“There’s a real lack of faith in both the meaning and power of cultural artefacts and their history. Because many museums are not interested in that anymore. They’re far more interested in making themselves feel better about a past they had nothing to do with.”
Tag: 03.16
Was Ever Thus: Being A Writer Has Always Been Precarious
“What is ‘literary culture’?”; “What is taste?”; “Why in the English 20th century did certain kinds of writing prosper only for others to fall by the wayside?”; “Why did certain critics succeed in forming or altering the opinions of the literary public and others fail?” “How much?”
Inside The Battle For Picasso’s Multi-Billion-Dollar Estate
When Picasso died, 43 years ago at the age of 91, he left an astounding number of works—more than 45,000 in all. (“We’d have to rent the Empire State Building to house all the works,” Claude Picasso said when the inventory was completed.) Picasso did not leave a will.
Misty Copeland And NYC Dance Project Recreate Degas’s Ballet Scenes
“‘It was interesting to be on a shoot and to not have the freedom to just create like I normally do with my body,’ she says. ‘Trying to re-create what Degas did was really difficult. It was amazing just to notice all of the small details but also how he still allows you to feel like there’s movement.'”
Not Your Parents’ Library: Libraries Across America Have Reinvented Themselves
“There are three areas where libraries function as vibrant centers of America’s towns: technology, education, and community.”
Math Revolution? Some American Students Are Suddenly Really Good At Math. Why?
“You wouldn’t see it in most classrooms, you wouldn’t know it by looking at slumping national test-score averages, but a cadre of American teenagers are reaching world-class heights in math—more of them, more regularly, than ever before. The phenomenon extends well beyond the handful of hopefuls for the Math Olympiad.”
An Arts Revolution Is Transforming Small Cities
As part of an Atlantic cover story on how down-and-out-of-the-way cities and towns in the U.S. are reviving themselves, James Fallows writes, “Perhaps the topic on which I’ve most changed my mind through our travels concerns the civic importance of local arts, and the energy being devoted to them across the country. Almost every place we visited offers an example.” (scroll down to fourth boldface sub-headline)