Putin Icons, Showcasing Muslim Camel Drivers

December 11th, 2007 by Menachem Wecker

  • (Above) Ian Storey as Tristan and Waltraud Meier as Isolde at the opening of La Scala, conducted by Barenboim, who stole the show, according to IHT.
  • Some Russians are praying to ‘presidential icons’ of Putin, whom they believe was previously the Apostle Paul and King Solomon. [RIA Novosti, Religion News Blog]
  • Turkish Delight” (2006), a sculpture of a woman wearing only her headscarf by Olaf Metzel, has been removed from a Vienna gallery, perhaps because it is “a provocation against Turks.” [Turkish Daily News, artforum]
  • An Australian exhibit promises to pay “tribute to the often ignored contribution Muslim camel drivers made to opening up the dry centre of the vast country in the 19th century.” [AFP/Yahoo]
  • Danny Newman, who fought in WWII and was active in Yiddish theater, has died at 88. [Chicago Tribune, NY Times]
  • From Graham A. Cole’s great essay, “Do Christians Have a Worldview” (PDF here), via Between Two Worlds:

    Xenophanes of Colophon argued, “if oxen and horses or lions had hands, and could paint with their hands, and pro-duce works of art as men do, horses would paint the forms of gods like horses, and oxen like oxen, and make their bodies in the image of their several kinds. The Ethiopians make their gods black and snub-nosed; the Thracians say theirs have blue eyes and red hair.”

  • “I’m a Buddhist, but I felt like I was getting a blessing,” said John Giorno, filmed by Andy Warhol in “Sleep,” at the opening of a show inspired by Lorca. There is also a dark imp involved. [IHT]
  • David Henry Hwang’s play “Yellow Face,” about racial stereotyping of Asians, is “like a late-night phone call from a friend in crisis who begins by cracking wise and ends by sobbing convulsively.” [NY Times]
  • NY Magazine’s “The Year in Art” is out.

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