Universe, which has been on view in the lobby of Chicago’s Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) since 1974, is being packed up as the building’s latest owners prepare for a major renovation of the building as two previous owners (including Sears, which commissioned Universe and claims title to it) continue a years-long struggle.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Making An Opera Libretto Out Of The My Lai Massacre
It’s not easy, obviously – especially when you know nothing about opera. Harriet Scott Chessman writes about how she met the challenge when composer Jonathan Berger invited her to write the text for his opera My Lai.
World-Leading Experts On Cambodian Art Under Scrutiny For Helping Fence Looted Antiquities
Collector Douglas Latchford, 86, and scholar Emma Bunker, 87, together wrote three books that are core reference works in the field of golden-age Khmer art and have been invaluable consultants to the national museum in Phnom Penh as it assembled a collection in the aftermath of Cambodia’s late-20th-century calamities. But a current criminal case suggests that the pair also spent decades providing false ownership histories for looted art.
‘President Trump vs. Big Bird’: NY Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof Argues For NEA, NEH, CPB
“The humanities may seem squishy and irrelevant [in a time of crisis]. … Yet the humanities are far more powerful than most people believe. The world has been transformed over the last 250 years by what might be called a revolution of empathy driven by the humanities.”
William Powell, 66, Author Of ‘The Anarchist Cookbook’
The author of the “diagram- and recipe-filled manifesto that is believed to have been used as a source in heinous acts of violence since its publication in 1971” (as William Sandomir puts it here) actually died last July, though word didn’t make it to the media until a documentary about him was released in theaters last week.
Belarus Free Theatre’s Shows Will Go On, Despite Arrest Of Actors In Crackdown
The NewsHour‘s Elizabeth Flock talks to BFT artistic director Natalia Kaliada about the large (and rare) demonstrations that broke out last weekend against the government of longtime dictator Alexander Lukashenko and the company’s activities connected with them.
Hermitage Museum’s Deputy Director Arrested For Fraud
“Mikhail Novikov, a deputy director in charge of construction at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg has been placed under house arrest on charges of suspected fraud … connected to a larger case of over Rb100m in embezzled funds during major Russian Ministry of Culture restoration projects.”
Jazz Saxophonist Arthur Blythe Dead At 76
Nate Chinen: “Blythe was a commanding figure whose music connected jazz’s root system with its freer outgrowths, seemingly without a second thought. It was implicit in his broad-shouldered tone – ’round as Benny Carter, ardent as John Coltrane,’ in the words of Gary Giddins – and through the vibrato that often amplified the sensation of fervency.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.29.17
The Mesmerizing Art of Ran Hwang
New York City is home to thousands of working artists, including many good ones who rarely receive the publicity they deserve – even when they have galleries and have had museum exhibitions. So I was pleased to … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-03-29
Does Power Corrupt? Not Necessarily – But It Brings Out Your True Self
As Michelle Obama told the 2012 Democratic National Convention, “Being president doesn’t change who you are. It reveals who you are.” Mathew Hutson unpacks that statement.