Roundup: Pop Culture & the Arts ...
Movies, Documentaries and Museum Exhibits
This page features links to reviews of movies, documentaries and exhibits with a historical theme. Listings are in reverse chronological order. Descriptions are taken directly from the linked publication. If you have articles you think should be listed on the Pop Culture page, please send them to the editor editor@historynewsnetwork.org.
SOURCE: Artdaily.org (3-3-10)
The Art Fund today announced that it has embarked upon an exciting new venture - the creation of a national collection of recent Middle Eastern photography, to be owned jointly by the V&A and the British Museum.
The collection will be known as The Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern photography at the V&A and the British Museum.
In total, the charity is allocating £100,000 to enable the two museums to build the Collection, which is to encompass photography from the Middle East spanning the 20th century to the present day, and to embrace works by artists from across the region, whether living in their countries of origin or in diaspora. The Collection is to embrace both celebrated names and emerging talents, and to cover subject matter as diverse as documentary-style reportage shots to more experimental, digital pieces.
Works acquired already demonstrate a diverse spread across the Middle East, from Morocco to Lebanon and Palestine to...
The collection will be known as The Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern photography at the V&A and the British Museum.
In total, the charity is allocating £100,000 to enable the two museums to build the Collection, which is to encompass photography from the Middle East spanning the 20th century to the present day, and to embrace works by artists from across the region, whether living in their countries of origin or in diaspora. The Collection is to embrace both celebrated names and emerging talents, and to cover subject matter as diverse as documentary-style reportage shots to more experimental, digital pieces.
Works acquired already demonstrate a diverse spread across the Middle East, from Morocco to Lebanon and Palestine to...
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - 10:15
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SOURCE: Artdaily.org (3-3-10)
After spending 20 years in the service of one of history’s most notorious dictators, the artwork of Dr Ala Bashir provides a chilling insight into the horror of Iraq’s recent history.
A new exhibition - to be shown for the first time in its entirety - will be showcased at Embrace Arts at the RA centre, the University of Leicester’s arts centre, from Saturday 15 May to Sunday 4 July 2010, with a special opening event on Friday 14 May.
Called ‘Recent Work: Memories of Keys’, the exhibition brings together Dr Bashir’s paintings of keys and also a number of his single-line drawings. He spoke of what the key symbolises for him:
“The meaning of home was my concern for many years, and became the prominent subject after I left Iraq. The search for a universal symbol or metaphor for home took me through lots of sideways - biological, social, ethnic, economic, historical and psychological aspects of human life. I found that the key might be used as a...
A new exhibition - to be shown for the first time in its entirety - will be showcased at Embrace Arts at the RA centre, the University of Leicester’s arts centre, from Saturday 15 May to Sunday 4 July 2010, with a special opening event on Friday 14 May.
Called ‘Recent Work: Memories of Keys’, the exhibition brings together Dr Bashir’s paintings of keys and also a number of his single-line drawings. He spoke of what the key symbolises for him:
“The meaning of home was my concern for many years, and became the prominent subject after I left Iraq. The search for a universal symbol or metaphor for home took me through lots of sideways - biological, social, ethnic, economic, historical and psychological aspects of human life. I found that the key might be used as a...
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - 10:11
SOURCE: The New Republic (3-2-10)
Combine a mystery and a masterpiece and what do you have? You have “Paolo Veronese: The Petrobelli Altarpiece,” a small, perfectly focused exhibition recently at the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin. The show--which has also been seen at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa--comes with a backstory engaging enough to make museum-goers pay close attention.
In the 1560s, already in command of his genius for opulent decorative effects, Veronese painted a vast altarpiece for a Franciscan church in the town of Lendinara, not far from Venice. Two centuries later, after the convent with which the church was associated was suppressed, the altarpiece was acquired by an art dealer, and he cut it into pieces and sold them off one by one--“just like meat in a butcher’s shop,” as the Scottish artist Gavin Hamilton observed at the time. Only now, after decades of work resolving the relationship of fragments in London...
In the 1560s, already in command of his genius for opulent decorative effects, Veronese painted a vast altarpiece for a Franciscan church in the town of Lendinara, not far from Venice. Two centuries later, after the convent with which the church was associated was suppressed, the altarpiece was acquired by an art dealer, and he cut it into pieces and sold them off one by one--“just like meat in a butcher’s shop,” as the Scottish artist Gavin Hamilton observed at the time. Only now, after decades of work resolving the relationship of fragments in London...
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - 11:56
SOURCE: Artdaily.org (3-2-10)
The last piano that Frederic Chopin composed on. A death mask made after he succumbed to what was probably tuberculosis. A lock of his brown hair.
Those are among objects on display at a new museum dedicated to the life of the Romantic-era composer that opened on his 200th birthday Monday in his native Poland.
The interactive multimedia museum is located in the center of Warsaw, where Chopin moved in infancy from a nearby country estate, and where he spent the first 20 years of his life before moving to Paris.
Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski hailed it as "the most modern biographical museum in Europe and even the world" at a ceremonial opening that comes amid a year of celebrations of the much-revered musician.
A central challenge that curators faced is the loss of many objects related to Chopin's life. Some, like letters, were destroyed by women he was romantically involved with; others were consumed in the devastation...
Those are among objects on display at a new museum dedicated to the life of the Romantic-era composer that opened on his 200th birthday Monday in his native Poland.
The interactive multimedia museum is located in the center of Warsaw, where Chopin moved in infancy from a nearby country estate, and where he spent the first 20 years of his life before moving to Paris.
Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski hailed it as "the most modern biographical museum in Europe and even the world" at a ceremonial opening that comes amid a year of celebrations of the much-revered musician.
A central challenge that curators faced is the loss of many objects related to Chopin's life. Some, like letters, were destroyed by women he was romantically involved with; others were consumed in the devastation...
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - 09:31
SOURCE: www.culture24.org.uk (2-26-10)
The Jewish Museum in London is gearing up for its public opening on March 16 and staff are working behind the scenes to get the ambitious £10 million project finished.
The original museum has tripled in size by expanding into a 19th century piano factory at the rear of the building, allowing the museum to showcase its collections in a state of the art space packed with displays and interactives.
Visitors will enter the Museum through the Welcome Gallery where images of today’s Jewish community flash up on screens reflecting and celebrating the diversity of one of the country’s oldest minority communities.
Reaching the stairs that lead to the further galleries they will pass one of the Museum’s largest pieces – a medieval Mikveh Bath discovered in London in 2001. The Jewish ritual bath, which dates to the mid-thirteenth century offers evidence of the religious and cultural life led by the Jewish community prior to their expulsion from England in...
The original museum has tripled in size by expanding into a 19th century piano factory at the rear of the building, allowing the museum to showcase its collections in a state of the art space packed with displays and interactives.
Visitors will enter the Museum through the Welcome Gallery where images of today’s Jewish community flash up on screens reflecting and celebrating the diversity of one of the country’s oldest minority communities.
Reaching the stairs that lead to the further galleries they will pass one of the Museum’s largest pieces – a medieval Mikveh Bath discovered in London in 2001. The Jewish ritual bath, which dates to the mid-thirteenth century offers evidence of the religious and cultural life led by the Jewish community prior to their expulsion from England in...
Monday, March 1, 2010 - 19:12
SOURCE: Artdaily.org (2-28-10)
As the end of February fast approaches, the fundraising total for the Staffordshire Hoard campaign has reached £1million.
So far, the total raised towards saving the most valuable treasure found on British soil is £1,080,000. Of this, almost £500,000 comes from members of the public.
The Art Fund is spearheading the campaign to save the Staffordshire Hoard for the West Midlands . The charity is delighted to have reached this landmark figure, just seven weeks into the campaign, which began on 13 January.
The Art Fund’s Director Stephen Deuchar commented: “This is really excellent news, furthering our conviction that if the campaign continues to gather steam, we still can make the £3.3million by 17 April. However, there is much work to be done and we need as many public donations as possible – so if you’ve been inspired by the Hoard but haven’t yet donated, now is the time.”
Until Sunday 7 March, visitors to the Potteries Museum and...
So far, the total raised towards saving the most valuable treasure found on British soil is £1,080,000. Of this, almost £500,000 comes from members of the public.
The Art Fund is spearheading the campaign to save the Staffordshire Hoard for the West Midlands . The charity is delighted to have reached this landmark figure, just seven weeks into the campaign, which began on 13 January.
The Art Fund’s Director Stephen Deuchar commented: “This is really excellent news, furthering our conviction that if the campaign continues to gather steam, we still can make the £3.3million by 17 April. However, there is much work to be done and we need as many public donations as possible – so if you’ve been inspired by the Hoard but haven’t yet donated, now is the time.”
Until Sunday 7 March, visitors to the Potteries Museum and...
Monday, March 1, 2010 - 13:19
SOURCE: Artdaily.org (2-28-10)
The world of Cleopatra, which has been lost to the sea and sand for nearly 2,000 years, will surface in a new exhibition, “Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt,” making its world premiere in June 2010 at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Organized by National Geographic and Arts and Exhibitions International, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), the exhibition will feature more than 250 artifacts, and take visitors inside the present-day search for Cleopatra, which extends from the sands of Egypt to the depths of the Bay of Aboukir near Alexandria.
The exhibition about the legendary queen, who remains one of history’s greatest enigmas, debuting at The Franklin Institute from June 5, 2010 – January 2, 2011, will travel to five North American cities. The Franklin Institute hosted “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” developed by the same organizers,...
The exhibition about the legendary queen, who remains one of history’s greatest enigmas, debuting at The Franklin Institute from June 5, 2010 – January 2, 2011, will travel to five North American cities. The Franklin Institute hosted “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” developed by the same organizers,...
Monday, March 1, 2010 - 13:18
SOURCE: Artdaily.org (2-28-10)
In the heart of the largest concentration of Muslims in the U.S., the Detroit Institute of Arts this weekend is opening a new permanent gallery of Islamic art showcasing exhibits including a rare 15th-century Quran of a Mongol conqueror.
"The Arab and Islamic community is significant enough that it needs to see itself in the museum," said director Graham W.J. Beal. "Their collection had not been shown very prominently in the previous recent decades."
Sunday's opening comes as several museums worldwide are broadening their collections. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is working on a suite of Islamic art galleries and The David Collection in Copenhagen is preparing to close its gallery for a reinstallation. The Louvre in Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London also boast of major renovations to their collections. And Egyptian officials plan to reopen Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art.
In Detroit, the gallery of...
"The Arab and Islamic community is significant enough that it needs to see itself in the museum," said director Graham W.J. Beal. "Their collection had not been shown very prominently in the previous recent decades."
Sunday's opening comes as several museums worldwide are broadening their collections. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is working on a suite of Islamic art galleries and The David Collection in Copenhagen is preparing to close its gallery for a reinstallation. The Louvre in Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London also boast of major renovations to their collections. And Egyptian officials plan to reopen Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art.
In Detroit, the gallery of...
Monday, March 1, 2010 - 13:17
SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education (2-28-10)
[Thomas Doherty is a professor of American studies at Brandeis University and author of Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration (Columbia University Press, 2007).]
The transfer of film criticism from its print-based platforms (newspapers, magazines, and academic journals) to ectoplasmic Web-page billboards has rocked the lit-crit screen trade. Whether from the world of journalism (where the pink slips are landing with hurricane force) or academe (which itself is experiencing the worst job market since the Middle Ages), serious writers on film feel under siege, underappreciated, and underemployed....
The history lessons are revelatory, both for uncovering the long tradition of discerning film criticism in America (it didn't start in the 1960s) and for the surprising number of brand-name writers who have slummed as movie reviewers: Carl Sandburg, on the silent screen in The Chicago Daily News in the 1920s (on Garbo: "slim,...
The transfer of film criticism from its print-based platforms (newspapers, magazines, and academic journals) to ectoplasmic Web-page billboards has rocked the lit-crit screen trade. Whether from the world of journalism (where the pink slips are landing with hurricane force) or academe (which itself is experiencing the worst job market since the Middle Ages), serious writers on film feel under siege, underappreciated, and underemployed....
The history lessons are revelatory, both for uncovering the long tradition of discerning film criticism in America (it didn't start in the 1960s) and for the surprising number of brand-name writers who have slummed as movie reviewers: Carl Sandburg, on the silent screen in The Chicago Daily News in the 1920s (on Garbo: "slim,...
Monday, March 1, 2010 - 13:16
