Margalit Fox: “Beard, a New York photographer, artist and naturalist to whom the word ‘wild’ was roundly applied, both for his death-defying photographs of African wildlife and for his own much-publicized days — decades, really — as an amorous, bibulous, pharmaceutically inclined man about town, was found dead in the woods on Sunday, almost three weeks after he disappeared from his home in Montauk on the East End of Long Island.” – The New York Times
Category: people
William Bailey, Modernist Figurative Painter, Has Died At 89
Bailey, who taught at the Yale School of Art for decades, created “pristine, idealized still lifes and female nudes [that] made him one of the leading figures in the return of figurative art in the 1980s.” – The New York Times
Writer Luis Sepulveda, Who Escaped Pinochet’s Dictatorship And Sailed With Greenpeace, Has Died At 70
Sepúlveda, who died of complications from Covid-19 in Spain, was imprisoned by the Chilean dictator’s regime and then was released to house arrest before he escaped, living underground for nearly a year before being recaptured and sentenced to 28 years in prison. He fled again and was stripped of his Chilean citizenship until 2017 – but he never returned. “Sepúlveda’s works, appreciated for their simple humour and depictions of life in South America, have been translated in some 50 countries and range from novels and screenplays to children’s stories.” – The Guardian (AFP)
What’s All This Fuss We Hear About Marina Abramović Being A Satanist?
“In one of the strangest art controversies in recent memory, a group of right-wing internet users and blogs have begun targeting Marina Abramović, accusing her of being involved in a Satanist cult. She has previously denied the allegations, but the claims have continued to be levied against her, and yesterday brought news that Microsoft deleted a YouTube advertisement for a new work by her after users had targeted it. But where did the claims come from in the first place? [Here’s] a guide to the controversy’s background.” – ARTnews
Actor Brian Dennehy, 81
“Standing 6-foot-3, Mr. Dennehy had a booming voice and an often intimidating screen presence. … [He] was celebrated for his work as a character actor in Hollywood and on television, where he earned six Emmy nominations. But he received even greater acclaim for his performances on the stage, starring in revivals of classic plays including O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo,” as well as the two productions for which he won Tony Awards, Miller’s Death of a Salesman and O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night. “‘If it doesn’t scare me,’ he once said of theatrical roles, ‘I’m not interested.'” – The Washington Post
Jazz Saxophonist Lee Konitz Dead At 92
“An exemplar of modern jazz improvisation, and arguably the most influential alto saxophone soloist after bebop progenitor Charlie Parker, … Konitz was one of the last jazz musicians of his era still in active circulation: his career has hummed along, apparently impervious to popular trends or external pressure, for the last 75 years.” – WBGO (Newark, NJ)
Wynn Handman, Revered Director And Acting Teacher, Dead Of COVID At 97
His American Place Theater staged important early work by the likes of Sam Shepard, Maria Irene Fornés, Eric Bogosian, and the poet Robert Lowell, but “his greatest hits, it might be said, were the actors who came through his classes, which he began teaching in the 1950s” — among the many were James Caan, Joel Grey, Faye Dunaway, Richard Gere, Dustin Hoffman, and John Leguizamo. Even at age 97, he was still leading classes. – The New York Times
The Complicated Legacy Of PT Barnum And What It Says About America
Showman, yes. Bamboozler, con artist, fantasist and entertainer. Each generation seems to need to revisit accounts of Barnum and mine from him the spirit that is core to America. – New York Review of Books
After Two Weeks, Photographer Peter Beard Still Missing
The 82-year-old, suffering from dementia, was last seen on March 31, walking the grounds of his cliffside oceanfront property near the eastern tip of Long Island. – The New York Times
Shailene Woodley, Doing (Now Online) Movie Release Press From A Big Social Distance
The actor, who had success as a child and in her teens and early twenties, says that social isolation with her dog isn’t the worst thing. “This feels like heaven in a lot of ways because I don’t have to talk to people, I don’t have to deal with people, I don’t even have to look at people. I can play the game of being an extrovert when I need to — it’s a big part of my job — but my happy place is honestly being alone.” – The New York Times