Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 “smashed records Thursday morning [at Sotheby’s] when it sold for $44.4 million – a price three times larger than the previous auction record for a female artist.”
Month: November 2014
Sotheby’s CEO Steps Down – And Its Stock Price Goes Up
“The chairman and chief executive of Sotheby’s is stepping down, the auction house said on Thursday, a little more than a year after the billionaire hedge fund manager Daniel S. Loeb derided the company as ‘an old master painting in desperate need of restoration’ and demanded sweeping changes.”
Drones In Popular Culture
“In recent years, not just in novels but in movies, television, poetry, video games and the visual arts, drones have taken on a life of their own. As a character, they are menacing, melancholy or gallant; beastly, blind, snub-nosed, noisy and fast … They show off the military talent of their users, or they are an expression of unbridled hubris. They represent protection or extermination – and they carry out both things at once.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 11.20.14
Failure or Success: What are we more afraid of? A Leading Innovation in Arts & Culture Conversation
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2014-11-20
Sotheby’s Roars Back In American Art
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2014-11-20
Oops: There’s Bigger News From Sotheby’s
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2014-11-20
Revealed: Roman Hoard, Found In France, Conserved Here
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2014-11-19
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Peter Sellars: To Examine Difficult Things In Art Is Not To Endorse Them
“Looking at something does not mean you’re endorsing it. One can abhor an event, yes, but one also needs to understand it. Yet the US today is coming close to censorship.”
Why Hasn’t The Internet Made More Of An Impact On Our Lives?
“The Internet age just isn’t that impressive. Technological advancements of the last century had a truly transformative effect over the previous industrial age. Ice farming was replaced by refrigeration, the horse and buggy by the automobile, burning of fossil fuels for energy by centralized electrical power production. These advancements were notable not just in what they achieved in themselves but how they affected society.”
Mike Nichols, 83
Over a six-decade career as a performer, director and producer, he racked up a Grammy, at least two Emmys, nine Tonys (!), only one Oscar (surprisingly), a National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honors – and had a profound effect on American theater and film.
The Only Three Kinds Of Scenes, According To Mike Nichols
The great director liked to say that “there are only three kinds of scenes: a fight, a seduction or a negotiation.” Dana Stevens explains – and argues that his best scenes were all three at once.
What It Takes To Be A Great Jazz Musician
“Whether it’s Charlie Parker or Coltrane or Buddy Rich, or any of the greats, the majority of their time on any given day was spent practicing. It’s not just about coming up with brilliant new ideas and musical languages.”
LA County Museum Makeover Blasts Off! (But First A Caution…)
“The quick turnaround in the museum project’s fortunes was enough to make your head spin. It’s encouraging — and worrisome too. Certain crucial issues remain to be sorted out.”