Interesting reviews of Michael Finkel's The Art Thief and Laura Cumming's Thunderclap in the always-excellent Financial Times:
" ... the nature of Breitwieser’s attachment to the artworks remains vague. Finkel describes him as a collector, which is like calling Bernard Madoff an accountant."
"It’s questionable whether works of art can make you ill — although Breitwieser’s thefts could be seen as a mania of sorts — but, as Cumming highlights, they can certainly be a balm."
As profiled in the Financial Times, Teatro Real Madrid is leading the way on attracting younger audiences to "the most complete form of art" with special previews and after-parties.
"As soon as the silver curtain went down on Aida, hundreds of members of the audience rushed upstairs to the salons of Madrid’s opera house to drink beer and dance to a live DJ. From Verdi’s “Triumphal March” to Corona’s “Rhythm of the Night” without leaving the building. Three days before welcoming King Felipe and Queen Letizia for the opera’s official opening, the Teatro Real was hosting a special “youth preview” limited to people between 18 and 35 years of age, who got a discount price and an invitation to the “after opera”. As well as a DJ in the ballroom and several bars, four make-up stands offered guests the chance to evoke some of the opera’s characters. Started last year, this youth initiative is spearheading the institution’s attempt to develop a new generation of opera lovers."
More at https://www.teatroreal.es/es/real-joven
This piece from the FT's How to Spend it really caught my eye this morning.
There is "a growing recognition for fabric-based pieces as fine art. At Artsy, purchases of textile works rose 48 per cent from 2019 to 2020, while a broad spectrum of fabric-based endeavours – from the modernist weavings of Anni Albers and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, to the fibre sculptures of 87-year-old Sheila Hicks and the quilts of Alabama’s Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective – have been the subject of high-profile shows. Hicks also features in the Whitney’s current survey show, Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950-2019, which positions 1960s textile art alongside the work of contemporary artists."
