One of the most precious pieces of art stolen from Iraq’s National Museum – a 5000-year-old sculpture – has been recovered. “The 20-centimetre high marble sculpture, dating from 3000 BC, depicts the head of a woman. It was fashioned in the southern city of Warka during the Sumerian period, and was among the five most precious pieces still missing since the museum was sacked after the April 9 fall of Saddam Hussein.”
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My Lunch With Tony Hall
Tony Hall has been running London’s Royal Opera House for a couple years now. “There might have been a time when running an opera house presented unique opportunities for leisurely lunching, schmoozing with business grandees desperate for a favourite seat in the orchestra stalls, perhaps the odd feisty exchange with the prima assoluta of the day. But that was then and this is now, and Hall is the epitome of the modern manager: brisk, fast-talking, affable and relentlessly upbeat.”
Carnegie’s New Hall – A Lot At Stake
“Carnegie Hall has decided that the best way to break down the barriers between classical and pop music, jazz and rock is to mix everything up in a brand-new hall situated below the Isaac Stern Auditorium and above the Seventh Avenue subway. Carnegie’s new real-estate venture, which opened Sept. 12, is an early test: Will this game of musical chairs yield real artistic and commercial dividends? Will it reinvigorate our civic concert life?”
From The Front: Looking For Iraqi Art
Matthew Bogdanos is a marine helping to recover art stolen from Iraq’s National Museum: “To date over 1,700 items have been returned pursuant to the amnesty program, [but] there have been problems here, as well–specifically, the perception among the Iraqi people of the museum staff’s identification and association with the former regime and the Baath Party. Time and time again when individuals would turn property over, they would make it clear that they were turning the property over to the U.S. forces for safekeeping until a lawful Iraqi government could be elected. The raids and seizures have resulted in the recovery of over 900 artifacts.”
Cartoon University
For decades, Disney ruled the animated roost, cranking out blockbuster after cartoon blockbuster, and employing the top animators in the world. These days, the digital pioneers at Pixar have taken up the Disney mantle and are advancing the medium at an astonishing rate. But what these two giants of the animated film have in common is the California Institute of the Arts, which has consistently turned out students who have a passion for animating, and the techinical knowledge to have a profound impact on the industry.
NJ CEO Is Top Candidate For Pittburgh
“Lawrence Tamburri, president and CEO of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, has emerged as the leading candidate for the managing director position at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.” Pittsburgh CEO Gideon Toeplitz left his post in May, and there have been multiple rumors about who might replace him. For a time, it seemed that Douglas Gerhart, of the San Diego Symphony, was a shoo-in, and Gerhart even resigned from his San Diego position in order to focus on his candidacy, but the match never panned out. Pittsburgh is facing significant financial challenges, and is nearing a September 21 deadline to reach a new labor agreement with its musicians.
The Unlikliest Pulitzer
When Nilo Cruz got the phone call informing him that his new play, Anna in the Tropics, had won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, he wasn’t entirely sure if he believed it. After all, he was a little-known playwright whose play had only been seen onn stage during a short run in Florida, and he was up against such legends as Edward Albee and Richard Greenberg, both of whose entries were running in New York. But it was no joke: Cruz is the first Latino playwright to win the prize, and his play gets a more auspicious bow this week at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, before moving to Broadway later in the fall.
Guerrilla Girls: Where Are They Now?
When the underground feminist art movement known as the Guerrilla Girls began its in-your-face campaign to broaden the recognition granted to female artists in traditional institutions, its members were considered revolutionaries. Now, a quarter-century later, the group has mostly disbanded, though a few members still keep up the fight. In retrospect, the question of what was accomplished by the Guerrilla Girls, and whether their message has had any lasting effect on the American cultural scene is a matter open to debate, and the remaining members of the group seem to have taken their movement away from a strict focus on art, and towards more general issues of feminism and society.
Sculptor Granlund Dies
Sculptor Paul Granlund, whose works were commissioned by collectors and colleges around the world, has died at the age of 77. “Granlund is known for his exuberant human figures, especially dancing lovers and families lifting children into the air. Though primarily a figurative artist, he was equally adept doing geometric and Cubist shapes and even Pop subjects including… huge bronze alphabet letters and a star-burst.”
Banking On The Arts
Two of Canada’s largest banks have announced plans to make major contributions to a number of Ontario arts organizations. The Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum will each get CAN$2.25 million from the bankers, and the National Ballet School of Canada will get CAN$1.5 million.