ArtsJournal1
Even The Color Blue Is Having Supply-Chain Problems
Two factories in France produce much of the world's synthetic ultramarine pigment; one stopped making it, and the other couldn't meet the extra demand...
Conservatives Trying To Ban Certain Books From Schools Forget About The Streisand Effect
In Virginia, Texas, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, whether the topic is race, sexuality, history, or something else, grownups trying to keep particular books from teens...
Enormous Changes At The Last Minute At The Philadelphia Orchestra’s “Messiah”
The scheduled conductor and all four soloists, who'd been rehearsing together, tested positive the day before Wednesday's concert — and, rather than canceling, the...
Fifteen Minutes Before Curtain Time, Broadway Playwright Steps In To Save Performance From Cancellation
With three cast members testing positive for COVID and only two understudies available, Keenan Scott II grabbed his script for Thoughts of a Colored...
England Doubles The COVID Arts Relief Funding It Announced Just Days Ago
On Monday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that £30 million ($40 million) was being added to Arts Council England's Culture Recovery Fund. On...
Schadenfreude For The Holidays: The Meanest Book Reviews Of 2021
"Among the titles being cast into the maw of the volcano this year: Blake Bailey's oozing hagiography of Philip Roth, Mitch Albom's latest cavity-inducing...
Why Cecily Strong Dares To Do “The Search For Signs Of Intelligent Life In...
"Of course I wanted to do this. The biggest reason to say no is, why would you ever put yourself in a position to...
Mapping One Of Machu Picchu’s Most Unusual Features
"Pilgrims traveling to Machu Picchu in the 15th century were greeted by Chachabamba, a ceremonial water complex that was designed to demonstrate the power...
For Her First Piece As Choreographer, Tamara Rojo Remakes Petipa’s “Raymonda”
Says the artistic director of English National Ballet, "I am by no means Petipa, but what I'm trying to do with Raymonda is what...
The Lucille Ball Almost No One Saw
The first woman to run a TV studio (a job she never liked and only did after she and Desi Arnaz divorced), Ball was...
Nielsen Confesses It’s Been Undercounting TV Audiences For A While Now
"The media-measurement giant informed TV networks and other clients Wednesday that it has, since September of 2020, undercounted so-called 'out-of-home' audiences — the people...
Omicron Is Keeping Older Viewers From Going Out To The Movies
A YouGov poll of 1,000 Americans found that roughly 56% of 18-to-44-year-olds weren't deterred by the new, rapidly spreading coronavirus variant, with only between...
Baltimore Is Becoming A Matisse Capital
The Baltimore Museum of Art has roughly 1,200 works by the artist, and it's just opened the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies,...
Millennials And Gen Zers Are Flocking To The Metropolitan Opera
A set of young New Yorkers seems to have decided that the Met is cool. Sure, many of them appear more interested in the...
Spain Declares Export Ban And Formal Interest In Possible Caravaggio
The Madrid regional government has given the painting of the scourged Christ official bien de interés cultural status, which legally requires the current owners...
Belgium Shuts Down Its Performing Arts, Too
Following the lead of the Netherlands and Denmark as the Omicron coronavirus spreads, Belgium is ordering theatres, concert halls, and cinemas to close beginning...
Was Don Quixote (And Was Cervantes) Nostalgic For Muslim Spain?
"Cervantes knew that after the terrible, dogmatic reality in which he lived, there would be imagination. But" — having spent years in Algiers —...
Thirteen (Or More) Ways Of Looking At Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos
2021 is the 300th anniversary of the six extraordinary works. Mark Swed looks at the slew of recordings marking the occasion, from a spectacular...
Andy Warhol As Faithful Catholic
"Religion and sincerity go hand in hand, and neither one is particularly associated with Andy Warhol, whose name is synonymous with ironic, detached irreverence....
The Abrupt Closing Of Circus Oz Reflects A Bigger, Wider Problem In Australian Arts
The larger issue is the years-long attempt by (mostly conservative) federal and state governments to make funding of arts groups contingent on corporate-style board...
The Ways “The Matrix” Has Bled Into Real Life
Those ways aren't pretty: incels glommed onto the "red pill" idea; "free your mind" has been adopted by far-right populists; "post-truth" is now regularly...
Met Museum Slashes Visitor Capacity As Omicron Continues To Spread
Attendance will be limited to about 10,000 people per day, half the normal number during the December holidays. - The New York Times
What Bob Iger Achieved In 15 Years As Disney’s CEO
He achieved quite a lot — far more than he, or skeptical observers, expected: rejuvenating the animation studios; acquiring Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st...
All These Canceled Performances Are Really Hurting Broadway In The Pocketbook
Box office grosses are down by one quarter just from the previous week by nearly one half from Christmas week in 2019, the last...
Baltimore Art Museums Close Through Christmas Due To COVID Surge
The Baltimore Museum of Art won't reopen until Wednesday, Dec. 29 (although its gift shop and restaurant will keep running), and the Lewis Museum...
