- Stolen: The "Mona Lisa of Sculpture" A valuable sculpture was stolen from the Art History Museum in Vienna. "The 16th century 'Saliera' (salt cellar) is considered 'the Mona Lisa of sculptures,' the museum said. The 10-inch-tall piece was the only remaining authenticated example of Italian master sculptor Benvenuto Cellini’s work as a goldsmith. This is an art theft of gigantic proportions. The 'Saliera' was worth at the very least 50 million euros ($57 million)." MSNBC (Reuters)
- Failure To Communicate - Why America Doesn't Translate Is it any surprise that Americans have such a narrow sense of other cultures? "About 3% of the fiction and poetry published in the United States in 1999 was translated (approximately 330 out of the total 11,570 fiction and poetry titles published). America compares unfavourably to almost every other country and most unfavourably to western Europe, the region closest to an ideological sibling. There, Germany translates the most works - about six times as many as the US each year. Spain is close behind, while the French publishing industry exceeds the US by four times. Without translations, Americans, who are notoriously monolingual, have access only to the perspectives of those who write and speak in English; thus the ideas of millions are lost to them." OpenDemocracy 05/01/03
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The "Great" Books We Hate? "We are all impressed, and a little cowed, by great reputations; so when we confront the works themselves but fail to appreciate their achievement, their technical skill and their freight of wisdom, we assume that the fault must lie in ourselves in our limited grasp, our philistine blindness. But sometimes we hit back and allow ourselves the luxury to say, 'No, no, it's this damn book that is wrong; it's this crappy plot and its flat-as-a-flounder characters, and this dismal dialogue'." The Independent (UK) 05/11/03
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Dear Stanley: You're Fired Stanley Crouch's last column in JazzTimes was blunt. In it he "accuses white critics of elevating white musicians 'far beyond their abilities' to 'make themselves feel more comfortable about . . . evaluating an art from which they feel substantially alienated.' Crouch also claims that white writers, who were born in 'middle-class china shops,' ensure 'the destruction of the Negro aesthetic' by advancing musicians who can't swing at the expense of those who can." And with that, the magazine fired Crouch... Village Voice 05/13/03
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Official Art - Minimally Unacceptable Roger Kimball believes that the official art world has its priotities on backwards when it comes to touting art it thinks is worthwhile. "When it comes to the Art World — to the congeries of critic-publicists and curator-publicists, museum-director-publicists, publicist-publicists, and artist-narcissist-publicists who set the agenda and spend the money—the front-burner issue is not aesthetic quality but one or another species of trendiness. When exhibitions of Velázquez or Leonardo or some other historical name-brand worthy roll into town, you can reap some reasonably straight oohs and aahs from the arts pages of the Times and other finger-in-the-air publications. But let the focus shift to what’s happening now and, presto! instant lobotomy and onset of Tourette Syndrome." The New Criterion 05/03
