Author: ArtsJournal2

The Design Of ‘English-Style’ Gardens Owes A Lot To China And Japan

Garden and art history books tell a specific story that leaves some important bits out. “In a few short decades, what became known as the ‘English style’ had spread across Britain and on to the rest of Europe. In fact, centuries later it remains the dominant garden style in the world. You’d be forgiven for assuming this style arose entirely spontaneously from the imagination of a handful of ingenious 18th-century Brits. However, the evidence paints a different picture.” – The Guardian (UK)

A Bookstore With A Mission, Surviving In The Midst Of Book Business Upheaval

Must be nice to be able to say that people wanting bestsellers can just “ge them elsewhere.” Another Story Bookshop in Toronto was founded with a mission of social justice, with the purpose of getting “diverse books into diverse hands” – and though the founder died two years ago, the new owners are continuing the mission despite Toronto’s rising real estate market and, of course, the ever-present threat of Amazon. – The New York Times

The Artist Obsessed With Worms

Simone Lia is a comic-strip artist, but one day she noticed that she couldn’t stop drawing worms. Her “worms look like demob-happy frankfurters. They have floaty bodies, dazed smiles. … With a laugh, she explains she realised how much she admired the character of the worm: ‘They’re very humble, live in the ground, do good work, get on with it.’ These qualities, she says, ‘I’d like for myself.'” – The Observer (UK)

Gillian Jagger, Sculptor Who Used Trees And Animal Carcasses, Has Died At 88

Jagger used the natural world as inspiration, and her work related to Land Art, ecofeminism, and Post-Minimalism without aligning to any one specific movement. The artist “hit upon one of her signature methods while living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the 1960s. She began capturing direct impressions of the world around her by casting unlikely forms in plaster, like a cat that had been stoned to death by children and, most famously, manhole covers.” – The New York Times

Why Would The Oscars Reject A Nigerian Film For Its Language?

Because the language isn’t “foreign” enough – it’s English. The Academy is changing what the category is called – Best International Film instead of Best Foreign-Language Film – but it hasn’t changed the rules. “Lionheart, then, is ineligible for the Best International Film category, despite being an international movie shot in the most populous country in Africa.” – The Atlantic

How Reassuring: Manet Used Tracing Paper To Make Doodles Look Effortless

So, Manet’s “off-the-cuff spontaneity” took a little more work than he, and art historians following his words, ever claimed. “Most of these things seem to have been traced from more searching and careful drawings that he’d made in his sketchbooks. He would take semi-transparent letter paper, lay it down over a sketchbook page, trace that design with a wash of grey watercolour and then basically colour it in with watercolour.” – The Observer (UK)

Maria Perego, Who Created The Mouse Puppet Topo Gigio, Has Died At 95

Perego was an Italian puppeteer who came up with the 10-inch tall mouse puppet/marionette in the 1950s – and then the Ed Sullivan Show came calling, and calling, and calling. Of the puppet’s numerous appearances on the show, Perego said, “My puppet not only entered Americans’ households, I believe he also entered their hearts.” – The New York Times

Valentine Monnier Is The Sixth Woman To Accuse Roman Polanski Of Raping Her When She Was A Teen

In the French newspaper Le Parisien, the photographer and former actress and model says that in 1975, the director raped her at his ski chalet in Switzerland. “She said she remembered fearing she would die. ‘I said to myself, this is Roman Polanski. He can’t take the risk that this would be known, so he will have to kill me.'” – The New York Times