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Gallerist Margo Leavin, Who Helped Make L.A. Into A Contemporary Art Capital, Dead At 85

For more than 40 years, she presented some of California's most important artists (e.g., John Baldessari, Alexis Smith) and major solo shows of the likes of Jasper Johns and Sol LeWitt. Her archive was considered consequential enough that the Getty Research Institute bought it. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

Raymond Gniewek, 89, Was Met Opera Orchestra’s Concertmaster For 43 Years

Mr. Gniewek (pronounced NYEH-vik), a violinist whose solos invariably drew acclaim, was just 25 in 1957 when he was named the orchestra’s concertmaster. He had two obstacles to overcome. - The New York Times

Dave Chappelle Has Become A Rorschach Test

"Is the story 'rich comedian attacks marginalized community' or 'Black comedian attacks elite consensus'? … Why are Caitlyn Jenner jokes (greater) grounds for cancellation than ones about white bitches getting tear-gassed? … He dares critics to take unequal offense, and prove his point about a hierarchy of suffering." - The Atlantic

Jim O’Quinn, 75, Founding Editor Of American Theatre Magazine

The magazine’s mandate was to cover not only the nation’s nonprofit theatre scene but, as O’Quinn promised in his first editor’s note, to shine a light also on “Broadway, international theatre, and a wealth of related art forms.” - American Theatre

Paddy Moloney, Founder Of The Chieftains And Hero Of Irish Folk Revival, Dead At 83

For nearly 60 years, playing his tin whistle and uilleann pipes, he and his supergroup brought Irish traditional music to the world, making nearly 40 albums, winning six Grammys, and selling many millions of concert tickets and records. - The Washington Post

The Unprecedented Life Of Paul McCartney

He has navigated a life with little precedent, one in which a few home-town friends played a pivotal role in the rise of rock and roll, the invention of the teen-ager, youth culture, and the sixties. - The New Yorker

Hollywood Has A New Champion Boss-From-Hell: Sharon Waxman Of TheWrap

Move over, Scott Rudin. As one former staffer put it, "I don't say this lightly. Sharon Waxman is one of the most awful people that I have known in my life." - The Daily Beast

Peter Bunnell, Who Forced The Art World To Take Photography Seriously, 83

"It is a measure of Professor Bunnell’s success that today photography is unquestionably accepted as both a fine art and a discipline worthy of historical scholarship. Things were different in the late 1950s, when he entered college." - The New York Times

What It Takes To Go From Stand-Up Comedian To Media Mini-Mogul

Star power, a lot of hustle, and some luck. Ask Phoebe Robinson: "Her career models have shifted from comics like Wanda Sykes to multihyphenates like Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling." - The New York Times

Maria Rosario Jackson, NEA Chair Nominee, On The Role Of Arts

Jackson, a professor at Arizona State and a veteran arts administrator, "is a recognized expert in creative placemaking, a process that leverages arts, culture and design to spur economic development in communities and promote social change." - The New York Times

Playing Princess Is No Easy Role

At least, not when that princess is Diana, says actor Kristen Stewart. - BBC

Maria Ressa Just Won A Nobel – Only The 18th Woman In 126 Years To Win

With half the world made up of women, the obvious question arises: Why have so few been granted the committee’s most prestigious prize and, more broadly, been generally underrepresented across the Nobel prizes? - The New York Times

Oscar Wilde — Martyr? Wit? Predator? Artist? “Posing Somdomite”? All Of The Above, Which Is Why We Misunderstand Him

"The refracted versions of self that appear in his writing allowed him to test out real-life modes of being; in turn, the acts of duplicity he practiced in his life generated daring new forms of artistic self-expression." - The New Yorker

Explaining The Unexplainable Career Of Laurie Anderson

Sam Anderson: "The anti-careerism of her career is part of what has made her illegible to mainstream audiences. Although a legend in some circles, she is totally unknown in others." Observes Julian Schnabel, "It's not really a career. She's really unemployable." - The New York Times Magazine

Fatty Arbuckle And Hollywood’s First Celebrity Scandal

The Arbuckle affair was the most notorious in a string of Hollywood scandals that threatened to kill off the movie industry in its adolescence. - The New Yorker

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