“In many ways, Mr. Berthot spent his career exploring how to supplement and expand on the modernist monochrome without straying too far from it.” After a 1996 move to rural upstate New York, “the natural world became an increasing influence. He turned to depicting trees and hills so close in tone to their backgrounds that they almost seemed carved from them.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Milan’s Trompe-L’Oeil Church
“Standing in the doorway, you’re drawn to the majestic, cavernous space behind the altar. Rows of columns support a lofty, gilded ceiling that matches the decadently adorned arches above the pews. But it’s all a clever deception – the space behind the altar is less than 3 feet deep. The seemingly vast expanse is actually a painted wall.”
Artists Using Drones In Your Work, The FAA May Be About To Ground You
“Artists in the US could have less than a year left to freely use drones in their work. Although current flight restrictions apply only to commercial, not artistic, use of drones, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working on new regulations that are due to be submitted to Congress by September.”
Paris’s New Concert Hall, Meant To Bridge Divides, Has Created New Ones
The location and programming of the Philharmonie de Paris, perched right on the city line next to the ring road, are aimed to reach out toward the four million people living in the capital’s northern and eastern suburbs. But they – many of them immigrants or their French-born children – are wary, even as many in the city’s established classical music audiences object to the hall’s remote location.
The Philharmonie de Paris’s Architect Boycotted The Hall’s Grand Opening
In an editorial in Le Monde, Jean Nouvel alleges that he has been sidelined and ignored, and that key decisions about the hall, made with no input from him, have compromised the building. “The contempt these last two years for architecture, for the architect’s craft … prevents me from expressing my agreement and satisfaction with attending the opening ceremony.”
Can Philadelphia’s Professional Symphonic Choir, About To Shut Down, Reinvent Itself?
“If leaders of the Philadelphia Singers are ready to throw in the towel, the singers themselves aren’t. A core group of members, plus assistant conductor Brian Schkeeper, says it is forming its own successor organization – a new 150-voice symphonic choir.”
Ten Neglected Literary Classics You Should Know About (Picked By The American Scholar)
“Let us simply say, then, that the following books are works we think ought to be read by more people, works that we keep coming back to but that aren’t talked about as much as we would like.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.14.15
Notes from St. Louis
(Doug Borwick on six myths about community engagement)
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-01-13
Corcoran Collection Under Wraps: Long Wait Until “Legacy Gallery” Opens
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-01-14
George Washington University Offers Corcoran’s Fillmore Building for $14 Million
(plus: preservationists’ challenge)
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-01-14
Things Composers Can Do
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2015-01-14
“Provocative Intervention” In Dulwich’s Galleries
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2015-01-14
[ssba_hide]
MoMA Is Selling One Of Its Monets
Sotheby’s will auction Les Peupliers à Giverny on Feb. 3; it’s currently expected to fetch between $13.8 million and $18.4 million. The auction house’s catalog says the painting is being sold to “benefit the acquisitions fund.”
Oxford Junior Dictionary Replaces Words About Nature With Words About Tech, Writers Kick Up A Storm
“The 28 authors, including [Margaret] Atwood, [Andrew] Motion, Michael Morpurgo and Robert Macfarlane, warn that the decision to cut around 50 words connected with nature and the countryside from the 10,000-entry [Oxford Junior Dictionary] is ‘shocking and poorly considered’ in the light of the decline in outdoor play for today’s children.”