The recently authenticated Leonardo da Vinci painting, now the world’s most expensive artwork ($450 million), spent nearly half a century in a family home in Baton Rouge before dealers purchased it in a 2005 estate sale for under $10,000.
Tag: 09.19.18
Architect Robert Venturi, 93
“Over the course of a career that spanned more than 50 years, Venturi mounted a sustained counterattack on the high seriousness of modernism, praising the vernacular, the commercial, and even the avowedly ordinary in writings and buildings that he often produced in collaboration with his wife, Denise Scott Brown.” Famously, he responded to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s pronouncement “Less is more” with the quip, “Less is a bore.”
Seven Of Robert Venturi’s Top ‘Postmodern’ Projects
Yes, he disavowed the “postmodern’ label, but nevertheless, here are seven signature examples of his style, from the house he created for his mother (the design that started it all), through his fire station in the modern architecture mecca of Columbus, Indiana and his museum buildings in London, Seattle, Houston, and San Diego to his “Queen Anne” chair.
London’s Royal Opera House Finished Its Major Renovation Without Missing A Single Rehearsal Or Performance
The venue’s CEO, Alex Beard, describes the $66 million project as “a bit like having open-heart surgery while going for a run.” The architect said that “We had meetings every day where we’d work out the little windows of time we could make noise.” Alex Marshall reports on the results, including a much larger foyer, a cafe, more ladies’ loos, and a complete upgrade of the ROH’s 406-seat Linbury Theatre.
Geta Brătescu, Superstar Of Romanian Contemporary Art, Dead At 92
“Brătescu’s work has for years been a powerful influence on artists in the Romanian contemporary art scene, but it wasn’t until the past few years that she achieved fame outside Eastern Europe … [Her] output took the form of films, collages, photographs, installations, travel journals, drawings, and more over the course of her seven-decade career. Her primary interests included the body and the relationship between art and life, and her work often tackled these themes with a dry sense of humor.”
Rio’s Police Department Gets An Artist-In-Residence
“I was very apprehensive and came with a stereotypical image of the police,” says Tatiana Altberg. But, as she has done workshops with the staffers in her precinct, “I’ve tried to put myself in their shoes. As I listen to their side of the problems and issues facing them, I’ve realised that it is very hard to be a police officer in Rio de Janeiro.”
Horror Is Having A Moment In The Arts
Our present era is one in which the heart of culture is blowing hard upon a coal of fear, and the fascination is everywhere. By popular consent, horror has been experiencing what critics feel obliged to label a ‘golden age’. In terms of ticket sales, 2017 was the biggest year in the history of horror cinema, and in 2018, Hereditary and A Quiet Place have been record-breaking successes.
New York Review Of Books Editor Out Over Decision To Publish Ghomeshi Essay
Buruma had defended his decision to publish Ghomeshi’s essay in a widely criticized interview with Slate just five days before his ouster at the literary magazine. It is unclear if he resigned or was fired. He was named the editor of the magazine last May, following the death of NYRB’s editor and cofounder Robert B. Silvers.
Dance Pioneer Arthur Mitchell, 84
Mr. Mitchell, who described himself as the Jackie Robinson of the ballet world, was hired by choreographer George Balanchine in 1955 to perform with the New York City Ballet and won over audiences and critics with his technical brilliance and charisma. Still, in an era when segregation was just beginning to crumble, his ascent to the upper echelon of dance met with many obstacles, from instructors who encouraged him to abandon ballet and take up other dance genres to shocked theatergoers who wrote letters expressing outrage about Mr. Mitchell being paired onstage with a white woman.