“Tinterow had a distinguished 29-year tenure at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he had been chairman of the department of 19th-century, modern and contemporary art since 2008.” He succeeds the late Peter Marzio, who over 30 years “developed the MFAH into one of the nation’s most respected – and richest – museums.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
RUGs Unraveled: Cunningham’s Apprentice Group Dissolves
As the Merce Cunningham Dance Company enters its final month of existence, its Repertory Understudy Group has given its last performances. “Known as the RUGs, its four dancers were never quite a second company. The group, formalized in 1990, served as an apprentice program for the Cunningham company, with whose members its four dancers shared studios and took class.”
Where Pop Fuses With Prokofiev And Rock With Xenakis
A look at three London orchestras who play with Alex Ross’s idea of a “‘great fusion’: intelligent pop artists and extroverted composers speaking more or less the same language.”
A Visit With Ai Weiwei Under House Arrest
“By the conditions of his release from detention, Ai was not then allowed to give formal interviews or make public political statements. He was not allowed to discuss censorship or human rights in China, what happened to him during his detention, or broader questions about China’s future. So instead, we chatted about art and cats.” (He has about 20 of them.)
Why We’re Lucky David Bowie Nixed A Jukebox Musical
“The problem with Bowie is that so many treatments are possible: post-apocalyptic glam, bleached new-wave sci-fi, neurotic globetrotting lushness. The bigger problem is that he’s done them all himself, on record or video, better than anyone else is likely to.”
Judge Throws Out Heir’s Lawsuit Against Dallas Museum Of Art
The only son of Wendy Reves, who donated a $400 million art collection to the museum in 1983, alleged that the DMA and several individuals pressured the elderly Reves to change her will in 1998. (No, the judge didn’t think that made any sense, either.)
Is Art Prankster Maurizio Cattelan’s Retrospective Just A Meta-Prank?
“The show is less a survey of his work than a big-budget joke about the very idea of the career-summarizing survey. With the help of curator Nancy Spector and a team of crack engineers, Cattelan has suspended almost all the works from his two-decade career – about 130 in all – from cables in the center of the Guggenheim’s famous atrium.”
The South Bank Show Returns To British TV
“Sky Arts is to resurrect The South Bank Show three years after it was axed by ITV, with Melvyn Bragg once again on board to host the [arts] series.”
Philadelphia Orchestra’s Withdrawal From Union Pension Fund – What’s At Stake
The American Federation of Musicians and Employers Pension Fund is run jointly by the union and about 7,000 orchestras, media companies and other employers. Those employers have to make up the money the Philadelphia Orchestra is pulling out of the fund – which is why the dispute over how much the orchestra owes as a withdrawal penalty is so bitter.
Andrew Kazdin, 77, Legendary Classical Record Producer
“[He was] known for his recordings of the New York Philharmonic, the pianists Glenn Gould, Murray Perahia and Ruth Laredo, and the organist E. Power Biggs, and [he] revolutionized classical recording by using techniques more common to popular music.”