Russian Wins Cliburn

Russia’s Alexander Kobrin, 25, has won the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The silver medal went to Joyce Yang, 19, of South Korea. Sa Chen, 25, of China took third place. “Each medalist wins $20,000 in cash, three years of concert tours and career management and the opportunity to record an album. Kobrin also will perform internationally.”

Pollock Or Not?

It looks like there will be protracted battles to determine whether a trove of paintings said to be by Jackson Pollock are authrntic or not. With lines in the dispute being drawn, “they should get the paintings out and let the sides be drawn and make some new educated observations. The thing to do is to keep an open mind until it’s all sorted out.”