Bookstores report they have been packed continuously since last weekend’s release of the new Harry Potter book. Barnes & Noble said it had its biggest weekend in history, selling 502,000 Potters as of the close of business on Sunday night. The publisher plans to print about two million more copies in the next few months, adding to the 3.8 million copies generated during the first U.S. print run. – Philadelphia Inquirer
Tag: 07.12.00
HERITAGE ON SALE
The theft and destruction of Cambodian artifacts is massive. Reporters come across a man in the jungle selling green ceramic bowls. “They were 1,000-years old and from a kiln on top of the mountain. The seller wanted 10,000 riels for each bowl – a mere $2.50. We asked the seller whether he was afraid of breaking the law, and he said he didn’t know there was any law. He had just dug them up in the jungle.” – Time Asia
THE ART OF NAZI FINANCING
Did Chase Manhattan bank help the German ambassador to France steal Jewish-owned artwork during the Second World War? The World Jewish Congress thusly accused the bank on Wednesday, saying that according to a U.S. Treasury Department report, Chase’s French branch was actively aiding Nazi Germany in securing assets. “There is evidence that German assets were placed at Chase, which were used in transactions involving Jewish looted art.” – Yahoo! (Reuters)
RAINING ON THE COW PARADE
The 500 New York painted fiberglass cows and their “suburban cousins” in New Jersey and Connecticut won’t be off the streets until fall, when they’ll be auctioned off for charity. Here are seven reasons why that’s way too long a wait. – New York Times
A TRUNK FULL OF ART
For years a Minneapolis woman guarded a trunk full of old photos taken before World War I without caring much what they were. When she finally went searching for their history she was “rewarded with a family story that involves murder, prison, an earthquake, royalty, musicians and the photographer’s affair in Vienna with an Italian count.” – The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
NOW THERE’S A THESIS TOPIC FOR SOMEBODY
“In March, Christie’s Auction House of New York City unloaded all of the 60 paintings created by artists that happen also to be elephants, including Sao (a former log-hauler in Thailand’s timber industry), whose work was likened by Yale art historian Mia Fineman to work of Paul Gauguin for its ‘broad, gentle, curvy brush strokes’ and ‘a depth and maturity.’ Fineman said she is writing a book on the three distinct regional styles of Thai elephant art.” – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
SMARTING IN PHILLY
For awhile it looked like conductor Simon Rattle might be the Philadelphia Orchestra’s new music director. But then Rattle went ahead and agreed to take on the Berlin Philharmonic. The conductor’s recorded debut with that orchestra is a hint at what might have been. – Philadelphia Inquirer
STILL HOPING IN BOSTON
The Boston Symphony – needing to replace music director Seiji Ozawa – had resigned itself to being an also-ran in the Rattle sweepstakes. But now news that Rattle’s marriage with Berlin might be on the rocks even before it begins, has the Bostonians hopeful again. –Boston Herald
THE ART WORLD’S NOBEL
Two American and three European artists (composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, architect Richard Rogers, sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle, composer Hans Werner Henze, and painter Ellsworth Kelly) received the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale Award Tuesday. The lifetime achievement prizes are among the largest in the arts world, and come with a stipend of $140,000. – New York Times
GRAHAM DANCERS SPEAK OUT
The Martha Graham Company dispute has turned nasty, with the company’s board and its artistic director publicly feuding. And the dancers? “Since the board voted to close shop, they have had no work, no pay and no daily classes to maintain the technique so crucial to performing Graham’s dances. But they had mostly kept quiet about it. Until now. In a statement issued this week, the dancers are calling for a boycott of the same choreography that they have striven to perfect.” – Washington Post