‘Carson the Magnific: Where’s Johnny? The Biography of a TV Host Whose Life Was a Closed Book.
Johnny Carson dominated late-night television for decades, but closely guarded his privacy. Bill Zehme’s biography, “Carson the Magnificent,” tries to break through.ent,’ by Bill Zehme
The Week In Art Podcast (November 15, 2024):UK museums are at a moment of transformation with a new generation of directors taking the helm at several of the major national institutions in London. So for this landmark 300th episode, we felt it was a good moment to look at the challenges and opportunities for museums now and in the future.
We invited Gus Casely-Hayford of V&A East, Nicholas Cullinan of the British Museum and Karin Hindsbo of Tate Modern to join our host Ben Luke for a wide-ranging discussion.
‘Being the party of normality has its appeal, but it reinforces precisely the wrong instinct. The polycrisis that is unfolding demands not a return to the status quo but urgent, progressive answers both at home and abroad. To formulate and articulate those, the Democrats need politicians, not algorithms. They need personalities capable of responding to the profound questions facing contemporary America.’
‘Would the army as a whole rise up against a government that made territorial concessions to Russia? Perhaps. But the more widely the recruiters spread their net, the more the army reflects a society that is starting to talk openly, if bitterly, about swapping land for peace.’
Exit Wounds: How America’s Guns Fuel Violence across the Border by Ieva Jusionyte
Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling by Jason de León
In his latest book, the Rolling Stone writer David Browne tracks three decades of folk, blues, rock and jazz below 14th Street.
In Tumultuous Times, Readers Turn to ‘Healing Fiction’
Cozy, whimsical novels — often featuring magical cats — that have long been popular in Japan and Korea are taking off globally. Fans say they offer comfort during a chaotic time.
The National Gallery (November 8, 2024): The National GalleryEpisode 1 of ‘200 Years of the National Gallery’. Travel back through 200 extraordinary years of our history – from our origins in a private house in Pall Mall to our current home in bustling Trafalgar Square. ‘200 Years of Your National Gallery’ is a three-part documentary miniseries.
Stream for free exclusively on YouTube. Through the eyes of the staff, past and present, who care for the nation’s collection, and with rarely seen and newly digitised archive footage and images, we go exclusively behind-the-scenes to see the role the Gallery plays at the heart of cultural life of the UK.
The Week In Art Podcast (November 8, 2024):This week: two exhibitions in London are showing remarkable works made during the Renaissance. At the King’s Gallery, the museum that is part of Buckingham Palace, Drawing the Italian Renaissance offers a thematic journey through 160 works on paper made across Italy between 1450 and 1600.
Ben Luke talks to Martin Clayton, Head of Prints and Drawings at the Royal Collection Trust, about the show. At the Royal Academy, meanwhile, the timescale is much tighter: a single year, 1504 to be precise, when Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael were all in Florence. We talk to Julien Domercq, a curator at the Academy, about this remarkable crucible of creativity.
And this episode’s Work of the Week is a magnum opus of Renaissance textiles: the Battle of Pavia Tapestries, made in Brussels to designs by Bernard van Orley, and currently on view in an exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Thomas Campbell, the director of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, talks to The Art Newspaper’s associate digital editor, Alexander Morrison, about the series.
Drawing the Italian Renaissance, King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, until 9 March 2025
Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c.1504, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 9 November-16 February 2025
Art and War in the Renaissance: The Battle of Pavia Tapestries, de Young Museum, San Francisco, US, until 12 January; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, spring 2025
Subscription offer: get three months for just £1/$1/€1. Choose between our print and digital or digital-only subscriptions. Visit theartnewspaper.com to find out more
Granta Magazine (November 7, 2024): The “China” issue feautures At a time when China has become a unifying spectre of menace for Western governments, this issue of Granta seeks to bring the country’s literary culture into focus.
Featuring fiction by Yu Hua, Zou Jingzhi, Yan Lianke, Jianan Qian, Shuang Xuetao, Mo Yan, Zhang Yueran, Ban Yu, Yang Zhihan and Wang Zhanhei.
Essays by Xiao Hai and Han Zhang, as well as a conversation between Wu Qi and Granta.
Photography from Feng Li, Haohui Liu and collaborators Li Jie and Zhang Jungang.
And poetry from Huang Fan, Lan Lan, Hu Xudong and Zheng Xiaoqiong.
On the morning of Wednesday, November 6th, Donald J. Trump was elected, for the second time, as President of the United States. For the cover of the November 18, 2024, issue, Barry Blitt depicted Trump’s looming silhouette—a reminder that a second term, though bound to include more moves from his all too familiar far-right playbook, will also undoubtedly usher in a new era of unprecedented extremism and intensified uncertainty in America.
Donald Trump’s Revenge
The former President will return to the White House older, less inhibited, and far more dangerous than ever before