“For most of his life, Martin Munkacsi was a madcap adventurer, Candide with a camera.” The great early 20th-century photojournalist is having a retrospective at New York’s International Center of Photography, with new prints made from lost glass negatives which turned up on eBay two years ago.
Tag: 03.12.09
In Bad Economy, Is Ethos Of Art Institute School At Risk?
“When ‘Duke’ Wellington Reiter rode into town last August, to take the reins at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, some of the locals got a little nervous. … The scent of change was in the air.” Now Reiter has called a school-wide meeting, and some wonder “whether the projected financial crunch will become an excuse for altering the distinctive character of the school, which is known for its broad curriculum and its proud aversion to anything as restrictive and reductive as majors and grades.”
The Million-Dollar Ballerina
“The $1 million fund has been donated by Melbourne businessman Ian Hicks and his three children in memory of their wife and mother, Dorothy. Mrs Hicks, a passionate balletomane, died of cancer in 2007.” The money endows the salary of one of Australian Ballet’s principal dancers.
Art Gallery of Ontario Considers Cutting 108 Jobs
The Toronto museum “has confirmed it has named 61 full-time employees for possible layoff in order to cut costs. Another 47 temporary positions are also being considered for elimination.”
Gergiev – The Condctor, The Music, The Politics
Valery Gergiev’s “insertion of music into the Russian political context followed in a long tradition. But whatever you make of the politics, the performance was also characteristically Gergievian in its drive to burst through the prissy, buttoned-up corsets that bind classical music, with the aim of releasing a dangerous vitality. In that way, too, Gergiev is very Russian.”
California High-Tech Museum Closing
“When it opened in 2004, the Orange Lounge was touted as the first museum space on the West Coast devoted exclusively to digital and video art, as well as the only venue of its kind located in a major retail complex.”
Bolaño, Filkins Win Nat’l Book Critics Circle Awards
The late Roberto Bolaño’s 2666, one of this year’s literary sensations, took the fiction prize, while The Forever War, NY Times correspondent Dexter Filkins’s examination of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, took nonfiction honors. In a first, the poetry award was split two ways, between August Kleinzahler and Juan Felipe Herrera.
Goodman Theater’s Dennehy Double-Bill Headed To Broadway
“Brian Dennehy, Robert Falls and the Goodman Theater are already planning their next stint on Broadway. A Dennehy double bill of one-acts, slated for the 2009-10 season at the Chicago regional, has been pegged by the theater as a pre-Rialto engagement.” The plays are O’Neill’s Hughie and Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape.
Baltimore Opera Throws In The Towel
“Three months after seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and canceling the remainder of the 2008-2009 season, the board of trustees of the Baltimore Opera Company voted today to pursue Chapter 7 liquidation instead and dissolve the 58-year-old organization.”
Atlanta Ballet’s Executive Director Heads For Boston
Barry Hughson will leave the Atlanta Ballet in May after only two years. “He will take over the Boston Ballet, one of five largest ballet companies in the country. Its $25 million budget is more than three times that of Atlanta, which has a budget of $8 million.”