Art And Culture, Shaped By The Great War

“From the fiction of Hemingway, Virginia Woolf and John Dos Passos to the savagely critical paintings and etchings of George Grosz and Otto Dix, World War I reshaped the notion of what art is, just as it forever altered the perception of what war is. Although World War II racked up more catastrophic losses in blood and treasure, World War I remains the paradigmatic conflict of the modern age, not only politically but also culturally.”

Laura Lippmann, Crimewriter And Partner Of David Simon, On Her Part(s) In The Wire

“For serious Wire aficionados, both Lippman’s name and appearance will be familiar. A character is seen reading one of her novels in season one, while in season five she has a brief cameo as a Baltimore Sun journalist (‘I got terrible reviews!’). She also points out that Simon stole jokes, a song and the names of two detectives from her novels. ‘He has definitely taken more from my work than I’ve taken from his,’ she says, looking rather pleased about it.”

Hunting For The New Fifty Shades

Mainstream publishers are trolling the internet to find the next hot thing. After all, Fifty Shades of Grey started as fan fiction. But “there is still no easy ride into print as, John Makinson, Penguin’s chief executive, has pointed out. Titles that sell well as ebooks are not always appropriate for putting between hard covers.”

Jeffrey Deitch Finally Speaks About MOCA

“Deitch vigorously defended his two-year record of exhibitions and programming. He also rejected suggestions recently made by some board members, including in an open letter published in The Times, that the museum has lost its artistic bearings under Deitch and is increasingly under the control of Eli Broad, the billionaire art collector and philanthropist who is MOCA’s top funder.”

Vaults Of Art (And Other Treasure) Growing In Swiss Freeport

“How much art is stockpiled in the 435,000 square feet of the Geneva Freeport? That’s a tough one. The canton of Geneva, which owns an 86 percent share of the Freeport, does not know, nor does Geneva Free Ports and Warehouses, the company that pays the canton for the right to serve as the Freeport’s landlord. Swiss customs officials presumably know, but they aren’t talking. Suffice it to say, there is wide belief among art dealers, advisers and insurers that there is enough art tucked away here to create one of the world’s great museums.”

A Stand-Up Violinist, Leading The L.A. Phil

L.A. Phil concertmaster Martin Chalifour likes to make jokes, but not about performing. Chalifour “is the portrait of moderation and restraint. He’s serious about keeping in shape for the physical demands of performing (‘Our pulse rate is sometimes comparable to a really fast run’) and carefully monitors diet, rest and even caffeine intake to be in optimum condition to perform. Everything is controlled and in balance.”