“The César Academy has been under fire since announcing the 12 nominations for Roman Polanski’s An Officer and a Spy, as well reportedly shutting out feminist personalities such as the [filmmaker] Claire Denis and author Virginie Despentes from one its gala events preceding the ceremony. Many in the industry have pointed out the lack of gender parity, diversity and transparency within the César’s voting body, as well as within the academy itself.” – Variety
Tag: 02.11.20
Bizarre Twist In Case Of Stolen Klimt Found In Museum Wall
The 1916-17 Portrait of a Lady, stolen from an art gallery in Italy in 1997, was discovered hidden in a wall of that very museum this past December. Now an entry in the diary of the gallery’s director at the time of the theft raises the possibility that the painting’s disappearance could possibly have been a publicity stunt gone wrong. – The Guardian
Surprise: There’s Been A Rembrandt In Allentown, Pa. For 59 Years
The 1632 Portrait of a Young Woman was attributed to Rembrandt van Rijn when it was given to the Allentown Art Museum in 1961, but during the 1970s the attribution was changed to a student from the master’s studio. But after the painting was sent to a high-tech NYU lab in 2018 for “routine conservation,” scholars reconsidered. – Smithsonian Magazine
Baltimore Symphony Board Adopts Five-Year ‘Master Plan’ To Solve Its Financial Crisis
No details about money or the length of the season have been announced yet; the first will probably come out later this month, and the second will be addressed in this year’s contract negotiations. But there are plans to live-stream concerts and give performances in Baltimore neighborhoods and around Maryland. – The Baltimore Sun
Varna International Ballet Competition Postponed Indefinitely
The world’s oldest ballet competition, held every second year on an outdoor stage in the Bulgarian seaside resort town of Varna, simply hasn’t raised enough money to go ahead this summer. – Dance Magazine
Our Central Need: Meaning
Viktor Frankl argued that literature, art, religion and all the other cultural phenomena that place meaning at their core are things-unto-themselves, and furthermore are the very basis for how we find purpose. In private practice, Frankl developed a methodology he called ‘logotherapy’ – from logos, Greek for ‘reason’ – describing it as defined by the fact that ‘this striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man’. He believed that there was much that humanity can live without, but if we’re devoid of a sense of purpose and meaning then we ensure our eventual demise. – Aeon
Angela Hewitt’s $200,000 Piano Destroyed By Movers
She had just finished recording some Beethoven, and movers were taking her piano from the Berlin studio; they dropped it while trying to lift it onto a hand truck, and the instrument’s iron frame crashed and its lid split in two. The Fazioli F278, custom-made for Hewitt, was the only one of its model with four pedals; Paolo Fazioli himself examined it and called it “unsalvageable.” – The Guardian
Joseph Shabalala, Founder Of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Dead At 78
The male choral group had been active in South Africa for two decades when Paul Simon featured them on his 1986 album Graceland — after which they shot to international fame, won five Grammy Awards, and brought Zulu music to a global audience. – BBC
POSTMODERN DEAD END?
The postmodern fiction of Dave Eggers and David Foster Wallace can tie you up in knots and circles. But is their tangle a literary dead end? Or is there a way out? Keith Gessen looks for clues. – Feed
A BORING BOOK ABOUT DRAGONS?
So Seamus Heaney won this year’s Whitbread “Book of the Year” honors. And Harry Potter’s J.K Rowling won “Children’s Book of the Year.” Something for everyone. But the judges let slip Rowling lost “Book of the Year” by only one vote, and now a big brouhaha has erupted. – MSNBC (Newhouse)