“It’s all very well to ask big questions about the essence of creativity; pondering them can be valuable. But after a while, when it becomes evident that these questions lack answers, or are answerable only self-referentially, it all becomes a little tiresome. Especially given that artists themselves, in the case of creativity, rarely know how their original ideas arise. It’s all a big mystery.”
Tag: 04.24.08
When Artists And Authors Collaborate (It Isn’t Pretty)
“To authors, the text is sacrosanct, and any accompanying visuals – whether on the cover or the page – are there to serve it. To artists, the text is only one of several considerations: colour, shape, design, texture and technical innovation are at least as important. That’s why authors can be less than thrilled when a Matisse, Picasso or Damien Hirst collaborates on an illustrated edition. The problem isn’t so much competing egos as conflicting agendas.”
Edith Wharton Estate Fends Off Foreclosure
“The 97-year-old estate where the Pulitzer Prize-winning author penned House of Mirth and found inspiration for Ethan Frome has temporarily avoided foreclosure after raising $800,000 by today’s deadline.”
Berlin Philharmonic Executive Director Steps Down
Pamela Rosenberg has decided she “no longer wants to be attached to an institution and wants to spend her time on individual projects. That means she won’t go to any other institution, like an opera house, either.”
Malevich Heirs Make Deal With Stedelijk Museum
“Heirs of Russian artist Kazimir Malevich settled a dispute with the city of Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, getting five paintings in return for the right to keep the remaining Malevich works in the city’s collection.”
Tony Blair Through An Artist’s Eye – A Troubled Official Portrait
“Blair sits uneasy and exhausted in a shadowy interior in Hale’s painting, in a dark suit and without a tie. The unbuttoned shirt is apparently a break with protocol for parliamentary portraits, but this portrait is unbuttoned in other ways too. Blair looks gloomily away from the artist, fixed on thoughts of his own; he doesn’t conceal age, or exhaustion, or care. It’s a melancholy rather than triumphal image.”
What Art Is/Was In New York
“Those who now say that New York is finished because the market is ruining everything need to get a grip. Several times in the past 40 years, New York artists faced oblivion. More bad art may be being made and sold now than ever before but each artist has to deal with what the market means to him or her in the privacy of their own studio.”
Lessons From A Yale Student’s “Artwork”?
“Immaturity, self-importance and a certain confused earnestness will always loom large in student art work. But they will usually grow out of it. What of the schools that teach them?”
The Steady Rise Of Art Banking
As global wealth becomes ever more concentrated in the hands of a few, those who view art as a high-end investment are looking for advice and counsel from those who know the art world best. “Art banking is just one of a growing number of non-traditional wealth-management services for the ultrarich.”
The Lost Concerto, Finally Found
Hindemith’s Klaviermusik mit Orchester has been one of the composer’s most played works since 2004. But Hindemith wrote the concerto in 1923, and the story of how it came to be unavailable for performance for 80 years is a fascinating, and confusing, tale.