“The Smithsonian Institution’s plan to redevelop the area around its iconic administration building, known as the Castle, by replacing its formal garden and relocating three entrance pavilions received mixed reaction from the federal agency that must eventually approve it.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
‘The Shape Of Water’ Leads 2018 BAFTA Nominations
“Guillermo Del Toro’s fantasy epic about a woman who falls in love with a sea monster … picked up 12 nominations, including best film and best director, as well as a best actress pick for Sally Hawkins and best supporting actress for Octavia Spencer. Darkest Hour and Three Billboards [Outside Ebbing, Missouri] each received nine nominations, including best film and outstanding British film.” Biggest snub: The Post, completely shut out.
After Half A Century, Irish Publishers Are Finally Eligible For The Man Booker Prize
“An anomaly in the Man Booker prize rules that made books published in Ireland ineligible for the £50,000 award because they were not published in the UK has been removed, after years of frustration among Irish presses.”
Art Dealer And Collector Eugene V. Thaw Dead At 90
“‘I can’t create the objects I crave to look at,’ he [once] said, ‘so I collect them.’ … His personal collection featured more than 400 drawings, including rare works by Goya, Van Gogh and Andrea Mantegna and price-setting items by Rembrandt and Samuel Palmer. But he insisted that ‘great art collecting need not be based on a great fortune; education, experience and eye are more important.’ He spoke from his own history.”
French Publisher Plans To Reissue Céline’s Anti-Semitic Tracts; Outrage Ensues
“French publishing house Gallimard has insisted it will go ahead with the publication of the 1,000-page collection of 1930s pamphlets by Céline, who called for the extermination of Jews. The publication date is not set but Gallimard has insisted its intention is to frame the texts ‘and put them back in their context as writings of a great violence, marked by the antisemitic hatred of the author’. … A furious row has raged in literary circles between those for and against publication.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.08.18
Is There Anything New In Costume Exhibits?
Yes, maybe. Vogue magazine recently wrote: “Couture Korea proves that in the often choked-up calendar of museum fashion exhibitions, there are still fascinating new subjects to explore that are fresh and full of feeling.” … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2018-01-08
Britain, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and 1966
What was the real heart of the ’60s? That depends, of course, on what we really mean when we talk about that much-mythologized and contested decade. … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2018-01-08
My Debt to Eugene Thaw, the Late Dealer, Collector, Connoisseur, Scholar, Donor, Mentor
I’ve never met an art dealer as brilliant and multifaceted as Eugene V. Thaw, who died Jan. 3 at the age of 90. Selling works of highest quality, from old masters to modern, he advised the … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-01-08
Big man, small screen
Seeking to rest my weary mind, I brought a short stack of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mystery novels with me to Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania, where Mrs. T and I retreated last week … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2018-01-08
Recent Listening: A Porter, Porter And King Collaboration
Randy Porter Plays Cole Porter, special guest Nancy King (Heavywood)
If Randy Porter played more widely outside the US Pacific Northwest, he would likely be lauded as one of the leading contemporary … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-01-08
What The Resistance Can Learn From The Campaign To Save The New York Public Library
“In September, with no shortage of Trumpian Goliaths rising up to threaten ever more of the institutions we rely on, we checked back in with a number of the activists whose work [Scott Sherman’s book Patience and Fortitude] documents. How, we asked, does the movement to save the NYPL look with a few years’ hindsight? What lessons might their experiences offer to activists taking stands against the powerful today? The answers we got back amounted to a crash course in effective resistance.”
How YouTube And Vimeo Have Transformed The Dance World
“Today, choreography once considered sacred and only transferred person-to-person is now self-taught, edited and remixed in bedrooms and basements, across the U.S. and beyond. No aspect of the dance industry, however commercial or ‘purely artistic,’ remains untouched by the explosion of video around the internet over the past decade. It’s made a profound impact on everything from how students learn to what audiences want, when choreographers succeed and which artists win support from donors, funders and presenters.”
Meet America’s Most-Produced Playwright: She’s A 35-Year-Old Atlantan In San Francisco
Lauren Gunderson: “I have come along at a very open time. In my career, if there has been massive sexism against me, I haven’t felt it much or perhaps I’ve been too busy to notice or something! So I have great hope for the future and we’re already seeing it.”
Japanese Comedian Uses Blackface To Dress Up As Eddie Murphy; US Twitter Erupts, Japanese Twitterverse Isn’t So Sure
“In a show that aired on New Year’s Eve, the Japanese comedian Masatoshi Hamada appeared in a Detroit Lions football jacket, a curly wig and dark makeup, an attempt at imitating the actor Eddie Murphy’s character from the 1984 movie Beverly Hills Cop.” The initial social media reaction, started (in English and Japanese) by a bilingual African-American columnist in Japan, was #StopBlackfaceJapan. But some local fans insist that the practice doesn’t and shouldn’t have stigma attached to it there.