays Scriabin

Vladimir Horowitz plays Scriabin’s Vers la flamme in the living room of his Manhattan apartment: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) Continue reading Snapshot: Vladimir Horowitz plays Scriabin at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-28
Almanac: Hortense Calisher on happy childhoods

“A happy childhood can’t be cured. Mine’ll hang around my neck like a rainbow, that’s all, instead of a noose.” Hortense Calisher, Queenie Continue reading Almanac: Hortense Calisher on happy childhoods at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-28
AAMD’s Failed Oversight: Murky “Clarification” of Its “Financial Flexibility” Resolutions

Better late that never (but not soon enough), Brent Benjamin, current president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, is attempting to backpedal from the precarious position he championed just six month ago, when AAMD temporarily loosened its tight strictures against the use of proceeds from art sales for anything... Read more

Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2020-10-27
Lookback: traveling light

From 2010: I, too, once felt the mad desire to own every jazz record ever made, and to have them all shelved in chronological order at arm’s length from my desk. Today I own just two racks, and whenever I acquire a new album, I get rid of an old... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-27
Almanac: Anthony Powell on the meaningfulness of literature

“I was impressed for the ten thousandth time by the fact that literature illuminates life only for those to whom books are a necessity. Books are unconvertable assets, to be passed on only to those who possess them already.” Anthony Powell, The Valley of Bones Continue reading Almanac: Anthony Powell on... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-27
Alarming Preview: Sotheby’s Hawks Baltimore Museum’s Clyfford Still & Brice Marden

Sirens (coming from the street) were heard wailing at the beginning of Sotheby’s Virtual Preview of Highlights from Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Art—a fleeting but thematically appropriate soundtrack for the alarming disposals set to occur at the auction house’s Contemporary Art auction on Wednesday evening in New York. That startling... Read more

Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2020-10-26
Lear Lite

Shakespeare's writing—all of it, poetry and plays—was repulsive to Tolstoy, who claimed that whenever he read Shakespeare he was overcome by "repulsion, weariness, and bewilderment." As for "King Lear," ranked among Shakespeare's four greatest tragedies, he found it "at every step," according to George Orwell, "stupid, verbose, unnatural, unintelligible, bombastic,... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2020-10-26
Farther along

It’s just short of seven months since the death of Hilary Teachout, my beloved wife. I was close to despair when I returned from her deathbed to my locked-down apartment, and though I thought at one point that I was coming out of it, I was wrong. I missed out... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-26
Just because: Jeri Southern sings Frank Loesser

Jeri Southern sings Frank Loesser’s “Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year”: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) Continue reading Just because: Jeri Southern sings Frank Loesser at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-26
Almanac: Shakespeare on grief

“Every one can master a grief but he that has it.” William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing Continue reading Almanac: Shakespeare on grief at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-26
From the Mint, another gem

In today’s Wall Street Journal, I review a webcast of the Mint Theater Company’ 2018 revival of Miles Malleson’s Conflict. Here’s an excerpt. * * * The thing I miss most about live theater is seeing shows in small houses, sitting in the midst of happy audiences who know they’re watching something special. For... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-23
Replay: Langston Hughes reads “The Weary Blues”

Langston Hughes reads his poem “The Weary Blues” on the CBC in 1958, accompanied by a jazz combo: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) Continue reading Replay: Langston Hughes reads “The Weary Blues” at... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-23
Almanac: G.K. Chesterton on evil

“Men may keep a sort of level of good, but no man has ever been able to keep on one level of evil.” G.K. Chesterton, “The Flying Stars” Continue reading Almanac: G.K. Chesterton on evil at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-23
When Emmett Williams Squared the Alphabet . . .

In 1956, his color scheme was as bright as day. In the plague year of 2020 a color inversion is like the night.... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2020-10-19