By Julia Vitale

Ten years and divergent art styles separated the oldest and youngest of the five Pollock brothers. Both studied under the regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League, in New York City. Charles, in his late 20s, adopted Benton’s American-scene painting before later turning to abstraction. Jackson, in his late teens, was more interested in the symbolic and mythical content of the Mexican artists. He would sign a gallery contract with Peggy Guggenheim and go on to develop the radical “action” technique that made him famous. READ ON

By James Wolcott

When comedian, film star, soft-shoe hoofer, and presidential-golfing buddy Bob Hope ascended to that big country club in the sky at the age of 100 (!) in 2003, his earthly send-off wasn’t all that he might have, well, hoped. The fulsome obituary notices lauded the breadth of his fame and achievements. His landmark status in entertainment history was undisputed. But the praise was threaded with sighs of regret that Hope had outlived his era and then some. READ ON

De Mondonville’s Titon et l’Aurore, by William Christie, Basil Twist, and Paris’s Opéra Comique …

By Matthew Gurewitsch

Idolized by two goddesses, abhorred by a god, a mortal shepherd has all Olympus in a tizzy and cannot fathom why. Jean-Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville’s Titon et l’Aurore, a bauble from the court of the Sun King, wraps a cat’s-cradle of entangled amours in ravishing tunes and timbres. This is just the kind of buried treasure the musicologist William Christie and his ensemble Les Arts Florissants have made it their mission to unearth. Nothing, to mix a metaphor, could put more wind in their sails than the theatrical fantasy of the wizard puppeteer Basil Twist.

Mounted and filmed in lockdown in the empty auditorium of the Opéra Comique, READ ON

By Julia Vitale

“Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars,” wrote Dante Alighieri, to describe the hopeful passage from hell to purgatory in his Divine Comedy, completed in 1320. These words were thought to have comforted the Renaissance painter Federico Zuccari at the end of the 16th century, when he was living away from his native Italy and illustrating Dante’s work. The line also provided inspiration for the Uffizi Gallery’s new online exhibition of Zuccari’s Divine Comedy drawings, timed to the 700-year anniversary of Dante’s death. READ ON

More than 20 years after the puppeteer Basil Twist debuted his genre-defying response to Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique,” a film version is available for streaming

By Matthew Gurewitsch

When Basil Twist got his MacArthur in 2015, the only question was why it had taken so long. As far as the smart money was concerned, his genius had been established fact since 1998, when he first interpreted an opium dream from the pen of Hector Berlioz in a 500-gallon aquarium. Some critics called Twist’s Symphonie Fantastique a nonrepresentational underwater puppet show; more accurately, Twist himself described it as a “spectacle of abstract form.” Whipped up from tatters of fabric, wands, the odd ostrich feather, acrylic cutouts, and other far-from-precious bric-a-brac, the instant hit went on to glory in boutique venues around the world. READ ON

An exhibition pairing Henry Moore’s oversized sculptures and 70 of his drawings goes on show at the newly reopened Museo Novecento, in Florence

By Julia Vitale

The monumental bronzes and marbles of Henry Moore, which see the abstraction of Brancusi joined with the humanism of Florentine masters Brunelleschi and Donatello, are his own form of modernism. Despite making millions in his lifetime (1898–1986), the English sculptor lived frugally and modestly. In 1940, he and his wife left London to live ever after on a farm in Hertfordshire. And in 1951, he turned down a knighthood, fearing the title would “cut [him] off from fellow artists.” Moore rejected art as escapism; he believed abstraction helped viewers grasp a subject’s essence.

In collaboration with the Henry Moore READ ON

Rejected cover artwork by Hergé sells for a record-breaking $3.9 million, but the real drama is still unfolding

By Stuart Heritage

On Thursday, an unused 1936 cover for Belgian illustrator Hergé’s Tintin comic book “The Blue Lotus” was sold at auction in Paris to a private collector for $3.9 million ($1 million above its estimate), becoming the most expensive piece of comic-book art in history. This in itself is not a surprise, given that the previous most expensive comic-book art in history—a two-page illustration, which sold for $3.2 million in 2014—was also drawn by Hergé. However, the “Blue Lotus” sale has been subject to enough controversy to dizzy even the most dedicated Tintinologist.

The work, by all accounts, is absolutely READ ON

A new documentary attempts to paint the definitive picture of Tiger Woods. But his is a story that’s far from over

By Tomas Agrest

Over the last few years, golf fans have been served a rigid narrative of the Tiger Woods Comeback Story. Even the most casual sports fan has tasted it: a 45-year-old star golfer overcomes his well-documented troubles on and off the course to win the 2019 Masters and continue his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’s Majors record. HBO’s Tiger reminds viewers of just how Icarian his fall from the greatest heights of sports superstardom really was, and how uncertain his return to his previous dominance remains.

The two-part documentary attempts the impossible task of covering the complete story of Tiger Woods READ ON

The Louvre is sending thousands of unseen works to safety in case the Seine overflows

By Adam Sage

The center was built at a cost of $51 million to contain what one expert called “the memory of humanity” — 250,000 paintings, drawings, statues and other objects from across the world and spanning nine millennia.

The works belong to the Louvre but unlike the French museum’s stars — Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo or the Winged Victory of Samothrace — they are held out of sight in storage rooms. Now, this literally priceless stored collection — the Louvre says it would be impossible to estimate its worth — is being transferred to a modern conservation center in Liévin, northern France, where it will be held for future generations. READ ON

Azu Nwagbogu is building a vibrant art scene in Nigeria. Can he reclaim the continent’s artistic glories?

By Lola Ogunnaike

While the past 10 months saw the world locked in a pandemic-induced paralysis, Azu Nwagbogu, one of Africa’s most influential curators, moved at a breakneck pace. He spent the spring in his hometown of Lagos, Nigeria, planning his annual photo festival, the summer in the U.K. preparing for his exhibition at the Unit London Gallery, and then returned to Lagos for an exhibition which opened this winter.

“This has turned out to be the busiest period of my life,” he says. “It’s great.”

The pandemic and the anti–police brutality protests that engulfed Nigeria in October were challenges for Nwagbogu, READ ON

Museums may be shuttered, but birding is not halted by pandemics. In New York City, a rare visit from three forest-dwelling Barred Owls

By Laura Jacobs

The new year sailed in on wisdom and wings. We have a President-elect who is deeply experienced, empathetic, and open-hearted. When asked about Republicans who wouldn’t acknowledge his win, or might not work with him, he didn’t rant and rave. He simply smiled and assured us, “They will. They will.” He’s been, in a word, unflappable.

Here in New York City, the winter has seen a parliament of owls. Well, not in the strictest sense, because a “parliament” means a number of owls grouped together. But along with the usual species—Long-eared or Great Horned here, Northern Saw-whet or Eastern READ ON

Fran Lebowitz’s name is synonymous with two things: caustic wit and New York City. Martin Scorsese’s rollicking new documentary series captures both

By Alex Oliveira

So, who the hell is Fran Lebowitz?

The question is tossed at Lebowitz (she parries quickly and characteristically) in Martin Scorsese’s new documentary series, Pretend It’s a City, which may be striving to give its own answer, or is merely another chance for Lebowitz to let the world know just what she thinks about us. It’s probably both, but either way, Pretend It’s a City is hilarious.

Fran Lebowitz is an author, though she hasn’t exactly published a book in 40 years. She’s lived in New York City for 52 years, yet insists she’s never been able to afford it. “Your bad habits can kill you,” Lebowitz says, “but your good habits won’t save you.” These aren’t even a few of the topics covered in READ ON

Flowers from ancient to modern times inhabit a festive book of photographs and works on paper

By Julia Vitale

Over the course of just a few days in 17th-century Amsterdam, tulip prices skyrocketed. It was the Dutch golden age, and a public spurred by the spring perennials’ fashionable reputation drove contract prices for their bulbs sky-high: for instance, a single bulb of the Viceroy tulip was traded for four oxen. A year later this bubble—widely considered to be the first speculative bubble in world history—burst, a rise and fall captured (if with some doubt as to the details) by Charles Mackay in his 1841 book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.

Flower-mania has never again reached READ ON