Volume 30, No. 2, Jun 2007
News & Notes
One day this spring, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Iranian artists whose work is on display at Washington’s Meridian International Center at an event intended to promote cultural links. 10 of the 14 Iranians who received special visas for the exhibition refused to be photographed with Rice, and two would not accompany her through the gallery because they were “uncomfortable,” two organizers said.
“Art moves above politics and I didn’t want to be a part of politics,” said Behnam Kamrani, a 39-year-old digital artist.
Rice said she enjoyed the show.
RESOURCES
Martin Schall’s Los Angeles online is you-are-here.com, a collection of photos documenting Los Angeles.
ARCHIVES
The Getty has purchased the vast archives of Los Angeles photographer Julius Shulman in 2005 and now Pierre Koenig’s archives, whose sleek glass-and-steel structures are featured in some of Shulman’s photos. They now are acquiring the archives of Ray Kappe and John Lautner, two outstanding Southern California architects. Kappe is well known for his timeless wood, concrete and steel structures that embody the California Modern ideal, and Lautner is famous for many buildings, but especially the spaceship-like Chemosphere house sitting on a single column above a canyon in the Hollywood Hills.
The Museum of Modern Art in New York has put inventories for its archival collections on its website. These guides to the museum’s paper, sound and video archives allow researchers to establish what materials are available for study before visiting in person. MoMA is among a handful of institutions pioneering this type of resource.
Films about Artists
Alice Neel, a new documentary film by Andrew Neel, the artist’s grandson.
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis (2006, 95 minutes) by Mary Jordan
“Black White + Gray,” a new documentary about Sam Wagstaff and his relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, his lover.
