ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

PEOPLE

Did She Introduce Eastern Spirituality To America Or Merely Hoodwink People? The Tale Of Madame Blavatsky

The answer to that question is "yes." - Mental Floss

How Cate Blanchett Trained To Play A Conductor For “Tar”

“Tár” is a tantalizing example: an elite acting talent taking on a rarefied slice of the classical music world. The preparations Ms. Blanchett and her collaborators did behind the scenes mirrored aspects of the story, which involves the painstaking work of creation and rehearsal. - The Wall Street Journal

Pierre Soulages, Abstract Expressionist And Master Of The Color Black, Is Dead At 102

"In France, Soulages has obtained legendary status for his sleek abstractions, which enact elegant plays between light and dark simply by juxtaposing uneven black strokes. He ... was once described by François Hollande, the former Prime Minister of France, as the 'greatest living painter.'" - ARTnews

Osvaldo Golijov: After A Decade Fallow, He Returns With New Music

"It’s not like I didn’t attempt; I couldn’t finish a thought. I would begin something and then stop halfway because I’d think it was meaningless. Gradually, I started to enjoy the process and started to work on these half-baked ideas until I finished baking them." - San Francisco Classical Voice

Lessons From The James Corden Affair: Likeability Is Oh So Fragile

Likability has always been important in talk-show hosts, but balanced by other virtues like creativity, funniness, political or even journalistic insight, the ability to connect emotionally. - The New York Times

Mike Davis, L.A. Urbanist And Author Of “City Of Quartz”, Is Dead At 76

"(His) work exposed L.A.'s social fractures and disquieted its most ardent boosters, and (his) mark on the intellectual history of Southern California remains indelible. ... Though best known for City of Quartz, Davis wrote more than a dozen notable books over his more than four-decade career." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

“The Paper Chase” Author John Jay Osborn, Jr. Is Dead At 77

"The Paper Chase became a sort of pre-law school bible that students read before embarking on a career in law. One of them was Mr. Osborn’s daughter, who enrolled at Harvard Law School in 2003." - MSN (The Washington Post)

Leslie Jordan, Beloved Actor And Social Media Star, Dead At 67

"After a late start in his performing career, (he) became a recognizable face from roles on numerous television shows, most notably Will & Grace, then achieved even more fame during the pandemic when his quirky homemade videos attracted millions of Instagram followers." - The New York Times

Czech Conductor Libor Pesek, 89

Pesek was a Czech conductor with a solid if unspectacular career when in 1987 he was appointed chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; the next 11 years brought about not only a transformation in the orchestra’s fortunes, but also in his own standing. - The Telegraph (UK)

David Remnick: Remembering Peter Schjeldahl

Peter was a man of well-developed opinions, on art and much else. He was someone who, after being lost for a time, knew some things about survival. We met more than twenty years ago. - The New Yorker

Why Peter Schjeldahl Mattered As A Critic

Schjeldahl was a belletrist as a writer — a once fashionable, now vaguely disreputable genre of fiction, poetry and essay writing with an acute concern for “fine language,” which he, virtually alone, managed to make worthwhile for art criticism during a dense era of academically minded theory. - Los Angeles Times

Geoff Nuttall Of The St. Lawrence Quartet Has Died At 56

Nuttall, who also ran the chamber music series at the Spoleto Festival, was a violinist, "a charismatic musician who played boldly," with an "electrifying ability to engage flowed from his deep desire to communicate." - The New York Times

Carmen Callil, 84, Who Founded Virago Press And Introduced Atwood To The UK

Callil "championed female writers and transformed the canon of English literature," including by bringing many women authors back into print. - The Guardian (UK)

Salman Rushdie Has Lost Sight In One Eye, Use Of One Hand After Attack

His agent: "He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack." - The Guardian (UK)

Actor Josephine Melville, 61, Dies Backstage After Performing A Play

Melville had just performed at the Nottingham Playhouse in the play Nine Night. She also played a recurring character on the British soap EastEnders and was a director as well as actor. - The Hollywood Reporter

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');