Matthew Westphal – Page 967 – ArtsJournal Wayback

Hindu Extremists Now Want To Wipe The Taj Mahal From India’s History (To This We’ve Come)

“In past months, religious nationalists in the Hindu-majority country have stepped up a campaign to push the four-century-old Mughal monument to the margins of Indian history. One legislator recently kicked up a national storm when he labelled the tomb ‘a blot’. Resentment at the fact the country’s most recognisable monument was built by a Muslim emperor has always existed on the fringes of the Hindu right. But those fringes have never been so powerful.”

The Alt-Right Is Appropriating Medieval Studies – Can Academics Stop Them?

“The resurgent white supremacist movement has been appropriating medieval (or medieval-flavored) motifs in the public eye this year, taking up the ‘Deus Vult’ slogan (or ‘God wills it,’ purported to have been chanted by medieval Crusaders) and the so-called Celtic Cross. … Should historians take responsibility for the abuse and exploitation of the past by amateurs, or even by those within their own ranks? Is scholarship doomed to be complicit in the violence done in its name?”

Here’s One Broadway Tour Where The Cast Can Make Serious Money

Chris Jones looks at the “exceptional” – in more than one sense – case of the current touring production of Les Miserables, now in Chicago.

Mass. Attorney General Asks Court To Delay Berkshire Museum’s Art Sale

“Just two days before a scheduled hearing on a suit brought by the three sons of Norman Rockwell …, the attorney general’s office has submitted a legal filing stating that it ‘has significant questions and concerns’ about the museum’s planned sell-off of 40 paintings on November 13 at Sotheby’s in New York. The filing calls on the court to grant a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction so that the office has more time to study the case and formulate a final position.”

Detroit Symphony Receives $15 Million Gift

“DSO officials announced a $15 million gift from the William Davidson Foundation. Of that, $5 million comes in the form of a challenge grant, which, if matched, will add to the DSO’s small-but-growing endowment. The balance will support a variety of DSO programs. Three other foundations already jumped in to make that happen.”

Bass Museum In Miami Has Reopened At Last

“After two years and a transformative $12 million overhaul – capped by a nerve-wracking visit from Hurricane Irma – Miami’s Bass Museum re-opened to the public this weekend with a roomier layout, new galleries, and immersive installations by contemporary art stars Ugo Rondinone and Pascale Marthine Tayou.”

Albany Symphony Gets Largest-Ever Donation: $7 Million

The late Heinrich Medicus, a philanthropist and a professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in nearby Troy, NY, bequeathed the money specifically for the orchestra’s endowment. “The symphony will also be the beneficiary of half of the undesignated residuals from Medicus’ estate, including property and his art collection, part of which is up for sale this weekend at the Stair Galleries auction house in Hudson.”

Film About Last Tsar’s Mistress Faced Violent Protests Before Premiere, Giggles Afterward

News of Matilda, a glossy period piece about a Polish ballerina who had an affair with Nicholas II before he was crowned (or married), was met by Russian orthodox extremists with protests, calls for a ban and even arson attacks. (Nicholas was canonized in 2000 as a martyr for the faith.) “However, most Russians – and certainly those at the screening in Moscow on Tuesday – take little or no offense.”

Wear Whatever You Want, Just Come See Us, Says Scottish Opera’s New Campaign

“Tongue-in-cheek posters display messages such as ‘you don’t have to dress up for the opera’. The posters, shared on social media to target a younger audience, also dispel perceptions that you need to speak the language to enjoy an opera, or that you’ll need binoculars to see the stage.”

Author: Matthew Westphal