“Former president of the National Book Critics Circle and prolific book reviewer John Freeman has been appointed American editor of Granta magazine. Freeman, who will remain in New York, will collaborate with Granta’s headquarters in London to develop author events, and provide a connection between the magazine, writers who live in the U.S., and Granta’s North American and Canadian readership.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
African Art Museum Founder Warren M. Robbins Dies At 85
“Warren M. Robbins, founder of the Museum of African Art, forerunner to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, died Dec. 4 at George Washington University Hospital of complications from a fall at his home last month. … When he started the Museum of African Art in 1964, Robbins had never been to Africa, never worked in a museum, never been involved with the arts and never raised money.”
Filling The House: Met To Offer Subsidized $25 Tickets
“New York’s Metropolitan Opera, with ticket sales lagging and the economy in recession, said it will offer some of its priciest seats for weekend evening performances at $25 each for the rest of the season. Starting today, the opera company will hold a weekly drawing on its Web site, Metopera.org, for orchestra and grand tier seats that usually sell for $140 to $295, Met General Manager Peter Gelb said.”
Casting Stars Is Still A Good Investment On Broadway
“Confirming the selling power of well-known actors in classic drama, the producers of Broadway’s ‘All My Sons’ and ‘The Seagull’ announced today that they made their investors whole. The two shows are the first of the 2008-09 season to recoup their costs.” “All My Sons” stars Katie Holmes, John Lithgow, and Dianne Wiest, while “The Seagull” stars Kristin Scott Thomas and Peter Sarsgaard.
Looking To Past, Critic Steven Winn Pens His Final Column
“Working as a critic is a curious, paradoxical thing to do. It begins with a deeply personal experience, as you bring your head and heart, your flawed knowledge and particular past into an engagement that’s as full and immediate as possible with some work of art. What follows is a cooly analytical act of objectification.”
Turner Winner: Enough With Hirst, Emin, And Shock Art
“The Young British Artists (YBAs) who drove the contemporary boom were a bad thing for British art, the new Turner Prize winner said last night.” From the podium, artist Mark Leckey criticized the artistic discourse: “‘I kind of hate the relationship the press in Britain has towards art,’ he said. ‘I hate the way it’s all Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin and Banksy.'”
Condi Plays Brahms For Queen At Buckingham Palace
“Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, gave a piano recital for the Queen yesterday during her visit to Buckingham Palace. Dr Rice performed music by Johannes Brahms accompanied on violin by Louise Shackleton, the wife of David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary. Three members of the London Symphony Orchestra offered backing to the high-profile duo.”
Even Renoir & Degas Go Unsold At Paris Auction
“A benchmark Paris sale of Impressionist and Modern paintings that belonged to French fashion designer Jeanne Lanvin fell well short of pre-sale expectations Monday…. Christie’s auction house said in a statement it raised $9.67 million at its evening sale of works by artists including Pablo Picasso and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It had originally valued the collection at $25.2 million.”
$300K Sculpture Crushed, Ruined En Route To Art Miami
“Carole Feuerman’s artwork, Survival of Serena, is a haunting, vivid sculpture of a woman clinging for dear life to an inner tube. But Survival of Serena, which traveled to Venice and Beijing, did not survive the trip to Miami. The sculpture, estimated at $300,000, was destroyed and crushed into pieces on its way from Venice to Miami International Airport, where it arrived Wednesday.”
Is England’s Free-Ticket Initiative Brilliant Or Barking Mad?
“Later this month the Arts Council will announce which theatres across the country will be giving away a million free tickets to under-26-year-olds to every show in their programmes, starting in February.” Britain’s youth must be delighted. “And with a government subsidy of £2.5 million to deliver the free ticket scheme, theatres themselves must be feeling equally festive. Or are they?”