Category Archives: Uncategorized
Catching up
It remains very difficult to find arts content on The Washington Post, so here are a few links. I reviewed the new Picasso drawings exhibition at the National Gallery of Art… and I loved it. Most everyone will. Also the … Continue reading
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Greetings from Buckingham Palace
Christmas, in my house, always includes some time with the Queen. Her annual Christmas message is a masterpiece of the most comforting clichés, a sweet homily on the gift of the season, family, joy and the meaning of community. … Continue reading
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North Korean Tears: Real, Fake or Viral?
That is the essence of today’s brief column in the Post, about the mourning and mass hysteria in North Korea. I argue that not only is it likely that the grief feels real to those emoting over the death of … Continue reading
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A minor Hitch anecdote having nothing to do with salami
Everyone is offering his Christopher Hitchens memories today. I had only one face-to-face encounter, after he gave a lecture at the Greek embassy about the Elgin Marbles (he argued passionately for their return to Greece). Some of us retired to … Continue reading
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Newt Gingrich: Opera Lover
As Newt Gingrich rises in the polls, it’s worth putting one little item on the table of public discourse: He loves opera. In Washington, lots of people love opera, but it’s rare for politicians with national ambitions to love … Continue reading
Filed under Culture, Music, Opera, Uncategorized
Index on Censorship
I was asked by the U.K.-based Index on Censorship to contribute an article about the Smithsonian Hide/Seek controversy to the Art issue they published in September (Volume 40, Issue 3, September 2011). They don’t post the entire contents of the … Continue reading
Filed under Art, Culture, Exhibitions, Museums, Uncategorized
Hide/Seek
It’s not just the subject of my Sunday story, it’s the problem afflicting too many Sunday stories, alas. Tyler Green at Modern Art Notes sent a message saying he might have linked to the piece I wrote about the year … Continue reading
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Pepper Spray… bad plan.
I recently wrote another installment of the Images series, this one devoted to the videos that came out of the University of California Davis campus during the pepper spray incident. The video and various riffs on it have gone viral. … Continue reading
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Unbuilt Washington
It’s worth spending a few hours at The National Building Museum’s “Unbuilt Washington” exhibition, the most engaging and rich show the museum has mounted in several years. And I don’t think my enthusiasm is based on being a resident of … Continue reading
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Come one and all
I’ll be addressing the Wagner Society of Washington, DC on Thursday evening. The subject is Mark Twain and Richard Wagner, two unlikely suspects for extended comparison, but also two men separated (as far as my most recent research can demonstrate) … Continue reading
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