To encourage private collectors in the West to repatriate such pieces, Shindika Dokolo hopes to set up a war chest funded by Angolan businesses, including the State oil firm Sonangol, to reimburse buyers who purchased such items in good faith. “I want to organise a business club around the idea of heritage and start buying it back. I want to create an instrument that is effective,” Dokolo says.
Tag: 12.14.14
Freer And Sackler Galleries Put Images Of All Their Art Online (Here’s Why)
“The technology pushes the boundaries of what it means to be a museum because it allows for unrestricted study and enjoyment of the collection. Next month’s release will include at least one image of each work — the majority in high-resolution — and the collection will be searchable and largely downloadable for non-commercial use.”
“Scandalous Desecration”: Restorers Paint Walls Of Chartres Cathedral; Architecture Critic Flips Out
“Looking upward we then saw panels of blue faux marbre, high above them gilded column capitals and bosses (the ornamental knobs where vault ribs intersect), and, nearby, floor-to-ceiling piers covered in glossy yellow trompe l’oeil marbling, like some funeral parlor in Little Italy. How could this be happening, and why had we heard nothing about it before?”
Thanks To The Nobel, Americans Are Finally Paying Attention To Patrick Modiano
“One of his most famous works, Missing Person,” … had sold just 2,031 copies before the prize was announced in October, and has since sold more than 13,600 copies. … Now, a big commercial publishing house has acquired Mr. Modiano’s latest novel, with the hope of drawing more American readers to his work.”
Opera Birmingham Gets A New General Director
“Wolfe, 43, is leaving his post as executive director of Fort Worth Opera to succeed John D. Jones, who has directed Opera Birmingham for 16 years.”
Hilary Mantel’s “Assassination Of Margaret Thatcher” Story Brouhaha Starts Up Again
BBC Radio 4 announced that the historical fantasy would be read on the popular Book at Bedtime broadcast, and the folks who fussed when the story was published this fall have resumed fussing. Says Mantel, “You’d think they’d learn. I was bemused when Lord Bell suggested the police should interest themselves in the case of a fictional assassination of a person who was already dead.”
Software Glitch Drops Amazon UK Marketplace Prices To One Penny; Sellers Panic
“There were Christmas shopping bargains galore on Amazon’s website over the weekend … for about an hour. Because of a technical glitch, the prices of thousands of items crashed to 1p – giving eagle-eyed customers a pre-Christmas treat while leaving scores of small family-owned businesses nursing heavy losses, with some warning they could enter the new year facing closure.”
The New Louvre Will Still Be Monumental, But It Won’t Be As Scary
Among the changes: “Revamping the museum’s basic storytelling tools: almost 40,000 banners, wall text, signs and symbols that now explain its treasures in French. The plan is to make them more readable and concise, in English and Spanish for the vast majority of visitors searching for cloakrooms or the Mona Lisa in the sprawl of a museum that dates to 1190, when it was a fortress for King Philippe II.”
Don’t Blame The Labels – The Internet Killed The Music Biz (And Perhaps Music Itself)
“I miss those suits at the major labels calling the shots and deciding what was worthy of release. The suits made hits and created stars because they knew something. The suits had been around the block and back, having experienced, firsthand, everyone.”
The Mystery Around This Art Deco Theatre In Sydney Deepens As Possible Owners Float A Plan To Save It
“Escalating hostilities between the pair have brought legal challenges, Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearings and even a restraining order that prevents the landlord from entering his own building. … Now, though, peace may have broken out.”