“After confiding in just 20 trusted people of his suspicion that a painting in his church was a lost masterpiece, a priest in the small Flemish town of Zele, 45 miles north of Brussels, has had to call in the local police over its sudden disappearance. …The work, depicting Mary, Joseph and a sleeping baby Jesus, was due to be assessed within days by a respected Michelangelo expert.” — The Guardian
Tag: 01.14.19
Kanye West Gives $10 Million Toward James Turrell’s Great Land Art Piece
The rapper decided to donate the money after making what he called an “art pilgrimage” last month to see Turrell’s Roden Crater in Arizona’s Painted Desert. Turrell has been working on the project since 1977. — The Art Newspaper
After His Anti-Gay Instagram Post, Sergei Polunin Gets Dropped By Paris Opera Ballet
It was only last Thursday that the company announced that Polunin would be making a guest appearance as Siegfried in Swan Lake. Saturday, artistic director Aurélie Dupont announced that he wouldn’t be appearing after all, because of certain “public statements … [that] didn’t correspond to her values or to those of the institution she represents.” — The New York Times
Miami Art Mogul Launches Award He Hopes Will Rival The Turner Prize
Jorge M. Pérez, the real estate developer whose lead gift for a new building inspired the renaming of what is now the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), has endowed the $50,000 Jorge and Darlene Pérez Prize, an unrestricted award to a living artist selected by PAMM. An additional grant of $25,000 will go to a young alumnus of the National YoungArts Foundation in Miami. — Artnet
Christians In Israel Protest Against ‘McJesus’ Scuplture
“Hundreds of Christians protested outside the Haifa Museum of Art in Israel on Friday against Jani Leinonen’s McJesus sculpture of a crucified Ronald McDonald, conflating the American fast-food chain with the crucifixion. Yet the Finnish artist insists that he requested the work be removed … last September and that it is on display against his wishes.” — The Art Newspaper
Bass Theo Adam Dead At 92
“A distinguished Wagnerian and Strauss specialist, his more than four-decade international career saw him perform on the world’s greatest stages, but it was the Bayreuth Festival that he made his artistic home.” — Limelight (Australia)
IHeartRadio Launches A New Broadway Shows Channel
The new channel will compete with SiriusXM’s “On Broadway,” which also features songs and such hosts as Seth Rudetsky and John Tartaglia. – Washington Post
Hugh Grant Makes Appeal For Return Of Script Stolen From His Car
“In the unlikely chance that anyone knows who broke into my car tonight and stole my bag, please try and persuade them to at least return my script. Many weeks worth of notes and ideas. And perhaps my children’s medical cards.” – Variety
New Push To Locate Books Looted By Nazis
Given the scope of the looting, the task ahead remains mountainous. In Berlin, for example, at the Central and Regional Library, almost a third of the 3.5 million books are suspected to have been looted by the Nazis, according to Sebastian Finsterwalder, a provenance researcher there. “Most major German libraries have books stolen by the Nazis,” he said. – The New York Times
Music Makes Art Magic: Atelier des Lumières
Instead of relaxing into the New Year and creating the annual column about the favorite things of the last 12 months, we went to Paris. Yes, we saw a lot of art in a week. It was all glorious. But then we had this experience. — Margy Waller