Walls And Barricades Are Going Up Fast, But Just As Quickly, Artists Are Making Them Into Huge Canvases

VISUAL Posted: November 24, 2019 4:00 am

Walls can be psychic wounds to those who suffer on either side, but artists try to make them “sites of exploration and evolution.” – Hyperallergic

Lookback: on various things I wish I could do and be

From 2004: I’m not funny, and wish I were. Witty, yes, sometimes, and I’m pretty good at making an audience laugh when lecturing (a situation in which the prevailing standards are admittedly fairly low). But plain old drop-dead funny? Absolutely not. The only time I ever brought down a house... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-04
Almanac: Virgil Thomson on artists and money

“I have never known an artist of any kind who didn’t do better work when he got properly paid for it.” Virgil Thomson, The State of Music Continue reading Almanac: Virgil Thomson on artists and money at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-04
As If We Didn’t Have Enough Trouble

Last evening this is what showed up in our neck of the words. Luckily it did not touch down.... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2020-08-03
Just because: Charles Coburn appears on What’s My Line?

Charles Coburn appears as the mystery guest on What’s My Line? John Daly is the host and the panelists are Steve Allen, Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, and Dorothy Kilgallen. This episode was originally telecast by CBS on August 2, 1953: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-03
Almanac: Virgil Thomson on journalists

“Journalists are plentiful everywhere and entertaining too, full of jokes and stories. Only their jokes are not very funny and their stories not quite true. Their information is always incomplete, because nobody tells them the truth about anything.” Virgil Thomson, The State of Music Continue reading Almanac: Virgil Thomson on journalists... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-03
A farce fit for a star

In today’s Wall Street Journal drama column I review the PBS webcast of the 2016 Broadway revival of Noël Coward’s Present Laughter. Here’s an excerpt. * * * PBS has telecast dozens of plays and musicals on its “Great Performances” anthology series since the long-running program made its debut in 1972. Now... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-31
Replay: Mark Morris’ Four Saints in Three Acts

The “overture” to Mark Morris’ staging of the Virgil Thomson-Gertrude Stein opera Four Saints in Three Acts, featuring the Mark Morris Dance Group and performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2006: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-31
Almanac: Virgil Thomson on dancers

“Dancers are auto-erotic and have no conversation.” Virgil Thomson, The State of Music Continue reading Almanac: Virgil Thomson on dancers at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-31
Almanac: Virgil Thomson on taste

“Taste is knowing what you don’t like.” Virgil Thomson, The State of Music Continue reading Almanac: Virgil Thomson on taste at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-30
Snapshot: a 1965 interview with Francis Bacon

A 1965 BBC interview with the British painter Francis Bacon. This was the pilot for a TV series that did not go into production, and the interview was never broadcast. The interviewer is Julian Jebb: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-29
Almanac: Maurice Grosser on what makes a picture good

“The test of whether a picture is any good—that is to say any good for you, which is the only thing that counts—is not whether it thrills you but whether you can remember it.” Maurice Grosser, Critic’s Eye Continue reading Almanac: Maurice Grosser on what makes a picture good at About... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-29