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Is This Vermeer’s Last Painting?

Until recently the Kaplan painting had been considered to have been completed between 1670-72. That dating has now been revised, with Wheelock stating it as 1670-75. Vermeer died on 15 December 1675 and Young Woman seated at a Virginal is most likely his final picture. - The Art Newspaper

Time To Refocus The NEH And NEA?

This is where the N.E.H. and N.E.A. would serve Mr. Trump well: not only correcting “woke” excesses, but also providing an elite counterpart to MAGA’s populist thrust. Expert critics, scholars and artists could ensure that only traditionalist projects are funded. - The New York Times

The Prado Has Enlisted AI To Count People In Paintings

The Prado hopes that actually knowing exactly how many people are in these crowded scenes will help us better understand these paintings, and how the artists were using large quantities and repetition in their work. - Artnet

Biopics And Miniseries Of Bible Stories Have Become Big Business

Leading the pack is Amazon’s The Chosen, the multi-season series recounting the life of Jesus that has become an international smash and made lead actor Jonathan Roumie a superstar. Yet there’s an entire sub-industry making adaptations of Bible stories from both Old and New Testaments, and its products are extraordinarily popular. - The Guardian

Tranquil Music Of Intensity

Hania Rani, 34, has become a shooting star in a genre of pop-inflected minimalist music often referred to as neoclassical, or alt-classical... “It’s not being composed to help people relax,” she said in a recent interview. “The music might be slow — not so loud, not upbeat — but it’s actually intense.” - The New York Times

Data On The Relationships Between Arts And Building Community

Communities with greater access to arts organizations have: 33% more volunteers supporting nonprofit organizations, 7% more active voters who are registered and eligible for voting, 3% lower levels of income inequality... - SMUData

A Musician Wrote To The New Kennedy Center Director. He Responded

“I’m not sure why he chose to react to my email with such hostility, but I think it’s important for people to read this exchange and to note that the Kennedy Center does not currently have good leadership,” she wrote. - Washingtonian

I Found Robert Caro’s Unfinished Novel

The great historian had published some fiction while a student at Princeton, but nothing since then. While doing research in Caro’s archives, however, journalist Chris Heath discovered the drafts of a mid-career novel Caro had worked on but never finished. Naturally, Heath talked with Caro about it. - Smithsonian Magazine

A Case For Trump’s Smithsonian Order On Depicting History

Trump's order asks to avoid “ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort” and “rewrite” America’s history and “inappropriately disparage” heroes, and to foster “unity” by emphasizing America’s “unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness,” rather than cultivating division by portraying the nation as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.” - CityJournal

Can This Man Save Iconic Atlantic Records?

The world of the all-controlling label is changing, and Atlantic Records—historically among the top three labels—has struggled to launch hot new global superstars. Atlantic’s market share in new music more than halved last year from 2019. Its parent Warner’s share price was down around 40 percent from its 2021 peak. - The Wall Street Journal

Has The Met’s Pivot To Contemporary Opera Fizzled?

Signs of financial catastrophe are on the horizon. Gelb has twice dug into the Met’s anemic endowment, withdrawing up to $70 million out of a total of $340 million to meet operating costs, while slashing the number of performances. - City Journal

Max Kozloff, Influential Art Critic, Is Dead At 91

“Kozloff in the 1960s and ’70s brought fresh perspectives to such established forms as Futurism and Cubism, arguing that artists were influenced by such external forces as social currents and politics. His 1973 essay ‘American Painting During the Cold War’ rewrote the narrative around Abstract Expressionism and is still considered required reading.” - Artforum

Florida Men Indicted For Trafficking In Forged Andy Warhols

“According to the indictment, (Leslie) Roberts, the owner of Miami Fine Art Gallery in Coconut Grove, fraudulently represented art as original pieces created by renowned artist Andy Warhol. … (Carlos Miguel) Rodriguez Melendez falsely claimed to work for a New York-based auction company to fraudulently authenticate the artwork.” - AP

Dudamel And L.A. Phil Prepare To Play America’s Biggest Rock Festival

“On Saturday evening, the Phil (is) finally playing ... the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. For Dudamel, 44, who arrived in L.A. 17 years ago to lead the Phil, playing Coachella was ‘a dream, ever since I started here.’” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Fired New York Phil Players Accused Of Sexual Assault File Amended Lawsuit

"The players — the associate principal trumpet, Matthew Muckey, and the principal oboist, Liang Wang — … filed amended complaints against the orchestra on Thursday that assert they were wrongfully dismissed and that an inquiry by the ensemble had been biased against them.” - The New York Times

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