Author: Matthew Westphal

Picasso Bust At Center Of Custody Battle Between Gagosian And Qatar Royal Family

“The high-powered art dealer Larry Gagosian says he bought it. The royal family of Qatar says it bought the sculpture, too. And now they are facing off in court over who owns Picasso’s important plaster bust of his muse (and mistress) Marie-Thérèse Walter, a star of the Museum of Modern Art’s popular ‘Picasso Sculpture’ show.”

Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.12.16

Art for Art’s Sake Revisited
One of my most widely read (and/or infamous) posts is Art for Art’s Sake: There’s No Such Thing. The thrust of that essay was that art always does something and is always for someone and … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-01-12

How all classical concerts should be
Dancing violinist! Pandemonium in the audience!
Here’s a story from my friend David Snead, formerly Vice President of Marketing, Brand and Customer Experience at the New York Philharmonic. And now President and CEO of the Handel and Haydn Society, the plainly terrific chorus and period instrument orchestra in Boston. … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-01-12

Thought for Morton Feldman’s Birthday
As late as 1986, the year before his death, he confessed, “I have no complaints about my career, but I always wondered why it really doesn’t take hold.” … read more
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2016-01-12

“You can’t do what you want, but anything goes”
Wow – speaking of Julius Eastman and Morton Feldman, the SUNY Buffalo Music Library has made available the tape and a transcript of the speech John Cage made at June in Buffalo in 1975, when … read more
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2016-01-12

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Mime Isn’t Dead, It’s Just – Quiet (Ahem)

“In the United States, mime is generally understood as a gimmick. Even mocking it seems outdated. … But there’s also new blood carrying on the art. Broken Box Mime Theater is one of two active mime companies in New York City, and its founder is not yet thirty years old. The American Mime Theatre, NYC’s other mime company, has been active since 1952. Most of its members are the same age as those in Broken Box.”

When Baryshnikov Met Brodsky

From the time Baryshnikov arrived in the U.S., he found in the Nobel-winning poet and essayist “a kind of older brother, and he needed one. Though a number of people were very kind to him, he did not, at this early point, have close friends in the United States, and he was slow in making them, because he had no time to study English. With Brodsky he could speak in Russian, and they had a city, a government – in some measure, a history – in common.”