What’s happened to the market for Irish art? “This year, the 10th that Irish sales have been held in London, a niche market that once seemed confident and youthful looked tired and middle-aged. Beset by supply problems and Ireland’s economic slowdown, these specialist auctions have lost their bounce.”
Blog
(Washington) Mall Rat
Paul Goldberger says the new World War II Memorial on the Capitol Mall follows the tradition of uninspired Washington architecture. “The new National World War II Memorial on the Mall in Washington seems to want to be majestic, but it’s really an opulent, overbuilt civic plaza. The most important thing about it isn’t the design, which is a vaguely classical set of colonnades by the architect Friedrich St. Florian, but the real estate it occupies.”
The Enduring Stride And Swing
“Few pop idols survive changing fashions unscathed, but Glen Miller and Fats Waller seem to have done just that. One might have expected the renown of Glenn Miller, a hard-nosed martinet who devised the big-band sound most associated with reveries of the nineteen-forties, to fade with memories of the war in which he lost his life. Instead, critics who once denigrated him as a humorless purveyor of diluted swing, banal novelties, and saccharine vocals are reassessing a sound that clings relentlessly to the collective memory. The ongoing preëminence of Thomas (Fats) Waller is perhaps less of a surprise, given the dazzle of his pianism, the thumping pleasures of his small band, and the frequent hilarity of his satire.”
Cleaning Of David Finished
“The eight-month cleaning of Michelangelo’s statue of David is complete, the museum which houses the Italian Renaissance masterpiece said, almost four months ahead of its 500th anniversary celebrations.”
David’s New Look
“The overall effect is of a glowing colossus restored to something close to its Renaissance splendour. Visitors to Florence should not expect a dramatic transformation, such as that wrought on Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in Rome in the 1990s; but, because of the greater uniformity of colour, it is easier than before to appreciate the statue’s exquisite detail – the vein that stands out ever so slightly on David’s upper right arm, for example.”
A History Of Cleaning David
“The marks on “David” recount much of the statue’s life story, starting with an 18-foot-high marble bloc from Carrara that had been exposed to the elements for 40 years before Michelangelo began transforming it. It is very poor quality marble. Even Michelangelo had to spend four months polishing the marble before it was presented in public in 1504.”
Full-Length In The Muddle
American Ballet Theatre has a new full-length – a Raymonda. “ABT, however, partly through its mistaken desire to keep things zipping along, has not only left the story and its underlying theme unclear, it has also conceived and directed the heroine as a blank and Abderakhman as a ludicrously exotic idiot who represents neither serious sexual appeal nor serious threat. You sit there muttering pitiably to yourself (or to the young woman sitting next to you, who has kindly plied you with much-needed cough drops), What is going on?”
Hapless Dance In Hartford
Another dance venture is about to fail in Hartford and Frank Rizzo enumerates reasons. “When Hartford gives up its magic-wand mentality – whereby simply by wishing for a company or building a theater (or a renovated downtown) – audiences will automatically come a’running, the healthier it will be. It has to understand audiences, nurture them, listen to them and adapt to them on their terms before there’s any long-term chance of succeeding.”
On Broadway: What The Little People Earn
What does the average Broadway Joe make? “This season, the minimum salary for a Broadway performer is $1,354 a week, a figure dictated by the contract between the union and the League of American Theaters and Producers, the trade association for the commercial theater industry. The current four-year contract expires on June 27. The two organizations are negotiating a new one that could last until June 2008.”
Building A New NPR (That’s What Money Can Do)
“At meetings last week in Arlington, Va., a vision of NPR’s strategic plans for the future was presented to 100 local station managers from around the country. So far, the unexpected funding has allowed NPR to give an unusual bonus to its 700-member staff (roughly 1 percent of each employee’s annual salary), return $2.4 million to member stations to offset rising expenses, and plan for a flurry of hires. The interest income alone will pay for 45 additional reporters over the next three years.”