David Garrick as Hamlet (October, 1769), from Dramatic Characters, or Different Portraits of the English Stage (1773) via
Recent links of note:
Who Wants to Ring the Closing Bell on Stock Market’s Bad Days?
Mike Vilensky, The Wall Street Journal
We all know the picture: a smiling fellow, often in an ill-fitting suit, surrounded by his loyal employees, marking a successful IPO or anniversary. I speak, of course, of the ringing of the stock market’s closing bell. But what to do on those recently all-too-frequent days when the market has taken a serious plunge? Keep smiling and hope to ring the opening bell next time, when the day’s optimism hasn’t yet diminished.
Forum: Should UK museums reintroduce entrance charges?
Bill Ferris and Alistair Brown, Apollo
In a forum from its September issue, Apollo debates whether museums in the UK should reimpose entrance fees. In the words of Alistair Brown, “How I wish there could be a simple answer to this question.” Naturally, there isn’t. As Bill Ferris, points out, “Most museums do charge—it’s just that some of the best-known museums charge everyone through general or local taxation for the services they provide—whether we use them or not.” But will “attendance numbers drop off a cliff as soon as charging is introduced,” as Brown says? We may find out as British museums look to supplement reduced government funding with alternative revenue streams.
New York State to create biennial artist laureate award
Victoria Stapley-Brown, The Art Newspaper
Just a short bike ride up the beautiful Palisades of the Hudson River (protected from development by the largesse of John D. Rockefeller, who ensured via a conservation trust that his view from Kykuit would never be blocked) sits the Edward Hopper House Art Center. In recent years Edward Hopper’s place as the most celebrated twentieth-century artist in America has been solidified; the constant exhibition of his work and record auction prices prove that. But few know of his obscure origins in the river town of Nyack, New York. That may change with the inauguration of New York’s official “State Visual Artist” award, whose recipient will have his or her work shown at the house. Best, then, to get up to the museum before it gets too crowded.
Who’s there?: Garrick, Irving, Gielgud, Russell Beale, Cumberbatch
Michael Caines, The Times Literary Supplement
“It is the most shattering experience of a young man’s life when one morning he awakes and quite reasonably says to himself, ‘I will never play the Dane.’” Or so says Richard Griffiths in the guise of Uncle Monty in the uproarious 1987 film Withnail and I. That may be a bit of an overstatement, but playing the prince still proves the zenith of many an actor’s career. In his review of Benedict Cumberbatch’s new take on the role, Caines surveys the history of experimentation within Hamlet, finding a historical willingness to manipulate the text to the director’s desired state.
From our pages:
Nostalgia in Venice
Dominic Green
Fresh from our September issue, Dominic Green on the Venice Biennale.