Conserving Art In Front Of An Audience – A Good Idea?

While it undoubtedly generates interest, what is actually gained from watching conservators working? Conservation has become an increasingly painstaking and intricate process, in which the conservator might sit for hours peering through a binocular microscope making, at the most, small twitching movements with a cotton swab or scalpel, or entering extensive documentation of observations on a computer. This has limited appeal for a visitor.

Robert Morris, Magpie Minimalist Sculptor, Dead At 87

“[He] was one of a generation of artists who embraced the Minimalist credo, along with Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Dan Flavin and others. But while his peers continued to work within the genre’s austere limits, Mr. Morris went on to explore an astonishing variety of stylistic approaches, from scatter art, performance and earthworks to paintings and sculptures symbolizing nuclear holocaust. His detractors, noting his tendency to borrow ideas from other artists freely, questioned his originality and authenticity. His supporters saw in him a mind too restlessly alive to the possibilities of art to be confined to any one style.”

This Year’s Man Booker Prize Winner May Never Write Again

Anna Burns, who took the 2018 award for her novel of Northern Ireland during the Troubles, Milkman, suffers severe back and nerve pain due to botched surgery some years ago. “Thanks to the Booker, which includes a $64,000 prize, she may get treatment in Germany without having to worry about the cost. ‘If it’s successful, I’ll be able to write again,’ she said. ‘I haven’t written in four and a half years.'”

Yannick Nézet-Séguin Will Share Met Opera’s New Commissions With Philadelphia Orchestra

In a Q&A with David Patrick Stearns, the music director of the two institutions says of new operas in the works from composers Kevin Puts and Mason Bates, “We will be workshopping these pieces in collaboration with the Curtis Institute. The Philadelphia Orchestra will premiere the scores in a concert presentation prior to the full production at the Met.”

The Nézet-Séguin Era Begins At The Metropolitan Opera

Mr. Nézet-Séguin, who had originally been set to assume the post in 2020, moved up his start date to take a stronger musical hand at the opera house after the allegations against Mr. Levine came to light. And although it will be a few seasons before he takes on his full workload at the Met and implements some of his plans for commissions and collaborations, he is already making his presence felt.

Minimalist Robert Morris, 87

Mr. Morris was one of a generation of artists who embraced the Minimalist credo, along with Donald JuddCarl AndreDan Flavin and others. But while they continued to work within the genre’s austere limits, Mr. Morris went on to explore an astonishing variety of stylistic approaches, from scatter art, performance and earthworks to paintings and sculptures symbolizing nuclear holocaust.

“Shakespeare In Love” 20 Years Later

After its Academy Award wins, “Shakespeare” became Exhibit A when people claimed that a studio can buy an Oscar. Miramax certainly waged a hefty campaign for the movie, but it’s likely the “buy an award” theory was invented by rival studios who lost out that year and assumed it was a matter of spending rather than taste; their claims received widespread coverage on the then-expanding internet. But if the theory were true, why did “Shakespeare” win only seven of its 13 nominations? Why not a clean sweep?

West End’s Top Ticket Prices Up By A Fifth, Though Lowest Prices Are Down 10%

“The average top-price ticket across all West End shows is £117.52, up 19% compared with 2017. This is the first time the average top-price ticket has exceeded £100, since The Stage started surveying in 2012. … For the first time in six years, The Book of Mormon has been overtaken as the most expensive seat across the entire West End by Hamilton, which has top-end tickets costing £250.”