May 24th, 2008
Roundup
* The Montréal Museum of Fine Arts offers tours of 30 minutes over lunch to discover an artist. A pleasant way to feed one’s soul. Upcoming events: 4th and 5th of June 2008 at 12.15. The artist: Jean-Paul Riopelle. [More]
* The Manif d’art 4 currently takes place in Quebec City. It takes a lot of courage and almost a survival guide to organize your activities on the website of the event. I’m still looking for a way to get a Manif card, necessary for the visit of Toi / You, la rencontre [You/You, The Encounter].
Despite these difficulties, it should be noted that the annual exhibition of visual arts students from Laval University, presented by Loto-Quebec, opens this Friday, May 30th.
* Television channel artv offers new episodes of the French series Palettes. Narrated by art historian Alain Jaubert, each episode explores the history behind a work of art that has marked Western art. If it isn’t found in the list of programs of the specialty channel, it still is worth a look, having been celebrated at the last FIFA Montreal. Being the happy owner of the 18-DVD box set, I recommend these films that are pleasantly instructive. This week: Burial at Ornans by Courbet [May 25 at 7:30, 28 / 5 3:28, 28 / 5 15:29].
[Gustave Courbet, Burial at Ornans, 1849-1850, oil on canvas, 314x663 cm, Musee d'Orsay, Paris; photographic source: Wikipedia]
* Quebec painter Claude Théberge died. The municipality of Notre-Dame-du-Lac has devoted a website to the artist.
* Record books will have to be revisited: skyscraper Burj Dubai is now the highest structure in the world. Peaking currently at 650 meters, it is expected to reach 819 meters by the end of its construction. By way of comparison, the CN Tower stretches over 553 meters [it is time to update the Web site describing it as the highest structure in the world, a title lost a few years ago ...], the 1250 René-Levesque of Montreal [IBM-Marathon] measures 230 metres and the Complex G Quebec stands at 176 meters, with the antenna.
[Burj Dubai; photographic source: Wikipedia]
* The sequel to A Night at the Museum, starring Ben Stiller, began its shooting. The action takes place at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. It is the first time in 162 years that the institution allows the use of its name in a film.
* Sir Anthony Caro, British sculptor, has be answered ‘No thank you!’ by the City of London. He offered them his most ambitious sculpture to date. Result: the work Millibank Steps is now on sale for nearly $ 5 million.
* The only complete copy of the Manuscrit du surréalisme by André Breton was sold this week for $ 5.5 million at Sotheby’s Paris. The lot included eight other manuscripts that many feared would be dispersed.
