Last week, the New York Post published news of a possible scandal: a 12th-century head of King David, said to be originally from the portal of Notre-Dame de Paris, may be a 20th-century fake. And, writes Noah Charney in his examination of the story, “there is a backstory that has even identified a potential forger, and it involves a former Monuments Man, James Rorimer, … [who had been] the curator for medieval art at the Met.”
The First Theatre Critic? 17th-Century Notebook On Shakespeare’s Plays Discovered On ‘Antiques Roadshow’
Appraiser Matthew Haley was visibly trembling as he examined the tiny manuscript, written in Latin in 17th-century script. “We don’t know who the person who wrote it is,” says Haley, “but obviously if it’s a 17th-century hand they were either going along to Shakespeare’s plays when they were being performed and taking notes, or they were reading one of the first four printed editions of Shakespeare, which is really amazing.”
Member Of San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus Collapses And Dies Onstage
“Ryan Nunez had been a member of the chorus for a number of years and worked on staff as the group’s Administrative Coordinator since 2014.”
Cultivating Art As A “Slow” Experience
“Slow reading” is not to be understood in opposition to “fast reading.” There is nothing per se problematic with speed- or skim-reading; there are occasions when speed is necessary. Slow reading is often characterized by its intensity: it involves a fine-tuned attention to detail and nuance. And openness: “Slow reading is important precisely because it provides us with the attentive quality necessary for openness to occur.”
Funny Or Die At 10: An Oral History
“‘The spirit of it was, ‘Let’s just screw around,” recalls Adam McKay, the onetime SNL head writer and Oscar-winning writer-director (The Big Short) who cofounded the site … ‘We thought we’d tell our friends about it, and maybe it would be a little comedy clubhouse’ … As the site enters the age of Trump, we asked its founders and fans to reveal the smashes, near crashes, and highfalutin fart jokes that helped it become one of the sharpest, funniest forces in pop culture.
A New Publisher Focuses On Native American Superheroes
Why? Because the superhero world has a huge hole at its center. “Comics creator Jon Proudstar remembers the first time he saw a Native American character in a comic. It was Thunderbird, in the X-Men, and he was quickly killed off. Proudstar was 8 years old and he was not happy. ‘And for years I just lamented about it and said one day I’ll bring him back,’ he says.”
Some Ideas For The Pittsburgh Symphony To Attract New Audiences
“Not every traditional program needs a nonmusical draw. But I don’t think drawing connections between pieces of music — and making those connections clear to the audience — would dumb down the orchestra’s product. In fact, it may make the PSO’s programming as unique as its sound.”
What’s The Problem With Bingeing On S-Town, The New Show From The People Who Brought Us Serial?
With the full show getting released at the same time – like a Netflix dump – “it induces a sense of sudden, ephemeral ubiquity, at least within a certain cultural bubble. Conversations about the show will burn hot for a few weeks around its release, and if you don’t immediately start binge-listening, you’ll miss the social experience of it.”
Ikutaro Kakehashi, The Man Behind The Roland Drum Machine And Synthesizer, Has Died At 87
The drum machine he developed, the TR-808, “had a lasting impact on pop music since its launch in 1980.” And Roland synthesizers “formed the bedrock to the sound of a range of electronica and dance acts including Aphex Twin, Portishead, Boards of Canada, the Prodigy.”
The N.E.A. Will Honor Jazz Masters In 2017, But Will This Be The Last Time?
To put it mildly, “a thread of anxiety is likely to run through the proceedings at the Kennedy Center in Washington.”
Secrecy And (Rather Salacious) Revelations At The Met
The New York Times claims that one of the reasons for Met director and chief executive Thomas Campbell’s resignation is a “a yearslong erosion of respect for his authority and judgment within the Met,” partly due to “a close personal relationship between Mr. Campbell and a female staff member” in the digital media department.
Doris Day Thought She Was Turning 93, But Turns Out She’s 95
This news “is a birthday surprise to even the star herself, who has long pegged her age to a 1924 birthdate that would make her 93. … A copy of Day’s birth certificate, obtained by The Associated Press from Ohio’s Office of Vital Statistics, settles the issue: Doris Mary Kappelhoff, her pre-fame name, was born on April 3, 1922.”
British Writer And Civil Rights Activist Darius Howe Has Died At Age 74
Howe took on the entire police system of Britain and won in the 1970s. In 2003, Howe, a broadcaster as well as a writer, “wrote and presented the controversial series White Tribe, which explored the idea of Englishness and involved travelling around the country.”
Top AJBlog Posts From The Weekend 04.02.17
A Museum Exhibit That Keeps Moving
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Work/Travail/Arbeid at the Museum of Modern Art, March 29-April 2. Members of Rosas in Work/Travail/Arbeid/. Counter-clockwise from bottom left: Igor Shyshko, Carlos Garbin, Böstjan Antončič, Julien Monty, Samantha van Wissen, Marie … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2017-04-01
Aretha Franklin’s got it at 75
I saw Aretha Franklin last night from the Chicago Theater’s nosebleed seats, unable to make out her features but sure from the moment she first raised her voice that she’s a national if not global treasure, … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond JazzPublished 2017-04-01
A Man With Moxie Plus
When Asger Jorn heard that he’d been awarded a Guggie, he told them to fuck off. … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2017-03-31
The Painting That’s Showing The Faultlines Of Racism In The U.S. Art World
If you’ve somehow missed the controversy over Dana Schutz’s painting of the Open Casket of Emmett Till, this article will lay out not only the various discussions in the art world but also the history of why the painting is so controversial.
Egyptian Novelist Jailed For ‘Offending Public Morals’ Waits To See If Court Will Clear Him To Write Again
Ahmed Naji: “It is interesting working on a novel in prison.”
The Dominican Republic Is Kicking Its Movie Production Into High Gear
With an average of 20 films and takes of $50 million in five years, the country is seeing, perhaps, the results of a new law, “more than dramatic in a country that saw an average of two-to-three homegrown films a year for nearly three decades prior to the film law.”