An Italian Baroque painting lost 300+ years ago, has turned up. “The picture, The Montalto Madonna, has been copied many times by artists in Rome, both in painted and engraved form. It was last mentioned officially in 1672 by the biographer Gian Pietro Bellori but thereafter vanished without trace and has been considered lost ever since. When a client took a small copper panel bearing the familiar composition of The Montalto Madonna into Sotheby’s head office, the instinctive reaction was that it was not the real thing – or rather that it could not possibly be the genuine article after a lapse of more than three centuries. However…”
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Art’s Big Spenders – Who Are They?
“Rated as number one spender on art this year is London resident Sheikh Saud al-Thani of Qatar. His interests range from antiquities, Islamic art, furniture and jewellery to Old Masters, Impressionist paintings and vintage photographs. The surprise entry is the London jeweller Laurence Graff, who is included in the top 10.”
The Voice-Over A-List
All sorts of A-list actors are showing up as voices in new animated features. What’s the attraction? Animators get to cash in on the big names. As for the actors, it’s easy work. “No hair and make-up necessary, not a personal trainer in sight and a four-hour work day: these are just a few of the enticements luring A-list actors, including Jim Carrey, Will Smith and Robin Williams, to headline animated features.”
Sensational: The Mayor And The Elephant Dung
“Four years ago, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani blasted a painting of the Virgin Mary that was decorated with elephant dung. In an exhibit that opened Wednesday, it’s the portrait of Giuliani that has elephant dung painted in it…”
Dia – Will They Come?
The new Dia home in upstate New York is big and comodious to large-scale art, writes Peter Plagens. And at the start it will get many curious visitors. But the flow will diminish and the question remain: Is there really an audience for the kind of art Dia advocates?
University Presses – State Of The Business
University presses gather in St. Louis to talk about the “both public and private anxiety about the presses’ position, at a time of diminished sales, rising returns and much disagreement as to whether publishing books with a stronger trade flavor is the best way to mend their fortunes or whether it simply leads to higher returns.”
Naked Theatre
“You could see a lot of actors stripping this past season, especially if you were one of the many people who took opera glasses to the theater. This bumper crop of flesh, both subtly achieved and blatantly revealed, offered audiences a chance to study in depth how nudity actually functions onstage. One thing was clear in almost all of last season’s strips: it was the moment of first removal (rather than the eventual full monty) that brought the biggest gasps.”
Patriotism In Creativity
Patriotism isn’t just about jingoism and flag-waving, writes Frank Rich. “Patriotism needn’t make us so weary. Look around our culture, and it isn’t hard to find a faith in America that is not defined by government-commissioned flag-waving, political demagoguery or cable news’s jingoism-as-marketing-strategy. The most telling American fables don’t come in the blacks and whites of our current strident political and cultural discourse, which so often divides Americans into either flag-draped heroes or abject traitors. The great American stories, from Huckleberry Finn’s to the Dixie Chicks’, have always been nuanced; they can have poetry and they can have dark shadows. They can combine a love of country with an implicit criticism of it.”
Play It Again Sam
“This summer, more than ever, the creative and marketing logic behind the movie sequel has reversed. With the exception of the odd original picture – ‘Finding Nemo’ or a comic-book franchise like ‘The Hulk’ – sequels have become the movie industry’s core product. They are bigger, more expensive, more heavily hyped and – arguably – sometimes superior to their progenitors.”
Lloyd Webber: Lay Off The Negative Classical Music Stories
Julian Lloyd Webber is tired of all the doom and gloom about the classical music bhusiness. “In this country only one small orchestra – the Bournemouth Sinfonietta – has closed in the past 30 years. Meanwhile, over the same period, membership of the Association of British Orchestras has increased by 38 orchestras, 19 of which are new. How come the ‘grim reapers’ don’t write about that? Then again, I suppose good news is not news.”