Author: Matthew Westphal

The Late Donald Marron & Me: An Affable Collector with a Keen Eye for Contemporary Keepers

Early in my career, I had two contrasting contacts with Donald Marron, the much admired art connoisseur, philanthropist and financial-markets professional, who died on Friday at age 85. Both of those experiences left me impressed with Marron’s energy, empathy and acuity, even though I was on the hot seat during our second encounter. – Lee Rosenbaum

Klimt Painting Stolen 23 Years Ago Found Hidden In Gallery Wall

“The location of Portrait of a Lady, one of the world’s most sought-after missing artworks, has been a mystery since it was stolen in 1997. On Tuesday, a gardener clearing up ivy on an exterior wall of the Ricci Oddi modern art gallery, in the northern city of Piacenza, discovered a metal panel which, when opened, revealed a cavity with a painting in a bag.” – The Guardian

How The Hawaiian Language Was Rescued From Near-Oblivion

“In the ’60s, estimates suggest that fewer than 2,000 people could speak Hawaiian fluently, and just a few dozen of them were children. But then something remarkable happened. An unlikely Hawaiian renaissance blossomed in the ’60s and into the ’70s, initially driven by artists who sought to reclaim traditional music and dance. … Today, roughly two dozen of Hawaii’s public schools teach exclusively in Hawaiian, about a third of them charters. The number of Hawaiian speakers in the state is now 18,000, roughly half of them fluent.” – The Atlantic

Staged Trial Of Asylum Seeker Shines Light On EU’s Growing Refugee Problem

“Dutch asylum court is not exactly a well-trodden topic within performance art, but last week in Amsterdam, a one-off staging of a refugee trial asked the public to determine the fate of an actual case. The piece” — Ehsan Fardjadniya’s Refugee on Trial: Afghan Journalist Ali J vs. Netherlands — “asked questions about the role of performance in analysing complex social and legal issues, and with it how visual artists are using performance to platform issues often left hidden.” – The Art Newspaper

Dance Therapy Is Being Used To Combat Depression And Other Mental Illnesses

“Dance/Movement Therapy goes beyond simply dancing. DMT uses dance and movement to promote insight, integration and well-being, as well as to diminish undesirable symptoms in various clinical populations. Unlike mainstream talk therapies, DMT uses the entire body to approach the client primarily on a non-verbal and creative level. The body in motion is both the medium and the message.” – Quartz

For Gender Parity Among Filmmakers, The Middle East Is Way Ahead Of Hollywood

“A recent study by Northwestern University … found that 26% of independent Arab filmmakers are women … In Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon, 25% of all new directors are women. In Egypt, this year’s Cairo International Film Festival became the first Arab festival, and second African festival, to pledge 50-50 gender parity by 2020.” – BBC

A Protest Song-And-Dance About Violence Against Women, Launched In Chile, Is Spreading All Over The World

“This stirring performance, titled ‘Un violador en tu camino‘ (“A Rapist in Your Path), was first brought to life by the feminist art collective called Lastesis at a protest in the port city of Valparaíso, Chile, late last month, as a way of drawing attention to violence against women. Since then, this viral action has materialized in Colombia, Mexico, France, India, the U.S. and Turkey (where an attempt to stage it on Sunday was broken up by police).” – Los Angeles Times