About six of his roughly 30 surviving paintings differ noticeably in style from the others, despite depicting the same people and rooms. Art historians have wondered if Vermeer had an apprentice, though there’s no surviving record of one. Scholar Benjamin Bistock suggests that this mysterious artist was one of Vermeer’s daughters.
Author: Matthew Westphal
These Intricate Sculptures Are Turning To Mush (By Design)
After James Grashow found several of his older papier-mâché works gradually disintegrating as they were stored outdoors by their owner, he coped with the shock by creating Corrugated Fountain, “an assemblage of figures inspired by the Roman fountains of the Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini” – made out of cardboard.
No One Wants To Succeed Nicholas Hytner At The National Theatre
Oscar-winner Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) follows Michael Grandage, Marianne Elliott and Dominic Cooke in ruling out the artistic directorship of Great Britain’s flagship playhouse.
You Know The Young, Educated Listeners The Whole Classical Music Industry Is Desperate To Attract? Here’s One Of Them
Journalist and editor Jaime Green recently went to Carnegie Hall – for only the second time in her life, she says – to hear Gabriel Kahane and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Unsure what to make of the experience, she contacted a friend her age who works in classical music. Read their exchange here.
The Librotraficantes Of Arizona
A 2010 Arizona law “that prohibited school districts from offering courses that, among other things, ‘promoted resentment toward any race or class” and “advocated ethnic solidarity instead of being individuals.’ … [led to] the removal of books from school libraries, including such incendiary texts as The Tempest.” Enter the book traffickers …
Mo Yan Wants Us To Let Him Write And Stop Badgering Him About Human Rights In China
“Whether or not I deserved the Nobel Prize, I already received it, and now it’s time to get back to my writing desk and produce a good work. I hear that the 2013 list of Nobel Prize nominees has been finalized. I hope that once the new laureate is announced, no one will pay attention to me anymore.”
When Translators Encounter The Unexpected – And Misread It
“One of the intriguing aspects when teaching translation is watching students struggle with sentences that say things they didn’t expect them to say.” Tim Parks offers examples – from D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf and Niccolò Machiavelli – of when translators changed the meaning of sentences without, apparently, even realizing it.
Filmmaker Bryan Forbes Dead At 86
“Together with Richard Attenborough, he set up Beaver Films in 1959. … His directing career began in 1961 with Whistle Down the Wind, featuring child star Hayley Mills.” Among the many films he helmed during the 1960s and ’70s were Seance on a Wet Afternoon and The Stepford Wives.
Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company Names New Artistic Director
“Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company announced Daniel Charon as its new artistic director Thursday, May 9 — the eve of its 50th anniversary. Charon becomes the first male and the second full-time artistic director to be hired by the company … The company’s founding directors, Shirley Ririe and Joan Woodbury, stepped down in 2008.”
Measuring Success: Data-Driven Dance
“Judgment [in the dance field] is often based on aesthetic or taste, usually informed by exposure, and it tends to limit the conversation to ‘like’ or ‘dislike’. … Our goal, instead, should be to guide and instruct performers and audiences in how to evaluate the quality of a product beyond an actual performance – including how to lead to performance and advance beyond it. But how do we best determine what those include?”