Sotheby’s has expanded into 21st-century services like art advice and managing artists’ estates, but Christie’s and Phillips rely on auctions for their good news. And, “for the moment, the 18th-century model of live auctions continues to do nicely, tracking global economic growth.”
Blog
Britain’s Official Elections Artist Says The Election Of 2017 Was Filled With Distress
Cornelia Parker, whose election works go on public display this week, said that she “felt she could not do otherwise than represent the voices – often anxious, fearful, or angry – of the people she had encountered during her time observing the election campaign. ‘I was bombarded by so much emotion and visual information I had to have sound, and sensation,’ she said.”
New Witness Statements May Shed More Light On Natalie Woods’ Death
The truth may finally come to light. “Accounts from the boat’s captain, Dennis Davern, who has maintained he witnessed an explosive, alcohol-fueled fight between Ms. Wood and [Robert] Wagner immediately before her disappearance, have long stoked speculation of foul play. Investigators said they have two new witnesses who support Mr. Davern’s account.”
The Unexpected Feminism Of The TV Show ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’
Poet Margaret Rhee writes of how she came to love the show, in which every episode is a mini-musical: “Perhaps it’s more productive then to think about Rebecca’s craziness as a source of sanity in a crazy world in which women are routinely disregarded. She is smart, successful, and yes, crazy.”
The Book Trade Is Booming In Kabul, Even Though Most Afghans Can’t Read (Yet)
About 40 percent of the adult population is literate, and wars both international and civil still rock the country. But, says one bookseller, “In a turbulent, troubled society, curling up with a book has become the best tonic around.”
What Made Elena Ferrante Into A Writer
As generations of parents giving daughters journals and blank books might suspect, it was a diary – but not simply the mechanical act of writing down her day or recording her thoughts. Instead, the break between who she was in person and who she was in her diary became too strong. “I had to stop writing my diary and channel the desire to tell the truth – my most unutterable truths – into an invented story.”
If You’re Going On A Reality TV Show – And Thus Off Social Media – Be Sure Your Parent Doesn’t Report You Missing
A Bachelor contestant’s mother couldn’t contact her for a while – and reported her missing to the local sheriff’s office, which kept a Missing Persons report active for months. “All the while, Ms. Martinez has been publicly active on Instagram and Twitter. After writing on Sept. 17 that she was giving up social media for ‘the next several weeks’ — a time that corresponds with the filming of ‘The Bachelor — she began posting photos on Instagram again on Nov. 22.”
The Government Of Ukraine Tried To Ban A Book About Stalingrad, And Its Author Reflects On What That Means
Antony Beever, the historian whose 20-year-old book was suddenly banned in Ukraine (and who has seen his books banned in Russia as well), writes, “It was an astonishing own goal by the Ukrainian committee of experts when the country wants to be seen as more democratic and western than Vladimir Putin’s Russia to their north.”
The Dutch Opera’s Costume Storage Was Full, So 4,000 Costume Pieces Are On Sale
The opera hasn’t had a costume sale for nine years, and people snapped up tickets quickly. Not everything is on sale, of course: “Pieces of the Dutch National Opera’s recent history — the sweat, drama and flecks of fake blood — may end up at other opera houses or in the closets of avant-garde dressers. The house plans to keep its prized pieces for its archives.”
How The New ‘Black Panther’ Movie Approaches African History, And What’s Untold
Actor Lupita Nyong’o appears in the Marvel superhero movie. Her father, a politician in Kenya, writes about why he believes the film will be more than a superhero movie to the continent of Africa: “Just imagine an African nation that was never colonised, had its own civilisation and decided to develop on her own steam by empowering her people without leaving the women behind. What would such a nation be capable of doing, especially when it discovers that it has some precious minerals that it can sell to the outside world and use the wealth to modernise society without destroying her own culture and way of life?”