January 21, 2023
The Best
of
The
News
from
Abroad
No. 184
Weekend
Edition
Saturdays

at 6:00 AM
In This Week’s Issue
Sight Unseen

From Berlin, Joseph Bullmore reports on the fall from grace of Johann König, the celebrated “blind gallerist,” who fell foul of #MeToo allegations but might be the victim of a bizarre plot …

Witness for the Prosecution

From the writing desk, filmmaker Errol Morris dives between the lines of journalist Janet Malcolm, who wrestled with the slipperiness of truth and her own motivations …

The Game of Hockney

From London, William Boyd sits down with David Hockney, who is equally busy puffing cigarettes and setting up a sprawling immersive exhibition …

Mushroom with a View

From Mexico, Elena Clavarino discovers the mecca of magic mushrooms and how it’s remained the same despite the drug’s Goop-ification …

Neigh Plus Ultra

From Saint-Moritz, Eleanore Kelly reveals that the ski resort’s luxury dial goes to 11 when the Snow Polo World Cup appears in town …

A Wrinkle in Time

From AIR MAIL’s Beauty and Wellness Lab, Linda Wells finds you’re only as old as other people look, and suggests some ways to gain a youthful appearance without injections, lasers, or surgery …

But, wait, there’s more!

The Navalny director discusses the irony of success while his subject is behind bars … Anna Delvey, the fake heiress, reveals her Perfect Ending … the hottest new New York restaurant hasn’t even fully opened yet … Alex Prager, queen of the surreal, shares her real-life shopping must-haves … from our AIR SUPPLY store, the perfect fluffy baby blanket—for adults! … don’t rest until you see these Technicolor gravestones … find out where cool girls source their vintage Chanel ballet flats … Who clambered to the top of the Attention-Whore Index this week? …

But First …
Issue No. 184

The View from Here Why isn’t John Williams treated like Igor Stravinsky?

By John Mauceri
Read On
Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
Wandering Eyes

The Blind Gallerist Johann König was the king of the Berlin art world, until #MeToo allegations threatened his reign

By Joseph Bullmore
Read On
Small Talk

What a Piece of Work Sure, I can write you a tell-all full of objective facts

By The Royal Ghostwriter*
Read On
Air Supply

The Masterly Minimalist

In the spirit of the New Year—and its proverbial blank slate—pare back your shopping cart with these subtle yet stunning objects of permanence, from go-with-anything wardrobe essentials to understated treasures for the home
Shop
Photo: Watford/Mirrorpix/Getty Images (Ono and Lennon)
GUEST EDIT

My Favorite Things The celebrated Los Angeles–based artist Alex Prager, whose cinematic work is currently on view at Lehmann Maupin’s New York gallery, shares her display-worthy items of choice

By Alex Prager
Shop
Photo: Christopher Michel (Prager)
Beauty and Wellness

Eye of the Beholder Aging: It’s all relative, right? For those who are trudging into 2023 feeling like the past few years have weighed heavily on their faces, help is here, without a single trip to the plastic surgeon. It will, however, require a bus ride …

By Linda Wells
Read On
Style

Creature Comforts AIR MAIL and the heritage textile brand Chatham collaborate on an adult-size baby blanket

By Zoe Ruffner
Read On
Small Talk
“Don’t look down your carrot at them. Driveway snow is still snow.”
“Don’t look down your carrot at them. Driveway snow is still snow.”
T.G.I.S.

The Attention-Whore Index Can anyone stop Prince Harry’s run of victories? Kevin Spacey and others make their move. But the decision is up to you!

Read On
Writers on Artists

The World According to Hockney At 85, the acclaimed English artist is on trend, launching an immersive exhibition in London that uses virtual reality to show new, rarely seen, and much-lauded works

By William Boyd
Read On
Small Talk
Past is Prologue

From “Mini-Documentaries” to Major Ones Success, for Daniel Roher, is bittersweet. While he’s winning praise and awards for Navalny, the subject of his inspiring documentary is in a Siberian gulag

By Michael Hainey
Read On
The Winter Season

The Sport of Kings on Ice Saint-Moritz is well known for its fashionable ski crowd, but for a few days a year it’s invaded by the polo set

By Eleanore Kelly
Read On
Listen

Re-Inventing Anna? House arrest be damned! Notorious fraudster Anna Delvey joins the podcast to share her side of her incredible story

Read On
High Times

Where the Magic Really Happens The Goop-ification of magic mushrooms swept a remarkable origin story under the rug of big business. But the tiny Oaxacan retreat where it all began hasn’t gone anywhere

By Elena Clavarino
Read On
Best
Scroll The Millennial Decorator If you have ever wondered where international cool girls source their vintage Chanel ballet flats, all roads… Give Narrative Trust The Internet has forever changed how our lives get preserved. What happens to human histories when letters get replaced with e-mails and… Mark Planned Parenthood As we make our way through 2023, how better to keep track of the days ahead than with a limited-edition calendar showcasing… Dine Il Giardino Looming over the gardens of the Villa Borghese, perched ever so slightly above Rome’s bustling, frenetic center, the Hotel Eden has… Wear L-Hood Carrying around an umbrella all the time is an awful lot to ask. Stashing a tiny little hat in one’s bag is a different matter entirely. L-Hood is… Read Balcony Balcony is a biannual arts magazine that covers everything but art itself. Instead, its creators, Vicente Muñoz and Audrey Rose Smith,… Scroll The Millennial Decorator If you have ever wondered where international cool girls source their vintage Chanel ballet flats, all roads… Give Narrative Trust The Internet has forever changed how our lives get preserved. What happens to human histories when letters get replaced with e-mails and… Mark Planned Parenthood As we make our way through 2023, how better to keep track of the days ahead than with a limited-edition calendar showcasing… Dine Il Giardino Looming over the gardens of the Villa Borghese, perched ever so slightly above Rome’s bustling, frenetic center, the Hotel Eden has… Wear L-Hood Carrying around an umbrella all the time is an awful lot to ask. Stashing a tiny little hat in one’s bag is a different matter entirely. L-Hood is… Read Balcony Balcony is a biannual arts magazine that covers everything but art itself. Instead, its creators, Vicente Muñoz and Audrey Rose Smith,…
Small Talk
“Olive, twist, or vole?”
“Olive, twist, or vole?”
Food

Get in Line! Food-lovers have spent seven years waiting for Los Angeles hot spot Gjelina to open in New York. It was worth the wait

By Christine Muhlke
Read On

Click here to visit

Don’t Miss
Zurich

Haunting figures: Berlinde de Bruyckere’s sculptures, made of wax, animal skins, and hair, go on view at Hauser & Wirth …

Cleveland

From dust to drawn: at moCa, Sam Falls combines photography and painting to capture ghostly renderings of nature …

Tokyo

The productive prodigy: before dying in the 1918 flu pandemic in Vienna at the age of 28, Egon Schiele created thousands of works, now on view at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum …

Florence

Work in exile: a survey of Rudolf Levy takes place at the Pitti Palace, just miles from where the German-Jewish artist hid during World War II …

Online

Blonde ambition: Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio, filmed in 2015 at Glyndebourne, is available for streaming …

A Literary Life

The Postmodernist and the Drowning Man For Janet Malcolm, there was no ultimate truth—only endless interpretation. Except when her own credibility was on the line

By Errol Morris and Joshua Kearney
Read On
Highlight
The architect Walter Gropius, in 1958.

Fifty Shades of Gropius

In 1911, Walter Gropius unveiled the Fagus shoe factory. His first architectural commission of note, it was executed with a load-bearing steel frame that allowed for glass walls and corners. The visible stairways, the building’s light and lightness, rang of the future. Meticulous geometrical study and an industrial posture became the hallmarks of modernist style according to Gropius. READ ON

The architect Walter Gropius, in 1958. Read On
Small Talk
” … so, I took the A to 59th and then I had to wait 20 minutes for the C, so by the time I got to the restaurant they’d run out of the branzino and I had to settle for the monkfish … ”
” … so, I took the A to 59th and then I had to wait 20 minutes for the C, so by the time I got to the restaurant they’d run out of the branzino and I had to settle for the monkfish … ”
Highlight

Beyond the Grave

Ahead of his new solo show, the artist Scott Covert discusses his artistic breakthrough and sneaking into cemeteries to create his paintings
By Elena Clavarino
Read On
Close-up

Lukas Dhont In an interview, the young director discusses his film Close, Belgium’s submission to the Academy Awards, which has earned comparisons to François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows

By Tobias Grey
Read On
Highlight

Bach Re-Boxed Alisa Weilerstein, cellist in excelsis, premieres an immense new collage that incorporates, in their entirety, the master’s six suites for her instrument

By Matthew Gurewitsch
Read On
Books
Tobias Grey On

And Finally: Matters of Life and Death

by Henry Marsh
Read On
Adam Kirsch On

Deceit

by Yuri Felsen,
translated by Bryan Karetnyk
Read On

Murder, They Wrote

by Lisa Henricksson
Read On
Great Lives

Gina Lollobrigida

By David Downton
As emblematic—and as undulating—as the Seven Hills of Rome, Gina Lollobrigida, who died this week at the age of 95, was one of the first postwar maggiorata (curvaceous movie stars) to gain international attention. Unlike Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale, who came later, Lollobrigida did it without the patronage of a producer/Svengali. She had a tilt at Hollywood in the late 1950s, with mixed results, and became a fixture of the jet set in the 1960s. After more than 60 movies, she left acting behind in the 1990s to concentrate on photojournalism and sculpting. Dismissing recent headlines concerning a proxy marriage and a young handyman helping himself to her fortune, La Lollo ran for the Italian Senate in 2022, losing out to eventual prime minister Giorgia Meloni.
The Perfect Ending

Anna Delvey

New York’s favorite fraudster answers 38 of life’s most pressing questions
Read On
Josh Gosfield’s Sketchbook
Chill out, says the rabbit, and find that place of calmness inside of you. Sunday begins the Chinese New Year.
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Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

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In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Duncan Hannah Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley

Issue No. 184
January 21, 2023
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Issue No. 184
January 21, 2023
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