“The Whitney Museum of American Art on Tuesday canceled an upcoming exhibition after artists of color objected to the institution’s having obtained their work through discounted sales largely meant to benefit racial justice charities. They have accused the museum of trying to capitalize on their work without properly compensating them.” – The New York Times
Author: Matthew Westphal
Lost 13th-Century Portions Of Westminster Abbey Rediscovered
“Built in the 1250s as part of Henry III’s rebuilding efforts, the L-shaped structure” — called the Great Sacristy — “housed sacred items, including chalices, altar linens and vestments. … Medieval clergy members may have also gathered in the sacristy to prepare for processions into the main church.” – Smithsonian Magazine
Actors’ Equity OKs Three Indoor Productions, The First Since COVID Lockdown
“All three theaters are nonprofits in New England, where virus cases are low. The region has already been home to the first two outdoor productions featuring union actors during the pandemic. … Among the shows planned is a seven-actor version of Little Shop of Horrors; the theater is still figuring out how to stage a sadistic dental exam and several encounters with a man-eating plant, but is pledging to limit physical contact between actors (and yes, that means Audrey and Seymour will not kiss).” – The New York Times
Support For The Arts, And For Public Funding, In Australia Hits New High: Study
“The top-level statistics are impressive: few other industries can boast sustained engagement with 98% of the population. The survey shows a significant rise in both the number of Australians who believe in the positive impacts of the arts, and the number who support it being publicly funded.” – The Guardian
Religious Justice Warriors Smash Up Statue Of Mary Magdalene Because It Is A Nude
“A statue of Mary Magdalene housed in the chapel of Saint Pilon in the Var, in southeast France, has been destroyed by vandals apparently unhappy with her lack of clothing. The perpetrators left a note at the scene saying they ‘did not accept that a great saint like Mary Magdalene [should] be represented in such a way’.” – The Art Newspaper
The Underappreciated Brilliance Of Radio Sketch Comedy
Some of the most influential modern comedy in any medium was created for radio: “Who’s on First?“, Groucho Marx’s You Bet Your Life, The Jack Benny Program, BBC’s The Goon Show and I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again, The Firesign Theatre. And it has always been a fertile format for experimentation (because it’s cheap). Sam Corbin explores why audio sketch comedy lands like nothing else — and wonders why, in the podcast boom, we aren’t getting more of it. – Vulture
Kindness With A Capital K: Why Ellen Is So Vulnerable To Her Current Scandal, And Why She Had To Be That Way
Spencer Kornhaber: “So-called diva antics never canceled the careers of, say, Christian Bale or Aretha Franklin. Yet DeGeneres may well be held to a different standard than other entertainers — because her product is her own persona, because she has centered that persona around niceness, and because the same cultural forces that led her to create that persona still exist today. To look back over her career now is to wonder whether the secret, bitter ingredient in her success has been revealed. Softness has long been her shield — and this scandal, on some level, shows what it was protecting against.” – The Atlantic
Alex Ross: The Entire History Of Film Music Is Saturated With Wagner
“Cinema’s integration of image, word, and music promised a fulfillment of the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or ‘total work of art,’ which Wagner propagated at one stage of his career. His informal system of assigning leitmotifs to characters and themes became a defining trait of film scores. And Hollywood has drawn repeatedly from Wagner’s gallery of mythic archetypes: his gods, heroes, sorcerers, and questers.” – The New Yorker
Are All Arts Critics Really Just Bitter Failed Artists? No. No, They Are Not.
Well, what answer did you expect to find in a newspaper column? Nevertheless: “It might be difficult to grasp that writing a magazine cover [story] could appeal more than featuring on it, but for many it truly does. … [Critics are] besotted by an art form to the point [they] feel compelled to write about it for – let’s be honest – a meagre living.” Take, for example, Pulitzer Prize winner Jerry Saltz, who freely admits to being a failed artist but isn’t exactly known for being bitter or unenthusiastic. – The Guardian
Are The Detroit Institute Of Arts And Its Director Simply Out Of Touch With Their City?
“At a time when museum leaders across the country are being challenged on whether their institutions are systemically racist, few are confronting as many thorny issues as [Salvador] Salort-Pons. Current and former staff have called for his resignation, complaining he has developed a corrosive, authoritarian manner while retaining a certain obtuseness on matters of race in a city that is predominantly Black.” – The New York Times