Museum management said in a statement that “this auction allows us to deaccession a number of works in areas where we have significant breadth and depth and the proceeds will return to the Asian Art department’s acquisition fund.” – Chicago Tribune
Tayari Jones On The Clear Before And After Dividing Line Of Reading Toni Morrison
The author of An American Marriage says she was 19 when she read Beloved, and it changed her life. “I hate to use such a chilly word to describe an experience that was spiritual, emotional and intellectual, but Beloved made me feel contextualised. That is the only way I can explain it.” – The Guardian (UK)
John Corigliano and David Lang: Two Paths to Political Music
The New York Philharmonic’s “Music of Conscience” series features Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, partially inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt and the first large-scale response to the HIV crisis in American classical music, and Lang’s prisoner of the state, a re-examination of the story told in Beethoven’s Fidelio in which “the heroine wonders what her obligation might be to save the men who aren’t her husband.” – The New York Times
It was the first all-African American opera. And now, ‘Treemonisha’ is getting new life
“Despite not being staged while [composer Scott] Joplin was still alive, Treemonisha has had a lasting legacy. It was first performed in its entirety in the 1970s, and in 1977 Joplin posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for music. It’s been staged again since then, but now, it’s being rewritten and expanded with an entirely new team at the helm. [The Toronto company] Volcano and … a multitude of [creators and] performers are reviving the opera for its premiere in 2020. The entire creative team — and the orchestra, once the opera goes public — is composed of Black women.” – CBC
How Peter Schjeldahl Illuminates The Art World
“What separates Schjeldahl is the tangible sense in nearly every piece in this book — say 85 of the 100 — that something existential is at stake as he writes. The same sensation is present in Barthes and Sontag, his closest analogues to my mind, writers who, whatever their subject at a given moment, are desperately attempting to make something lucid out of this indecipherable life they’ve received without asking for it.” – The New York Times
The ‘Goddess Of Democracy’: The 30-Year Afterlife Of The Statue That Symbolized The Tienanmen Square Demonstrations
The original statue, modeled on the Statue of Liberty, was crushed by a tank when the People’s Liberation Army wiped out the multi-day protest in Beijing on June 4, 1989. But every so often a replica appears, particularly in Hong Kong. – Global Voices
How I Found An Old Lady’s Diary In The Trash And Turned It Into A Hit Novel
Kathryn Scanlan found the journal in a bin of unsold items at an estate sale; it covered the years 1968-72. “Over the years, Scanlan ‘edited, arranged, and rearranged’ the contents, the product of which is Aug 9 — Fog. [In this essay,] Scanlan traces the discovery of the diary through the crafting of the finished, fictional volume.” – Publishers Weekly
Where Is the Black ‘Blueberries for Sal’?
“Exploring nature is not some obscure topic in children’s literature. Quite the contrary, children’s literature has a considerable focus on the natural world — on plants and bugs, woods and mountains, animals of every variety. And of the books with this focus, … only a scarce few feature African American kids as protagonists.” – The Atlantic
Rewriting the Past Won’t Make Disney More Progressive
“Through Aladdin and other remakes, the studio has tried to fix its problematic legacy. But its efforts should be focused on original stories.” – The New York Times
A Skeptic Gets Convinced By The Modern ‘Translations’ Of The Play On! Shakespeare Project
Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, an editor on the Norton Shakespeare edition, wasn’t worried about profaning the Bard’s texts; he thought the playwrights were being told to stick too close to the original. When he heard the new versions read aloud, and when he considered the choices the playwrights involved made, he was hugely impressed. – American Theatre
A Dance Critic Kvells Over The Grace Of Roger Federer
Sarah Kaufman: “The subtlety, intelligence and beauty of Federer’s play can pull us into a direct and instant involvement with grace. We experience a dimension of humanness that feels perfected and free, even close to divine. Great artists can do this to us.” – The Washington Post
Louvre Will Offer Off-Hours Tours At €30 A Head
The stated idea behind the tours is to attract Parisians who avoid the museum because of the massive crowds of tourists. If that’s the case, though, why are the tours being offered through Airbnb? – Hyperallergic
Don’t Push: Generalists Versus Specialists – One Leads To The Other
In online forums, well-meaning parents agonize over what instrument to pick for a child, because she is too young to pick for herself and will fall irredeemably behind if she waits. But studies on the development of musicians have found that, like athletes, the most promising often have a period of sampling and lightly structured play before finding the instrument and genre that suits them. – The New York Times
Study: Having A Purpose May Help You Live Longer
A study of nearly 7,000 older Americans found that, over a four-year period, people who felt their lives had meaning were less likely to die than their counterparts who lacked that conviction. “Purposeful living may have health benefits,” a research team led by Aliya Alimujiang of the University of Michigan writes in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Why The Printed Book Still Thrives
When people go on a digital cleanse, detoxing from the poison of too much screen time, one of the first things they do is bury themselves in a book — that is, one to have and to hold, to remind the senses of touching “Pat the Bunny” in infancy, a book to chew on. – The New York Times
Kentucky’s Noah’s Ark Files Lawsuit Over… Yup, Flood Damage
Ark Encounter, which unveiled the 510-foot-long model in 2016, says that heavy rains in 2017 and 2018 caused a landslide on its access road, and its five insurance carriers refused to cover nearly $1 million in damages.In a 77-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Ark Encounter asks for compensatory and punitive damages. – Louisville Courier-Journal
Tubman $20 Delay Is A New Front (But The Same Old) In The Culture Wars
Alumni of the Obama administration say the symbolism of the Tubman decision is hugely significant. Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s White House communications director, told me last night: “It has all the hallmarks of Trumpism — racism, misogyny, pettiness and whatever the opposite of virtue signaling is.” – Washington Post
Boston’s Museum Of Fine Arts Forced To Apologize After Middle School Students Were Racially Profiled
The students were at the museum as a reward, but were subjected to racist comments and scrutinized by guards. – Washington Post
…In Which I Try To Convince Jeff Jarvis The Internet Is Bad For Democracy
So what to make of Jeff’s point that it’s too early to judge the impact of the internet—what he calls a “connection machine”—on democracy? It’s an interesting position. Yes, he’s right to compare the historical significance of the digital revolution to Gutenberg’s 15th-century invention of the printing press. And he’s right to underline that the disruptive impact of this technological revolution lasted several centuries. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make a judgment now in the early stages of the digital revolution. – LitHub
After 20 Years, Australian Ballet Artistic Director David McAllister To Step Down
He joined the company in 1983 and grew to become one of its stars, and in 2001 he became the boss. When he departs in 2020, McAllister will have been the longest-serving artistic director in the Australian Ballet’s history. – The Age (Melbourne)
Sphinx Organization Announce $100,000 MPower Artist Grant Recipients
“The Sphinx Organization, a US non-profit organization dedicated to the development of young American Black and Latin classical musicians, has today announced the 16 recipients of the 2019 MPower Artist Career Grants.” – The Violin Channel