“Wisdom of the Earth is a 50cm (20in) tall sculpture carved from limestone in a primitive modernist style. … Dating to 1907 or 1908, it is one of just a few Brâncuşi works remaining in his homeland. The government has pledged €5m towards the €11m price, much lower than its estimated value of €15m-20m, and is seeking the rest from private contributions by 30 September.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Video Is Not Going To Supplant Text, Regardless Of What Facebook Says
As she was predicting that, in five years, the social networking behemoth would probably be “video, video, video,” Facebook exec Nicola Mendelsohn said last week that video “conveys so much more information in a much quicker period.” As Michael Hiltzik explains, “This is, of course, exactly wrong.”
‘Frankenstein,’ Climate Change, Refugees, A Bountiful Baroness, And The Biggest Volcanic Eruption In History
“It is 200 years since ‘The Year Without a Summer’, when a sun-obscuring ash cloud – ejected from [Mount Tambora] – caused temperatures to plummet the world over. Gillen D’Arcy Wood looks at the humanitarian crisis triggered by the unusual weather, and how it offers an alternative lens through which to read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a book begun in its midst.”
David Gockley’s Legacy At San Francisco Opera – It’s Not Just World Premieres
“His record of commissioning opera is nothing short of astonishing. But it’s pretty clear that Gockley’s main achievements as General Director were organizational. He has been an exceptional manager in a field that is notably lacking in exceptional managers.”
Even As It Prepared For Liquidation, CD Distributor Asked Labels For More Inventory
“While the company is a year or more behind on some sales payments, Allegro was still sending out purchase orders requesting more merchandise until very recently, says [one indie label manager]. ‘The last purchase order we got was June 2. It was one day before they called employees into a conference room and let them go with a check and said ‘So long’.'”
Hearing A Rock Concert Inside A Volcano (And Getting Airlifted Out By The Icelandic Coast Guard)
“As we waited we were assured that it has been 4,000 years since Thrihnukagigur’s last eruption, and that the guides were ‘pretty certain’ we’d continue to be safe from any fiery deluge at least through Moreno’s final bow.”
Lost Gauguin Still Life Turns Up In Connecticut
“A still-life of flowers by Paul Gauguin – which hung for 30 years in the home of a retired Manhattan antiques dealer, who did not know it was by the artist – has been rediscovered by a Connecticut auction house.”
David Murray, Longtime Music Critic For Financial Times, Dead At 79
In addition to his 27 years with the pink paper, “Murray worked as a lecturer in philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, into his 60s. In philosophy, as in music, he would easily become immersed in his subject. One student later recalled how they had met at his house and continued to talk even when the fire brigade arrived to put out a blaze in the apartment downstairs.”
‘The Alpha And Omega Of Restoration Projects’ At Jerusalem’s Church Of The Holy Sepulchre
“They are going to repair Jesus’ tomb – with titanium bolts. Over the next nine months, a team of Greek conservationists will restore the collapsing chapel built above and around the burial cave where the faithful believe that Jesus was buried and rose from the dead after the Crucifixion.”
Does The Bolshoi Ballet’s New Artistic Director Have The Hardest Job In Dance? (If He Does, He Can Handle It)
“There is an implacable confidence about [Makhar] Vaziev – and it is warranted. No artistic director could have been better prepared to take on the treacherous politics of the Bolshoi: Vaziev has made a long career out of steering some of the most complex, unruly ballet companies in the world, from the Mariinsky Ballet to Milan’s La Scala.”