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

Photographer who shot historic Kent State picture reunites with his subject on campus

John Filo, now CBS photo director, and Mary Vecchio (left, in the 1970 photo) were featured speakers at Monday's 39th commemoration of the Kent State shootings. "The last time he saw her on the campus was through the lens of his camera as he took his historic picture on May 4, 1970, after the shootings on campus that left four dead and nine wounded," writes Bill Lilley.

More Sex, Less Conspicuous Consumption: How D.C.'S National Gallery Got Pompeii Wrong

In the year 79 C.E., Mount Vesuvius erupted, famously burying the ancient city of Pompeii under volcanic ash, where it lay unknown and undisturbed until the eighteenth century. But once the city was opened up to the light of day, first by accident and then by a frenzy of treasure-hunting, the horrifying drama of that apocalyptic event proved irresistible, even if some of the finds were judged disappointing. The terrible fate of the city's residents as they tried to escape, the beauty of the inte

Famed Nefertiti bust 'a fake': expert

The bust of Queen Nefertiti housed in a Berlin museum and believed to be 3,400 years old in fact is a copy dating from 1912 that was made to test pigments used by the ancient Egyptians, according to Swiss art historian Henri Stierlin. Stierlin, author of a dozen works on Egypt, the Middle East and ancient Islam, says in a just-released book that the bust currently in Berlin's Altes Museum was made at the order of German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt by an artist named Gerardt Marks

Shedding light on the Catacombs of Rome

Rome's underground Christian, Jewish and pagan burial sites, the Catacombs, date back to the 2nd Century AD. There are more than 40 of them stretching over 170km (105 miles). But, until now, they have never been fully documented, their vast scale only recorded with handmade maps. That is now changing, following a three-year project to create the first fully comprehensive three-dimensional image using laser scanners.

Geneva row over African cultural heritage

Art experts have attacked the looting of African archaeological heritage on behalf of rich western collectors. A group of specialists has pointed an accusing finger at a new exhibition of ancient African ceramics held at the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva. But those responsible for the exhibition reject the criticism. In a signed opinion column, entitled "Le pillage de l'histoire africaine" (The pillaging of African history) in the French-language newspaper

Van Gogh's ear was cut off by friend Gauguin with a sword

He is known as the tortured genius who cut off his own ear as he struggled with mental illness after the breakdown of his friendship with a fellow artist. But a new study claims Vincent Van Gogh may have made up the story to protect painter Paul Gauguin who actually lopped it off with a sword during an argument. German art historians say the true version of events never surfaced as the two men both kept a "pact of silence" – Gauguin to avoid prosecution and Va

In ‘Kings,’ Television Tackles the Conflicted Saul

“Saul has slain his thousands, David his tens of thousands,” the Bible records the ancient Jews as chanting. The passage in the first Book of Samuel refers to the military prowess of Israel’s first king and his imminent successor. But it could just as well be measuring the relative impact each has had in Western culture. The Library of Congress’s online catalogue lists just 43 books about Saul and 297 about David, with scores more in separate categories for drama, poetry and fiction

Chinese ceramics at British Museum gallery

At the entrance of the British Museum’s new gallery of Chinese ceramics, from the Sir Percival David Collection, is a pair of Yuan-dynasty blue-and-white temple vases known as the David vases. These 63cm-tall vessels are often cited as the most important pieces of Chinese porcelain anywhere. Their significance lies in the inscription on their necks, which tells us a man called Zhang Wenjin presented them to a Daoist temple in 1351. Because of this unique dating, they have become a kind of Rosett

Museum about second Iranian president opens

Mohammad Ali Rajaii (1933-1981) was the second elected president of Iran. He was president for 14 days and was martyred on August 30. The martyr’s house in the 12th district of Tehran near the Baharestan neighborhood was converted into a museum. This is part of the long-term program of the Tehran Municipality. Nader Karami, the mayor of the 12th district attending the ceremony said, “We intend to change the house of one martyr in each district into a museum, or a cult

In Berlin, Teaching Germany’s Jewish History

— There may be worse Jewish museums in the world than the Jüdisches Museum Berlin, which opened in 2001. But it is difficult to imagine that any could be as uninspiring and banal, particularly given its pedigree and promise. Has any other Jewish museum been more celebrated or its new building (designed by Daniel Libeskind) so widely hailed? Is any other Jewish museum of more symbolic importance? This is the largest such institution in Europe, a national museum devoted to exploring

Archaeologists have created the first fully comprehensive three-dimensional image of one of the Catacombs of Rome

Rome's underground Christian, Jewish and pagan burial sites, the Catacombs, date back to the 2nd Century AD. There are more than 40 of them stretching over 170km (105 miles). But, until now, they have never been fully documented, their vast scale only recorded with handmade maps. That is now changing, following a three-year project to create the first fully comprehensive three-dimensional image using laser scanners.

Jack the Ripper 'was several different killers'

The character of Jack the Ripper was invented by journalists to sell newspapers, and his East End murder spree was actually the work of several unrelated killers, according to a new book. Senior police officers who investigated the 1888 prostitute killings were convinced they were not the work of a single man, research by the historian Dr Andrew Cook has uncovered. A letter boasting about the killings signed by a "Jack the Ripper" was forged by a journalist at

Aristotle taught there

The remains of the ancient school where philosopher Aristotle taught his pupils nearly 2,500 years ago are to be turned into an outdoor museum, thanks to a donation from a betting company, Greece's Culture Ministry says. The project in central Athens is slated for completion next year at a cost of euro4.5 million ($5.9 million). But it will not use funds from the government, which has promised spending cuts amid the global financial crisis. Aristotle, who lived from 384

A look inside Robert Capa’s “Mexican Suitcase,” photography from the Spanish Civil War that was long thought to be lost

When the three weathered cardboard boxes — known collectively, and cinematically, as the Mexican suitcase — arrived at the International Center of Photography more than a year ago, one of the first things a conservator did was bend down and sniff the film coiled inside, fearful of a telltale acrid odor, a sign of nitrate decay. But the rolls turned out to be in remarkably good shape despite being almost untouched for 70 years. And so began a painstaking process of unfurling, scannin

Nationalism and Anti-Americanism in Japan (as expressed in art)

[Matthew Penney is an Assistant Professor at Concordia University in Montreal and a Japan Focus associate. He is currently conducting research on popular representations of war in Japan. He can be contacted at penneym@hotmail.com.] In 1967, Astroboy, the Japanese animation and comic book icon, died protecting a North Vietnamese village from American bombers. [Manga images should be read in Japanese manner from RIGHT to LEFT][1]

Chinese spy museum closed to foreigners

The director of the Jiangsu National Security Education museum in Nanjing, who would only give her name as Ms Qian, said the collection of tiny pistols, miniature cameras, and concealed wiretaps may be timeworn, but is still too sensitive for foreign eyes. "We don't want such sensitive spy information to be exposed to foreigners, so they are not allowed to enter," she said. "We have a range of documents and gadgets dating from 1927, when the Communist Pa

Do Adolf Hitler's descendants get a cut of his painting profits?

Thirteen paintings attributed to Adolf Hitler were put on sale at a British auction last Thursday. After their authenticity was certified by an Austrian expert, they sold for about $140,000. Do Hitler's living relatives get a cut? No. Hitler did produce a last will and testament leaving his inheritance to his three siblings. But the German state of Bavaria seized all of Hitler's property after the Third Reich fell in 1945, and it currently owns the rights to his estate.

Smithsonian exhibit captures history of Obama inauguration

When you think about the Smithsonian, images come to mind of old documents, artifacts and other materials from years gone by. But an exhibit unveiled Tuesday hopes to put forth a snapshot of recent history in the making. "I Do Solemnly Swear" is a photographic display of more than 30 images taken during the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, including views not seen on television or by the tens of thousands of spectators who were at the event. Althoug

Down Memory Lane in a Pontiac

The following television commercial for the 1966 Pontiac GTO comes via James Lileks (who hattips Tim Blair).The tone of the commercial is ultracool, the hype is – as hype goes – understated, except perhaps for that tiger bit at the end. Little did we know in ‘66 that cool was about to expire, overplayed by Sean Connery and then done in by a counterculture that came not to praise it, or anything, but to bury everything in its way.

Emirates art lovers welcome Orientalism

In fact the 85 oil paintings, sketches and water colours that make up the Lure of the East exhibition, have elicited little else apart from curiosity and delight in the Emirate of Sharjah. The works, first displayed at Tate Britain, have travelled via Turkey to the Gulf following a roughly similar route to that taken by many British artists who made their way to the Orient in the 19th century. These early adventurers brought back images that stirred the European imagi