The Venice Film Festival may have traded some of its credibility for the allure of Hollywood glitz, but one critic says that there are still great films to be found, if you can force your way through the bantering celebrities and “execrable” Calista Flockhart flicks. “There have been some good, even great films in the festival’s first few days. Two are outstanding. And one, although it is in the competition, is nothing short of a blockbuster, complete with big stars and Oscar-worthy everything being trumpeted from massive posters along the Venice Lido’s main drag.”
Tag: 09.06.05
Speculation In Cleveland
“Trustees of the Cleveland Museum of Art have been mum on the search for a new director. But that hasn’t stopped one current and one former candidate from talking. Charles Venable, the museum’s deputy director for collections and programs, acknowledged publicly last week that he’s one of a small number of candidates under consideration. Meanwhile, Michael Shapiro, director of the High Museum in Atlanta, said he withdrew, as he put it, ‘before an offer was finalized.'” The museum would like to have a new director in place by the time ground is broken for its massive expansion and renovation on October 1, but isn’t setting any firm deadlines for the process.
Waxing Nostalgic
Long before CDs – before cassettes, 8-tracks, and even those old 78 records, for that matter – there was Thomas Edison and his wax cylinders. “From John Philip Sousa’s patriotic band to the Fred Van Epps Banjo Orchestra to obscure Hawaiian hula medleys, Edison’s cylinders brought recorded music to the masses and set the stage for the entire industry to develop. Along with performers, he recorded the important and interesting people of his era talking about their work, including Andrew Carnegie, the industrialist, and Thomas A. Watson, the assistant to Alexander Graham Bell.” Hundreds of these earliest examples of recorded sound are still strewn about Edison’s New Jersey lab, and historians are working to catalog and digitize their contents.
No Help Coming In Effort To Keep Titian In UK
A major painting by Titian is being put up for sale, and the National Gallery, which last year prevented Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks from being purchased by a foreign bidder with an emergency infusion of cash from the government, hoped to do the same with the Titian. But the Heritage Lottery Fund, which grudgingly ponied up for the Raphael, calls the acquisition of art a “low priority.” Adding to the intrigue is the consenseus opinion of art experts that the Titian is a more significant work than the Raphael.
Officials Warn Against Press Scrutiny
Scotland’s First Minister is personally involved in the d’Offay negotiations, but Scottish officials have warned that the media attention is jeopardizing a potential deal. The collector has made it known that he would like his art holdings to be housed in Scotland, but there are numerous logistical hurdles to be overcome, not the least of which is a lack of appropriate space in either Glasgow or Edinburgh to house the massive collection.
Beijing And London To Swap Art
London and Beijing make an agreement for a big swap of archaeological treasures. “This could lead to one or more of China’s world-famous terracotta warriors going on show at the British Museum and to Chinese crowds having their first chance to see Egyptian mummies and cuneiform tablets from London. The directors of the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum, who are in China with Tony Blair, unveiled the exchange deals after two years of secret preparations.”