Just as there really were African-Americans in the Old West, Westerns with Black casts (first shown to segregated audiences) were made from the 1930s through the Blaxploitation '70s and beyond. The latest example, The Harder They Fall, is fiction but depicts real historical figures. - The New York Times
The two-cave system is nestled within a 43-acre stretch of land in Missouri, about 60 miles west of St. Louis. Scholars have called it “the most important rock art site in North America” because of a collection of 290 prehistoric glyphs on its walls. - Hyperallergic
The BBC interviewed half a dozen musicians who have had instruments smashed, relatives killed, and threats issued since the extremists took over Afghanistan last month. They now all in hiding in Pakistan, hoping to find refuge in another country. - BBC
The artwork was part of a 2016 project to place murals around the campus. Two years later, the Wilshire Community Coalition, a group led by Korean Americans, spoke out against the sun rays that prominently radiated from Ava Gardner’s profile. - Los Angeles Times
"The report ascribes a goal of erasing traces of their cultural presence on the peninsula and weakening 'the fundamental role of the indigenous Muslim people in the history of Crimea' as a mean of 'historical justification for its occupation.'" - The Art Newspaper
In recent years the dogmatic mode of thinking, in which uncritical commitments are enforced by mechanisms involving public humiliation, no-platforming, and attempts to have scholars fired, has become to seem like it has become endemic. - Harper-Scott
"People are focused on survival … and caring for their loved ones," says one artist in Yangon. Adds another, "It's dangerous to do a good show now, since … it is impossible to speak about the present in Myanmar without putting yourself in danger." - The Art Newspaper
Director Na Gyi and his wife (and leading actor) would be in hiding even if their latest film weren't about a lesbian romance: they gave financial help to people striking against the coup. Here's a Q&A he gave from a safe house. - The Hollywood Reporter
"An actress and singer who first appeared in movies as a teenager, (she) became a sunny stalwart of Hollywood musicals in the 1940s and 1950s, most notably opposite Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding and Howard Keel in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." - The Washington Post
The instrument, designed and handmade by Wayne Stuart of Stuart & Sons in Australia, has a nine-octave range, two octaves more than a standard grand piano and about the same as most pipe organs. - Classic FM
As he told Stephen Colbert this week, "I've been working on a show for a couple years with a playwright named David Ives, and it's called Square One. … With any luck, we'll get it on next season." - The New York Times
"Study for 'Worn Out,' as the drawing is being called, has lived in a private Dutch collection since the first decade of the 20th century. Its current owner … approached the museum to determine if it was a legitimate van Gogh." - Artnet
That would be Christophe Leribault, until now director of the city's Petit Palais and, before that, of the Musée Delacroix. He replaces Laurence des Cars, who was recently appointed director of the Louvre. - Artforum
The main thing these former fellows may take home from L.A. is indoctrination. New music here is part of the daily diet. Dudamel’s curiosity has led to a far more varied repertory at the L.A. Phil than that of any other major orchestra. - Los Angeles Times
