“[He] emerged as the leading light of India’s first post-colonial generation of Modernists. In 2005 his 1997 painting Mahisasura, an image of the Hindu buffalo-demon defeated by the goddess Durga, sold at Christie’s New York for $1.58 million, the highest price ever paid for the work of a living Indian artist. … His death was reported on the front pages of newspapers across India.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Penguin UK To Lay Off 100 Staffers
“Some of the Penguin job cuts will come from Dorling Kindersley, which publishes illustrated reference books, and its Rough Guide travel publication business, where the group will move some of its publishing to an existing center in New Delhi. The job losses amount to around 10% of Penguin and Dorling Kindersley’s staff in the U.K.”
Getty Center Evacuated Due To Brush Fire
“Hundreds of visitors to the J. Paul Getty Museum and dozens more at Mount St. Mary’s College were forced to evacuate Wednesday afternoon when a brush fire swept through the hillsides and canyon walls in the Sepulveda Pass, fire officials said.”
Debt Restructuring Ends Michigan Opera Theatre Crisis
“Michigan Opera Theatre has reached a critical deal with its banks to cut its loan payments in half for the next 18 months, resolving a year-long cash flow crisis that threatened to force the company into foreclosure or bankruptcy.”
Minnesota Opera Balances Books (Again!)
“Strong ticket sales and fund-raising support allowed the Minneapolis-based organization to balance the books for the seventh year in a row, on a budget of about $10 million. The opera, which presents its work at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, played to 92.5 percent capacity, up from 87 percent in 2008 and 81.3 percent the previous year.”
A Museum Whose Existence Mirrors The American Immigrant Experience
It began in lower Manhattan in the early 1980s as the Chinatown History Project, housed in a smallish second-floor walkup shared with other community groups. Now the Museum of the Chinese in America is moving into a nearby space six times as large, designed by Maya Lin.
1,700-Year-Old Mosaic Revealed, Restored In Israel
“The late-Roman-era mosaic floor, one of the largest and finest in Israel, was unveiled by the authorities last week for just the second time since it was discovered 13 years ago” in the town of Lod. Following two more years of conservation work (and the exhibit of one section at the Met Museum next year), “the entire mosaic is supposed to be returned to this patch of ground … and put on permanent display in a protected environment.”
Authors Start Pitching Themselves To Book Clubs
“Enterprising fiction writers are marketing themselves to book groups in person, by phone, and over Skype to boost sales. Meet the new breed of literary types on the make.”
Ravinia Festival Brings On The Jumbotrons
“In a grievously misguided attempt to broaden the classical concert experience, Ravinia has installed two 15 x 20-foot screens on either side of the stage, where simultaneous video transmissions are projected à la pop events and Andrea Bocelli stadium concerts. The video projections … will be standard for all of this summer’s pavilion performances, including all classical and CSO concerts, a Ravinia spokeswoman said.”
All Hail The Wheel!
“It’s fair to say that when an advertisement describes a septic tank as ‘the best invention since the wheel,’ we’ve begun to take our round, load-bearing companion for granted.” Smithsonian magazine “pay[s] tribute to one of the origins of innovation by sharing some intriguing, little-known facts about the wheel.”