“Henry Varnum Poor, who died in 1970, is little known now, but he painted landscapes, portraits and murals in a loose, Picasso-like style; created ceramics that are in the collections of museums like the Art Institute of Chicago; and built a few houses for famous friends like Burgess Meredith and Maxwell Anderson.” The artist’s home “is slated to become a museum and artists’ residence,” but his son “still owns the contents … and he has begun selling major pieces or donating them to museums.”
Tag: 04.23.09
One Day Only On Albert Hall Walls: Its History In Graffiti
“The venerable Royal Albert Hall has commissioned street artists to transform the blank walls of its loading bay with graffiti art for a unique one-day exhibition. LOAD will chronicle the venue’s rich 138-year history coving performances by legendary artists such as Jimi Hendrix, pictured, Pavarotti, Eric Clapton, The Killers and Frank Sinatra.”
Itinerant Anti-Gay Church To Protest Rent At Calif. School
“A Kansas-based church known for celebrating at the funerals of American soldiers killed in war plans to protest the staging of the musical ‘Rent’ at an Orange County high school Friday. The Westboro Baptist Church intends to picket at Corona del Mar High as classes let out and as audience members arrive for the play. Counter-protesters also plan to attend.”
Murakami Prints From Handbag Leftovers Spark Fraud Suit
“They may not have realized it, but the folks who snapped up as much as $4-million worth of limited-edition prints by artist Takashi Murakami two years ago at the special Louis Vuitton boutique inside his exhibition at L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art apparently were getting nicely mounted handbags — minus the snaps and straps.” One man who’s sued Vuitton says that’s fraud.
Taking A Tip From Ira Glass Et Al, WNYC Shows Its Faces
“On Tuesday WNYC radio’s Jerome L. Greene Performance Space will open its doors on Charlton and Varick Streets in Lower Manhattan,” offering passers-by the chance “to peer in on public radio in the making” as various popular shows “begin monthly broadcasts before audiences there. But the space, envisioned as a laboratory in which to rethink public radio as an interactive medium, will also host concerts, audio theater and political debates, many streamed live on thegreenespace.org.”
Updike’s Final Verse Confronts His Coming Death
“‘Endpoint and Other Poems’ is, apparently, the last book that John Updike saw through the press before his death this past January. In these pages he writes with devastating plainness about illness and old age…. If L.E. Sissman, whose witty and civilized poetry Updike admired, hadn’t already taken the title, this slender book could easily have been called: ‘Dying: An Introduction.'”
Sans Billionaires, Auction Of Russian Art Largely Tanks
“‘For the current economic climate, the results are good,’ said Natalia Kolodzei, executive director of the U.S.-based Kolodzei Art Foundation, which promotes Russian art. ‘If we saw such results a year and a half ago, it would have been a catastrophe,’ she said.”
Why Movies Are Thriving: We’re Seeing Summer Crop Now
“Hollywood is heading toward its first $10 billion year at the box office, scoring with moviegoers during the recession by pulling films from the crowded summer schedule and releasing them in theaters earlier. … The result is the fastest growth since 2002, according to Box Office Mojo, which puts this year’s gain at 14 percent.” The results “are convincing studios the first quarter has more revenue potential, and may explain why ticket sales are increasing when U.S. joblessness is at a 25- year high.”
Actors Feel The Domino Effect Of Theatres’ Cutbacks
“It’s hard to know just how many fewer jobs there will be for stage actors this year,” but of the 200 nonprofit theaters that responded to a Theatre Communications Group survey several months ago, “20 percent said they planned to shorten their seasons; 30 percent said they planned to produce plays with smaller casts. One big drawback: Actors need to work a minimum number of weeks to qualify for health insurance through their union, Actors’ Equity Association.”
August Wilson Is Back On B’way. Why’s The Director White?
“In life, the playwright August Wilson had an all-but-official rule: No white directors for major productions of his work” — a rule that’s been broken in a big way, albeit with his widow’s consent, with the selection of Tony winner Bartlett Sher to direct the Broadway revival of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” The choice “has prompted concern and even outrage among some black directors, who say this production represents a lost opportunity for a black director, for whom few opportunities exist on Broadway or at major regional theaters.”