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James Cuno Steps Down As Head Of Getty

In 2011, Cuno was appointed to lead the Getty Trust, which manages four Los Angeles–based organizations: the Getty Museum, the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Research Institute, and the Getty Foundation, the organization’s main philanthropic arm. - ARTnews

Children’s Author Patricia Reilly Giff, Who Wrote The Kids Of The Polk Street School Series, Dead At 86

"Over nearly half a century, more than 100 books for young readers. She delighted younger ones with the adventures, misadventures and high jinks of the Kids of the Polk Street School, one of several popular series she penned. Writing for older readers, Mrs. Giff animated historical events in volumes such as Lily's Crossing." - MSN (Washington Post)

Louise Bourgeois And Her Exploration Of Pain

“The subject of pain is the business I am in,” Louise Bourgeois once remarked. Like Emily Dickinson whose business was “circumference,” Bourgeois circled her subject all her life. - The Yale Review

Pulitzer-Winning Poet Stephen Dunn Dead At 82

"He departed from the 'confessional' style of self-lacerating poetry and considered himself instead a 'meditative' or observational poet. Writing in a plain, unfussy style that often sounded like prose with the reins loosened, he addressed the ways ordinary experience can be fraught with emotional complexity, sadness and humor." - MSN (Washington Post)

Jon Hassell, Trumpeter And Composer, 84

Hassell blended modern technology with ancient instruments and traditions to create what he called "Fourth World" music. "Hassell’s music floated outside the genre boundaries of classical music, electronica, ambient music or jazz. He described Fourth World as 'a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques' and, elsewhere, as 'coffee-colored classical music of the future.'"...

Frederic Rzewski, Pianist And Composer Known For His Political Views, 83

"Rzewski’s anti-establishment thinking stood at the center of his music-making throughout his life." - The New York Times

Paulo Mendes Da Rocha, A Brazilian Brutalist With A Light Touch, 92

Da Rocha was one of Brazil's most well-known architects, despite being blacklisted by a brutal military regime for 20 years. "'Concrete acrobatics' is how many architecture writers described his work. He called concrete, his material of choice, 'liquid stone.'" - The New York Times

Richard Altuna, Who Designed Upwardly Mobile Shopping Experiences, And Starbucks, 70

The world of brick-and-mortar stores would look very different without Altuna, who "designed the prototypes for a certain kind of store, one that infused shoppers with a sense of — there's no other way to put this — bourgeoise well-being." - NPR

Halo Wines, Eminence Of Washington-Area Theatre Scene, 81

Wines was an actress and director who was enrolled as a child in acting lessons to help her overcome shyness. She "brought consummate artistry to dozens of productions at the Arena Stage and Olney Theatre Center." - Washington Post

Violinist Jeanne Lamon, Who Led Tafelmusik For 33 Years, Has Died At 71

In Canada, she brought Baroque music played on period instruments into the modern era. "Under her guidance — and with her often leading from the first-violin chair — the group developed an international reputation, performing all over the world in major concert halls, at universities, in churches, even in pubs" — not to mention the recordings. - The New...

It Seems Philosopher John Locke Was Kind Of A Jerk

"John Locke is regarded today as one of England's greatest philosophers, an Enlightenment thinker known as the 'father of liberalism'. But a previously unknown memoir attributed to one of his close friends paints a different picture – of a vain, lazy and pompous man who 'amused himself with trifling works of wit', and a plagiarist who 'took from others...

Meet Recycler Joe Rush, The Outrageous Outsider Artist

“My life has been about reclaiming that nomadic spirit. All the festivals we’ve taken part in over the years are really just an echo of what happened when nomadic tribes came into the valleys in summer and partied.” - The Guardian

The Extraordinary Musician And Teacher You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

I sat in on some of his lessons, and was mesmerized. What a mind! What profound, probing musicianship! And what a strange man… - Van

Judith Farr, Poet And Emily Dickinson Scholar, Dead At 85

"A longtime professor at Georgetown University, published two seminal academic books examining the place of art and nature in Dickinson's poetry, The Passion of Emily Dickinson (1992) and The Gardens of Emily Dickinson (written with Louise Carter, 2004). Dr. Farr also ventured into the realm of fiction and poetry, penning an epistolary novel about Dickinson as well as...

Robert Quackenbush, Who Wrote Stories Of Detectives With Feathers Or Fur, Dead At 91

"His stories about Miss Mallard, an inquisitive duck who solves crimes around the world in plots that resemble Agatha Christie capers, were adapted into an animated television series in 2000. He also conceived of sleuthing critters like Sheriff Sally Gopher and Sherlock Chick, who starts his investigations immediately after hatching from an egg (he emerges holding a magnifying glass)....

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