“S. Lane Faison Jr., an art historian who cut his teeth cataloging Hitler’s collection of plundered paintings, then, as a Williams College professor, inspired students who went on to head many of America’s leading art institutions, died on Saturday at his home in Williamstown, Mass. … A typical disciple was Glenn D. Lowry, a pre-med student in the early 1970’s whose main interest was skiing but who tagged along on an impromptu tour Mr. Faison happened to give of Williams’s highly respected art museum.”
Tag: 11.14.06
Two Men Of The Gavel
Tobias Meyer and Christopher Burge are the chief auctioneers at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, respectively. “Meyer, who is also Sotheby’s worldwide head of contemporary art, is German, in his early 40s, and looks like a Helmut Lang model. He is more of a celebrity outside of the auction world than Mr. Burge, having been the subject of a New Yorker profile, which described, among other things, his “sculptural” head, his Savile Row suits, and the dramatically designed apartment.”
Refusing To Sing This Song
“Once upon a time, songs referred exclusively to single-movement musical compositions involving a singer or singers.” No more. Now most music is referred to as “songs”, and Frank Oteri has had enough. “Everything is a song in popular parlance, whether it has words or not and no matter how long it is. As a result, the song paradigm—which still assumes a normative status of vocal, short, and in one movement—determines how all music is listened to. When’s the last time an ‘instrumental’ got on the Billboard charts?”
TiVo Bringing Web Video To TV
“TiVo plans to introduce features that will allow people to use its digital video recorders to watch some video programming from the Internet on their televisions.”
Rodgers And Hammerstein, Revitalized (Sort Of)
“The Rodgers and Hammerstein road-show musicals have been staples of home video almost since the format was invented, which has meant that they have been subjected to almost unbelievable abuse: their widescreen images chopped off, their stereophonic sound remixed and pumped up, their already endangered color (most were shot on the notoriously quick-fading DeLuxe Color stock) rendered a dusty, lifeless pink. But lately, Fox Home Entertainment has been making a gallant attempt to reclaim these films for those who love them.” The results of the restoration efforts are mixed.
Better Times For The Kirov
“Much of what the Kirov has been putting onstage in recent years — on tour and in St. Petersburg, Russia — is on the level of onstage training exercises. The roster has been for some time now dominated by dancers in their late teens and early 20s, while at the same time there has been an attempt to drive off dancers who might show up the fledglings.” But things may finally be looking up.
A Tax On Bad Taste
A proposed tax in the UK would be based on the aesthetic quality of buildings. “They will be attempting to put a tax value on improvements you might have made to your home, on the quality of its design and even on its views. If your home is well designed and beautifully located, you will be liable to pay more tax than if you live in a grungy house with rotten views and have made no attempt whatsoever to improve it.”
Press And University Part Ways
“A noted publisher of literary translations and experimental fiction, Dalkey Archive Press, and the University of Rochester have decided to part ways following a recent announcement that the press, whose titles include work by Gertrude Stein, Aldous Huxley, and Carlos Fuentes, was moving to the upstate campus.”
Montreal Museum Director Stepping Down
“Guy Cogeval, the director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art since 1998, announced he will leave at the end of his contract next year.”
Goya Stolen En Route To Guggenheim
“A 1778 painting by Francisco de Goya, ‘Children With Cart,’ has been stolen near Scranton, Penn., on its way to the Guggenheim Museum of Art.”