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How Jasper Johns Changed Modern Art — And My Life: Jerry Saltz

"Looking at Johns's work, I sometimes almost no longer feel like a person. I wonder if I have died in the instants between synapses of looking, knowing, then not knowing again. I step outside myself and become more than one person seeing in different ways." - New York Magazine

Thirty Years Ago Nirvana Changed Seattle Music Forever

The album represents a moment in time when everything about Seattle culture changed. The very words “Seattle music” meant something different afterward, both in the Northwest and in the world. - Seattle Times

Elia Kazan’s Annotated Script For The First Stage Production Of “A Streetcar Named Desire”

The script, along with 100 pages of unusually detailed notes for the actors, comes from the pre-Broadway New Haven tryout in the fall of 1947. - Gothamist

The Met Museum Is Selling Art To Raise Money. Should It?

As sloppy as AAMD’s new rule is, being born of a rattled, anxious moment, it’s clear who it’s intended to help, and it’s not the museums that house big modern and contemporary collections with hot brand names. - National Review

Somalia Gets Its First Public Movie Showing In 30 Years

"The event was held at the National Theatre of Somalia, whose history reflects the tumultuous journey of the African nation. It has been targeted by suicide bombers and used as a base by warlords – and until Wednesday it had never screened a Somali film." - The Guardian (AFP)

For the Second Time In Two Years, America’s Chinatowns Are In Danger

"(The delta variant surge has) worsened a host of additional issues, like technology and language barriers and pandemic-stoked xenophobia. Community organizations fear that the diminished patronage and insufficient government support will force many longstanding businesses to close, which could accelerate gentrification." - Slate

Dutch Police Arrest Suspect In Thefts Of Van Gogh And Frans Hals Paintings

DNA evidence at the crime scenes, museums in suburban Amsterdam (van Gogh's The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring) and Leerdam (Hals's Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer) led investigators to a previously convicted thief. The artworks have not been recovered. - The New York Times

Kerry James Marshall To Design Stained Glass Windows For Washington National Cathedral

The new work, which will replace windows depicting Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson which were removed in 2017, will be Marshall's first in stained glass. The windows, accompanied by a poem by Elizabeth Alexander etched on stone tablets, will be installed in 2023. - The Washington Post

Pennsylvania School Board Reverses Ban On Black Authors’ Books, Children’s Bios Of MLK And Rosa Parks

The vote by the Central York district board came after weeks of protests by students and unflattering reports in national media. The list of banned titles also included books by Jacqueline Woodson and Ibram X. Kendi, Malala Yousufzai's autobiography, and a documentary about James Baldwin. - The Guardian

Melvin Van Peebles, Dead At 89, Was So Much More Than The Maker Of “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song”

Over 60 years, he was a master of self-reinvention: Air Force navigator; cable-car operator in San Francisco; indie filmmaker; author (in English and French); playwright, composer, and TV writer (nine Tony nominations and an Emmy); the only Black floor trader at the American Stock Exchange. - The Washington Post

Choreographer Jan Fabre Will Stand Trial For Sexual Harassment And Assault

The case, to be tried next spring in Antwerp, "stems from complaints by 20 dancers from his company who in 2018 alleged … a toxic work environment where sexual acts became an exchange for performance time and where 'humiliation was our daily bread'." - Yahoo! (AFP)

Honest Brokers And The Clement Greenberg Problem

Greenberg had made it clear that the single most lucrative move for a modern-day critic was to announce the newest new thing, the coming revolution that would sweep everything else aside. And he had proven so influential that... - Ted Gioia

BBC Chief Says Culture Wars Make It More Difficult To Be Impartial

"I think the culture wars are raging, I think we've got a real battle on our hands. I walk a tightrope every day on this, but we've got to fight for it." - BBC

Picasso’s Daughter Pays French Taxes With Nine Artworks

“It is an honour for our country to welcome these new artworks by Picasso. They will enrich and deepen our cultural heritage." - ARTnews

What Will Happen To Online Performances When We’re Back In Theatres?

‘We’ve had thousands of years to get good at but virtual connection is new, and we need to do some interrogation of the form to see how we get that same catharsis, buzz and deep connection that draws us to theatre.’ - ArtsHub

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