Tag: 02.29.04

The Getty’s $70 Million Titian?

The Getty doesn’t report how much it paid for art. But the London Telegraph last week reported that the Getty paid $70 million for a Titian in November. “If the report was accurate, the Titian is also the second most expensive Old Master painting ever sold, topped only by Rubens’ ‘The Massacre of the Innocents,’ sold to Lord Thomson of Fleet for $76.7 million at a 2002 auction.”

A Stolen Cezanne No One Knew About?

John Opit says art worth $67 million was stolen from his home in New South Wales. And he says one of the paintings stolen was a Cezanne worth $50 million. “None were insured. The claim has sent the art world into an understandably cynical spin. Some of the nation’s leading art experts say there is no record of the Cezanne painting and question its authenticity. They claim there are only five known Cezannes in the country and it is not one of them.”

On The Search For A… Cezanne?

“Art experts have been unable to find a record of the missing Cezanne, but Mr Opit defended the painting’s authenticity to the Murwillumbah-based Daily News, saying it had been examined under ultraviolet light and had the artist’s signature all over it. He said the painting had been in a private London collection before coming to Australia.”

Calatrava – Will Athens Make Him Tops?

“Whatever else happens at the Athens Olympics this summer, one way or another the games are going to make Santiago Calatrava the most famous architect in the world, pushing aside Frank Gehry and Daniel Libeskind. If the Greeks get his extraordinary design for the main stadium finished on time, his blue glass dome will be the most spectacular setting for the games in three decades…”

That Difficult Second Book – It’s Stacked Against You

“Apart from the justly renowned big guns, there are two kinds of writer at work in the English-speaking world today. First, there is the ‘writer’, who enjoys wide media coverage and is an expert manipulator of soundbite culture. The ‘writer’ has virtually no readership and keeps him or herself in play by the constant massaging of the literary media. Then there is that almost-forgotten figure: the writer, who stays at home, keeps regular hours, does the work, accumulates a readership and is virtually invisible.”

At The Chicago Symphony – What Next After Barenboim?

There is ambivalence about the Chicago Symphony’s Daniel Barenboim stepping down as music director. “Unsettling questions remain to be answered. By allowing Barenboim to walk out the door – a musician with a unique combination of intellectual curiosity, profoundly creative engagement with the process of making music and wide involvement with the world beyond the podium – the CSO has redefined, for better or worse, the role of music director.”