ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

PEOPLE

The Woman Who Can See 100 Million Colors

Concetta Antico is a tetrachromat, which means she has a fourth colour receptor in her retina compared with the standard three which most people have. While those of us with three of these receptors can distinguish around one million different colours, tetrachromats see an estimated 100 million. - The Guardian

David Gordon, Patriarch Of Postmodern Dance, Dead At 85

"A leading postmodern choreographer who crossed over into playwriting territory, he was massively prolific for about 60 years. He combined movement and words in ways that could be stimulating or jolting, focusing on family or fantasy, or delving into Ionesco, Shakespeare, or Aristophanes." - Dance Magazine

Monica Vitti, Icon Of Italian Cinema, Dead At 90

"Once a symbol of Italian mystique, ever-present on-screen and on fashion magazine covers, … (she) secured an enduring place in art house drama as the muse of Michelangelo Antonioni for his 1960s films about existential dread before redefining herself as a vibrant comedian." - MSN (The Washington Post)

Time For Moliere To Ascend The Pantheon

Last year, the actor Francis Huster passionately made the case for the reinterment of Molière within the Panthéon, Molière’s remains having had a long and slightly hair-raising cultural history of their own. - The New Yorker

The Lady Who Wrote “Goodnight, Moon” Was No Gentle Madonna

Margaret Wise Brown "burned through her money as quickly as she earned it, travelling to Europe on ocean liners and spending entire advances on Chrysler convertibles. … She was engaged to two men but never married, and she had a decade-long affair with a woman." - The New Yorker

Dissent: Against Joan Didion

Nothing ever seemed to excite her or faze her or disappoint her, largely because she set her sights so low to begin with. - The New York Times

The Man Who Changed The Way We See Spanish Art

Under Franco, the study of Spanish art languished - but Jonathan Brown, art historian, curator, professor, and mentor, brought luminous painters like Velázquez to mainstream attention. - The New York Times

Ben Whishaw On Anxiety, Coming Out, Being Paddington, And More

The actor says, "I think it’s really interesting what happens to you if you grow up thinking there’s something wrong with you because you’re attracted to a certain thing. ... That takes a lot of time and understanding to get over." - The Guardian (UK)

Photographer René Robert Fell On A Paris Street, Was Ignored For Hours And Froze To Death

The 84-year-old Swiss photographer of the flamenco world fell sometime on the evening of January 19. A homeless person in the area called authorities the next morning, but it was too late. - El Pais

The Family Of Slain Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins Is Considering A Lawsuit

Meanwhile, "officials in New Mexico are still examining how a live bullet got on set and then into the gun that Baldwin was practicing with and whether anyone should be held criminally responsible." - The New York Times

Tito Matos, Master Of The Tiny Drum Known As The Requinto, Brought Afro-Puerto Rican Music To The World

Matos, who has died at 53, and his colleagues reinvigorated and made famous the Afro-Puerto Rican music plena and bomba "by infusing them with jazz textures, exuberant horn sections and Cuban batá rhythms." - The New York Times

Lucy Rowan Mann, Who Ran The Naumburg Foundation And Its Classical Music Competition, Dead At 100

She started working at the foundation in 1972 and continued until this year, and the prestigious competition and awards she administered helped launch many impressive careers. - The New York Times

United States Artists Announces Its 2022 Class Of Fellows

The 63 recipients of unrestricted $50,000 grants are spread across ten disciplines: architecture and design, craft, dance, film, media, music, theater and performance, traditional arts, visual art, and writing. - United States Artists

Charlie Brown’s Voice Is Dead

Born in Los Angeles on Aug. 10, 1956, Peter Robbins got his start as a child performer and, beginning at age 9, brought to life beloved Peanuts character Charlie Brown. - The Hollywood Reporter

Badal Roy, Who Brought Indian Tabla Drumming To Cutting-Edge Jazz, Dead At 82

He had only the rudiments of Indian classical training and played in an unorthodox manner, using up to seven drums instead of the conventional two. He spent a long career working with musicians from John McLaughlin to Miles Davis to Ornette Coleman to Herbie Mann. - The New York Times

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss

function my_excerpt_length($length){ return 200; } add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');