Raphael\'s \'Head of an Apostle\' Heading to Auction at Sotheby\'s

September 3, 2012, 10:00 pm

By CAROL VOGEL

A Renaissance drawing from a prized British collection is being sold at Sotheby's in London on Dec. 5, the auction house is expected to announce on Tuesday.

Raphael's “Head of an Apostle,'' dating from around 1519, was created as a study for a figure in one of the artist's greatest late paintings, “Transfiguration,'' that belongs to the Vatican Museum in Rome. The drawing, which was executed in black chalk, is from Chatsworth, the Derbyshire home of the Duke of Devonshire (who also happens to be deputy chairman of Sotheby's board of directors.) Estimated to sell for $15.8 million to $23.8 million, it has belonged to the Duke's family since William Cavendish, the 2nd Duke of Devonshire, acquired it som etime in either in the late 17th or early 18th centuries.

Chatsworth is a magical name to any old master collector. Two auctions of extraordinary drawings from there were sold at Christie's in London in 1984 and 1987. Both were landmark auctions at which institutions like the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and collectors like Ian Woodner snapped up drawings by artists including Rembrandt, Barocci, Poussin and Rubens at record prices.

And when a prized Raphael drawing comes on the market it too is an event. One was purchased up by the New York financier Leon Black at Christie's in London in December, 2009 for $47.6 million. “Head of an Apostle'' is not the only work from Chatsworth that will be for sale at Sotheby's in December. It is also selling two 15th century illuminated manuscripts.

Stevie Wonder Backtracks on Comments About Frank Ocean

September 3, 2012, 6:16 pm

By CAROL VOGEL

Stevie Wonder has issued an statement clarifying comments he had made about the R&B singer Frank Ocean, who recently surprised the hyper-masculine world of urban music by acknowledging on his Tumblr site that he'd fallen in love with a man several years ago.

During a recent interview with The Guardian, Stevie Wonder was asked if he was surprised over the uproar caused by Mr. Ocean's revelations, since no other mainstream R&B artist had so openly embraced their homosexuality. Mr. Wonder responded: “I think honestly, some people who think they're gay, they're confused. People can misconstrue closeness for love. People can feel connected, they bond.''

Over the weekend, however, Mr. Wonder issued a sta tement to MTV News: “I'm sorry that my words about anyone feeling confused about their love were misunderstood,” he said. “No one has been a greater advocate for the power of love in this world than I; both in my life and in my music. Clearly, love is love, between a man and a woman, a woman and a man, a woman and a woman and a man and a man. What I'm not confused about is the world needing much more love, no hate, no prejudice, no bigotry and more unity, peace and understanding. Period.”

Warhol Soup Cans, Now at Your Local Target

September 3, 2012, 1:27 pm

By CAROL VOGEL

Christie's may have been able to get nearly $10 million for a 1962 painting of Andy Warhol's “Four Campbell's Soup Cans'' back in November, but now everyday shoppers can own their own piece of the Pop artist for just 75 cents. On Sunday Target started selling a special edition of 1.2 million Warhol-themed tomato soup cans.

Issued to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first showing of Warhol's paintings of the celebrated soup can, the labels come in four brilliant color combinations, such as blue with orange or teal with hot pink, to mimic the artist's style. They also have famous Warhol quotes on them like “In the future, everybody will be world-famous for 15 minutes,'' and a picture of the artist o n the back.

The promotion has been produced in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts which controls the licensing of the artist's name and images.

Venice Film Festival: Audience Cheers P.T. Anderson Film, Jeers Terrence Malick\'s Entry

September 3, 2012, 12:23 pm

By DENNIS LIM

VENICE - The middle weekend of the Venice Film Festival saw the premieres of the two most eagerly awaited films in the official competition. Both, as it happens, are unorthodox love stories - as well as tales of spiritual crises - by American auteurs with perfectionist reputations and loyal followings.

“The Master,” Paul Thomas Anderson's maximalist drama about the complicated bonds between a charismatic cult leader and a tormented World War II veteran, screened on Saturday morning to a largely receptive press audience; early reviews have been mostly very positive. (Some examples are here and here.)

Twenty-four hours later, the lines were as long and the anticipation seemingly as high for Terrenc e Malick's “To the Wonder,” about an American man and a French woman caught in an impossible romance, but this time, jeers drowned out applause. (The film was also booed at its public screening Sunday evening - apparently a rare occurrence here.)

Both movies also continued the religious subtheme of this year's festival, which opened with “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” Mira Nair's story of a Pakistani Wall Street analyst prompted to return to his culture and faith after the Sept. 11 attacks. The competition entry “Paradise: Faith,” from the Austrian director Ulrich Seidl, a darkly comic portrait of a fanatically devoted Catholic woman, has sparked some controversy in the Italian news media. (On Monday, a Catholic organization accused the filmmakers and the festival of blasphemy, citing a scene in which the protagonist masturbates with a crucifix.)

In advance of the premiere of “The Master,” it had been speculated that Mr. Anderson's first film sin ce “There Will Be Blood” in 2007 would be an exposé of Scientology. But the film's story of a fringe religion is part of a larger exploration of existential questions about man's animal nature and civilization and its discontents, as refracted through the relationship between a seductive guru (Philip Seymour Hoffman), whose teachings bear a resemblance to Dianetics, and an unlikely follower with a wild streak, played by Joaquin Phoenix in his return to acting after the notorious conceptual real-life performance that culminated in the purported documentary “I'm Still Here.”

“To the Wonder,” the second film in two years from Mr. Malick (after the Cannes winner “The Tree of Life”), represents a newly accelerated pace of production from American cinema's most elusive figure. (Mr. Malick has already shot another film, and is preparing a new one.) His first film to be set entirely in the present day, it revolves around his familiar theme of a spiritual quest , communicated as usual in voiceover ruminations (“What is this love that loves us?”), mostly whispered in French by the Russian actress Olga Kurylenko. Despite the initial reactions, the film already has its share of defenders.

As always with this sphinxlike director, Mr. Malick's film arrived shrouded in mystery, and amid reports that several actors (Rachel Weisz, Michael Sheen, Amanda Peet) had ended up on the cutting-room floor. Rumors that its nominal star, Ben Affleck, was barely in the finished film proved untrue. Though he has very few lines, Mr. Affleck is unquestionably the male lead in a love story that is said to have autobiographical resonance for Mr. Malick, who was once married to a French woman.

Mr. Malick was of course a no-show at the press conference on Sunday; Mr. Affleck was absent - perhaps because of a surprise trip to Telluride? - leaving the task of discussing the film to two producers, Sarah Green and Nicolas Gondo, and Ms. Kurylenko , best known for the Bond movie “Quantum of Solace.”

Ms. Green fielded a question about the misleading publicity materials, which show Mr. Affleck not with Ms. Kurylenko but with Rachel McAdams, who has a much smaller role. The main publicity still came from an early part of the shoot, Ms. Green said, adding, “It's obviously no question that Olga is the lead.”

Ms. Kurylenko said that Mr. Malick often instructed the actors to discard the dialogue, telling them: “Throw away the words, don't speak them, think them.” She added: “I think he's psychic.”

She also revealed that her preparation involved some substantial reading. “I had to reread three big Russian novels: ‘The Brothers Karamazov,' ‘The Idiot' and ‘Anna Karenina,'” she said.

The key personnel were all present at the press conference for “The Master,” though not all were in the mood to talk. Mr. Anderson fielded a few obligatory questions about Scientology and Tom Cr uise, whom he directed in “Magnolia.” He acknowledged that “The Master” was directly, if loosely, inspired by the early career of L. Ron Hubbard but emphasized that Scientology was merely a starting point, and that he knew very little about the organization as it is today. He also confirmed that Mr. Cruise had seen the film. “We're still friends,” Mr. Anderson said, “and the rest is between us.”

Mr. Phoenix spoke only once - responding to a question about his character's physicality, he said he did not feel he had much leeway in creating the role, contrary to what Mr. Anderson had said, then trailed off.

In an interview at the Excelsior Hotel the following day Mr. Phoenix was in a much more talkative mood, and he said that the obligations of the photo call and official premiere on Saturday had unnerved him. “It's always strange,” he said. “You walk up the middle of the red carpet and you're wondering what do I do with my hands and what am I doing here, and it's instant discomfort for me.”

“The Master” is also generating excitement among film buffs for being an analog throwback, a reminder of the unique qualities of celluloid in a digital age. With digital projection the norm today, it is one of only two movies in the Venice competition that were shot and are being shown on film (the other is Takeshi Kitano's “Outrage Beyond”). And not just regular old film, in Mr. Anderson's case - he shot most of “The Master” in the now uncommon 65-millimeter format, which affords higher resolution and was traditionally reserved for blockbusters and epics, and is committed to showing it in as many venues as possible in 70 millimeter.

At the press conference Mr. Anderson admitted that it was not the most practical decision. “The camera broke all the time and made a lot of noise,” he said. But as an aesthetic choice, he said, it was “just one of those things that felt right and looked right.” Sh own on 70 millimeter here, “The Master” has a visual crispness and richness - especially noticeable in some shots of landscapes and faces - that has made almost every other film seem flat and murky by comparison.

Speaking the following day, Mr. Anderson said that it had been a struggle to find theaters capable of exhibiting the film in 70 millimeter. “It hasn't been easy,” he said, but added, “We could get up to 15 or 16” in the United States, with four screens each in New York and Los Angeles. (The other theaters will show the film digitally or on 35 millimeter.) “But people are excited by it and it's moving our way,” he said. Even in Europe, he added, “we have people coming out the woodwork, calling us saying they can find a way to show it.”

Chess Gets the Artistic Treatment in New Saatchi Show

September 3, 2012, 11:30 am

By CAROL VOGEL

Since the new Islamic art galleries opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art last fall, one of the most popular objects on display has been a chess set dating from 12th century Iran, one that looks surprisingly modern because the pieces are highly abstracted. The Shah (king) for example, is represented by a large throne.

Faced with designing chess sets today, contemporary artists like Damien Hirst, Maurizio Cattelan and Rachel Whiteread naturally look to their own quirky vocabularies. Mr. Hirst recently created a set composed of pills, bottles and other medical equipment; Rachel Whiteread made one fashioned from squares of carpeting and dollhouse furniture, and Paul McCarthy used objects from his kitchen, including a coffee grinder and Ketchup bottle.

Sixteen of them will go on view at the Saatchi Gallery in London from Saturday through Oct. 3. Called “The Art of Chess,'' the show originated at Somerset House in 2003 and has since traveled around the world, adding more sets at each stop. For this iteration, the British duo Tim Noble and Sue Webster will show a new, “Woodland” chess set, hand-carved from a tree stump with bronze pieces based on their collection of mummified animals. The kings and queens are squirrels; the pawns, frogs.

David Lindsay-Abaire and Naomi Wallace Receive Horton Foote Prize

September 3, 2012, 10:47 am

By ERIK PIEPENBURG

The playwrights David Lindsay-Abaire and Naomi Wallace have been named the 2012 recipients of the Horton Foote Prize, a biennial award named for the playwright and screenwriter who died in 2009 at 92. Mr. Lindsay-Abaire's “Good People” was chosen as the outstanding new American play, and Ms. Wallace's “Liquid Plain” received the award for promising new American play. Each winner will receive $15,000 and a photograph of Mr. Foote.

Set in South Boston, “Good People” centers around Margie, a woman who reexamines her life after reuniting with an old boyfriend. The show opened on Broadway last year in a production by the Manhattan Theater Club. Mr. Lindsay-Abaire received a Tony Award nominatio n for best play; the actress Frances McDormand won a Tony for playing Margie.

Set in 18th-century Providence, R.I., “The Liquid Plain” is about the mysterious identities of two runaway slaves and a sailor. It is scheduled to have its premiere next July at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

The judges for the 2012 prize were the director Michael Wilson; Casey Childs, the executive producer of Primary Stages; Paige Evans, the artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3 series; and Evan Yionoulis, the resident director at Yale Repertory Theater. The four called “Good People” an “extremely moving, deeply human play that poignantly examines the ways in which class divides our nation,” and said Ms. Wallace employs “both a thrilling and unconventional narrative” in her new work.

In order to be nominated for the Foote prize, playwrights must have written at least four original full-length plays which have been produced by professional theaters.

Spanish Filmmaker Wins Prize at Online Festival

September 2, 2012, 6:23 pm

By ADAM W. KEPLER

The Spanish filmmaker David Victori was the grand prize winner of the first Your Film Festival, an online competition sponsored by YouTube, Scott Free Productions and Emirates airlines, for his short film “The Guilt,” about a man out for revenge after his wife's murder. The announcement was made at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday after his film was selected from a pool of 10 finalists by a jury that included the director Ridley Scott and the actor Michael Fassbender.

According to a news release the global competition received 15,000 submissions, which were narrowed down to 50 semifinalists by Mr. Scott's production company. YouTube viewers then voted to select the final 10 films. Mr. Victori will receive $500,000 for his next project for YouTube, and Mr. Scott and Mr. Fassbender will act as executive producers.