At The Forefront, Art Dealers In Their 20s And Early 30s

Boston’s “surge in young dealers echoes a national trend, supported by a white-hot market for contemporary art in which prices are soaring, youth often equals cachet, and international art fairs and the Internet are turning what has largely been a storefront business into a global one. … This isn’t the first time young dealers have opened commercial galleries, but this time the market appears to be supporting them — and the kind of emerging artists many of them present.”

Where Are Hollywood’s Civil Rights Dramas?

“Of all the social, cultural and political touchstones of the baby boom generation … the civil rights movement has yet to be the subject of a pivotal, defining feature film,” Ann Hornaday writes. “Here is a chapter of American life whose legacy and ramifications — from Don Imus’s idea of humor to the decisions of the current Supreme Court — are still deeply, if painfully, felt. … It’s a chapter that — considering the ever-increasing number of bankable African American stars — seems not just worthy of Hollywood’s attention but positively ideal for a major movie event.”

Calling For Action Through The Museum Experience

Ralph Appelbaum of museum design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates talks about creating a 15,000-square-foot center in Seattle that will explain the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the public. “The way to get people emotionally engaged in information is to build a series of encounters that give them the tools to go to the next level — very much like the Holocaust Museum. … Much of the experience is making the case for action.”

John Szarkowski’s Aesthetic Of Noticing

“It’s worth remembering how much Wisconsin there was in the voice of John Szarkowski, who died on Saturday at age 81. His reputation would almost make you doubt what you were hearing. He was, after all, the curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art for 29 years, beginning in 1962. … I’m struck now by the essential modesty of that other place — the common-sensical view Szarkowski took of his curatorial work and his work as a photographer.”