Tag: 01.05.03

Picture Hunting – On The Hunt For Chicago’s WPA Murals

An effort to find and restore WPA murals in Chicago’s public schools has turned up hundreds of them – many painted over or tagged with graffiti. “Others had tears and severe water damage. And all of them were covered with up to 70 years’ worth of dirt and grime.” So far the project has resulted in restoration of 400 heavily damaged and hidden murals, painted during the WPA (1933-1943) and Progressive Era (1904-1933). Many of the works are by prominent artists.

Pressure To Perform

As arts funding declines, ticket revenue becomes more important for arts organizations. But waht does that mean for the kinds of art they make? “We have to ask how are we going to be true to our artistic vision – the original reason nonprofit theaters were founded – and yet not be irresponsible to our community by going out of business. As funding sources become tighter and tighter, this is the conflict facing all artistic nonprofits.”

From A Skeptic – What Explains The Glenn Gould Phenomenon?

Twenty years after he died of a stroke, pianist Glenn Gould is still a star. David Patrick Stearns wonders why. “Philosophically, I admire Gould’s irreverence: I believe that every performance should confront and challenge the listener. However, his insights often arose from obscure, perverse viewpoints. Once, he recorded Mozart piano sonatas to illustrate why the composer wasn’t, to his mind, much good. These interpretive agendas often weren’t presented with great regard for communication.”

Art Of Dance

“More than half of the art Edgar Degas produced during his 60-plus years as an artist depicts dancers. For his late career, the percentage rises to about two-thirds. Degas not only produced a lot of dance art, he created Western art’s most transcendent images of dancers and dance performance. It’s difficult to imagine that their radiance and authority could ever be duplicated, let alone surpassed.”

What Separates Humans From Other Animals?

“Culture was once thought to be a particularly human trait. But careful observation of apes demonstrated that they have culture, too. Before culture, tool use was considered a distinctively human capacity. Again, merely watching other creatures shows that this is not the case. One of the last refuges of the species exceptionalist is language, and indeed, human language does seem to be unique. What remains controversial is this: Does our use of language stem from some innate mental capacity that only humans possess?”

Don’t Break Up Andre Breton

A network of latter-day surrealophiles is objecting to the impending sale of surrealist Andre Breton’s collections at auction. “While the collection will be preserved on a CD-ROM, the signers of the petition insist that the contents of Breton’s jumbled anti-museum make sense “together and only together.” They call upon France to establish a permanent place to house this collection which, represents ‘the history of a powerful mind, whose creativity, imagination, and moral indignation” were directed toward “the singular possibility of changing life and transforming the world according to the life-affirming movement of desire.”

A Tale Of Two Concertos

To conductor James Levine’s way of thinking, there is plenty of important American music from the 20th Century that never had fair hearing. So he looks upon his new appointment as director of the Boston Symphony as a way to do something about it. “One of the principal attractions for Levine is that he will finally have the opportunity to serve as an advocate for contemporary music, and American music in particular. For him, this has been a lifelong commitment, but none of his previous positions has enabled him to pursue it fully.”

Building Brands, Building Audiences

Getting the word out about your arts orgainzation is not just a matter of printing brochures, making banners and producing marketing spots. The modern arts organization is a brand, and that takes careful management. Too crassly commercial, you’re thinking? Boston clients of one communications firm think not. “There are no contradiction between that kind of ‘corporate’ thinking and artistic risk-taking. Quite the contrary. If people get to recognize the organization, we will get to take more risks.”

Granta’s List Of Britain’s Best Young Novelists

Granta’s one-a-decade list of Britain’s best young novelists always creates a stir. “The list, like all literary prizes, is an attempt to bypass market imperfections, and is loved and loathed by publishers, who are inclined to dismiss it as irrelevant when they aren’t included, and to applaud its detachment and authority when they are.” This year’s list has its critics and defenders. “So were there any shoo-ins? Several judges mentioned, unsurprisingly, Zadie Smith.”