The English philosopher Owen Barfield, a member of the Oxford Inklings in the 1930s and ’40s, whose work as a philologist convinced him that the Romantic tradition was broadly right, put it succinctly. Words have soul, he said. They possess a vitality that mirrors the inner life of the world, and this connection is the source of their power. All forms of language implicitly deploy it. Poets are arguably more alert to it because they consciously seek it out.
Archives for September 2018
Scotland Races To Protect Historical Sites From Rising Waters Of Climate Change
More than 3,000 archaeological sites — among them standing stone circles, Norse halls and a Neolithic tomb graffitied by Vikings — have endured for millenniums, scattered across the roughly 70 islands that make up the Orkney archipelago. Today, in forays to remote spits of land, people are working to save some of these places for posterity from the climate changes accelerated by human activity.
Rebuild Of Scottish National Museum To Start (Already Three Years Late And Over Budget)
Work on the first new exhibition spaces the nation’s most important paintings to be created in more than 30 years is set to get under way as part of a long-awaited overhaul of the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. However the cost of the project – which also involves a new look for part of East Princes Street Gardens – has soared by nearly a third, is running three years late, and has had to be scaled back significantly since plans were first unveiled four years ago.
A Case For Philanthropic Risk Investment In The Arts
“I think the key thing with philanthropy is, if you want to normalise the practice you’ve got to make it public and normal. So if want philanthropy to invest in the arts and in creative development, and we want that to be normal, you’ve got to advertise it, not be shy to talk about your giving. And so eventually with philanthropy generally, giving will become normal; it will become normal to give when you have wealth to give money away.”
How The British Art Market Is Preparing Itself For Brexit
“As with other markets, the UK and Europe’s art trade has been held in a state of prolonged uncertainty, an uncertainty now shifting to rising unease at the spectre of March’s looming deadline. But, politics and panic aside, what practical issues will art market professionals face after 29 March 2019, whatever the outcome: hard, soft or no-deal? Costs, paperwork and potential shipping delays at borders are the three areas of most concern and uncertainty, along with the future of London’s art agents who have benefitted from the UK having the lowest import VAT rate in the EU.”
Jack Whitten’s Sculpture Show Uncovers his Secret Strengths (& the Met Breuer’s Hidden Weakness)
As an admirer of the late Jack Whitten’s paintings, I welcomed the chance to see his little-known, previously unexhibited wood sculptures and mixed-media assemblages now on view in the Met Breuer. But the considerable pleasures to be derived from this admirable show were partly undermined by its subtle but substantive commercial overtones.
Propwatch: the handkerchief in ‘Othello’
No, not that handkerchief, the one that convinces Othello that his wife has been unfaithful.
Unconvincing
You’d think I might love it when the Met Opera and the New York Philharmonic hyped their new seasons with these posters, done in the most up to date corporate marketing style. But I don’t love it. To me these posters don’t, simply as advertising, do much to make their case. And they promise things that aren’t going to happen.
Jeff Koons Sued By French Advertiser Accusing Him Of Plagiarizing Iconic Ad
Advertising creative director Franck Davidovici sued Mr Koons, among the world’s most bankable living artists, for €300,000 (£270,000) for copyright infringement, saying he had produced what his lawyer called a “servile copy” of a famous advertising campaign he ran in 1985 for French clothing brand Naf-Naf.
What Do Humans Need Religion For? Managing Our Emotions
“How we feel is as important to our survival as how we think. Our species comes equipped with adaptive emotions, such as fear, rage, lust and so on: religion was (and is) the cultural system that dials these feelings and behaviours up or down. We see this clearly if we look at mainstream religion, rather than the deleterious forms of extremism. Mainstream religion reduces anxiety, stress and depression. It provides existential meaning and hope. It focuses aggression and fear against enemies. It domesticates lust, and it strengthens filial connections. Through story, it trains feelings of empathy and compassion for others. And it provides consolation for suffering.”
Deborah Marrow To Retire As Director Of The Getty Foundation
Marrow’s tenure at the Getty began more than 30 years ago, in 1983, when she was hired as publications coordinator. In 1989, she took up a form of her current job, serving as director of what was at the time titled the Getty Grant Program, according to a news release. She assumed her current title in 2004, when the Getty Foundation was christened.
‘I Went To As Many Instagramable ‘Museums,’ ‘Factories’ And ‘Mansions’ As I Could. They Nearly Broke Me.’
Amanda Hess visited the Museum of Ice Cream’s New York pop-up, the Rosé Mansion, Candytopia, Color Factory, 29Rooms, and even a preview party for the upcoming Museum of Pizza. “I realize that I have a ‘fun’ job that it’s annoying to complain about: Oh no, I have to drink free wine and eat ice cream. But as my summer of pop-ups dragged on, I began to dread my evenings. What began as a kicky story idea became a masochistic march through voids of meaning. … And yet, the ‘experience’ has emerged as among the defining fads of my generation.”
Long-Lost Galileo Letter Shows How He Framed His (Then) Controversial Ideas
Many copies of the letter were made, and two differing versions exist — one that was sent to the Inquisition in Rome and another with less inflammatory language. But because the original letter was assumed to be lost, it wasn’t clear whether incensed clergymen had doctored the letter to strengthen their case for heresy — something Galileo complained about to friends — or whether Galileo wrote the strong version, then decided to soften his own words.
The Strange Story Of The Movie That Francisco Franco Scripted, Had Filmed, Released, And Then Destroyed
In 1940, just after the Generalissimo and his fascist forces won the Spanish Civil War, he wrote the screenplay for a film titled Raza, a self-justifying combination of allegorical propaganda and autofiction. Ten years later, in the wake of World War II, Franco censored his own film and remade it.
Archaeologists Discover Enormous Ancient Structure In Egypt
Last week, archaeologists found a sandstone sphinx when they were excavating a temple near the city of Aswan, in southern Egypt. The statue was found close to a site where two reliefs of King Ptolemy V were recovered two months prior, according to the American University in Cairo.
Composer And Flutist Katherine Hoover, 80
“[She] began writing music in earnest in the early 1970s, a time when few women were having success in the male-dominated world of classical composing, and she was still creating new works into this decade. … Her best-known work, though, was probably Kokopeli (1990), a piece for flute that was inspired, as were a number of her other compositions, by American Indian music and culture.”
The Art World Had Its Own Alan Sokal, Back In The 1920s
“In 1924, American literary scholar and author Paul Jordan-Smith adopted a new identity: Pavel Jerdanowitch, an avant-garde Russian artist whose visceral paintings would beguile modern art critics. Parading as Jerdanowitch for the next three years, Jordan-Smith gained traction at the helm of his one-man art movement, which he called Disumbrationism. But Jordan-Smith wasn’t a brooding artist from Moscow, and Disumbrationism was less of an aesthetic than it was a practical joke intended to shame the art world.”
The Museum Where You Can Hold A Human Brain In Your Hands
A visit to the Brain Museum at India’s National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore, where guests can see and touch whole brains, slices of brain, healthy brains, and brains with all manner of pathologies. (One is full of holes made by a tapeworm.) Writes Maya Prabhu, “I feel like I’m in some kind of eccentric petting zoo.”
Micheline Rozan, Who Kept Peter Brook’s Paris Theatre Functioning, Dead At 89
“To a large extent, from 1970 on, it was Ms. Rozan who enabled Mr. Brook, one of the 20th century’s greatest theater directors, to follow his creative instincts wherever they led. She found the money, ironed out the logistics and ran the interference necessary to allow him to stage memorable works like The Mahabharata, a nine-hour epic based on a Hindu poem, and La Tragédie de Carmen, a version of the Bizet opera that played Broadway in 1983.”
After 40-Odd Years, We’ll Finally Be Able To Watch Orson Welles’s Last Film
Even by his standards, the making of The Other Side of the Wind was a long and messy process; he did finally finish shooting, but he never finished fussing over the editing before he died in 1985. But, thanks to hard work from friends and colleagues and funding from Netflix, a plausible version of the movie will be available for streaming in November. Writer Craig Hubert explains the story, the satire (very meta), and the fistfight with Ernest Hemingway that started it all.
Man At Center Of Nobel Lit Prize Scandal Jailed Pending Verdict In Rape Trial
“Jean-Claude Arnault, a major cultural figure in Sweden and the husband of Swedish Academy member Katarina Frostenson, was on trial for two counts of rape of a woman that allegedly took place in 2011. The accusations against him triggered a crisis within the prestigious academy, with seven members quitting and the body announcing that no prize will be awarded this year.” At prosecutors’ request lest Arnault flee the country, the trial judge ordered him held in custody until the verdict, expected early next week.
How They Handled The Gender Switch At The Center Of Sondheim’s ‘Company’
With the much-talked about London revival of the musical now arriving on Broadway, reporter Sopan Deb talks to director Marianne Elliott, co-producer Chris Harper, and star Rosalie Craig about changing the main character from confused bachelor Bobbie to commitment-phobic hetero single woman Bobbie.
18 Unreleased Short Stories By Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz To Be Published
The late Egyptian novelist, best known in the West for ‘the Cairo Trilogy’ (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, and Sugar Street), won the Nobel for literature in 1988; he remains the only Arab to do so. These unpublished stories were discovered by a journalist who was researching a history of one of Mahfouz’s most controversial books, Children of Gebelawi.
Eight Years After Earthquake, Haiti’s Theatre Scene Is Finally Climbing Back
“A decade ago, posters advertising glamorous theatrical productions lined Rue Pavée, a main road in [Port-au-Prince,] Haiti’s capital city. Local theatre was on the rise here until the devastating 2010 earthquake destroyed much of the city, including progress for the arts.” Once the National Theatre was reopened in 2013, stage artists began trying to rebuild the scene for live drama, with small companies and playhouses producing new work alongside the larger venue.
Afghanistan’s Orchestra For Young Women Faces Continual Threats And Pressure. Nevertheless, They Persist
“Violence and social pressures have not deterred members of the country’s nascent orchestra of mostly young girls from using music to ‘heal wounds’ and promote women’s rights in the strictly conservative Muslim society. The ensemble, known as Zohra, was founded in 2014 as part of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) in Kabul.”