“Jean-Paul Riopelle’s three children fear some of their father’s key works of art will be sold at the same fire-sale prices that purchased his beloved vintage cars… Yseult, Sylvie and Yann, the three children of the noted abstract artist, are asking the [Quebec Superior Court] for an injunction to stop what they describe as an unnecessary, amateurish auction. They say if so many Riopelles are sold at once on short notice, the value of Riopelle’s art will diminish.”
Blog
Goya And The Art Of Violence
Goya’s images of war atrocities were shocking and appalling to the audiences of his time, which isn’t surprising, since ‘war art’ in the early 19th century tended to consist of “generally heroic allegories, made to present a larger story of conquest and nobility through grand compositions and bold lighting.” But why should the same images still shock us today, in an age when wars are broadcast live on television? Could it be because contemporary art has simply never found a serious way to deal with the horror of war?
Are Thug Feuds Killing Hip-Hop?
Renee Graham has had about enough of the ongoing lyrical battle between rappers Ja Rule and 50 Cent, and she’s also begun to wonder whether the hip-hop community really took notice of the violent deaths of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. seven years ago. “This was a cautionary tale written in blood to rappers, their fans, and the media that helped stoke the so-called East Coast-West Coast rap war. Less than a decade on, it’s as if no lessons have been learned from the pointless deaths of two of the most influential artists in the history of rap music.”
As If A Sing-Along Sound of Music Weren’t Trauma Enough
Eight audience members who plunged twenty feet into an orchestra pit while participating in a sing-along performance of The Sound of Music are suing the theatre which produced the show. “Several ‘nuns’ and others dressed in lederhosen suffered a variety of serious injuries after being invited on to a temporary stage set up over the orchestra pit for the Sing-a-Long Sound Of Music show. It is understood that the victims intend to claim damages for the psychological trauma of being involved in the ‘horrific’ incident, as well as their physical injuries.”
Sony’s Latest Gamble
Sony is preparing to begin selling a new type of copy-protected CD in Germany, with hopes to expand worldwide if consumers embrace the new technology. The CDs do not allow users to share their contents on illegal file-swapping sites, but contain a compressed digital copy of the music which individual consumers can “rip” to their computers and later download to Sony-based portable music players. In what has become a familiar dance, the company is calling its new CDs a breakthrough for consumers, and consumer groups opposed to copy protection of any sort are claiming that the discs can cause computers to malfunction, and are unfairly limiting in any case.
Two Strads For Sale
Two Stradivarius instruments, a violin valued at $1.3 million and a cello estimated to be worth over $800,000, hit the auction block this week in London. As usual, there is little chance that either instrument will be purchased directly by anyone who can play them, as most of the world’s high-end instruments are now bought and sold by collectors, who may choose to lend them out to performers, or not. Earlier this week, another million-dollar Strad violin failed to sell at auction when no one met the asking price.
Good Thing They’ve Got Those High Ceilings…
“The world’s largest signed Pablo Picasso canvas, which has not been seen in public for 20 years, was unveiled in London on Tuesday. A 10-metre high reproduction of his work Deux Femmes Courant Sur La Plage is on show at the Royal Opera House. The painting was copied from the original in 1924 by a scene painter for use as a stage curtain in a ballet. It will go on permanent display at London’s Theatre Museum as part of a £12m redevelopment.”
Newark’s Performing Arts Center – No Cure For Urban Blight
In the mid-90s, Newark built a shiney new performing arts center in the middle of its blighted downtown with the hope of rejuvenating the area. Many cities have tried this. Terry Teachout reports after a visit this week that while the hall is a great place to attend performances, it seems to have done little to kick-start downtown. “Lincoln Center has its crippling flaws, God knows, but it did succeed in transforming New York’s Upper West Side almost beyond recognition. As of today, I’m still skeptical that NJPAC will do much more than make it possible for suburban New Jerseyites to see Miss Saigon without having to drive all the way into Manhattan. Somehow I doubt that’s what its founders had in mind.”
Company’s Coming
A new book asserts that the company as an organizational model is indispensible to progress. “The most important organisation in the world is the company: the basis of the prosperity of the west and the best hope for the future of the rest of the world.”
What NPR Ought To Do With Its Money
The Boston Globe editorial page offers some suggestions to NPR on what to spend some of its $200 million windfall: “Bring back music and culture programming. NPR’s news reports are thoughtful and compelling. Its talk shows are topical and a nice way to bring listeners into conversations. And “Car Talk” is great entertainment. But occasionally all this talk is wearying. Balance could be provided by music shows and radio documentaries.”