The Washington couple has decided to donate its Duchamp art to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, where the works will raise the profile of the Smithsonian modern art museum. “This is the art world equivalent of the Wizards getting LeBron James,” said Hirshhorn board chairman Daniel Sallick. “Any museum in the world would want this collection.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
Requiem For The Village Voice, Which Outlived Its Time
The death of The Voice isn’t just about the end of a newspaper. To some of us at least, it’s about the end of New York as a cultural and political center, as the place that the world turned to for art, for music, for leadership in new and uncomfortable ideas, often perceived by the mainstream to be dangerous or weird.
Michael Feingold: Paul Taylor, Great Playwright
“I once told a friend associated with Taylor’s company that I was thinking of writing an essay about Taylor as one of America’s great playwrights, continuing the themes of Eric Bentley’s famous essay projecting a similar role for Taylor’s mentor Martha Graham. I will never write that piece now (unless this is it), but several points that would have gone into it seem to have stuck in my head.”
London’s Southbank Centre Picks A New Creative Director
Madani Younis will be in charge of the Southbank Centre’s literature, dance, performance and free programmes, working in a new management structure alongside the director of music, Gillian Moore, and the director of the Hayward Gallery, Ralph Rugoff. His arrival follows the departure of one of the UK’s highest-profile arts leaders, Jude Kelly, who was artistic director for 12 years. The centre stressed that Younis was not replacing Kelly and would be taking a new role.
Art Dealer Mary Boone Pleads Guilty To Filing False Tax Returns
The Mary Boone Gallery’s 2012 tax forms reported a false business loss for the previous year of about $52,000 although the gallery actually made a profit in 2011 of about $3.7 million, according to documents filed by the United States attorney’s office.
Shift In Funding Has St. Louis Theatre Companies Concerned
A shift in the Regional Arts Commission’s funding philosophy, as reflected in its most recent round of grants, has raised concerns in the St. Louis arts community, with some applicants receiving zero funding, including theater companies like New Line that have consistently been supported.
US Media Giants Invade The UK
The vaunted “special relationship” between the U.S. and Britain is thriving in the media and entertainment space. But with Brexit clouds overhead and other countries emerging as international content hubs, the question is whether the feverish trans-Atlantic dealmaking will cool down — or whether it might actually heat up further as the FAANGs (digital players Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google) enter the game.
How Funders Distort Artistic Vision
“There’s a push from the politicians to constantly fund something new. And what we really need is sustainable, long-term development. That’s how you build inclusion – because people who are excluded need to understand how they can get involved. If you keep changing the rules it’s bloody difficult for the people who are on the inside, and it becomes impossible for anyone on the outside.”
This Was Paul Taylor
Gia Kourlas: “I began interviewing Mr. Taylor in 1995, and talked with him (and his dancers) many times over the years. I realize I probably only scratched the surface of his singular, probing imagination, but that’s something. He would tease me relentlessly; that was fine. His amusement bought me time to ask another question. We talked about dance, of course, but we also talked about his life, his hobbies, his pets.”
The Viola’s Big Problem
The viola is an inherently quixotic instrument. Its construction is a compromise between an acoustic ideal and human limits: For its sound to bloom as effortlessly as that of a violin or cello, its neck would need to be impossibly long. For most of the instrument’s history, composers have conspired to keep it out of the limelight, assigning it a supporting role. And chamber music conventions dictate that on the rare occasion that a viola does get the melody, it’s facing the wrong way.