New York is unquestionably better off as a city than it was a quarter-century ago. But with the urban revitalization of Gotham has come a devotion to to glittering development and expensive cultural monuments that threatens to bury forever the city’s rich history of populist art. The graffiti that covered the city’s subway trains in the dismal 1970s may have been a symbol of blighted urbanity, but it was also the mark of a populace that had art flowing in its veins. And if there is any good to be found in America’s extended economic slump, it may be that New York is beginning to rediscover some of its old city grit.
Tag: 10.05.03
The Other Side Of I.M. Pei
“There is another side to I.M Pei’s work in the capital. By the time he received the National Gallery commission in 1968, Pei’s name already was attached to seven Washington buildings, with another two on the way. This early work is altogether a mixed legacy, yet it is too good or too interesting to be lightly dismissed. Dismissal or even denial, however, is more or less the architect’s own attitude.”
Holding Tight To High Culture
Is Lincoln Center too devoted to high culture? Deborah Solomon thinks so, and argues that, in the wake of the New York Philharmonic’s planned departure a few years down the road, Lincoln Center would do well to start embracing a bit of moneymaking pop culture. “What is art? Philosophers have debated the question for centuries, but at Lincoln Center the answer is clear. Art is anything that loses money… The greatest threat to the institution comes not from within, but from without, as it struggles to sustain a 20th-century, Rockefeller-style conception of high culture in the populist, mass-everything 21st century.”
Sex, Lies, And Hemingway
“Eight grandchildren of Ernest Hemingway have settled a feud with the widow of the writer’s son over his $7m (£4.2m) estate, according to one of the family. The settlement, which includes a portion of the author’s literary rights, follows the death of Gregory Hemingway two years ago. A transsexual, he died of heart disease on the floor of a cell in the women’s annex of a Florida jail.” The sexual identity of the younger Hemingway, who had changed his name to Gloria, was at the heart of the dispute within the family over whether he had the right to any portion of his father’s estate.
Virtual Book Success (From Vancouver Island)
“In the troubled world of bookselling, Abebooks is one of the most astonishing success stories not only in Canada but in the world. Profitable from the day it started, it has become the world’s largest marketplace for used, rare and out-of-print books,With subsidiaries in Germany (Abebooks.de), Britain (Abebooks.co.uk) and France (Abebooks.fr), Abebooks.com is a virtual storehouse of more than 45 million books originating from 12,000 independent booksellers in 42 countries. Each day, it sells between 15,000 and 20,000 books — $134 million worth of books a year.”
Taking Another Look At Khachaturian
Aram Khachaturian’s music was dismissed by many in the 1950s and 60s as being lightweight. But this year – the year he would have been 100 years old, “the pendulum of serious music has swung to the other extreme. The realities of Soviet life and politics are better known, and the personal histories of artists are understood as having been more complex. The time may be ripe to take another look at Khachaturian’s music.”
Titans Of The Keyboard
This year marks the centenary of both Vladimir Horowitz and Rudolf Serkin, arguably the two finest concert pianists of the last century. They were contemporaries, but their lives and careers could not have been more divergent, whether in the repertoire they chose or the attitude they brought to the keyboard. Serkin was the conservative, striving for singular perfection in a narrow range of repertoire. Horowitz was the maverick, rarely performing a piece the same way twice, and forever seeking out new challenges and new musical voices. History may not yet be able to determine which man had the greater impact on the world of music, but their joint impact will be felt for years to come.
Responding To 9/11. Or Not.
More than two years since the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, the arts world still seems to have no idea how to respond, says Frank Rich. “The commodification of 9/11 by theater artists is perhaps even more dispiriting than that by the vendors who hawk T-shirts at ground zero. You expect more from artists. You don’t expect more from the entertainment industry, but given how much hot air its players lavish on politics, its current performance is conspicuously dim.”
Detroit: The Arts City?
Detroit has had its share of bad times. But a new flurry of arts-related development in the city’s dismal Woodward Corridor has even cynical observers speculating that we could be seeing the rebirth of one of America’s most notorious urban failures. “Expansion of [multiple local arts] organizations will increase the already huge economic impact of the arts, which in 2002 pumped $700 million and 11,755 jobs into the Detroit economy. And that doesn’t count the spinoff from those facilities,” which looks like it will be considerable.
Boston, City Of Geniuses
It’s time again for the MacArthur Foundation to begin handing out its so-called “genius grants” – $500,000 gifts with no strings attached, awarded to the “most promising creative thinkers” in America – and this year, the city of Boston is home to no fewer than six of the recipients. “It is not surprising that Boston, with its top-tier universities and hospitals, would attract geniuses. But the Boston winners also represent something else: the triumph of synergy as people cross the traditional boundaries that divide one field from another.” The Boston winners include composer Osvaldo Golijov, female circumcision activist Dr. Nawal Nour, and Xiaowei Zhuang, a Harvard physics professor.