The National Gallery has opened the first-ever survey of the paintings of Jan Lievens, who launched his career alongside Rembrandt in Leiden. Constantine Huygens even commissioned the two men to paint the same subjects in a sort of competition. Blake Gopnik finds that, “[j]udging by this show, the almost unknown test-pictures by Lievens aren’t obviously weaker than the very famous versions Rembrandt came up with.”
Tag: 11.02.08
The Original Miss Manners
That would be Erasmus of Rotterdam, whose 1530 Handbook on Good Manners for Children has been published in a new translation. Some things never change: “His basic tenet is that good manners will spring from ‘the ability to ignore the faults of others and avoid falling short yourself’.” On the other hand, among his prescriptions are “Do not indulge in hysterical mirth, [and] do not stagger in the theatrical manner favoured by bishops and Swiss soldiers.”
David Dorfman Surfs The Zeitgeist
The choreographer’s 2006 dance-theater piece underground, inspired by the Weather Underground’s anti-war and anti-racism protests, suddenly became topical as onetime Underground leader William Ayers became an issue in the presidential campaign.
The Physics Obama Needs To Know
Berkeley professor Richard Muller, author of Physics for Future Presidents, has three areas where he wants our next leader to be informed and aware: terrorism (“beware of the low-tech”), robotics (“most instruments work better when there are not humans walking around and shaking them”), and global warming (“it’s going to get much, much worse… [most of the greenhouse gases are] going to come from the developing world”).
‘The Obama Of Italy’
“He’s a highly intellectual, extremely confident, smoothly articulate politician who grew up without a father, then wrote a best-selling book about it.” That would be Walter Veltroni, the former mayor of Rome who lost his race for prime minister in this year’s Italian elections. The former editor of the newspaper L’Unità, he has written a dozen books of nonfiction; his first novel has just been published in English as The Discovery of Dawn.
Studies: Political At Birth
“Scientists are now discovering that our political attitudes have deep roots in our biology. Our place on the political spectrum – liberal, conservative, or in between – is powerfully influenced by genetics, new studies show. In the past year, researchers have demonstrated that the brains of liberals and conservatives are physically and functionally distinctive, suggesting that people on either side of the ideological divide are actually wired differently.”
New York’s New Dance Space
“The main theater can be manipulated into eight different configurations, seating from 70 to 150 people. The lounge, which features a smaller stage for readings and acoustical music events, will be used for community workshops during the day. At night it turns into a bar, a way to generate income.”
Arts Groups Dig In To Weather Hard Economy
“Much as I would like to believe that supporting the arts is intrinsic to all of us, we have to acknowledge that for many people those dollars are better spent elsewhere. And because arts groups typically budget exceedingly close to the bone, events like the current financial crisis can have devastating effects.”
Oregon Shakespeare Festival Runs Into Money Crunch
“Even with the second strongest ticket sales in its history for 2008, the Ashland festival was hit hard by poor returns on its investments and endowment fund, resulting in a $750,000 deficit this year and an anticipated deficit of $1 million in 2009.”
Rethinking Watts As An Intersection Of Life And Art
LA’s infamous Watts Towers, an architectural landmark that has been the scene of some of America’s worst race rioting, is getting another makeover, and artists are playing a major role in rethinking the whole neighborhood. “Much of the project is about… the nuances. It’s what gets lost in the overview: the day-in, day-out stories of a section of L.A. that has seldom had a chance to define itself for itself — let alone to the world.”