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Man, dog, Lake Superior: Photo hits bigtime

Posted by: Claude Peck Updated: August 7, 2012 - 2:44 PM

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This photo of John Unger, of Bayfield, Wisc., swimming in Lake Superior with his 19-year-old dog, Schoep, has been enormously popular on Facebook and has been seen around the world. Photo by Hannah Stonehouse Hudson.

 

Anyone who has swum in the chilly water of Lake Superior knows that it could wake Rip Van Winkle. Maybe that's why a photo of a Bayfield, Wisc., man swimming with his dog, who appears to be asleep in the man's arms, has charmed so many people.

The photo shows John Unger and his 19-year-old shepherd mix, Schoep. And sure enough, cold water or not, Schoep appears to be asleep. Turns out, according to a story in the Duluth News Tribune, that Schoep, who suffers from arthritis, finds the buoyancy of the water so relaxing and therapeutic that it often lulls him to sleep.

The moment was captured on July 31 by wedding photographer Hannah Stonehouse Hudson. She posted it to her Facebook page, where it so far has been "liked" by more than 192,000 people. It has drawn more than 22,000 comments. A news story said it had been viewed more than 1.8 million times. And, says Julie McGarvie, of Penumbra Theater in St. Paul, who is married to Unger's brother, Stonehouse and Unger have received thousands of emails.

Unger and his ex-wife adopted Schoep as a puppy 18 years ago from an Ozaukee County human society. Adding poignancy to the story is that Unger recently took Schoep to the vet for various ailments. Unger told the Duluth paper he was uncertain how many more times he would be able to take his dog for a swim. 

ARTnews magazine announces top 200 art collectors

Posted by: Mary Abbe Updated: June 26, 2012 - 6:22 PM

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ARTnews' annual list of the world's top 200 art collectors is shamelessly self-promotional, assuring a few thousand extra magazine sales as the chosen few splash copies around the guest rooms and pools of their many houses. Still, it is always a must read.

It's a very international bunch with more than half of the crowd hailing from somewhere other than the United States. Nevertheless, "experts say that Americans are still driving the market in a huge way," said Milton Esterow, the magazine's editor and publisher.

A quick scan shows NO Minnesotans this year. Come on collectors, ante up. The closest big buyers hereabouts are Mary and John Pappajohn of Des Moines, Iowa and New York who collect modern and contemporary art. Their fortune derives from "venture capital." 

Other names of note include artist Damien Hirst of pickled shark fame, entertainment mogul Andrew Lloyd Webber, Walmart heiress Alice Walton and fashionista Miuccia Prada.

A special nod goes to the Doha-based philanthropist Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who appears to have the longest name. And another to Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder who seem to have the most homes, that would be five, in New York and Wainscott, New York; Washington, D. C., Palm Beach, Florida, and Paris.

 

Top 10 most expensive paintings identified

Posted by: Mary Abbe Updated: June 25, 2012 - 4:55 PM

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Art sales at public auction often make headlines, but even more expensive art may change hands by private sale. Experts at The Financial Times, a London-based international publication, have consulted knowledgeable sources around the world and come up with a list of the Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings ever sold. Some of them, including Edvard Munch's "The Scream," were sold at auction while others went quietly behind the scenes.

The list, published June 23, comes with cautions. Nothing has been officially announced and many of the sources are informed by nothing but their "nose" and the "process of elimination," wrote Julia Sutherland.

The identities of buyers are uncertain since no one is talking, but people in the know say that members of the royal family of Qatar are "some of the biggest players in the market at the moment -- but frustratingly for those who like to make lists, they never confirm or deny a purchase. So although the royal family's supposed holdings are now as fabled as Ali Baba's cave, we do not actually know what they have bought, or where they keep it, or even what they intend to do with it," the FT wrote.

That said, here's the FT's "reasonably authoritative" list:

1) "The Card Players" (1892 - 93) by Paul Cezanne. Sold 2011. Likely buyer royal family of Qatar. $250 million.

2) "No. 5, 1948" (1948) by Jackson Pollock. Sold 2006. Unknown buyer. $140 million.

3) "Woman III" (1953) by Willem de Kooning. Sold 2006. Buyer Steven A. Cohen. Price $137.5 million.

4) "Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer I" (1907) by Gustav Klimt. Sold 2006. Buyer Ronald Lauder, Neue Galerie.135 million, British pounds.

5 ) "Portrait of Dr. Gachet"  (1890) by Vincent van Gogh. Sold 1990. Buyer Ryoei Saito. Price: $82.5 million.

6) "Bal du moulin de la Galette" (1876) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Sold 1990. Buyer Ryoei Saito. Price: $78.1 million.

7) "Garcon a la pipe," (1905) by Pablo Picasso. Sold 2004. Likely buyer Barilla group. Price: $104.2 million

8) "The Scream" (1895) by Edvard Munch. Sold 2012. Likely buyer royal family of Qatar. $119.9 million.

9) "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" (1932) by Pablo Picasso. Unknown buyer. $106.5 million.

10) "Orange, Red, Yellow" (1961) by Mark Rothko. Sold 2012. Unknown buyer. $86.9 million.

 

 

Guthrie is still taking heat over its 50th anniversary season

Posted by: Rohan Preston Updated: April 24, 2012 - 5:13 PM

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Joe Dowling.

 

If the Guthrie Theater's 50th anniversary season is a party, it's a party to which many people of color and white women feel univited. That is because the season that was unveiled Monday consists mostly of works written and directed by white men.

The noisy firestorm that erupted after the announcement by the nation's largest regional theater continues to gather steam.

On Tuesday, Minnesota Public Radio's Marianne Combs posted an article on the continuing controversy. Entitled "Guthrie Theater's debt to women and diversity." The lenghty piece quotes the Guthrie's mission and unearths some of director Joe Dowling's statements about cultural and gender diversity, his artistic choices, changing demographic trends and quotes theater director Joe Dowling, who has defended his choices in print and on TV.

Last Friday pn TPT, Ch. 2's "Almanac," Dowling said: "The Guthrie is not an organization that lacks diversity," he said.  

"It is a very stern task to direct on a stage of our size," Dowling told the Star Tribune last week.

"To suggest that there just aren't talented women and people of color out there this season is appalling," actor Heidi Berg said to MPR. "It isn't as though the Guthrie's not hiring from a national and international pool of talent. While we are accustomed to being told there aren't enough local people qualified to fill positions in the Guthrie season, now we are to believe there aren't enough talented women and people of color in the WORLD."

 

Minnesota-made Cunningham movie plays at the Whitney

Posted by: Claude Peck Updated: April 10, 2012 - 11:36 AM

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Merce Cunningham, who died in 2009, was photographed during a rehearsal in 2008 in Minnesota of his work, "Ocean." Also, a scene from the large-scale dance work. Star Tribune photos by Richard Tsong-Taatari. 

 "Ocean," a film by Charles Atlas of a dance work of that name by Merce Cunningham, is screening through Sunday at the Whitney Museum in New York as part of the Whitney Biennial. The large-scale work was filmed at a Minnesota granite quarry in 2008 and the movie had its world premiere at Walker Art Center in September, 2010.

Reviewing the movie Tueday, New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay said it "beautifully captures exceptional dancers in extraordinary choreography."

inside the StarTribune