Author: Matthew Westphal

U.S. Government Shutdown Could Torpedo Tintoretto Show At National Gallery

“The exhibition of 16th-century Italian master Tintoretto — one of the most anticipated art shows of the year — is set to open March 10, along with two complementary exhibits on Venetian prints and drawings. Preparations for the shows are weeks behind schedule because of the prolonged shutdown, the longest in history.” Three other Smithsonian museums have already had to postpone exhibitions due to the shutdown. — The Washington Post

Jonas Mekas, Giant Of American Underground Film, Dead At 96

“It is rare to have consensus on the pre-eminence of any person in the arts. But few would argue that Mr. Mekas, who was often called the godfather or the guru of the New American Cinema — his name for the underground film movement of the 1950s and ’60s — was the leading champion of the kind of film that doesn’t show at the multiplex. … In addition to making his own movies and writing prolifically about the movies of others, Mr. Mekas was the founder or a co-founder of institutions that support and promote independent filmmakers” — most notably the journal Film Culture and the museum-library Anthology Film Archives. — The New York Times

Diana Athill, One Of 20th Century’s Great Literary Editors, Dead At 101

As co-founder of André Deutsch’s publishing house and editor there for five decades, Athill was the shepherd — “nanny” was her preferred term — for books by Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood, John Updike, Jean Rhys, V.S. Naipaul and many others. Late in life, she won acclaim as an author herself, for a series of memoirs, among them the Costa Prize-winning Somewhere Towards the End. — The Guardian

Millennia-Old Stone Circle In Scotland Turns Out To Be About 24 Years Old

“The ‘recumbent stone circle’ in … Aberdeenshire, was reported by the site’s current [owner] with unusual features including its small diameter and proportionately small stones. Historic Environment Scotland … celebrated it as an authentic discovery and continued their research until being contacted by the former owner who said they had built the stone circle in the mid-1990s.” — Yahoo! (Press Association UK)

Arts Council England’s Guide For Arts Orgs To A No-Deal Brexit

The new document warns that arts organisations must “evaluate the impact of goods or items being delayed at borders and consider ways to minimise reliance on these routes.” Any organization that received EU financial support should “consider its reliance on commercial or philanthropic income through visitor numbers, donations or corporate hire.” — The Art Newspaper

How German Theatre Has Embraced Refugees

In 2015, when Angela Merkel announced that Germany would accept the refugees streaming in from the Mideast, she said “Wir schaffen das” (“We can do this”). “What is less well-known,” writes Julia Grime, “is that German theatre, arguably a more directly socio-political beast than most UK theatre, welcomed the million-plus refugees with open-armed, practical help, connecting them with local communities and playing a key role in easing their acceptance into German society.” — Arts Professional

Poet Charles Bernstein Wins $165K Bollingen Prize

“Established in 1948 and awarded every two years, the Bollingen Prize is administered by … Yale University’s Beinecke Library and brings a cash award of $165,000. The prize recognizes either the best poetry book of the previous two years or a poet’s lifetime achievement.” With Bernstein, a professor at Penn, it’s “something of both.” — The Philadelphia Inquirer

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Was Asked, ‘Are You An African Writer?’ Here’s Her Answer.

“I have no objection at all to being African, in fact it is all I know how to be and so I cannot possibly be anything else. And so my answer to the question “Are you an African Writer?” was no, and not because I am not proudly African. … I said no because I have increasingly been troubled by the subtle and not-so-subtle constraints that the question implies.” — New Statesman

One Of The Hearts Of The Met Museum’s Ancient Greek Collection Was Arguably Looted En Masse

Writer Thomas O’Dwyer makes the case that The Cesnola Collection — assembled by an impoverished Italian aristocrat who emigrated to the States, fought in the Civil War, got himself appointed consul in Ottoman Cyprus for both the U.S. and the Russian Empire, and then got himself named the Met’s director — is comparable to the Elgin Marbles and was similarly criticized at the time. — 3 Quarks Daily