“The symbol of reading was, perhaps, bigger than the act of reading itself. Individuals sought to capture their devotion to books through painted portraits that depicted them deeply absorbed in reading a text. Paintings of people reading and portraits of individuals embracing a book became widespread in Renaissance art.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
The Chinese Billionaire Who Wants To Take Over The Global Movie Business
Since acquiring AMC Entertainment, the second-largest cinema chain in the US, for $2.6bn in 2012, Wang Jianlin, who is worth an estimated $32.5bn and has ties to the communist Chinese government, has been aggressively staking his claim on the industry. So far, he’s snapped up Europe’s biggest cinema group, Odeon and UCI, purchased the US production house Legendary Entertainment (the company behind the Dark Knight trilogy and Jurassic World), and boasted that he intends to soon buy one of the six major US studios.
Has Satire Died? (And Is That Okay?)
“The thing I’ve learned over the 30 years of doing it is that satire doesn’t work. It has the opposite effect. Our outrage turns into elation and a joke. It’s a release valve.”
Octobass – The Biggest Bass Fiddle You’ve Ever Seen
“We can go pretty low,down to the lowest note on a piano, so, quite a bit lower than a double bass and actually lower than the tuba and the contrabassoon.” The instrument was invented in 1849 by luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume in France.
The All-Out Battle Over A Broadway Show That Just Started Previews
“Threats of lawsuits are flying, people have been banned from the theater, and the creative team is fomenting revolt. And it’s all over . . . billing. Don’t laugh. Billing on Broadway is as important as holding territory on the Russian front.”
The Macarthur Genius Poet Who’s Giving Her $625,000 Prize To The “Racial Imaginary Institute”
Claudine Rankine is part of a group of thinkers who are dreaming up a “presenting space and a think tank all at once” where artists and writers can really wrestle with race. She wants it to be a “space which allows us to show art, to curate dialogues, have readings, and talk about the ways in which the structure of white supremacy in American society influences our culture.”
Have You Heard Of The “Museumization” Of Migration?
The “museumization of migration,” as one academic has put it, is a significant shift in the history of museums. But the resulting exhibitions deserve as much attention for how they obscure the West’s new relationship to migrants as for how they clarify it.
Are Your Paints Killing You?
“The warning labels on art supplies do not display a skull and crossbones, but alerts about carcinogens and diseases frighten artists, leading art supply stores and paint manufacturers to discontinue certain products and stock the alternative hues.”
Leeds International Piano Competition To Be Rethought
The Leeds is a major competition and has launched the careers of pianists such as Murray Perahia. Preliminary rounds will now be held in international cities and streamed. Winners will now also get career mentors who will help them adapt to international careers.
Just What Tonight’s Debate Needed: A String Quartet Accompaniment!
The Late Show will have PUBLIQuartet improvising along with the debate on Facebook Live. According to the group’s website, PUBLIQuartet’s “innovative programs span arrangements from the classical canon, contemporary works, original compositions, and open-form improvisations that expand the techniques and aesthetic of the traditional string quartet.”