ARISTA
Rest in Peace
A panel composed of Deborah F. Rutter, president of the Kennedy Center; Rickey Minor, musical director of the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony; Glenn Weiss, executive producer and director of the Honors ceremony; and actor Chilina Kennedy meditate on Aretha Franklin’s knockout performance of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in 2015, a performance that famously brought Barack Obama to tears. [The New York Times]
Vann R. Newkirk looks at the span of Franklin’s career and its revolutionary impact, recalling that, more than 30 years after she performed at Mahalia Jackson’s funeral, she sang at Barack Obama’s inauguration. “There were generations in her church hat,” he writes. [The Atlantic]
The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., is putting graphic designer Milton Glaser’s 1968 portrait of the singer on view today through August 22. [Washingtonian]
News
Speaking of the National Portrait Gallery, it has acquired a portrait of poet Dylan Thomas, painted by his friend, the artist Augustus John.
[Press Release]
Christina Nielson has been tapped as the new director of the art collections for the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.
[Los Angeles Times]
The Museum of Arts and Design released the short list for the first-ever Burke Prize, which awards a $50,000 prize to an artist working in glass, fiber, clay, metals, or wood. [Press Release]
Friday Reads
Here’s a deep dive into a string of heists of Chinese art across Europe, how these stolen objects are ending up back in Chinese auctions, and how the Chinese government is responding. [GQ]
A new blockchain service aims to allow more people to invest in art: the service, called Masterworks, will buy what it believes are undervalued pieces and then allow users to purchase shares of the works. [Forbes]