Author: Matthew Westphal

The Director And The Pharaoh: How Thomas Hoving Created The Museum Blockbuster

“The first blockbuster museum show to be so labeled, a traveling loan of funerary objects [under the title ‘Treasures of Tutankhamun’] that brought in 8 million visitors nationwide and filled Egypt’s coffers with gift-shop profits, was unprecedented. It was an ancient-art exhibit that was also a pop-culture moment … [And] no one did more to bring Tut to the States, or indeed to bring museums into the larger world of marketing and commerce, than the Metropolitan Museum’s director, Thomas P.F. Hoving.”

Emile Zola, Photographer

“Émile Zola is best known as the 19th century French author of celebrated works including Thérèse Raquin, Nana and Germinal. Now, the leader of the Naturalist literary movement is being recognised as a talented and experimental photographer with the auction of a rarely seen personal collection of pictures.”

The Whole Idea Of ‘The Great American Novel’ Is Gendered And Generally Ridiculous, Writes Ursula K. Le Guin

“To me, the keystone of the phrase ‘the great American novel’ is not the word American but the word great. Greatness, in the sense of outstanding or unique accomplishment, is a cryptogendered word. In ordinary usage and common understanding, ‘a great American’ means a great American man, ‘a great writer’ means a great male writer. … It makes perfect sense to me that I’ve never heard a woman writer say she intended, or wanted, to write the great American novel.”

Low-Cost Housing For Artists Is Yet Another Victim Of Senate’s Tax Bill

“An amendment [added by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) would strike artists’ housing from the list of qualified groups who can benefit from federally subsidized low-income housing. … Moreover, as written, the law would also render all existing artists’ housing developments built with housing credits retroactively ineligible for the benefit – creating a sudden tax liability for the investors who have used these credits for years.”

Why Is The Suzanne Farrell Ballet Closing?

Marina Harss asked Farrell, who answered – “enigmatically,” notes Harss – “I don’t really know. If I had my choice I would go on forever.” Kennedy Center representatives, for their part, say only that the facility’s upcoming expansion provides “a natural moment to transition” and that Farrell could “expand her teaching” there after construction is completed.

They’ve Found The Person Who Paid $450 Million For Leonardo’s ‘Salvator Mundi’

“He is a little-known Saudi prince from a remote branch of the royal family, with no history as a major art collector, and no publicly known source of great wealth. But the prince, Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud, is the mystery buyer of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Salvator Mundi,” which is thought to be the last of the artist’s surviving works in private hands.

Two Longtime WNYC Radio Hosts Placed On ‘Immediate Leave’ For Alleged ‘Inappropriate Behavior’

Leonard Lopate, 77, who has hosted a popular midday talk show about books, culture and society for 32 years, was escorted from the building on Wednesday, about an hour before his program was to begin; he says management has refused to tell him what incidents led to his suspension. Also off the air is Jonathan Schwartz, who hosts weekend music shows and the online-only Jonathan Channel, both focused on the Great American Songbook. (includes audio)

John Hockenberry’s First ‘Takeaway’ Cohost Recounts Just How Badly He Treated Her

Adaora Udoji, breaking her non-disclosure agreement: “Within months of the show’s launch in April 2008, my co-host John Hockenberry was yelling and screaming at me in the studio, at times when senior staff was present. … The more I complained, the more the focus became my lack of experience in radio. But they were fully aware of that when they hired me. I was even told one of the reasons for John’s explosions were his frustration with my ‘incompetence’. I was the problem.”