Tag: 07.20.18

Police Recover Renoir And Rubens Stolen By Con Man Dressed As Rabbi

“The paintings had been stolen in an elaborate scam involving at least eight different con artists, the police confirmed. At least one had posed as a Jewish rabbi with diplomatic immunity and offered the respective gallery owners €26 million for the paintings before stealing them. The theft took place at a rented office in Monza, above the Albanian embassy … on April 20th, 2017.”

Here Are The World’s Top “Soft” Powers

Strength in culture has helped the UK reclaim pole position in the annual index of global soft power, moving ahead of France. It is the first time since 2015 that the UK has led the world. The UK was ranked second in the culture category, remaining behind the US but ahead of France and Germany for the fourth year running. The BBC World Service, described as “the world’s most trusted news provider”, and the British Council were highlighted as key cultural assets that help the country spread its influence.

Months After His Death, Major Body Of Jack Whitten’s Art Comes Into Public View

Sebastian Smee: “When Whitten died this year, little more than a year after being presented with the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama, almost no one knew about the half-century of sculpture he had under his belt. That’s partly because the sculptures were made, and remained, mostly in his home in a small village on the Greek island of Crete, where he had spent almost every summer since 1969.”

Cambodian Dance Begins To Take Root In (Of All Places) South Philly

Three years ago, Lanica Angpak started a social program to provide young women from Philadelphia’s Cambodian-American community with a safe place to deal with issues their traditional families might not handle so well. Now that program has become – at those young women’s request, not out of nudging from their elders – a class where an art form that barely survived the horrors that the late 20th century inflicted on Cambodia is being passed on.

Sophie Calle And The Ethics Of Using Unwitting Subjects To Make Art

“Since the 1970s, Calle has repeatedly invited us to question whether artists should be held to the same standards as other people. In viewing her work, we must ask whether invading someone’s privacy or betraying their trust is an acceptable emotional cost to art.” Natasha Bell looks at some of Calle’s most famous projects, similar work by other artists such as Arne Svenson, Dries Depoorter and Santiago Serra, and a graduate-school project of her own that got her an A and lost her a close friend.

The Two Things Shonda Rhimes Really Wants To Achieve At Netflix

“One is to come up with shows that are more expansive than her ABC fare. The other is to turn Shondaland into an enduring company that will live within Netflix in the same way that Marvel exists inside the Walt Disney Company. ‘It would be really amazing to me at some point down the line — not now — if somebody said, ‘There was a Shonda for Shondaland?” Ms. Rhimes said. ‘It needs to be bigger than me.'” (includes summaries of her first eight series for the streaming service)

Troubled Arts Center Loses Chairman And Trustee In Conflict-Of-Interest Scandal

The latest round of difficulties at Firstsite, an arts center in the English city of Colchester with a headquarters building by starchitect Rafael Viñoly, began this past spring with the revelation that the organization had paid roughly $120,000 to a consulting firm, two of whose directors were the chairman and a member of Firstsite’s board of trustees.