Roundup: Pop Culture & the Arts ... Movies, Documentaries and Museum Exhibits

Exhibition of Prints by Edvard Munch Goes on Display at the National Gallery of Ireland

An exhibition of 40 prints by Norway’s greatest artist, Edvard Munch (1863-1944), will go on display at the National Gallery of Ireland from 19 September until 6 December 2009. “Thanks to the extraordinary, comprehensive collection of the Munch Museum , which is the result of his legacy to the city of Oslo , this will be the most extensive exhibition of Munch’s graphic works to go on display in Ireland,” says Raymond Keaveney, Director of the National Gallery. “We are delighted to be able to sho

Historic 3-Year Louvre Atlanta Partnership Brings in Over 1.3 Million Visitors to the High

The closing of the exhibition “The Louvre and the Masterpiece” last weekend marked the culmination of “Louvre Atlanta,” the High Museum ’s unprecedented three-year partnership with the Musée du Louvre in Paris. During the course of the partnership, the High welcomed over 1.3 million visitors to the museum for seven exhibitions that brought a combined 493 treasures from the Louvre’s collection to Atlanta. Masterworks from all eight of the Louvre's curatorial departments have traveled to the High,

Wallraff-Richartz Museum in Cologne Shows Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Battered, shapeless, down-at-the-heel – that’s the appearance of the most hotly discussed shoes in art history: a pair of black boots that Vincent van Gogh painted in 1886 in Paris – without ever suspecting the heat of the philosophical debate he was about to trigger. To this day, philosophers and art historians look at this painting and argue over the function of art, the value of interpretation and the nature of existence. It all began in 1936 when Martin Heidegger saw the painting in Amsterda

Coco Chanel, Traveling a Hard Road to the Little Black Dress

WHEN Coco Chanel died in 1971 at the age of 87, she left more than a legendary quilted handbag and a trail of Chanel No. 5 in her wake. A rebel and a pioneer as well as a designer, she freed women for the 20th century, replacing their corsets and lace frills with sailor shirts and wool jersey and democratizing elegance in the form of the Little Black Dress. Her storied life — from lowly beginnings to the pinnacle of French couture, with controversial love affairs, bons

Route 66 history has a new home in Carthage, Missouri

Jasper County’s historic courthouse is a frequent stop for tourists traveling Route 66. Now, Route 66 history is a part of the courthouse, in a display that mimics Carthage’s former Boots Drive-In. Workers with the Joplin Museum Complex have installed the exhibit, and more elements will be added later, said Chris Wiseman, museum curator. At 18 feet wide and 13 feet tall, the display is a representation of the front of the former drive-in that will have arti

HMS Victory future secured as National Museum of the Royal Navy gets 64-cannon launch

Months of speculation over the future of HMS Victory ended today after the Secretary for the Ministry of Defence announced the flagship would be a focal point for a new National Museum of the Royal Navy. Speaking at the launch in Portsmouth, Baroness Taylor unveiled plans to unite the four Naval Service museums – at Portsmouth, Gosport, Southsea and Yeovilton – in one national centre. “To many people, it has long seemed curious that the Royal Navy - which is, after all,

A City Reinvents Itself Beyond Conflict

TEL AVIV — The exhibit space is set up for only one viewer, who sits with headphones in a rotating chair and watches a video that alternates between the tony Tel Aviv space outside and the gritty, honking chaos of a military checkpoint in the West Bank. Between the harsh juxtaposition and the rotating chair, only one reaction is common: nausea. And that is the clear aim of the artist, Miri Segal, whose “Place de la Bonne Heure” is a highlight of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Biennial, a new sh

SUNY Plattsburgh Finds, Donates Ancient Fossil to New York State Museum

Two students from the Capital District were among SUNY Plattsburgh geology students who recently discovered the rare bones of an ancient harbor seal that have now been donated to the geology collections of the New York State Museum. Jason Klein of Cohoes and Zachary Irwin of Burnt Hills were with Jake McAdoo and other students collecting mud samples at the site of the old Plattsburgh Air Force Base on Lake Champlain when McAdoo’s shovel hit something hard. “Jake said

Tate Gallery Anounces Exhibition for 2010 Including First Major Gauguin Exhibition (UK)

Gauguin (1848-1903) is one of the most influential and celebrated artists of the late nineteenth century. Remarkably, this is the first major exhibition in London to be devoted to his work in over half a century. Opening at Tate Modern on 30 September 2010, Gauguin: Maker of Myth will trace the artist’s unique approach to storytelling. Bringing together over 100 works from public and private collections from around the world, the exhibition will take a fresh and compelling look at this master of

Getting the most out of Viking treasure (York)

We will never know if the Vikings who buried a princely hoard of silver in a gilded cup near Harrogate in the 10th century expected to see it again. They surely did not anticipate that the treasure would emerge from the earth after 1,100 years, to be set upon by highly-skilled conservators wielding items such as quills and ultrasound vibrators. But that is what has happened. After a "quick turn-round" in the conservation department of the British

Race exhibit lined up for Missouri History Museum in January

I spoke last week with Melanie Adams, managing director at the Missouri History Museum, about an exhibit the museum is bringing in January called “Race: Are We So Different.” I asked her to write a little something about the exhibit. I have more information after the item. “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” -James Baldwin, author This quote by James Baldwin is an apt description of race relations

Caravaggio Masterpiece to Make Rare Chicago Appearance at the Art Institute

The Art Institute of Chicago will be offering visitors the rare opportunity to view one of Caravaggio's masterworks from October 10, 2009 to January 31, 2010. Coming from the National Gallery, London, The Supper at Emmaus is one of the most highly regarded paintings by one of the most influential of all Western artists, and it is a painting hardly ever seen outside of London. For these four months, it will be one of the few Caravaggios on view anywhere in the United States. The Sup

"Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" to Arrive in New York City in April 2010

“Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” will arrive in New York City in April 2010, marking the first time a collection of treasures from King Tut’s tomb has visited the city since the groundbreaking 1979 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art launched “Tutmania” and attracted 1.8 million visitors. Following the New York showing of this National Geographic exhibition, the treasures are scheduled to return to Egypt to eventually be housed in a new Grand Museum in Cairo, which is in

Hollywood blockbusters about Abraham Lincoln to clash

Robert Redford and Steven Spielberg are pushing ahead with separate films about Abraham Lincoln, despite the prospect of the biopics reaching cinemas at similar times. Spielberg has said he would continue with his long-planned film about the US president who abolished slavery, after it emerged that Redford was planning a rival project that could be finished first. The director told Variety magazine that he would not pull the plug on the film, which is set to star Liam

92-Year-Old Tops Beatles on British Charts

"We'll Meet Again" seems like one of those songs forever frozen in a time and a place: Britain in World War II. It was sung by Vera Lynn, who came to be called the "Forces Sweetheart." Now 92-years-old, Lynn has a good reason to raise a glass. The re-released recording of her songs on the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the war has shot to No. 1 on the U.K. charts with a bullet. It's even eclipsed the re-release of the Beatles discography.

David Brooks: High-Five Nation

On Sunday evenings, my local NPR station airs old radio programs. A few weeks ago it broadcast the episode of the show “Command Performance” that aired the day World War II ended. “Command Performance” was a variety show that went out to the troops around the world. On V-J Day, Frank Sinatra appeared, along with Marlene Dietrich, Jimmy Durante, Dinah Shore, Bette Davis, Lionel Barrymore, Cary Grant and many others. But the most striking feature of the show was its tone of self-effa

The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant

On the evening of September 7 (Labor Day) HBO broadcast "The Last Truck:Closing of a GM Plant [in Ohio]", a documentary by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar. The film interviews workers about their years at the plant, and counts down to the last day and the last truck, I found it powerful, both emotionally and aesthetically. Immediately afterwards. I wrote to H-Labor, the labor historians discussion list: “Shown this evening … on HBO. Let's hope it stays around

Artists Create Works About Mary Magdalene Inspired by Met's New Opening Night Production

Fourteen contemporary artists have created works about Mary Magdalene for Gallery Met, inspired by the company’s new production of Puccini’s Tosca, which opens the 2009-10 season on September 21. The exhibition Something about Mary features original works by Hugh Bush, Paul Chan, Francesco Clemente, George Condo, John Currin, Rachael Feinstein, Barnaby Furnas, Elizabeth Peyton, James Rosenquist, Julian Schnabel, Dana Schutz, Shahzia Sikander, Rudolf Stingel and Francesco Vezzoli. Artists Marlene

From the boardroom to the boards – ex-Lehman bankers turn to the stage in London

When Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy a year ago, Neha Jain was among the 4,500 British employees at the investment bank who found themselves with no source of income and shrinking career prospects in a recession-hit industry. So Ms Jain, 25, who had marketed credit derivatives for the American bank, decided to, along with two other Lehman colleagues, set up a theatre group with hundreds of pounds of their own savings. It has just returned a profit less than a year after being

Inquiry begins into restoration at Bolshoi and missing millions

The long-running woes of the Bolshoi Theatre deepened today when Russian prosecutors said that some of the millions spent on the crumbling venue's restoration had mysteriously vanished and may have been stolen. Officials from Russia's general prosecutor's office said they had opened a criminal investigation into the misuse of funds at Moscow's celebrated ballet and opera venue. The firm supposed to renovate the theatre was being investigated, they said. The Bolshoi clos