“The most enjoyable part of leading the art division of a private bank is working with the great characters of the art market. In my experience, serious collectors tend to fall into one of four ‘tribes,’ each with their own behaviors, insecurities, strengths, and motivations for seeking, acquiring, and appreciating art.” Herewith, Evan Beard of Bank of America taxonomizes The Connoisseur, The Enterprising Collector, The Aesthete, and The Trophy Hunter.
Connie Sawyer, Hollywood’s Oldest Working Actress, Dead At 105
She spent most of her career playing bit parts – something she said she was glad of. Yet that career stretched from opening for vaudeville and radio legend Sophie Tucker, through notable spots in the films A Hole in the Head, True Grit, Dumb and Dumber, and Pineapple Express, to her final TV appearances at age 102.
The Russian Politician Using His Country’s Politics As Satire
Plenty of politicos write novels; but not many write eviscerating self-satires. It was as though Karl Rove had taken the knife to his and George W. Bush’s America in, say, 2005. Surkov, however, wasn’t, and isn’t, simply a Rove. The documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis calls him “a hero of our time” (in praise and opprobrium) for turning Russia’s political reality into “a bewildering, constantly changing piece of theater.”
The Taj Mahal Is Getting Its First-Ever Deep Cleaning – With A Mud Bath
“For more than 350 years, monsoon rains in Agra, the bustling city where the monument sits, were enough to wash dirt off the structure’s walls. But pollution has worsened over the last couple of decades, and parts of the marble facade have turned yellow and black. … Cleaning the monument is time-consuming and challenging. To remove discoloration, workers suspended on scaffolding are caking Fuller’s earth – a mud paste that absorbs dirt, grease and animal excrement.”
The Antidote To Fake News Is…?
We should be clear that when we lament the ‘fake news’ take over we are talking about media illiteracy, not actual fake news. Fake news was originally reported in our current public discourse to describe actual false information knowingly posted by bloggers in Macedonia who were gaming the system to get more clicks to make money from ads on their websites, as reported by Craig Silverman and Lawrence Alexander in Buzzfeed. Facts may be framed within a news story in interpretations that are biased. Fake news has come to be used to dismiss news that has a bias with which we disagree thanks to Trump’s co-opting of the term.
We’re Fascinated By Dystopias. But Why? They’re So Dull!
“We have seen a marked diminution in the production of new utopias over the last decades (along with an overwhelming increase in all manner of conceivable dystopias, most of which look monotonously alike).”
World War I Footage Restored, Colorized By ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Director
“[Peter Jackson] admitted even he had been surprised by what was possible using the latest technology. ‘We can make this grainy, flickery, sped-up footage look like it was shot in the last week or two,’ he said. ‘It looks like it was shot with high-definition cameras … It is so sharp and clear now.'”
Why Russians Are Churning Out Dozens Of Parodies Of A 15-Year-Old Music Video
It started when just over a dozen cadets at the air transport academy, wearing very little, did a lip-synch cover of Benny Benassi’s “Satisfaction.” The effect was rather Tom of Finland, which got them in trouble when the powers-that-be found the video online. Masha Gessen recounts what happened next – “a story of spontaneous solidarity, self-organization, and, ultimately, just possibly, the triumph of freedom over bureaucracy.”
When The Parthenon Was A Riot Of Color
There are plenty of people now who find the notion of painted marble or bronze an affront to their impression of the past as an austere, unadorned place. Yet ancient art would have been a riot of colour and glitzy decoration.
‘Duplitecture’ – How The Chinese Are Using And Adapting Their Towns That Replicate European Cities
Bianca Bosker: “I’ve spent the past decade tracing China’s ‘duplitecture’ – the replica White Houses, Versailles Palaces, and even foreign cities, from Venice to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that have multiplied through the country – and from the start of my research, planners and architecture critics have assured me the movement was on its last legs.” Turns out, ten years on, that just isn’t so.
Theatre Is Hardly Even Theatre Without The Audience: Lyn Gardner
“A movie is unchanged by an audience’s presence and will continue to run in an empty auditorium. But the theatre requires a human presence in the auditorium, because it is only fully alive when it meets its audience. It is only in that moment that it bursts fully into life. … Without our presence, our engagement and our creativity the theatre dies, however talented the actors and however hard they work on stage.”
Berlin’s New Generation Of Maestros
While Daniel Barenboim, 75, remains the dean of the Berlin music scene, and another veteran, 77-year-old Christoph Eschenbach, arrives in 2019 to lead the Konzerthausorchester, many older maestros are passing the baton to a new crop of musical leaders. Here’s a look at several of the new arrivals injecting vitality into an already thriving landscape
Absence In Montecito: T. Coraghessan Boyle On The Aftermath Of The California Wildfires And Mudslides
“The eerie thing about these nights in Montecito has to do with absence. The absence, first of all, of my neighbors, almost all of whom are under a mandatory evacuation order. They are gone, their houses dark, their cars rolling down other streets altogether – or, in the worst cases, crushed as if for repurposing in the scrap yard.”
Nan Goldin Survived An OxyContin Addiction, And Now She’s Going After The Drug’s Makers
“Now she has been clean for a year. [the photographer] … decided that she was strong enough for a new battle. That began recently when, in her most personal project yet, she publicly confronted OxyContin’s manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, and that company’s longtime owners, who are also prominent art patrons: the descendants of Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, two of three physician brothers who built Purdue Pharma into a pharmaceutical behemoth.”
A Musical About Milosevic? The Serbian Dictator? Oh, Yes …
“A Belgrade-based writer, Jelena Bogavac, has now written a play to be performed by Kosovo Serbs in the Kosovo town of Gracanica that attempts to portray the full complexity of a man still blamed by many across the Balkans for the deaths and suffering of tens of thousands of people.”
We All Believe In Truth, Right? (Are You Sure?)
“We argue for our positions, and get annoyed if they are challenged. Why do we do this? The obvious answer is that we believe the views we express (ie, we think they are true), and we want to get others to believe them too, becausethey are true. We want the truth to prevail. That’s how it seems. But do we really believe everything we say? Are you always trying to establish the truth when you argue, or might there be other motives at work?”
Douglas Coupland: Are Books About To Be Superseded By VR?
“Maybe books are overrated. Maybe they are an interim technology on the way to VR and we can now get rid of our books.”
How USC’s Film School Handled It When A $5 Million Gift From Harvey Weinstein Became Radioactive
Last year, Weinstein announced that he would donate $5 million to USC’s School of Cinematic Arts to endow scholarships for female filmmaking students. When his years of sexual misconduct became public, the gift became a problem; one USC student said in a petition, “We don’t need this money. What we need is some damn principles.” Mike Scutari looks at how the school responded and the implications of its decision.
Should I Take My Daughter To See Opera, Where Terrible Things Happen To Women?
Actually, yes. “Asked if she wanted to copy Gilda’s supremely self-sacrificing approach to romance, your correspondent’s daughter replied: ‘No, the opera made it quite clear that people who act like Gilda end up shanked and in a bag.'”
Long Wharf Theatre’s Artistic Director Accused Of Sexual Assault And Harassment
Four women have gone on the record describing persistent unwanted sexual contact by Gordon Edelstein. “Six other former employees, women and men, described frequent sexually explicit remarks in the workplace.” Several current and former Long Wharf employees say that other officers and board members had been alerted to Edelstein’s behavior.
French Arts Leaders Demand Abandonment Of Jeff Koons Memorial To Paris Terrorist Victims
“In [an open] letter, the signees say that the work is symbolically inappropriate to its subject matter, that it will obstruct views of the Eiffel Tower, that erecting it would be financially irresponsible, that the pavement below couldn’t possibly support the 30-ton work, and that no open call was made for artists to submit plans for the monument.”
One Of Hong Kong Booksellers Kidnapped By Chinese Police Abducted Again, ‘Snatched’ From Swedish Escorts
“Hong Kong-based publisher Gui Minhai, one of the Causeway Bay booksellers whose disappearance two years ago caused an international storm, was snatched again by mainland Chinese authorities from a train heading for Beijing over the weekend, his daughter reported on Monday.”
Neil Diamond, Suffering From Parkinson’s Disease, Will End His Touring
The 77-year-old singer “made the announcement while in the midst of his ’50-Year Anniversary World Tour.’ In March, Diamond was set to visit New Zealand and Australia on the third leg of the tour. … He is one of the world’s most popular recording artists, having sold more than 130 million records.”
Naomi Parker Fraley, 96, Real-Life Model For Rosie The Riveter
“Over the years, a welter of American women have been identified as the model for Rosie, the war worker of 1940s popular culture who became a feminist touchstone in the late 20th century. Mrs. Fraley … staked the most legitimate claim of all. But because her claim was eclipsed by another woman’s, she went unrecognized for more than 70 years.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.22.18
CultureGrrl Confidential: Leaks from La Salle President’s Student Forum on Art Sales
In explaining why the 46 artworks deaccessioned by La Salle University were spirited away from its museum by Christie’s during intersession (while the Philadelphia campus was mostly devoid of students and faculty), … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-01-22
Spotify, David Lowery, and the Future of Artists’ Rights
The conquest of the music industry by a small number of technology companies has continued on schedule, but there has been some resistance by musicians and their advocates. One of the most stalwart … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2018-01-22
Monday Recommendation: Django, A Motion Picture
Director Étienne Comar’s Django portrays guitarist Django Reinhardt’s life during two years when it seemed that Europe might fall to Germany. His account emphasizes the greatness of Reinhardt’s music and the … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-01-22