Sotheby’s auction sales were down 28 percent, to $4.6 billion, from $6.4 billion, but private sales were up 17 percent, climbing from $1.2 billion in 2023 to $1.4 billion. Christie’s, for its part, reported a 41-percent jump in private sales, to $1.5 billion—their highest level since 2020. - Artnet
"The organizers have said, essentially, that the event has gotten too big for Park City. When Sundance arrives every January, it balloons the ski town of 8,200 full-time residents into a snowy circus, with over 20,000 people streaming in from around the globe." - The New York Times
The decision, dramatically announced by Emmanuel Macron, to move the Mona Lisa to a special hygienically isolated gallery where les idiots who flock to take selfies in front of it won’t bother more cultured visitors who wish to study art in a hushed atmosphere, is a misguided act of snobbery. - The Guardian
President Emmanuel Macron’s vision to immortalize himself in glass? Replace some windows in the recently reopened Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. The custodians of French architecture have responded with a resounding “non!” - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)
“People love it when things fall through the cracks, and it would be wonderful if they found a Van Gogh—but they’ve got to pin everything down and get a scholar at the Van Gogh Museum to sign off on it.” Doing so could prove to be a tall order. - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)
"For more than a decade, (the) small but nimble group brought opera to unexpected places: the Bronx Zoo, Madame Tussauds, cafes and soup kitchens. The company won acclaim for its innovative approach, including a Beethoven song cycle performed by phone during the pandemic." - The New York Times
On Monday evening, two members of the group Just Stop Oil climbed onstage at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, fired a confetti cannon, stopped Sigourney Weaver (Prospero) mid-scene in The Tempest, and, amid boos, displayed a sign reading “Over 1.5 Degrees is a Global Shipwreck.” - The Standard (London)
Weyni Mengesha will depart as of August 31 after seven years in the post. A statement said she is leaving in order to focus on her family and her freelance directing career. - Canadian Press (MSN)
"For five decades (she) mapped the Native American experience in dynamic and complex artworks. … The past few years have seen a reawakening (for) Smith’s distinct abstractions, collages, and sculptures, which unpack the historic injustices against Native American peoples, while shattering dominant cultural narratives." - Artnet
Women choreographed 30.6% of works presented by the largest 150 companies in the 2023-24 season, down 1.5 percentage points from the previous season. However, the percentage of world premieres choreographed by women rose to 48.8%. Within the largest 10 companies, only 14.6% of works were choreographed by women. - Dance Data Project
"The organization is also freezing federal hiring immediately and instating a five-day return-to-office policy," both pursuant to othr executive orders from the White House. - The Washington Post (MSN)
"The renovation project, branded 'Louvre New Renaissance,' will include a wide new entrance near the Seine River, to be opened by 2031, (President) Macron said in a speech." The project's cost is estimated to be 800 million euros. - AP
Much can be learned by close reading poetry, which is well written, that has withstood the test of time. By reading bad poetry, however, the critic can analyze the multitude of things that can go wrong in verse. - 3 Quarks Daily
The third scene of Eureka Day depicts a board meeting at a private school in Berkeley (!) after a student gets mumps. The board does it town-hall style, with a running feed, shown upstage, of the insane comments the online attendees put in the chat box. Yikes. - The New York Times
A film about a performance of “Hamlet” within the world of Grand Theft Auto suggests that the moral environment of revenge tragedy is not far from that of video games. - The New Yorker
