With art theft on the rise, the FBI is forming its first art theft unit. “The eight agents, who will be deployed around the country, are learning not just about art theft, but about art itself, including art history and how to distinguish artists, periods and styles.”
Tag: 01.14.05
Why The Anonymous Review?
Why do trade publications publish anonymous reviews? “There are nearly 500 books a day published in America, or enough in a year to fill an average-size college library. No one could possibly read reviews of them all, let alone the books themselves. Even the team of Stakhanovite readers at Publishers Weekly can cover only about 10,000 books a year. Faced with this annual tsunami of literature, we all must grasp at any bit of solid support that comes to hand. We have no choice but to seek advice. That’s one reason why Publishers Weekly and Kirkus cling to their policy of anonymity: It suggests a magisterial, objective, authoritative source, unsullied by personal biases. Yet the opinions actually on offer in these magazines are every bit as quirky, perverse and prone to bias as they are in publications where the writers must take responsibility for what they say.”
MoMA’s Truitt Goes To The Hospital
Tyler Green reports that an Anne Truitt piece on display at the Museum of Modern Art has come down. “She was a dame, a solid dame. They called her Catawba and she was short and squat, which is good enough for me. Her green and black bands soaked up light the way a napkin soaks up the sweat that falls down a beer glass.” Why is it gone? Damage caused by a visitor…
Turnaround In Minnesota
By the standards of the orchestra industry, Minnesota Orchestra president Tony Woodcock did not have a smooth first few weeks on the job in 2003, as a bitter behind-the-scenes battle over his appointment spilled into the press. But in a little over a year on the job, he has “led a financial turnaround at the venerable institution and now plans to further strengthen it with a $50 million fund-raising campaign.” On top of the financial success, Woodcock’s employees say that he has begun to heal the deep wounds left by previous managements, and to reassert the orchestra as one of the Twin Cities’ most valued cultural mainstays.
Handicapping The Oscars: What’s The Point?
Handicapping Hollywood’s various awards shows used to be a simple matter of watching a lot of movies, and assessing which was the best. These days, you need a calculator, an official odds cheatsheet, and a serious knowledge of the industry’s increasingly absurd social order to even begin to make a prediction. “But don’t we risk losing some of the fun and surprise of awards night, by trying so hard to figure out something that is essentially unfathomable? Didn’t most critics get into arts writing because they didn’t want to grow up and become accountants?”
Whitney Biennial Curators Named
The Whitney Biennial will be curated for the first time by two Europeans in 2006, with British-born Whitney curator Chrissie Iles teamed with Frenchman Philippe Vergne, senior curator at the Minneapolis-based Walker Art Center. “Both curators say it is too early to give any specific details about the direction the biennial will take or what themes, if any, will be addressed. Nor do they know if works will be shown in Central Park, as in the last two biennials.”
EU Bank Looks Forward With New Headquarters
“The European Central Bank, seeking a home worthy of its growing stature in the financial world, on Thursday awarded the design of its new headquarters here to a Viennese firm, Coop Himmelb(l)au, which proposed a bold pair of twisted towers linked by a soaring atrium… Design professionals were pleasantly surprised by the choice, saying that the bank’s headquarters would be a landmark on Frankfurt’s skyline – perhaps even a powerful symbol of Europe’s economic integration – provided it was not watered down too much during the building process.”
Adding Some Color To Classical Music
Classical music may not be as elitist as some claim, but there’s no disputing the obvious fact that it attracts almost none of America’s famous racial diversity. In fact, an African-American musician in a symphony orchestra is such an unusual sight as to be jarring, and token attempts to bridge the racial gap have generally been short-lived and unsuccessful. So when an entire ensemble of minority musicians starts to achieve commercial and critical success with a classical product, it’s worth taking note, and Imani Winds, which brings together African-American and Latino composers and performers with an interest in serious new music, is establishing itself as a unique voice in the lily-white classical wilderness.
What, Did He Flunk Phys Ed Or Something?
Filmmaker Michael Moore may be a hero to thousands of disenfranchised liberals across the country, but at his old high school in Michigan, his name doesn’t engender a whole lot of respect. Nominated three times to the high school’s honorary “hall of fame,” Moore has been soundly rejected all three times, with one voter describing the controversial documentarian as “an embarrassment.” Still, some rather determined sorts are actually spending money this year in an attempt to enshrine Moore in the hall.
The Day Lang Lang Came To Dinner
Pianist Lang Lang is much in demand these days, and like any soloist, his schedule generally demands that he flit from city to city, with barely enough time to accustom himself to the piano placed in front of him before it’s time to move on to the next one. And yet, there Lang was in Detroit this week, taking an entire day off to entertain 80 schoolchildren at a private home. “It’s difficult to convey how rare it is for a pianist of Lang’s celebrity to find his way to an anonymous suburban home to play a free concert disconnected from any corporate sponsorship or commercial agenda or the kinds of formalized outreach and education programs that have become de rigueur in classical music. Maybe Brad Pitt accepting an invitation to your daughter’s birthday party would be a similar jaw dropper.”