“James Beck, a Columbia University art historian who became well known as a critic of what he viewed as the ruinous conservation of world masterpieces, including Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, died on Saturday in Manhattan. … It was the extensive restoration of the Sistine Chapel frescos, begun in 1980, that initiated his vigorous critique of conservation in the art historical field. He argued that the Michelangelo frescos were being drastically overcleaned….”
Tag: 05.29.07
At Cooper-Hewitt, Good Design For The Poor
“The world’s cleverest designers, said Dr. (Paul) Polak, a former psychiatrist who now runs an organization helping poor farmers become entrepreneurs, cater to the globe’s richest 10 percent…. ‘We need a revolution to reverse that silly ratio,’ he said. To that end, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, which is housed in Andrew Carnegie’s 64-room mansion on Fifth Avenue and offers a $250 red chrome piggy bank in its gift shop, is honoring inventors dedicated to ‘the other 90 percent,’ particularly the billions of people living on less than $2 a day.”
Cannes Recognizes Romania’s Emerging Cinema
“The message from the Cannes Film Festival juries was clear: Romania rules. In its closing ceremony on Sunday the festival bestowed two of its most important prizes on Romanian films, affirming the vitality of this recently emerging cinema.”
A Play About Falluja Finds An Audience In London
“Soon after Falluja became a symbol of the horrific violence and aggressive American tactics in Iraq, the theater director Jonathan Holmes listened to a group of British generals and journalists conduct a post-mortem on what had happened during the assault on that town. … Thus the play ‘Fallujah,’ now at the Old Truman Theater in London’s East End, was born. The play (which uses the preferred British spelling in its title) is the latest entrant in the growing canon of documentary theater that concentrates on Iraq.”
Artists’ Heirs: Protectors Or Petty Tyrants?
A legal battle between the Comédie-Française and the brother of the late playwright Bernard-Marie Koltès “has served to highlight the power and privileges enjoyed by the heirs of creative artists. They may have no artistic talent of their own, but they bask in reflected glory, receive royalties and determine how works are interpreted or exploited.”
Tony Winner Charles Nelson Reilly Dies At 76
“Long before moving west to become what he somewhat ruefully described as a ‘game show fixture,’ Mr. Reilly was an actor and an acting teacher in New York City. In 1962, he won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Bud Frump in the original Broadway production of ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.’ But he was proudest of ‘The Belle of Amherst,’ a one-woman play starring Julie Harris based on the life of Emily Dickinson, which he directed on Broadway” in 1976.
On View At British Library: E-Mails From The Hoi Polloi
“In the collection of the British Library there are two Gutenberg Bibles, two copies of Magna Carta, five copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio and now something new: your e-mail messages. Or at least ones like them. Throughout this month the library, in partnership with Microsoft, has been collecting e-mail notes that ordinary Britons and others have sent — 13,807 so far — as a way of capturing a sense of life in the 21st century.”
Redesigning Playgrounds With Adolescents In Mind
“American playgrounds often seem anything but playful. Their equipment is designed not so much to let children have fun as to make sure they don’t hurt themselves. Sure, a simple sandbox and climbing gym are enough to mesmerize toddlers. But what’s to lure older children? … Hope may be on the horizon. We seem to be witnessing, if not a tipping point, then a seesaw tilt in playground design.”