“Virtus it was called back then [in ancient Rome]. And I mention it only because it is thought, despite its occasional differences, to be a distant ancestor of the quality we moderns claim to prize most: the ever-changeable, mutating phantoms of righteousness, ethics, and propriety that we shove into a large glittering gift box and call virtue.”
Tag: 05.24.10
The Sculptor Whose Work Gets Mistaken For Henry Moore’s
“Barbara Hepworth took the fast track to critical success. By the time she was 33, the English sculptor was exhibiting her stone carvings with Kandinsky, Mondrian, Miro, Giacometti, and Calder. … In recent years, however, Hepworth’s position among the Masters of Modernism has slipped.”
Charles Darwin Was An Experimental Psychologist
“Darwin conducted one of the first studies on how people recognize emotion in faces, according to new archival research … [His] little-known experiment is a forerunner of modern psychology experiments on people who cannot properly recognize emotion in faces.”
“Trisha Brown Is The Sexiest Dancer Alive”
So said Stephen Petronio during a panel discussion among six former Brown dancers about how her ideas informed their own choreography.
Art Institute Of Chicago Lays Off 65, Mainly In Security
“President and director James Cuno announced in a town hall-style meeting Thursday that approximately 50 security managers would be relieved, with the option to re-apply for their positions. An additional 15 staff members, or 2 percent of the museum’s total staff, were laid off within departments ranging from museum education to retail operations and the facility’s physical plant.”
Appreciation: Michael Kuchwara
“The community’s love for Mike was tangible in the days of agony that preceded his death — a hectic time on the theatrical calendar…. Hearing that he was hospitalized, colleagues began visiting regularly; news of his condition flowed from friend to friend; press reps at the various shows opening handed out updates on his precarious state along with the press tickets.”
On The Walls Of A Mosque, Painted Scenes Of Battle
“Painting living creatures, and especially humans, is extremely controversial in Islam and banned completely by some sects.” But at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, “worshipers gaze up at something that was illegal under Saddam Hussein’s rule and even now could put the mosque at risk: paintings” depicting the 7th-century battle that led to the Shiite-Sunni split.
Broadway To Dim Lights Tonight In Honor Of Kuchwara
“Liza Minnelli and Edward Albee also issued statements. Minnelli remembered [longtime AP theatre critic Michael] Kuchwara as an artistic and thoughtful man who took pride in his work. Albee called the loss of such ‘an intelligent and perceptive critic … an especially sad note.'”
Out Of Anger, A New Award For Women In Theatre Is Born
Sparked by an e-mail from Theresa Rebeck, the Lillian Hellman Awards for Outstanding Achievement by Women in the Theater — a.k.a. the Lilly Awards — came into existence this month after “not only the Tonys but several of the other season-end awards orgs honoring Broadway and Off Broadway had once again cited very few female theater artists … for their contributions.”
Advice To Young Critics
“If you want to write, the best thing is to read whatever you can get your hands on – novels, poetry, literary as well as art criticism, theory, love letters, the backs of cornflakes packets, the writings of ferocious lunatics and great stylists alike.”