Category: today’s top story

“The altarpiece, by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, is showing its age, and on Wednesday officials from Belgium and the Getty Foundation are scheduled to announce in Ghent the beginning of an extensive restoration project, which will take place while the work remains on public view at its home, the St. Bavo Cathedral.”

Although La Cage aux Folles, from London’s Menier Chocolate Factory, “could even beat last year’s [Tony Awards] triumph, when Billy Elliot waltzed off with ten awards, the most intriguing underlying trend is the continuing success of British plays going to New York — and the relative failure of the traffic in the opposite direction.”

“Pablo Picasso’s sinuous 1932 lilac-hued painting of his mistress, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, fetched $106.5 million tonight at Christie’s International in New York, the highest amount ever paid for an artwork at auction.”

“It’s odd that a bunch of quadragenarians should make up the entirety of the short-list. The blurb says that the purpose of the prize is to “promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art.” What new development is any of this lot heralding?”

“After a long period in which America’s greatest talents seemed to work almost exclusively at the service of the wealthy, there are signs that their efforts are trickling down to other segments of society. … If things continue this way, it may actually mean a renewal of architecture’s onetime commitment to elevating the lives of ordinary people.”

“Judging by how much public art has been installed, overdoing it could be the next problem, with public artworks so much part of our streetscapes that they are almost obscured. Things have certainly changed since the only art installed in public spaces in Australia was bronze life-size statues of eminent persons.”

“Arts organizations in Seattle have complained for years about waning TV coverage. So earlier this year, the 5th Avenue Theatre teamed up with KING 5 TV to craft a solution: Arts groups would start paying for coverage by buying segments on a new daytime talk show called New Day Northwest – segments not labeled as commercials.”

“Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the nation’s most successful dance troupes, said on Wednesday that it would entrust its future to Robert Battle, a 37-year-old outside choreographer who has had a long association with the company.”

“The Hôtel Drouot is France’s oldest, largest, most storied and most profitable auction site.” This winter, “the French police exposed what is said to be an extensive art-trafficking ring within the auction house. … But perhaps more surprising than the thefts themselves is the culture of casual corruption that Justice Ministry investigators uncovered when they conducted their own investigation after the scandal broke.”

“The iPad screen now allows him to make images of greater scale and complexity. Instead of just using one finger, he finds himself drawing with all of them. Is that more difficult than using a conventional pencil, brush or pen? ‘In a way, it’s faster,’ he says. ‘I can change color or the width of the mark very rapidly on this, quicker than with an ordinary computer.'”