Considering his long, illustrious career as an art scholar and museum director, not to mention his generosity in sharing his deep insights with others (including me), I’m puzzled as to why there’s been so little mention of his death last week. – Lee Rosenbaum
Blog
How Dvorak Found America In Iowa
One of the first things that struck Dvořák about Iowa was its emptiness. If he had come looking for the cheerfulness of home, what he found was this expanse of prairie, this sea of grass and grain that went on forever. “It is wild here,” he said, “and sometimes very sad.” – Plough
How Art Galleries In One Country Have Stayed Healthy Through The COVID Epidemic
“Although its museums have been closed since February, commercial galleries were allowed to remain open. Several have done so, some throughout the crisis, putting South Korea alongside Taiwan and Hong Kong as one of the few places to have an art scene still running, or at least limping, throughout this extraordinary spring.” – The Art Newspaper
Coffee Culture, The Business
Coffee is sold less to provide an individual with pleasure than to support an industry with a skillfully primed audience. – The New Yorker
For Quarantine, A Salute To The Literature Of Idleness
Dwight Garner: “With so many hours to obliterate, I’ve found myself turning to the experts. I’ve pushed away the Tootsie Roll wrappers and empty root beer cans and gathered around my bed what I will call my library of indolence,” featuring such heroic figures as Bartleby the Scrivener and Oblomov. – The New York Times
Is What We Believe Merely The Product Of The Luck Of Our Social Circumstances?
It’s important to realise that the concern about beliefs being socially influenced is worrisome only if we’re deliberating about whether to maintain belief from the perspective of doubt. – Aeon
Last Of The Lost Medieval European Pigments Rediscovered
Folium, an ink with hues ranging from blue to purple that was used extensively to illuminate manuscripts, was derived from the small fruits of an unassuming weed native to southern Portugal. But folium had fallen out of use, so the recipe had been lost, along with the exact identity of the plant. Researchers have now found both, and conservators will be able to use it when manuscripts need restoration. – Smithsonian Magazine
Why You’re Feeling Zoom Fatigue
As experts in human-computer interaction point out, using Zoom means putting on a show for others without being able to rely on the cues we primates depend on in physical encounters. – Axios
Even You And I Can Learn This Merce Cunningham Dance At Home
Seriously? But Merce is hard. “And yet, this is what Patricia Lent, the director of licensing at the Cunningham Trust, is proposing. In a new online series, she has been systematically breaking down Cunningham’s solo 50 Looks into digestible slices.” Marina Harss explains. – The New York Times
Disney Heir Calls Out Walt Disney Co. Execs Taking Huge Bonuses While Slashing Employees’ Pay
“Abigail Disney, an Emmy award-winning film-maker and a granddaughter of the company’s co-founder Roy Disney, launched a Twitter tirade against the world’s biggest entertainment group … for protecting executive bonuses and dividends of more than $1.5bn while cutting the pay of more than 100,000 workers to help weather the financial impact of coronavirus.” – The Guardian