The Pew Charitable Trusts gives the financially-strapped Barnes Foundation $500,000, adding to an earlier grant for the same amount from the Getty Trust. The money will help stabilize the ailing Barnes. – Nando Times
Tag: 12.15.00
POPULARITY KILLED THE MUSEUM?
“Are museums going to hell in a touring exhibition of hand baskets? Is buzz a thing to be feared in a place of high culture?” Directors of Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and the Harvard Museums debate buzz and bang-for-the-buck. – Boston Herald
LOOKING OUT
A government inquiry into the British Museum’s possible evasion of planning laws may lead to prosecution. In its latest controversy, the recently redesigned museum has been criticized for blighting the views of surrounding properties. – The Times (UK)
OLD MASTERS AND EUROPEAN BIDDERS
An interesting trend emerged at Christie’s successful old master auction this week (during which a Rembrandt portrait sold for $28.6 million): “British and European bidders accounted for 82.5 percent of the buyers, while Americans made up only 15 percent. For a while now, we’ve been hearing that New York was becoming the center of the old master market, but this is not the case.” – New York Times
THE REVIEWS ARE IN ON ‘POLLOCK’
Ed Harris’s powerful biographical film “Pollock” may be the first movie about a painter to transcend the gushy clichés found in movies that try to unravel the mysteries of artistic creation. The scenes of Pollock standing over a giant canvas and creating his famous drip paintings in graceful swooping gestures as the camera discreetly dances around him offer a visceral thrill similar to watching a brilliantly choreographed action-adventure sequence.” – New York Times
WHY IS BROADWAY SO STAR-STRUCK?
Broadway grossed a record $603 million in the 1999-2000 season. “We’re talking about the average cost of a musical being $8 (million) to $10 million, and the average cost of a play being $1,250,000 or a million and a half. So it’s no surprise that many producers are now saying that unless they can identify some component that will give them a broad popular audience, they’re not going to take a chance.” – USA Today
REVEALING PARTS
Much has been made of the number of actresses disrobing on stage this season (Nicole Kidman, Kathleen Turner, Jerry Hall to name a few), but even more men have been taking it all off – and “with the market for beefcake constantly expanding, Actors’ Equity has nudity explicitly covered in its collective bargaining agreements.” – Backstage
BAYREUTH STALEMATE
The culture secretary for the state of Bavaria says the state “cannot continue to devote taxpayers’ money to the Bayreuth festival, given the uncertainty of its future. He has made no secret of the fact that he would like the 81-year-old Wolfgang Wagner to step down by the end of 2002. Despite the fact that all the festival performances are heavily sold out, Wagner is not prepared to give up the job or state subsidies, and pressure over the financial situation is growing.” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE INTERNET
Stephen King says he learned a lot about the internet with his failed serialized novel. “First, many Internet users have the attention span of a grasshopper. Second, users believe that everything on the Web should be free or almost free of charge. And third, book-readers don’t regard electronic books as real books. They’re like people saying, ‘I love corn on the cob but creamed corn makes me gag’.” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
BANNER YEAR
“Two of the biggest publishers in the United States, HarperCollins and St. Martin’s Press, had their best run in years. Revenues were up, operating costs were down and each saw a growing number of titles hit the bestseller lists.” – Inside.com