Lord High Executioners Lord High Executioners

He looks like a pear that's going bad. Tall, corpulent and much the worse for gravity, W.S.

Dec 15, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

‘Rock’ in a Hard Place ‘Rock’ in a Hard Place

Not since Charlton Heston painted the Sistine Chapel has there been so epic a film about arts patronage as Cradle Will Rock. Heston, you will recall, had to cope only with the Va...

Dec 9, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Back to Beginnings Back to Beginnings

Cheick Oumar Sissoko, who lives and works in Mali, has looked around and noticed that his fellow filmmakers in sub-Saharan Africa are few--"and due to our financial need (great w...

Dec 2, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Curtain Call With Terkel Curtain Call With Terkel

Charles Kuralt, who got around a lot himself but wore out faster, once remarked: "When Studs Terkel listens, everybody talks." Not so many years ago, in fact, we asked Kuralt to ...

Nov 25, 1999 / Books & the Arts / John Leonard

The Heat in the Kitchen The Heat in the Kitchen

He poses like a tightrope walker, though one who's unexpectedly domestic and chubby.

Nov 18, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

A Shark in the Mind of One Contemplating Wilderness A Shark in the Mind of One Contemplating Wilderness

A shark swims past me in a kelp forest that sways back and forth with the current. It is deliberate and focused.

Nov 11, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Terry Tempest Williams

Bland Art in Every Pot Bland Art in Every Pot

In 1989, after several years of controversy, legal wrangling and numerous public forums, Richard Serra's sculptural installation Tilted Arc was removed from a federal plaza in Ne...

Nov 11, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Grant

Innocents Abroad Innocents Abroad

When people label a film "great," the usual effect is to close off a discussion that ought to be opening.

Nov 11, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Flag-Waving at the Whitney Flag-Waving at the Whitney

The Triumph of the New York School, a deeply ironic painting by the American artist Mark Tansey, looks at first sight like a rotogravure depiction of a military surrender that to...

Nov 11, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Arthur C. Danto

Fighting the Art Bullies Fighting the Art Bullies

New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has created enormous consternation and publicity in his attempts to censor an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.