ArtsJournal (text by date)

MOST RECENT

• Once Great Works Of Art Are Sold, They’re Gone. Disappeared. November 16, 2018
  Should there be some legislation against the risk that a buyer will effectively or literally destroy a work of art? Particularly one which could be designated a “world treasure”, on a list of the sort that Unesco releases on protected monuments? One that would oblige private owners to make the works accessible within reasonable terms […]
  The Art Newspaper
• Could This Be The Next Big Art Market Scandal? November 16, 2018
  “Third-party guarantees at auction — the art market’s hybrid of a risk hedge and a speculative gamble — are on track to hit an all-time high of around $2.5bn in 2018. … Such deals are now the norm for high-value Impressionist, Modern and contemporary works. But experts warn that third-party guarantees, if misused, may precipitate […]
  The Art Newspaper
• Why We Need A Better Way To Study The Arts November 16, 2018
  There have been many studies that take advantage of this process, and they bulk out much of the academic literature on the impact and value of the arts. The build-up to this new centre has revealed a critical mass of scholars and artists who have an appetite (and now the opportunity) to do things a […]
  The Stage
• There’s Just No End — Narrative Closure Is Becoming A Thing Of The Past November 16, 2018
  Amanda Hess: “The age of the sequel is over. Now it’s the age of the sequel to the sequel. Also the prequel, the reboot, the reunion, the revival, the remake, the spinoff and the stand-alone franchise-adjacent film. Canceled television shows are reinstated. Killed-off characters are resuscitated. Movies do not begin and end so much as […]
  New York Times
• The State Of Illinois Needs A New Arts Policy. Really. November 16, 2018
  The economic-development arguments for the arts are as well-worn as they are indisputably accurate, but it is high time arts advocates in Chicago admit that they have not made an effective statewide case. It also is high time for arts advocates in Chicago to admit that so much state arts funding should not be swallowed […]
  Chicago Tribune
• American Theatre Criticism Is Finally Beginning To Bounce Back, And To Get More Diverse November 16, 2018
  Howard Sherman surveys the current landscape, where experienced critics discarded by legacy publications are now turning up at high-quality websites, and, though an imbalance remains, a few of those legacy outlets have hired younger female and nonwhite writers. (Sherman seems to have forgotten about Hilton Als, though.)
  The Stage
• We’re Spending More On Scientific Research But Are We Getting Less For It? November 16, 2018
  Over the past century we’ve vastly increased the time and money invested in science, but in scientists’ own judgement we’re producing the most important breakthroughs at a near-constant rate. On a per-dollar or per-person basis, this suggests that science is becoming far less efficient.
  The Atlantic
• Ai Weiwei Says He’s Done With Museum Shows — And China May Be Done With Him November 16, 2018
  “Q: But are you allowed to go back? A: You never really know … they told me I’m free, I’m allowed to go back. Q: But you’re not sure that they’re telling you the truth? A: I don’t know if they even know the truth.”
  Artnet
• Steve McQueen And Viola Davis On Hollywood, Race And Power November 16, 2018
  “MCQUEEN: What’s happening with #MeToo and Time’s Up is amazing — these are huge, giant steps. But I just feel sometimes, as a black filmmaker, that it’s still going around in circles. DAVIS: It can’t just be ‘This is a time for female rage, so this is a time for female-centric movies and maybe some […]
  New York Times
• Hit Flamenco Singer Finds Herself At Front Of Cultural-Appropriation Wars November 16, 2018
  “Throughout her rise to fame, Rosalía has been mired in a debate over her supposed appropriation of an art form with gitano origins. The 25-year-old star is not gitana, nor is she from Andalusia, the birthplace of flamenco. She’s from Catalonia, the northern Spanish region now famous for its independence bid last year. She’s been […]
  Public Radio International
• 82-Year-Old Dance Professor Stars In Her First Head-Bangin’ Hard Rock Video November 16, 2018
  Dance anthropologist Judith Lynne Hanna, who (on top of her scholarly work) has served as an expert witness in legal proceedings against exotic dancers, “has spent her career getting us to think about dance’s relationship to society. … She hadn’t performed since college when she got a call from a music video producer, who caught […]
  Dance Magazine
• H. Peter Stern, Co-Founder Of Storm King Art Center, Dead At 90 November 16, 2018
  “He and his father-in-law, Ralph Ogden, owners of a business that manufactured metal fasteners for construction and home use …, co-founded [the center] in Mountainville, N.Y., and developed it into a prestigious outdoor sculpture museum with modern and contemporary works arrayed over a vast pastoral landscape.”
  New York Times
• Rare Ancient Image Of Jesus Discovered In Negev Desert November 16, 2018
  The painting of Jesus of Nazareth with John the Baptist — badly deteriorated but perceptible with high-tech photography and potentially restorable — is on the wall of the baptistery in a ruined 5th- or 6th-century Byzantine church. “In contrast to the Western image of Jesus as someone with flowing long hair and, sometimes, a beard, […]
  Haaretz (Israel)
• Roy Clark, 85, Country Guitar Wizard And Co-Host Of ‘Hee Haw’ November 16, 2018
  “While Mr. Clark’s musicianship and technical abilities were sometimes overlooked by critics who saw only the hayseed star of Hee Haw, he said he had few regrets about his career path. … “I’ve seen too many great guitar players sitting unnoticed on a stool in an orchestra. I said, do I want to be there, […]
  Washington Post
• Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, Longtime New York Times Book Critic, Dead At 84 November 16, 2018
  “In one of journalism’s most challenging jobs, Mr. Lehmann-Haupt was The Times‘s senior daily book critic from 1969 to 1995 … Readers and colleagues called him a judicious, authoritative voice on fiction and a seemingly boundless array of history, biography, current events and other topics, with forays into Persian archaeology and fly fishing.”
  New York Times
• David Hockney Smashes Record For Most Expensive Work By Living Artist November 16, 2018
  With a total price of $90.3 million at Christie’s last night, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972) became the most expensive piece by a living artist ever sold at auction. Even more unusually, “the Hockney painting went to the block without any type of guarantee — almost unheard of in this day […]
  ARTnews
• Main Funder Of National Theatre Wales Gives Warning In Debate About Company’s Level Of Welshness November 16, 2018
  With more than 200 Welsh actors having joined 40 of its playwrights in making public complaints about how little actual theatre the company is making and how few Welsh artists are being employed to make it, the chief executive of the Arts Council of Wales — which gives NTW £1.6 million each year — has […]
  The Stage
• London’s Old Vic Theatre Tries Crowdfunding More Women’s Lavatories November 16, 2018
  The £100,000 public fundraising campaign to double the number of ladies’ loos in the building is fronted by a video featuring actresses Joanna Lumley, Bertie Carvel, and a ferocious-looking Glenda Jackson reading tweets from audience members on the subject.
  The Stage
• Savannah Philharmonic’s Music Director Stepping Down November 16, 2018
  Peter Shannon has been artistic director and conductor of the orchestra for all of its ten years; he departs at the end of this season.
  Savannah Morning News
• Finalists For Opera America’s Conceptual Director-Designer Showcase November 15, 2018
  Nearly 40 applicant teams of directors and designers each created a production concept for an opera chosen from a curated repertoire list. Submissions included visions for staging, scenery, props, costumes and required personnel. These are the four team finalists.
  Opera America