COURTESY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM
Statues in Durham
A confederate statue in Durham, North Carolina, was pulled down earlier this week, and four demonstrators who claimed responsibility turned themselves in to the sheriff. They were taken into custody as bystanders chanted “Thank you” and “We love you.” [The New York Times]
Elsewhere in Durham, a statue of Robert E. Lee on the outside of the Duke Chapel, which is on the campus of Duke University, was vandalized. [The Herald-Sun]
Though it may not stay there, as hundreds of Duke alumni have signed a petition advocating for the removal of the chapel’s Robert E. Lee statue. [The Duke Chronicle]
Total Eclipse of the Art
In case you haven’t heard, on Monday we’ll be witness to the first total solar eclipse since 1918. Jason Farago tells the story of how, nearly a century ago, astronomers asked the artist Howard Russell Butler to paint the 1918 eclipse. The work is currently on view at the Princeton University Art Museum. Documentation of this year’s eclipse will be on your Instagram feed. [The New York Times]
The Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., is handing out solar viewing glasses to best see the eclipse as it happens. [WLJA]
Fallout from Charlottesville
A city councilman in Baltimore, Maryland—where monuments to the confederacy were removed by the mayor early Wednesday morning—has a recommendation: “Melting them down and using the materials to make monuments for Frederick Douglass, Thurgood Marshall, Harriet Tubman would be powerful!” Brandon Scott wrote on Twitter. [Reuters]
James Murdoch, the chief executive of 21st Century Fox and son of Rupert Murdoch, said he will donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League in response to the president’s comments this week regarding the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. In an email, Murdoch said, “I can’t even believe I have to write this: standing up to Nazis is essential; there are no good Nazis.” [The New York Times]
Pop Music
Kanye West was once feuding with Kid Cudi, but now he is once again working with Kid Cudi. [Page Six]
The new album by Grizzly Bear, the band’s first in five years, is “another record with many gorgeous layers to parse.” [Pitchfork]
Frank Guan looks at how “high fashion won over rap.” [New York]
Sports
Officials in Miami-Dade County are saying that a sculpture by artist Red Grooms will be staying at the Miami Marlins stadium—even if the Derek Jeter-led group that recently purchased the MLB team wants the sculpture out. [The Miami Herald]
And More!
Mike D—a member of the Beastie Boys who is also a collector and curator—will be a sommelier at a new L.A. restaurant from chef April Bloomfield, known for opening New York’s The Spotted Pig. [Bloomberg]
The Brooklyn Museum has named new curators. [BK Reader]