“Fisk University could run out of money if it is unable to sell its stake in an art collection donated by Georgia O’Keeffe, a lawyer for the historically black school told a judge Tuesday. Even with new revenue from next semester’s student tuition, the school wouldn’t be able to operate beyond February.” The university has been trying to get permission to sell its stake over objections from O’Keeffe’s estate.
Tag: 10.24.07
13% Of Library Of Congress Goes Missing
An investigation has revealed that fully 1/6 of the Library of Congress’s collection of books and periodicals cannot be located at the present time. “Officials at the library say they believe most of the missing materials are misplaced, not stolen or lost.” Still, the revelation is being called “deeply troubling” by those in charge of the nation’s primary print archive.
Did Pollock Have Secret Paints?
“Jackson Pollock, famous for his dripped and poured paintings, was one of the most explosively innovative American artists of the 20th century. But was he also decades ahead of his time in terms of the paints he used? Did he have access to pigments and resins that weren’t marketed or patented until well after his death in 1956?” The question arose after several supposedly authenticated Pollocks were found to contain such pigments.
Historical Commission Says Yes To Curtis
“The Curtis Institute of Music’s proposed demolition of all or part of several Locust Street buildings – including the interiors of two historic townhouses – won the approval yesterday of the Philadelphia Historical Commission’s architectural committee… The committee took a pass on requiring Curtis to rework its architectural plans to preserve the interiors of two significant 19th-century buildings.”
Handicapping The Tonys: It’s Never Too Early
It hasn’t exactly been a breakout fall for the new crop of Broadway musicals, and observers are starting to wonder whether any of the new shows could truly be considered a Tony frontrunner. “Once upon a time, Young Frankenstein looked unbeatable. But with two weeks of previews under its belt, the show is hardly shaking up Shubert Alley,” and several other high-profile shows are considered iffy as well. So is it conceivable that the new stage adaptation of John Waters’s cult film, Cry-Baby, starring none other than Johnny Depp, could sneak into a frontrunner role?
Using Serious Technology To Hunt For High Art
“Analyzing 500-year-old bricks, engineers in California are searching for a lost Leonardo da Vinci fresco that some researchers believe is behind a wall in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio… Laser scanners, thermal imaging, radar and neutrons will be employed in the project that Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli said is expected to take about a year.”
Is Lear A Weak Play?
We tend to take Shakespeare at face value, probably just because the Bard’s work is so familiar. But a close look at, say, King Lear offers plenty of reminders that this is not an easy play to like at first reading. “Some were frustrated by its inconsistencies and contradictions… The biggest complaints, though, are stirred by the almost sadistic cruelty that pervades the text: It’s not an easy play to stomach.”
The Novelist Who Gets Along With Hollywood
“By and large, literary writers working for Hollywood have not had great luck at it… Until Tom Perrotta came along, that is. Perrotta, whose novels Election and Little Children were made into acclaimed films by Alexander Payne and Todd Field, respectively, is now most of the way through adapting his new novel, The Abstinence Teacher… It’s a sign of the excitement over Perrotta’s work that the screenplay was almost done before the novel.”
Slow Start, Lots Of Potential For New Montreal Gallery
“The opening of a new museum – even a mini-museum – devoted to contemporary art is a big deal in this country. For this reason, there has thus been much anticipation surrounding the opening of DHC/ART Foundation in Montreal… When its inaugural show opened in Montreal earlier this month, however, it was clear that it was off to a somewhat stumbling start.”
Harry Who? Tell Us More About The Gay Wizard!
The revelation by author JK Rowling that the wizard Dumbledore is gay has journalists (and, it should be said, some parents and activists groups) in a tizzy. But Rowling’s young readers seem to have taken the news in stride. Rowling herself described the revelation of Dumbledore’s sexuality as “freeing.” “He’s my character,” she asserted. “I have the right to know what I know about him and say what I say about him.”