Author: Douglas McLennan

A DEEP LOVE OF ART?

“Up to 16 times since the beginning of autumn, some of Canada’s toniest residences on the island of Montreal were hit by art thieves who absconded with millions of dollars worth of works by famous masters, including 10 by the prolific 19th-century painter Cornelius Krieghoff and six by James Wilson Morrice, the first Canadian-born painter to achieve an international reputation.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

WE DIDN’T INVENT NEW, YOU KNOW

In the 1890s, newspapers and magazines were full of articles celebrating the new woman, the new journalism, the new fiction, the new sculpture and, above all, the new art – l’art nouveau.” A new exhibit London’s Victoria & Albert Museum highlights the currents of change in design and aesthetics that swept through Europe from 1890-1914. – The Telegraph (UK)

OR WAS IT “GAUDY”?: “infectious dominance” and bizarrely extravagant ornamentation.  – The Times (UK)

OR MAYBE “SEXY”?: “The most startling among 400 objects in the largest exhibition of art nouveau ever mounted has been lent on condition that no salacious comments are made about it.” – The Guardian

PERIPHERAL VISION

Somehow Picasso paying restaurant bills by sketching on menus seems a lot more palatable than the current craze for artists’ “peripheral works” – like the inky faxed pages of David Hockney’s works that sold for $17,000 last year. Now snapshots from a roll of film taken by Hockney are going on sale next week and they’re “being hyped as a potential investment.” – The Age (Melbourne)

ALL SHIT?

Last month Pinchas Zukerman was quoted as saying that the period music movement is “disgusting” and “complete rubbish.” The director of Tafelmusik, Canada’s Baroque Orchestra, took offense. “I am very in favor of dialogue. I am not in favor of people just… saying things like, ‘you know, it’s all shit. They’re all rubbish, the people who play it [Tafelmusik.]’ I don’t think that’s very constructive. I don’t think it’s very intelligent and I don’t think it’s very musical.” – CBC

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

The British government has to make it easier for consumers to buy music over the internet, a new report warns. The study suggests that otherwise people will buy from pirate sites and foreign competitors if they cannot get quicker and easier online access to music. Global online sales are expected to account for 8% of the total music market by 2004. – BBC

ANOTHER CRACK AT WAGNER

More than 50 years since the end of the Nazi regime that glorified Wagner’s anti-semitic philosophies, the Israel Symphony Orchestra plans to play the German composer’s music in a concert this fall. Last time the ISO attempted to present Wagner’s music in concert, “the audience cried ‘shame’ and an usher leapt to the stage to exhibit his Nazi-inflicted scars.” – Jerusalem Post

LAST RITES

A manuscript of Bach’s last work – an arrangement for double choir, wind, and strings, presumably written for his own funeral and burial – has been discovered by an American academic in the Ukraine. The discovery comes just in time for the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death in July. – The Guardian