NY Times reviews of “Eclipsed”

Prisoners of War and Sex in Liberia
CHARLES ISHERWOOD – November 3, 2009 – New York Times

Like this year’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Ruined” by Lynn Nottage, which is set in Congo, “Eclipsed” depicts the harsh realities of women’s lives in a strife-torn African country with both a clear eye and a palpable empathy. Although it is a less skillfully structured drama — partly because the women here are even more powerless than the Mother Courage-like dominant figure in Ms. Nottage’s play — “Eclipsed” presents a complementary, no-less-harrowing portrait of women fighting to retain their dignity and a sense of self-worth under extreme duress.

In War-Torn Liberia, Women Making Do ANITA GATES New York Times October 31, 2009

IF you walked into a room full of sex slaves, you might not expect to find role models. Unless you’ve already seen Danai Gurira’s new drama, “Eclipsed.”

-Tanya

Rosenkranz Hall out of place

New building does not fit in Erica Blonde -Yale Daily News October 23, 2009

Rosenkranz Hall appears on Yale’s campus like a Piet Mondrian in a room full of Rembrandts: out of place.

-Tanya

Can art be saved? Should it be?

Showing Time: Can art be saved? Should it be?
By Stephen Vincent Kobasa New Haven Advocate 9/16/2009

Review of: Time Will Tell: Ethics and Choices in Conservation
Through Sept. 6. Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. (203) 432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu.

What might happen to Dorian Gray’s portrait after the story ends? Decayed by age, it has experienced the ultimate restoration, having been returned to a pristine original state by its subject’s effort to destroy it. This is an irony, of course, and one hopes that the murder of the artist and the suicide (if unintended) of the subject are not absolute prerequisites for the kind of resolution being sought by the various curators and conservators whose projects are on view in this necessarily wordy exhibition.

-Tanya

POP!

Yale Rep in tune with Warhol: ‘POP!’ to premiere in the fall By GORDON COX – 7/16/2009 -Variety

Andy Warhol gets the tuner treatment when “POP!” receives its world preem at New Haven’s Yale Repertory Theater in the fall.

The work, which runs Nov. 27-Dec. 19, takes a pop-art, fictionalized look at the events leading up to the shooting of Warhol, with the denizens of the artist’s New York Factory portrayed as characters from a detective pic.

-Tanya

New Exhibition @ Haas

Currently on display in the Wright Special Collections Exhibition Area (lower level of the Haas Arts Library:)

Mary Ellet Kendall Valentine Binding Collection
June 29 – September 18, 2009

Mary Ellet Kendall Valentine and her sister, Sarah Ellet Kendall, were privileged to travel to England to study bookbinding with T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, proprietor of the Doves Press and close associate of William Morris. Full leather bindings with gold stamped decorations showcase both the technical and design skills of Mary Valentine and Sarah Kendall. The intricate patterns are influenced by their Arts & Crafts training, but also show a tendency toward Art Deco and other modern influences. The collection includes bindings executed jointly as well as solo work by Mary Valentine. The 23 bindings in the collection are in exquisite shape and are the best example of fine binding by one artist in the Arts of the Book Collection, part of Arts Library Special Collections.

This collection was the gift of Sarah V. Nerber (Sally) in honor of her father James A. Valentine ‘02.

The architecture of Richard Levin

The architecture of Richard Levin
Paul Needham Yale Daily News April 16, 2009

Levin has had to learn about architecture on the job. He never took an architecture class as an undergraduate at Stanford, but he did take art history. Stern said the president “sees clearly and makes the right decision almost invariably.”

But with two new residential colleges, the new SOM campus and a number of other projects on hold because of the recession, the jury is still out on Levin’s architectural legacy.

This much, though, is undeniable: Levin has come a long way since he cut the ribbon at Luce Hall.

-Tanya

Yale Art Students Love Hockey

MFAs learn to love the MVPs Isabel Polon Yale Daily News March 27, 2009

“I guess you could say that having a really hard crit is like playing hockey,” Charlotte Hallberg ART ’10 explained. “If you haven’t been paying attention, they could blindside you and slam you into the wall. But the hockey players always get up afterwards, and that’s encouraging.”

-Tanya

Treasures: Beautiful and Surprising Finds from the Digitization Project at Yale

Though the Yale Digitization project will be put on hold due to Microsoft’s termination of the its Live Book Search project, the library expects to have 35,000 books digitized by June 2009. See some unexpected discoveries of the project team at a free exhibit at Sterling Memorial Library, on view Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5:45 p.m.; Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-4:45 p.m., and Sunday 12 noon-5:45 p.m.

When selecting books, digitization project staff inspected each item to make sure it could withstand scanning. During this inspection process, each book was opened and carefully examined, and sometimes surprises awaited. Staff soon realized that readers stashed all sorts of little treasures in books, from cross-stitch samples to photographs to dried flowers.

More library exhibitions here.

-Chris

New Netcast: Robert A.M. Stern on the Beinecke Library

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Construction Photographs, 1961-1963. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

Via Yale University Library News: Robert A.M. Stern, J.M. Hoppin Professor and Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, discusses the architecture and history of the Beinecke Library, which opened in 1963, designed by Gordon Bunshaft of the firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Construction photographs of the Beineke Library are available in the Beinecke’s Digital Collections.

The netcast is available here or on Yale University on iTunes U.

Posted by Chris

“Birdsong: The Cinema of Albert Serra”

Saturday, February 21, 2009, Whitney Humanities Center
“Birdsong:  The Cinema of Albert Serra”
7:00 PM Birdsong (2008, 98 minutes)
9:30 PM Quixotic (Honor de Cavalleria, 2006, 95 minutes)
Both films will be followed by Q&As with director Albert Serra
One of the most talented filmmakers of his generation, the Catalan director Albert Serra has developed a wholly original treatment of space and rhythm that opens up new aesthetic possibilities for twenty-first century cinema.  His two extremely ambitious features, the Don Quixote adaptation Quixotic (Honor de Cavalleria, 2006) and the radical nativity narrative Birdsong (2008) have cemented his reputation as a major filmmaker who, in the tradition of figures like Pasolini and Tarkovsky, has helped to revitalize the European art film.  This visit will provide students and faculty at Yale with a rare opportunity to see both of Serra’s films and to talk with him about his work.  Please email richard.suchenski@yale.edu with any questions.

“Lydia” opening February 12th at Yale Rep

The Yale Repertory Theatre presents the East Coast premiere of “Lydia,” directed by Juliette Carrillo and written by Octavio Solis, from Friday at 8 p.m. through Feb. 28. Previews run to Feb. 11; opening night is Feb. 12.

“Lydia,” produced last year at Denver Center Theatre Company, is set in 1970s Texas. Lydia, an undocumented maid, is welcomed into the Flores home to help with their disabled daughter, and leads the family on a journey of discovery.

Tickets for the show range from $35 to $65. The theater is at 1120 Chapel St., New Haven. Information: 203-432-1234 or www.yalerep.org.

‘Lydia’ at Yale Rep Katie Bushey Hartford Courant 2/5/09

More info from Playbill here

Blog postings will be sporadic this month

Chris and I are swamped with course reserve lists right now, so we won’t post here as much as usual at least until the end of January. We’ll begin posting regularly again once the beginning-of-the-semester craziness has died down. -Tanya

My Hand Outstretched

My Hand Outstretched: Films by Robert Beavers

An American expatriate who left the US in 1967, Robert Beavers has spent most of the past forty years making films throughout Europe, mainly in Greece, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. One of the most talented and original filmmakers of his generation, Beavers has independently produced a remarkable body of work that is both sensuous and rigorous, with a unique and deeply personal treatment of light, space, and color. His meticulously crafted films explore the continuing legacy of the European cultural tradition in art, literature, and music, and he has been the subject of major career retrospectives at the Tate Modern and the Whitney Museum. This three-day visit will provide students and faculty at Yale with a rare opportunity to see a wide range of Beavers’ films and to engage in an interdisciplinary dialogue with him about his work.

Co-sponsored by the Yale Avant-Garde Film Colloquium, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the Council on European Studies.Schedule of Events:

Thursday, January 29th:

- 7:00-9:00 PM First evening film screening in the Whitney Humanities Center with post-screening discussion. Films will include Early Monthly Segments (1968-70/2002), The Stoas (1991-97), and The Ground (1993/2001).

Friday, January 30th:

- 4:00 PM Master’s Tea at Saybrook College

- 7:00 PM Second evening film screening in the Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium with discussion. Films will include Ruskin (1975/1997) and Pitcher of Colored Light (2007).

Tuesday, February 3rd:

- Presentation by Richard Suchenski on Robert Beavers’ work at the Yale University Art Gallery beginning with a screening of Amor (1980).

Restored, Renovated and Renamed Paul Rudolph Hall Is Rededicated

Hundreds of guests, including many alumni of the School of Architecture, took part in the weekend-long celebration of the newest additions to the University’s arts area.

President Richard C. Levin noted: “By honoring Paul Rudolph’s genius after years of neglecting, even abusing his iconic building, we are atoning for past mistakes. And by a combination of faithful restoration, imaginative reprogramming and creative expansion, we have produced a compelling environment in which the study and practice of the arts can flourish.”

Restored, Renovated and Renamed Paul Rudolph Hall Is Rededicated Yale Bulletin 11/14/08

Rough schedule for the rededication of Paul Rudolph Hall

Register here

Rededication of Paul Rudolph Hall, Loria Center for History of Art & Robert B. Haas Family Art Library:
7 – 8 November 2008

Friday, 7 November 2008
(Keynote Address: Rededication)
Timothy Rohan
“The Enigmatic Architecture of Paul Rudolph”

Saturday, 8 November 2008
Student-led Tours of Rudolph Hall
Art History Panel
Panel Discussion: “The Rudolph Years: Yale and the Architectural Academy” with Stanley Tigerman, ’63 M.Arch,; Allan Greenberg ’65 M.Arch; Alexander Tzonis, ’63 M.Arch
Panel Discussion: “The Rudolph Years: Yale and the World” with Lord Norman Foster, ’62 M.Arch; Lord Richard Rogers, ’62 M.Arch; Carl Abbott, Jr, ’62 M.Arch
Dedication Ceremony
Ribbon Cutting
Closing Reception