Category: people

“If anything, it would be difficult to overstate the trajectory of this prolific polymath, whose bold futuristic imaginings, coupled with a belief in the transformative power of art, architecture and design, drove him to rethink everything from Broadway theater sets and department-store window displays to the look of vacuum cleaners, cocktail shakers, the automobile, the circus tent and an interstate highway system.”

The director of Big and A League of Their Own (and, way back when, Shirley’s pal Laverne) recounts one of the stranger break-ins we’ve heard of.

During WWII, “you didn’t need to live in the West to be touched by the hand of fear, as Yasuo Matsui found out. Even though he had lived here for four decades, designed one of New York’s tallest buildings and ran a major construction company, the Japanese-born architect was rousted out of bed on the night of the Pearl Harbor attack, held at Ellis Island for two months and spent the war under house arrest.”

The Italian/Brazilian Bo Bardi, who died in 1992, “was strong-willed and passionate,” could work with any material including stage sets – and should be an icon for a generation of architects dealing with economic crises and poverty.

“The home features doorknobs that never match, colorful paint applied asymmetrically, rugs that spiral out in teardrops of various colors, and a collection furniture made out of garment fabric.”

“The photo contradicts a misperception that Dickinson never left her house, when in fact she was quite social in her younger years, Kelly said. It also offers a strikingly different image from the existing photo of Dickinson as a frail, teen girl, which was taken before she began writing poetry. The newer image was taken when she was roughly 30.”

Curator Dina Dietsch: “I discovered reading seriously because of the Calvin Tomkins biography of Marcel Duchamp, a completely seductive read, which also sealed my career fate. I was deciding between being a veterinarian and art history.”

“In February, Fairey pleaded guilty to one count of criminal contempt for destroying documents, manufacturing evidence and other misconduct. The artist admitted in 2009 to destroying documents and submitting false images in his legal battle with the Associated Press.”

“Audience members rose to their feet at the sight of the tall, white-haired pianist as he was escorted to the podium. His appearance at the 50th Anniversary Gold Medalists Concert was unexpected, to say the least. His publicist announced late last month that Cliburn was diagnosed with advanced bone cancer.”

“Philip Roth has a new biographer: Blake Bailey, the author of highly regarded biographies of Richard Yates and John Cheever. … [In] June he and Mr. Roth signed a collaboration agreement guaranteeing him unlimited access to Mr. Roth’s archives and correspondence … The project will take him 8 to 10 years to complete, he estimated.”