A Computer With An Eye For Fakes Authenticating great works of art is a tricky business, and despite the phenomenal advances in technology over the last century, the process of spotting fake art is still more or less a matter of casting a practiced eye over the piece in question. But a team of Dutch researchers has "developed a computer system that quickly examines hundreds of paintings for telltale patterns. The results, they say, can lend credence to existing attributions or help dismiss them." The New York Times 06/13/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 11:12 am
Tintin's Last Stand The Belgian boy reporter with the fluffy white dog appears to finally have found a scrape he can’t get out of. Tintin, the unlikely comic book hero whose adventures have been delighting children and adults around the world for 75 years, has emerged from retirement for one final adventure, culled from the notes of his creator, Georges Remi, who died in 1983 before he could finish the book. The final installment, which has already sold 400,000 copies in France, is classic Tintin in every way but one: the end of the story appears to leave the hero doomed. Washington Post 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:32 am
Those Dirty, Dirty Impressionists Impressionist paintings are frequently characterized by the hazy, cloudy look of their landscapes, and in the case of Monet, by the fog that seems to hang eternally over the London that he so loved to paint. It’s all very pretty on the canvas, but a new exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario makes the case that what Monet and others were really showing us was the horrific environmental effects of the Industrial Revolution on the great cities of Europe. That’s not fog hanging over London, it’s smog. And those pretty pink clouds? Coal gas and industrial waste. Toronto Star 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:29 am
High-Tech Auction House Opens In Philly “Kamelot, believed to be the first auction house to open in Philadelphia in two decades, will have its inaugural sales today and tomorrow at its quarters in a onetime mill in Manayunk. Backing the new gallery is Susanin's Auctions, a Chicago gallery known for its sophisticated auction technology.” Auctions at the new house will include online bidders, live remote video for gallery patrons, and absentee bids. Philadelphia Inquirer 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:28 am
Lost In Translation Italian sculptor Eleonora Aguiari had no idea, when she wrapped a 19th-century sculpture in red tape as part of an exhibition of her work, that “red tape” has a political meaning in English and American society. So she was a bit confused when a British ad agency contacted her, asking if she could wrap, for instance, an ambulance in red tape as part of an ad campaign for the UK’s Conservative Party. Aguiari was further confused by the fact that the ad agency is called “Saatchi,” and was initially under the impression that her work had caught the eye of the famous collector Charles Saatchi. Once the confusion was sorted out, however, the sculptor turned the spin doctors down, saying that “my ideas are not for sale.” The Guardian (UK) 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:22 am
Festival In A Tent “Art Chicago, the annual international art exposition that has taken place in spring at Navy Pier for decades, will move to a tent in downtown Chicago for its 2005 edition.” The location is yet to be announced, but as the tent will reportedly cover 125,000 square feet, there may be a limit to the number of potential locations in the downtown area. Chicago Tribune 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:19 am
Hepburn Sculpture Exceeds Auction Expectations “A bronze bust of Spencer Tracy sculpted by Katharine Hepburn sold for $316,000 yesterday on the second day of an auction of the late actress's effects. The sculpture had been estimated to sell for $3,000 to $5,000. Hepburn made the bust of her longtime love and frequent costar in the 1960s. She considered it one of her prized possessions. It sat on a bedside table in her New York City townhouse and often went with her when she traveled.” Boston Globe 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:17 am
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Will Rules Changes Make The Pulitzer All-American? The rules changes governing the eligibility of various types of music for the Pulitzer Prize may be controversial among academics and classical purists, but Howard Reich says that the change is nothing more than a long-overdue acknowledgement that American music is more than Europe-Lite. "More than six decades after the Pulitzer Board began giving prizes for music, in other words, it has come to recognize that American music is not simply European symphonic art penned by American composers in its thrall. On the contrary... the folkloric roots of jazz, blues, gospel and the like born of oral tradition and originated not in the salons of Vienna and Paris but in the fields of Africa and the islands of the Caribbean." Chicago Tribune 06/13/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 11:45 am
The American Edinburgh Charleston, South Carolina, is best known as a tourist town full of Old South charm and beautiful beaches. But in the summer, Charleston may be the most diverse and successful arts town in the U.S. Not only is it home to the stateside incarnation of the Spoleto music festival, but the high-minded chamber music plays alongside a decidedly Edinburghian fringe festival known as Piccolo Spoleto. Toronto Star 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:30 am
Scottish Opera Hits Back “Sir Richard Armstrong, the artistic director of Scottish Opera, launched a scathing attack yesterday on Frank McAveety, culture minister, over what he described as brutal and shameful behaviour and an agenda to reduce the size of the company. Speaking at length for the first time about the new deal which will lead to more than 80 job losses and a "dark" season in 2005/6 with no major performances, he said the Scottish Executive had deliberately targeted the opera's mainscale work because it believed it was watched only by a select and elitist audience.” The Herald (Glasgow) 06/11/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:25 am
In Search Of Ludwig's Immortal Beloved There is no doubt that Ludwig van Beethoven was deeply in love several times in his life. However, being the emotional basketcase that he was, nearly all of his objects of desire “women whose social or marital status - often both - placed them safely beyond reach.” The most famous of Beethoven’s women is, of course, the anonymous muse known as “Immortal Beloved.” To this day, no one knows who she was, “but she left the composer in a creative crisis that lasted for years.” The Guardian (UK) 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:21 am
Many Voices To Be Heard In Chicago MD Search Daniel Barenboim’s successor at the helm of the Chicago Symphony will be chosen by a panel of 17 musicians, managers, and board members, according to the orchestra. In addition, the CSO is promising to give the public a serious voice in the process, soliciting comments by e-mail, and offering several open forums for concertgoers to voice their opinions on what qualities are most important in a music director. Chicago Sun-Times 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:18 am
Not Taking No For An Answer New York City Opera wasn’t particularly surprised when city officials rejected their request to move to Ground Zero once the new complex is completed. General director Paul Kellogg insists that the company isn’t giving up its quest for a new home. “Despite his brave talk, however, the rejection of this proposal represents an enormous setback for this innovative company. It's hard to think of another arts organization in New York that is so hobbled by its performance space.” The New York Times 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:15 am
Sounds Like The Next Michael Moore Film, Doesn’t It? Steven Kurtz is a widowed art professor who uses agricultural products in his work to create protest art aimed at the genetically modified food industry. But to the government of the United States, he is a dangerous potential terrorist hoarding controlled agricultural chemicals in his home with unknown intent. It all started when a paramedic, called to Kurtz’s home when the artist’s wife had a fatal heart attack, spotted some of his chemicals, and called the feds. Now, "several of Mr Kurtz's colleagues and artistic collaborators have been subpoenaed and a date for a federal grand jury hearing set for Tuesday. Both artist and his art are set to go on trial for their alleged links with terrorism." The Guardian (UK) 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:23 am
Artistic Profiling? Arthur Robins was spending a leisurely afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when suddenly he found himself being interrogated by several cops from the Joint Terrorist Task Force of the NYPD. According to the cops, Robins had been fingered as the man who had been surreptitiously hanging cartoonish paintings of President Bush in major museums up and down the Eastern seaboard. That night, the investigators showed up at Robins’s apartment for more questioning. Here’s the kicker, according to the suspect: “Out of 90,000 street artists in New York, they picked the one who doesn't despise Bush.” The New York Times 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:13 am
Not Just A Victim, Not Just A Symbol This weekend marks a particularly harrowing literary anniversary: Anne Frank would have been 75 years old on June 12. Frank, of course, died at the age of 16 in the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp shortly after her family was captured in a friend’s attic. To this day, Frank is the most recognizable face of the Holocaust, and the story she told in the pages of her diary continues to resonate around the world. But Frank was more than a symbol of the brutal era that Nazi oppression and violence inflicted upon a continent: she was a writer, and a very good one, which only makes her untimely death all the more tragic. Philadelphia Inquirer 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:27 am
Bloomsday Without Blooms? Bloomsday, the annual June celebration of James Joyce's masterpiece, Ulysses, is always a big occasion in Dublin, where the novel takes place. This year, the 100th anniversary of the day detailed in the book, is expected to be a massive party. But a central theme of Leopold Bloom's character is his Jewishness, and one can't help but notice that the number of Jews in Dublin has been dwindling for decades. In fact, there are less than 2,000 left in the entire city. The New York Times Magazine 06/13/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 11:35 am
An Author Ungagged Alice Randall, the author of The Wind Done Gone (the Gone With The Wind parody which the Margaret Mitchell estate tried to stifle) hasn’t been able to talk about her battle to get the novel published, thanks to orders from her own publisher’s legal team. But Randall has a new book out, and with the controversy well behind her, she’s finally speaking out. “A lot of older black people experienced it as a black voice being silenced. It was an intellectual awakening for me that the copyright act can be used for censorship.” Boston Globe 06/12/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 10:16 am
Why Not Just Ban All Recording Devices? Having sued thousands of file-traders and launched a full legislative assault on the makers of online file-trading software, the recording industry is now setting its sights on digital radio, claiming that "U.S. regulators at the Federal Communications Commission should ensure that the broadcast format limits... copying so radio stations don't turn the airwaves into a giant file-sharing network." Yes, you read that right: the industry is worried that millions of listeners will record songs off the radio and begin sharing them amongst themselves. Sort of like listeners to terrestrial radio have been doing for decades? Yeah, like that. Wired (Reuters) 06/11/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 11:03 am
A Newly Relevant Dance About Torture Choreographer Ping Chong's latest work is guaranteed to provoke thoughts about the recent Abu Ghraib torture scandal, but it wasn't designed that way. The actual subject of "Blind Ness: The Irresistable Light of Encounter," which premiered this spring in Ohio and moves to New York this week, is the brutal but century-old maiming and killing of Africans in the Congo by an occupying force of Belgians. But Chong has a history of creating provocative works, and the apparent American policy of torture and intimidation in Iraq makes the performance resonate like a national gut punch. The New York Times 06/13/04
Posted: 06/13/2004 11:25 am
