PEOPLE

Lonnie Bunch’s Smithsonian Legacy

Through a combination of principled stances and deft political skills, he has kept the sprawling institution on mission and aligned with its public. - The Atlantic

Choreographer Richard Alston, Pivotal Figure In British Contemporary Dance, Has Died At 77

“He played a leading role in developing the independent dance scene through the 1970s and early ‘80s, before going on to direct Ballet Rambert for six years from 1986, and then the Richard Alston Dance Company from 1994 to 2020.” - The Guardian

Cate Blanchett, Herbert Blomstedt, Jenny Holzer, Daniel Libeskind, Andy Goldsworthy Win 2026 Praemium Imperiale

This year’s laurates of the ¥15 million (approximately $95,000) prize, awarded by the Japan Art Association in the categories of painting, sculpture, architecture, theatre/film, and music, are visual artists Holzer and Goldsworthy, architect Libeskind, actress Blanchett, and 99-year-old conductor Herbert Blomstedt, who was still working until earlier this year. - Artforum

The Dance-Pop Singer That Argentines Treat As A Saint, Complete With Prayers, Shrines And Miracles

Miriam Alejandra Bianchi, known by the stage name Gilda, died 30 years ago in a highway collision, and she’s since become one of Argentina’s many folk saints, not officially recognized by the Vatican but venerated by ordinary people nevertheless. Gilda’s wrecked tour bus has even become a pilgrimage site. - AP

What We Didn’t Understand About Yayoi Kusama

When she died last month, 37 years later, Ms. Kusama — in her life and her art — was obscured, paradoxically, by too much fame. - The New York Times

When You’re Suddenly Very Famous, Fairly Young, Things Can Be Difficult

At least that was the experience of Maisie Williams - Arya Stark, to all of the many, many, many Game of Thrones watchers out there. - The Guardian (UK)

Robin Morgan, Who Helped Found Second-Wave Feminism, Has Died At 85

“Morgan caused shock waves in 1970 when she published an essay in Rat, an underground newspaper. The article, titled 'Goodbye to All That,’ named specific men as sexists. ‘Goodbye to Hip Culture and the so-called Sexual Revolution,’ she wrote.” - The New York Times

How Errol Flynn Beat The Rap For Statutory Rape

Two credible allegations of sex with teenage girls would by themselves be enough to get Flynn cancelled today, especially since both complainants said that he forced himself on them. Unfortunately, that’s not how it played out in 1942 and ‘43 for Hollywood’s biggest star. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

Just What Exactly Was Going On With Yayoi Kusama During Her Final Decade?

Those years seemed to be productive and were certainly profitable: she became the highest-priced living female artist, famous all over the world. At the same time, she stopped seeing visitors, fired longtime assistants and was reportedly bedridden. How, and with whom, was she producing her late work? - The New York Times

Singer Cassandra Wilson, 70

Wilson’s catalog showcased the full breadth of her native Mississippi’s musical heritage, drawing primarily from jazz but spanning every foundational American genre. - Los Angeles Times

Yo-Yo Ma At 70

“There’s a real relationship between the way he plays and the way he talks. There’s a sense of gathering the room, gathering a community, and you’re drawn into the emotional experience of his playing.” - The New York Times

Gloria Steinem Dead At 92

A pioneering journalist who became the face of second-wave feminism, she first vaulted to public attention with an exposé for which she went undercover as a Playboy Bunny, then made history as co-founder and editor of Ms., arguably one of the most influential magazines of the 20th century. - The Guardian

The Son Of 1960s America’s Most Notorious Leftist Revolutionaries Ended Up A Playwright And Northwestern Professor

Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, leaders of the Weather Underground, raised their kids while blowing up buildings and fleeing the FBI. Their older son, Zayd Ayers Dohrn, is ambivalent about his upbringing but says there was plenty of love. So how did he become an academic and a playwright? - WBEZ (Chicago)

Author Wendell Berry Is Dead At 92

“In poems, stories, novels and essays (he) celebrated the farming communities of his native (Kentucky) and warned of the excesses and misjudgments of an industrial, commercialized society.” - AP

Palestinian Artist Sliman Mansour, 79

In works that were by turns personal and political — vividly realistic and unsettlingly surreal — he captured and uplifted Palestinian life and history, creating art that served as a form of preservation as well as resistance. - Washington Post

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