“Perhaps the worst thing in the legions of problems with Twyla Tharp’s Dylan fiasco (to close November 19 — sooner than I guessed, but not too soon) is the revenge she seeks on the slippery songs. She wants them to give up their nature and hold still. But even in neutered Broadway renditions, the songs slip away, leaving her in a vacuum.”
Tag: 11.10.06
Dealers Complain About Auction House Entry To Maastricht
Art dealers are angry that Sotheby’s and Christie’s have bought their way into the Maastricht Fair. “Art fairs are supposedly the trade’s answer to auctions, a way of creating a glamorous event to attract buyers, so the presence of an auction house in a fair—let alone such a prestigious one—was seen as a Trojan horse.”
Gym Teacher Returns Piece Of Acropolis
A Swedish gym teacher has returned a piece of the Acropolis to Greece. “Birgit Wiger-Angner’s family held the marble for 110 years, but she decided to return it to Athens after hearing about Greece’s Elgin marbles campaign. The small fragment comes from the Acropolis’s Erechtheion temple.”
True: Antiquities Market Is Corrupt
Former Getty curator Marion True, on trial in Italy for thefts of antiquities, days the antiquities market is probably the “most corrupt” of art markets. “The museum had to accept the premise that the majority of antiquities available on the market had, in all probability, been exported from the countries of origin illegally,” True, 58, wrote, explaining why the Getty adopted policies that restricted artifacts it could buy.
Dikes To Protect Venice Approved
Italy has approved a $5.9 billion project to build dikes to protect the city from flooding. “The project, slated for completion in 2011, includes the construction of 78 floodgates that can be raised by 110 centimeters (43 inches) to keep water from entering Venice’s lagoon. High tides now flood the city several times a year, damaging historic buildings and disrupting transport.”
Buying Up Art As Fast As It Can Be Painted
Art is totally hot right now, and we’re not just talking about the big masterpieces that sell for millions at snooty auction houses in New York and London. “In an increasingly overheated world-wide art market, the demands of a voracious — and growing — community of buyers is putting pressure on artists to produce more work, faster, than ever before.”
This Is Why No One Ever Made A Musical Out Of Rambo
Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, a major hit in both book and movie form, isn’t faring as well on the stage. A recent trial run in Boston played to half-empty houses, and ticket sales are alarmingly slow for the Broadway production as well. “The problem, sources say, is that the show’s target audience – straight males in their 20s and 30s – would rather be caught in a gay bar than at a Broadway musical.”
The Quiet Collector Makes His Presence Felt
Until he sold off three paintings for a combined $283 million this fall, many outside the art world were probably unaware of Hollywood mogul David Geffen’s status as a major collector. But “insiders have [long] acknowledged Geffen’s inventory as one of the largely unseen wonders of the contemporary art world… To those who have watched Geffen quietly amass paintings by Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns and Willem de Kooning, these sales make a lot of sense.”
The Sad, Segregated State Of US TV
It’s a well-known fact that African-Americans are terribly underrepresented on American television, but what about the black shows that do make it on the air? First of all, they’re all comedies, mostly playing to tired stereotypes and milking laughs out of borderline racist gags. “As for African-American-centric dramas, they are non-existent on the small screen, and there is little indication that will change any time soon.”
Buffalo Gallery To Sell Off Old Masters
“After six years of strategic planning and review, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo has decided to sell artworks and objects that fall outside the institution’s mission ‘to acquire, exhibit and preserve both Modern and contemporary art.’ The works, which include everything from antiquities to old master paintings and other European art, will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in 2007 and early 2008. The proceeds, expected to be around $15 million, will be used to acquire works that will strengthen the gallery’s holdings.”