Museum and Gallery Listings for May 18-24

Posted on 17th May 2012 in The monuments of world
Published: May 17, 2012

Art

Museums and galleries are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of recent art shows: nytimes.com/art. A searchable guide to these and many other art shows is at nytimes.com/events.

Museums

★ American Folk Art Museum: ‘Jubilation | Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined’ (through Sept. 2) Having escaped the ugly, West 53rd Street tomb of a building it inhabited from 2001 to 2011, the American Folk Art Museum has reoccupied its old space on Lincoln Square. This wonderful show of about 100 works from the permanent collection samples all the varieties of artistic expression under the museum’s purview, from portraits and quilts by anonymous craftspeople to otherworldly fantasies envisioned by so-called Outsiders like Henry Darger and Martin Ramírez. The revival of this irreplaceable institution is cause for rejoicing. 2 Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue, at 66th Street, (212) 595-9533, folkartmuseum.org. (Ken Johnson)

Bronx Museum of the Arts: ‘Juan Downey: The Invisible Architect’ (through June 10) In the wilder moments of his career, Mr. Downey, who died of cancer in 1993 at 53 and is getting his first United States museum retrospective here, reversed the traditional dynamic of sculpture, examining how humans could affect objects rather than the other way around; administered oxygen to pedestrians on the street in New York in “Fresh Air” (1972); and cohabitated as a kind of gonzo anthropologist — or early implementer of art as social practice — with the Yanomami Indians in Venezuela. Central to his vision, which drew on Frederick Kubler, critical theory and hallucinogenic states of mind, Mr. Downey also developed a concept of “invisible architecture,” which he described in 1973 as “an attitude of total communication within which ultra-developed minds will be telepathically cellular to an electromagnetic whole.” 1040 Grand Concourse, at 165th Street, Morrisania, the Bronx, (718) 681-6000, bronxmuseum.org. (Martha Schwendener)

Brooklyn Museum: ‘Keith Haring: 1978-1982’ (through July 8) Heavy on the party photographs and punk-to-New Wave soundtrack, this show repackages the mythic Haring — club kid, Warhol protégé and maker of friendly street art — for a younger generation. But other Harings emerge in rarely seen early drawings, collages, journals and, especially, in short performative videos like “Painting Myself Into a Corner” and “Tribute to Gloria Vanderbilt.” 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, (718) 638-5000, brooklynmuseum.org. (Karen Rosenberg)

Brooklyn Museum: ‘Rachel Kneebone: Regarding Rodin’ (through Aug. 12) Ms. Kneebone, a British artist, has been invited by the Brooklyn Museum to riff on Rodin and chose 15 works from the museum’s permanent collection to show with her own porcelain sculptures. She is drawn to Rodin’s maquettes, or the smaller models on which larger sculptures were based. Some works recall wedding cakes and Baroque or Rococo fountains. Chef d’oeuvre of the show, “The Descent” (2008), recalls Rodin’s “Gates of Hell” and is comprised of dozens of little figures descending into a cauldron-shaped pit. That Ms. Kneebone’s project is installed in the museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art might suggest that you’re going to get a feminist flogging of Rodin, but Ms. Kneebone does not head down that path. 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, (718) 638-5000, brooklynmuseum.org. (Schwendener)

★ Brooklyn Museum: ‘Connecting Cultures: A World in Brooklyn’ (continuing) This eclectic, imaginatively thought-out one-gallery immersion experience in world art, all from Brooklyn’s collection and installed in the museum’s revamped Great Hall, serves as a teaser to the fabulous collections in the galleries beyond. 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, (718) 638-5000, brooklynmuseum.org. (Holland Cotter)

★ Guggenheim Museum: ‘Francesca Woodman’ (through June 13) Francesca Woodman, the photographer who at 22 took her own life in 1981, is as close to a true saint as the putatively secular world of contemporary art can claim. The dreamy, formally playful and disarmingly erotic pictures she made — mostly of herself partly unclothed or naked — project a self surrendering unreservedly to the spirit of art. Viewing this riveting survey of her sadly abbreviated career, it is hard to shake off the admittedly absurd notion that she was too pure an artist for this muddy world. 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street, (212) 423-3500, guggenheim.org. (Johnson)

★ International Center of Photography: ‘Weegee: Murder Is My Business’ (through Sept. 2) From the home of Weegee’s voluminous archive, the latest exhibition about this great documentary photographer (1899-1968) revisits his frenetic, formative first decade of work, starting in 1935, when his often sensational images of murder and mayhem appeared in New York’s daily newspapers. His penchant for self-promotion, the work of his competitors and peers, the evolution of tabloid journalism and the great city that was both his subject and his audience are emphasized, with fresh curatorial precision and deftly used touch screens. 1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd Street, (212) 857-0000, icp.org. (Roberta Smith)

★ Japan Society: ‘Deco Japan: Shaping Art and Culture, 1920-1945’ (through June 10) This beautiful, surprising and sociologically intriguing exhibition reveals how Japanese artists, designers and craftsmen cultivated their own version of Art Deco, that excruciatingly suave style of art, design and décor that prevailed in Europe and America during the 1920s and ’30s. The 200 paintings, sculptures, ceramics, glassware, jewelry, fashion and printed ephemera on display seamlessly blend East and West and old and new. You could almost believe it was the Japanese who invented Art Deco. 333 East 47th Street, (212) 832-1155, japansociety.org. (Johnson)

Jewish Museum: ‘Édouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940’ (through Sept. 23) In the 1890s, Vuillard made some of the most beguiling paintings of fin de siècle Paris: intimate, compact, brushy pictures of his mother and sister in the apartment he shared with them and the dressmaking shop they worked in. Then he reverted to a more traditionally realistic style and produced many portraits of his wealthy friends and benefactors until he died in 1940. This incisive show, sampling works from his more than four-decade career, invites reassessment of the later, heretofore less appreciated paintings. 1109 Fifth Avenue, at 92nd Street, (212) 423-3200, thejewishmuseum.org. (Johnson)

Jewish Museum: ‘Kehinde Wiley / The World Stage: Israel’ (through July 29) After earning a master of fine arts at Yale in 2001, Kehinde Wiley began exhibiting his large, figurative oil-on-canvas portraits of young black men in hip-hop apparel. With their emphasis on bright, acid colors and ghetto-fabulous outfits, the paintings borrowed heavily from the work of Barkley Hendricks, although Mr. Wiley’s contribution was to push things in a more bombastic direction, hijacking the format of old master portraits. Mr. Wiley’s work hasn’t changed much over the last decade, although his scope has gone global. This exhibition, which focuses on Ethiopian Israeli Jews, is shown alongside historic paper cuts and textile works he selected from the museum’s collection. The result is a fusion of Pattern and Decoration painting with figuration, a mash-up or sampling of historical styles and references. 1109 Fifth Avenue, at 92nd Street, (212) 423-3337, thejewishmuseum.org. (Schwendener)

★ Metropolitan Museum of Art: ‘Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition’ (through July 8) Concluding the Met’s series of Byzantine art blockbusters, this show tells the story of the Byzantine Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean, from Syria through Egypt and across North Africa, as it made contact with (and lost ground to) the emerging Islamic world between the seventh and ninth centuries. Loans from Egypt could not be secured, because of the continuing turmoil of the Arab Spring, but important pieces from Jordan, Greece and Georgia are among the show’s highlights. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Rosenberg)

★ Metropolitan Museum of Art: ‘The Dawn of Egyptian Art’ (through Aug. 5) The predynastic roots of the grand dynastic Egyptian art that we all know and sometimes love are exposed in this sublime, view-changing show. The most riveting and least familiar offerings are a selection of small objects, painted pottery and figures in clay or ivory that date from 3900 to 3100 B.C., quite a few of which are usually on view in the Met’s Egyptian galleries. Here they are supplemented by extraordinary outside loans and elegantly displayed in the Robert Lehman Wing. Sometimes it takes an exhibition. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Smith)

★ Metropolitan Museum of Art: ‘Naked Before the Camera’ (through Sept. 9) This resonant, illuminating if sometimes fraught exhibition traces the progress of the naked, mostly female body through photography from its early years nearly to the present with some 90 images, all owned by the Met. In works variously artistic, erotic, scientific, ethnographic, forensic and experimental, we see a medium stretched by human use and imagination. The male gaze is often relentless, but as time passes, individual faces, personalities and relationships come into focus on all sides; consciousness rises and oppressiveness decreases, which is a relief. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Smith)

Metropolitan Museum of Art: ‘Spies in the House of Art: Photography, Film, and Video’ (through Aug. 26) This exhibition of 17 contemporary works inspired by museums doesn’t mention Theodor Adorno by name, but it nods toward his ideas in a wall text, which jokes that artists often see museums as “mausoleums, places where art goes to die.” Andrea Fraser’s video “Museum Highlights: A Gallery Talk” (1989) leans toward the anti-museum view, while a 16-millimeter film by Nashashibi/Skaer, the duo of British artists Rosalind Nashashibi and Lucy Skaer, made by gliding through the Met in the dark with a camera and a flash strobe, treats the museum like a darkened crypt. Lutz Bacher’s video offers another museum tour, while the museum appears in poetically distorted form in photographs by John Pilson, Tim Davis and Lothar Baumgarten. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Schwendener)

Metropolitan Museum of Art: ‘The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde’ (through June 3) Like the family it chronicles, this exhibition is fragmented and contentious with flashes of brilliance. It explores the closely intertwined collections of the siblings Leo, Gertrude and Michael Stein (and Michael’s wife, Sarah), casting these wealthy American expatriates as ahead-of-the-curve art patrons whose tastes and social networks shaped Modernism as we know it. And it shows Matisse and Picasso vying for the Steins’ attention. Highlights include Matisse’s Fauvist “Woman With a Hat” and, naturally, Picasso’s proto-cubist portrait of Gertrude. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Rosenberg)

Metropolitan Museum of Art: ‘Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations’ (through Aug. 19) This year’s Costume Institute extravaganza is on the modest side, and has a narrow thesis: comparing and contrasting work by two designers of different generations. Whether a this-looks-like-that approach to history is valid is the question; it seems dubious here. But the installation — with fictional chats on film between the fashion titans — is fun, and some of the Schiaparelli clothes look great. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Cotter)

★ Metropolitan Museum of Art: ‘Dürer and Beyond: Central European Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1400-1700’ (through Sept. 3) How do we get beyond Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), the ne plus ultra draftsman and all-around Northern Renaissance master, an artist so secure in his greatness that he painted himself as Jesus? We don’t, at least not often in this show, which surveys the Met’s holdings of drawings made before 1700 by artists working in the Holy Roman Empire. But the offerings should nevertheless entice viewers to look more closely at the art of Central Europe, which absorbed diverse religious and stylistic influences from Italian, Dutch and Flemish art. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Rosenberg)

★ Morgan Library & Museum: ‘Dan Flavin: Drawing’ (through July 1) The artist Dan Flavin (1933-96) is so closely identified with his signature medium, the fluorescent light sculpture, that a show of his drawings is bound to surprise. And it’s particularly exciting to find that Flavin was not only a devoted draftsman but also a freewheeling polymath on paper. The Morgan’s show includes drawings from Flavin’s personal collection, which encompasses Hokusai, Mondrian and the Hudson River School and will completely change the way you see his art. 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street, (212) 685-0008, Ext. 560, themorgan.org. (Rosenberg)

Museum of Arts and Design: ‘Swept Away: Dust, Ashes, and Dirt in Contemporary Art and Design’ (through Aug. 12) From the department of unsolicited advice for aspiring artists: avoid dust, dirt, ashes, soot, smoke, sand, mud and lint, especially if you want to make a statement about life, death, history and the ephemerality of it all. The dangers are well-illustrated in this 25-artist show. While formally various, almost every piece trades on stereotypical associations with the entropic end to which we all are destined. 2 Columbus Circle, (212) 299-7777, madmuseum.org. (Johnson)

★ Museum of Modern Art: ‘Born Out of Necessity’ (through Jan. 28) The title may or may not have an extra preposition, but the show itself is a fascinating array of recent acquisitions that have a fairly direct bearing on quality of life or actual survival. They range from classic (the 1908 Dixie cup) to cutting edge; cover both analog and digital; and include the tiny (the latest in ear plugs) and the quite large (the 1952 United States Army Jeep). Whether born ‘of’ or ‘out of’ necessity, the displays attest to human ingenuity responding to human need. (212) 708-9400, moma.org. (Smith)

★ Museum of Modern Art: ‘Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of Language’ (through Aug. 27) In a drawing from 1966, “Heaps of Language,” Robert Smithson assembled a pyramid of words about words: “Language” at the apex, supported by “phraseology speech,” “tongue lingo vernacular,” and on down through a base of synonyms. This playful exhibition borrows Smithson’s title and runs wild with his vision of words as materials. It includes a timeline of Dada wordplay and concrete poetry, and works by contemporary artists and artist’s groups including Paul Elliman, Sharon Hayes and Dexter Sinister. (212) 708-9400, moma.org. (Rosenberg)

Museum of Modern Art: ‘Exquisite Corpses: Drawing and Disfiguration’ (through July 9) This entertaining little show includes five products of the Surrealist parlor game “exquisite corpse” and rustles up other examples of distorted or disjointed figuration from MoMA’s permanent collection. There’s much here to amuse, provoke and titillate, though the curators don’t include more performance-based forms of collaboration. (212) 708-9400, moma.org. (Rosenberg)

Museum of Modern Art: ‘Cindy Sherman’ (through June 11) Aided by ever-shifting arrays of costumes, wigs, makeup, props, masks and prosthetic body parts, the leading light of postmodern photo-based art spent nearly four decades turning photography against itself, laying waste to a lexicon of mostly female stereotypes and exposing both the tyranny and the inner lives of the images of women that bombard and shape us all at every turn. This retrospective could have been larger, more clearly organized and less familiar, but its strengths, like the achievement it honors, are undeniable. (212) 708-9400, moma.org. (Smith)

★ Whitney Museum of American Art: ‘Whitney Biennial 2012’ (through May 27) With remarkable clarity of vision, striking spatial intelligence and a generous stylistic inclusiveness, one of the best Whitney Biennials in recent memory confidently weaves together art objects and time-based art — dance, theater and performance as well as film and video — on a scale unprecedented in New York. So doing, this especially poetic incarnation also reinvents the museum’s signature show and places future biennial curators in its debt, while offering the out-of-control, money-saturated art world a bit of redemption. Visit early and often. (212) 570-3600, whitney.org. (Smith)

Galleries: Uptown

Frank Stella: ‘Black, Aluminum, Copper Paintings’ (through June 2) This magisterial, museum-quality blast from the past revisits the earliest, most innovative years of Mr. Stella’s development with 13 adamant, quietly pulsing, exceedingly frontal works. Painted in parallel stripes of black, then aluminum and then copper on canvases that start out rectangular and end up emphatically shaped, they bid a moody farewell to Abstract Expressionism and forge a new, nothing-but-the-facts reciprocity between painting as object and image. Forerunners of Minimalism, they also remain powerfully evocative in a time of renewed interest in abstraction among younger artists. L&M Arts, 45 East 78th Street, Manhattan, (212) 861-0020, lmgallery.com. (Smith)

Édouard Vuillard: ‘Paintings and Works on Paper’ (through May 25) This show focuses on some remarkable, large, late paintings on which Vuillard labored for extended periods of time. An eerily gloomy portrait of two women in a cavernous room, one a former lover, took two years to complete, from 1923 to 1925. “Madame Jean Bloch and Her Children” (1927-29) took so long that a fourth child was born before it was done, so he had to make another version, which can be seen in the Vuillard retrospective now at the Jewish Museum. Jill Newhouse, 4 East 81st Street, (212) 249-9216, jillnewhouse.com. (Johnson)

★ ‘Lucian Freud Drawings’ (through June 9) This quietly ravishing show gives a new prominence to Lucian Freud’s works on paper, which aren’t appreciated as much as his paintings. Beginning with a childhood crayon sketch, it includes some small oil portraits and powerful examples of Freud’s late work in etching. And it shows Freud moving from the tightly controlled pen-and-ink drawings that defined his early painting style to looser works that, in the words of curator William Feaver, are “both in the paintings and a reaction or counterpoint to them.” Acquavella Galleries, 18 East 79th Street, Manhattan; (212) 734-6300, acquavellagalleries.com. (Rosenberg)

Galleries: 57th Street

Anne Arnold: ‘Sculpture From Four Decades’ (through June 8) When Abstract Expressionism was casting its triumphal shadow over American art and David Smith was making monuments out of industrial steel, Anne Arnold (born in 1925) created smart and humorous sculptures of dogs, people and other domestic creatures. This delightful show presents 27 pieces from the 1950s to the late ’80s in which the seeming liveliness of the animals and the obviously nonliving materials they are made of, including wood, clay and bronze, are in finely tuned tension. Alexandre Gallery, 41 East 57th Street, (212) 755-2828, alexandregallery.com. (Ken Johnson)

Galleries: Chelsea

Katherine Bradford: ‘New Work’ (through May 26) “Transform, transport and transcend” could be a motto for this veteran New York artist. Painting loosely with infectious joie de vivre, Ms. Bradford creates luminous and sumptuously tactile, sometimes goofy visions of Superman and oceangoing ships. If Superman represents the visionary individual, Ms. Bradford’s ships suggest utopian collectivity, promising voyages of kindred spirits to unknown shores. Edward Thorp, 210 11th Avenue, at 24th Street, Chelsea, (212) 691-6565, edwardthorpgallery.com. (Johnson)

★ Rotimi Fani-Kayode: ‘Nothing to Lose’ (through July 28) “Black, African, homosexual photography” was how the Nigerian-born artist Rotimi Fani-Kayode described his work. And although little seen at the time of his death from AIDS in London in 1989, at age 34, his pictures have become classic examples of the kind of rethinking and re-experiencing of identity that was transforming new art three decades ago, and continues to have power. The Walther Collection Project Space, 526 West 26th Street, Suite 718, (212) 352-0683, walthercollection.com. (Cotter)

★ Lucio Fontana: ‘Ambienti Spaziali’ (through June 30) The most comprehensive survey in this country devoted to the Italian modernist Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) is a delirious revelation. His innovative slashed and punctured paintings show him pushing quite literally through the canvas into real space, where his experiments included four “ambiente spaziale” (“spatial environments”) never before exhibited in this country. Alternately daffy and dazzling, the assembled works focus on the purist side of Fontana’s polymorphous sensibility, but nonetheless reveal a wide-ranging permissiveness, and an inspiring dedication to art as a quest, not a finished product. Gagosian Gallery, 555 West 24th Street, (212) 741-1111, gagosian.com. (Smith)

‘Cindy Sherman’ (through June 9) This innovative photo-based artist’s latest fusions of painting, cinema and fashion are grandly dour, mural-size images that depict somewhat worn, subtly disturbed, luxuriously garbed (vintage Chanel) older women set incongruously into largely barren landscapes textured with ersatz brushwork from Photoshop. The results lampoon painting while their unsettling lack of cohesion stymies the kind of reflexive narrative that Ms. Sherman’s work has typically provoked. The Nordic mood is matched by a kind of visual brain freeze. Metro Pictures, 519 West 24th Street, Chelsea, (212) 206-7100, metropicturesgallery.com. (Smith)

Galleries: Other

Charles Atlas: ‘The Illusion of Democracy’ (through July 15) Since the early 1970s, Charles Atlas has usually made people — artists, dancers, singers — the main images in his work, making us see familiar figures in a way we never quite had before. For his solo debut with Luhring Augustine, he fills the gallery’s new Bushwick space with three big, immersive, pulsating video projections of constantly changing numbers. Luhring Augustine Gallery, 25 Knickerbocker Avenue, Bushwick, Brookyn, (718) 386-2746, luhringaugustine.com. (Cotter)

Bill Bollinger: ‘Aluminum channel, cast iron, paper: 1966-1977’ (through June 9) In the early 1970s, Bollinger (1939-88) created sculptures at an iron foundry by pouring molten metal into lake-shaped excavations in sand. The three craggy and rusty pieces on view have a shocking vitality. Two that stand vertically — the biggest is nearly seven feet tall — resemble Chinese scholar rocks. One lying on the floor with its flat side up bespeaks the sculptor’s preoccupations with gravity, fluidity and raw materiality. Algus Greenspon, 71 Morton Street, (212) 255-7872, algusgreenspon.com. (Johnson)

Bill Bollinger: ‘The Retrospective’ (through July 30) From 1965 to 1970, Bollinger (1939-88) was at the center of avant-gardist action in New York and Europe. Major exhibitions included his elegant, stripped-down configurations of hardware-store materials like chain-link fencing, pipes, ropes, hoses, lumber, saw horses, oil barrels, and nuts and bolts. Then he left New York and became a forgotten man. This selection of his work from the second half of the ’60s tells a fascinating story of ambition, success and failure. SculptureCenter, 44-19 Purves Street, Long Island City, Queens, (718) 361-1750, sculpture-center.org. (Johnson)

★ ‘Picasso and Françoise Gilot: Paris-Vallauris, 1943-1953’ (through June 30) Life was sweet for Picasso during the years of romance and cohabitation with Françoise Gilot judging by this wonderful exhibition. Looking at his regal Cubist portraits of Ms. Gilot and tumultuous paintings of his young children at play you can imagine yourself seeing through the eyes of a worshipful husband and loving, benevolent father. Fictional or not, the paintings of this period are, mostly, infectiously playful and sometimes comically zany. Gagosian Gallery, 980 Madison Avenue, near 77th Street, (212) 744-2313, gagosian.com. (Johnson)

★ Hans Schabus: ‘Let’s Call It Heimat’ (through June 15) “Atelier,” the centerpiece here, is a brilliant nearly 10-minute video loop that recreates — cut by cut and camera angle by angle — the extended final shootout of Sam Peckinpah’s 1969 revisionist western “The Wild Bunch” by joining the original soundtrack with views of Mr. Schabus’s deserted, serenely ordered Viennese studio and its surroundings. As the gunfire and the cuts accelerate, a seemingly extra-brainy, nostalgic and very male deconstruction gives way to a haunted formalism grim with future implications of terrorism, urban violence and paranoid xenophobia. Simon Preston Gallery, 301 Broome Street, Lower East Side, (212) 431-1105, simonprestongallery.com. (Smith)

‘Storied Past: Four Centuries of French Drawings From the Blanton Museum of Art’ / ‘French Art From N.Y.U.’s Collection’ (through July 14) At first glance this show looks like a dreary affair: a gathering of little-known draftsmen, almost all of them beholden to the Academy. Give it time, though, and like a dull professorial type after a few gin and tonics it may surprise you with sudden flights of vivacity. Shaped by the Suida-Manning Collection (a group of European drawings initially amassed by the Austrian art historian William Suida in the early 20th century), it includes many works by 17th- and 18th-century French artists who studied in Italy or worked in an Italianate style. Grey Art Gallery, New York University, 100 Washington Square East, Greenwich Village, (212) 998-6780, nyu.edu/greyart. (Rosenberg)

‘Terracotta Warriors: Defenders of China’s First Emperor’ (through Aug. 26) Since being exhumed from an imperial cemetery in the 1970s, China’s terra-cotta army has been on a global Long March, moving from one sell-out museum appearance to the next and serving as emblems of China’s neo-imperial clout in the here and now. That army, or a small piece of it, has arrived in New York City. Only nine of an estimated 8,000 soldiers made the trip. But they’re in great shape and, fitted out with weapons, armor, cash and a portable kitchen, they’re a sight to see. Discovery Times Square, 226 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (866) 987-9692, discoverytsx.com. (Cotter)

Last Chance

★ ‘Every Exit Is an Entrance: 30 Years of Exit Art’ (closes on Saturday) This big retrospective archival show documents the history of Exit Art, one of Manhattan’s premier nonprofit spaces, founded 30 years ago by Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo. After Ms. Ingberman’s death last year, Mr. Colo decided to close the gallery, and this exhibition will be its last. On Saturday Mr. Colo will perform “Sweeping Memories,” a ritual cleansing of, and farewell to, the Exit Art premises. Exit Art, 475 Tenth Avenue, at 36th Street, (212) 966-7745, exitart.org. (Cotter)

Metropolitan Museum of Art: ‘Rembrandt and Degas: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ (closes on Sunday) This lovely small show, focused on self-portrait paintings and prints, proposes that Rembrandt was a greater influence on Degas than has generally been recognized. Degas as a young man studied Rembrandt prints, copied at least one and made others imitating Rembrandt-type effects. But a group of four captivating self-portraits at the heart of the show — two by each artist painted at age 23 — suggests that the men were temperamentally about as alike as a cat and a dog. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Johnson)

★ Metropolitan Museum of Art: ‘Rembrandt at Work: The Great Self-Portrait From Kenwood House’ (closes on Sunday) This late, magnificently plain-spoken self-portrait finds the artist in his studio, brush and palette in hand, contemplating his homely visage. Surrounded by, and generally overshadowing, several of the Met’s own Rembrandts, it is among the high points of European painting, not the least for the pale background wall where two drawn circles echo, abstractly and much enlarged, the painter’s intent gaze. Its emotional gravity and psychic complexity underscore why Rembrandt is often likened to Shakespeare in his epoch-changing grasp of human interiority. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Smith)

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Soccer Capsules: Euro 2012 and News & Notes: Disarray deflates England expectations

Posted on 14th May 2012 in The monuments of world

With less than 20 minutes of England’s qualifying campaign remaining, Rooney’s petulant side re-emerged at the wrong time last October. The Manchester United striker kicked Montenegro defender Miodrag Dzudovic, a moment of frustration that earned him a three-match ban from UEFA.

Although that was reduced to two matches on appeal, Rooney will still have to watch from the sidelines when England starts the group stage against France and Sweden.

Despite reducing his striking options for the first two matches, England coach Roy Hodgson is insistent on including Rooney in his 23-man squad.

“Wayne Rooney is not just part of my plans, but part of England’s plans and the England setup for a long while to come I hope,” said Hodgson, who was hired on May 1 to lead the team at Euro 2012. “I’m hoping he’ll be with us in the tournament.”

Qualifying ended — and started — badly for Rooney.

The red card in Montenegro came days after Rooney’s father was arrested as part of an investigation into betting irregularities. He was cleared last month.

Days before the first qualifier in 2010, it was Rooney himself hitting the front pages, mired in a sex scandal. He was accused of cheating on his then-pregnant wife with a prostitute and admitted: “I’m only a human being.”

Almost two years later, though, Rooney is widely perceived as being a player and person transformed, with the once-hotheaded striker’s temper finally curbed.

He was sent off at the 2006 World Cup for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho and then endured a miserable 2010 tournament, which saw him swear into a television camera, hurling abuse at England fans after a game.

But Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson insists the 26-year-old Rooney has grown up.

“You always see a maturity about players when they reach their mid-20s,” Ferguson said. “Along with their ability comes the thought patterns and timing. They are more in control of themselves in terms of what they are capable of doing.

“Experience helps, of course. I don’t think Wayne’s had many bookings.”

Rooney has been booked only once this season in the Premier League and once in the Champions League for United.

“I feel I’ve matured on the pitch, maybe cut out some silly bookings that I did get in the past,” Rooney said. “I hope that continues.”

And Rooney has been key for United this season, averaging nearly a goal per match.

The stage is set for Rooney to finally make his mark again at a major tournament, having not scored at the 2006 or 2010 World Cups while England didn’t qualify for Euro 2008.

But he did score four goals at Euro 2004, when he was only 18.

“In tournaments, apart from the first tournament, the others have ended in disappointment for England and me personally,” Rooney said. “It’s something I want to put right and with the young players coming in the team I’m confident we can be successful.”

PARIS (AP) — Karim Benzema may be the man France needs to finally shake off the stigma of two dreadful major tournaments and make a positive impression again at the European Championship.

France, which failed to advance from the group stage in its last two tournaments, has traditionally struggled without an inspiration leader. It has not won a tournament match since playmaker Zinedine Zidane retired after the 2006 World Cup, and Zidane’s emergence followed another lean spell after the end of Michel Platini’s glorious era.

Without Zidane, France failed to win a game at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup — exiting the group stage in embarrassing fashion.

Benzema, who was not selected for the World Cup, is the player coach Laurent Blanc turned to during a hard-fought Euro 2012 qualifying campaign that went down to the wire.

“(Blanc) was always behind me when others didn’t want to see me in the team. It was a strong sign,” Benzema said. “As soon as I spoke to Blanc, I sensed he believed in me, and when I feel that I give everything back.”

The Real Madrid striker did not disappoint, scoring decisive goals.

Zidane had a similarly close bond with Aime Jacquet when France won the 1998 World Cup. That came after years of mediocrity following Platini’s retirement in 1986, having guided France to European glory two years before.

Without Platini, France failed to qualify for Euro 1988 and two consecutive World Cups before Zidane inspired France to victory at the World Cup and Euro 2000. The aging Zidane led France to the 2006 World Cup final, which France lost to Italy on penalty kicks.

It was Zidane’s last match and a dry spell under Raymond Domenech ensued, culminating in farcical scenes at the last World Cup in South Africa when the team went on strike at a training session as a shocked nation watched live on television back home.

“We have to move on,” said Benzema, who played at Euro 2008. “There’s no point thinking about this World Cup anymore.”

From the wreckage of the Domenech era, Blanc rebuilt the team to such an extent that an impressive 2-1 win at Germany in February extended Blanc’s unbeaten run to 18 games.

“Our match in Bremen was encouraging. We want to get close to that level again,” Blanc said. “The team has a spine now.”

The team lacked one when Blanc took charge. He even described the team’s weak inner core as a “melon’s pip.”

Two years later, and with Benzema maturing quickly, France is a dangerous outsider for Euro 2012.

“It’s a new team and I’m more experienced,” Benzema told France Football magazine. “I have to talk more.”

Blanc knew Benzema had the potential, but doubted his commitment and chastised him for being overweight. Those stinging comments came when Benzema struggled to break into Madrid’s team. Jose Mourinho was critical of his fitness, and his casual attitude.

Rather than crush Benzema, those setbacks inspired Benzema.

“He’s taken on another dimension. Last year, everyone thought he would leave (Madrid),” former France midfielder Emmanuel Petit told The Associated Press. “What he’s done is exceptional, when you think how much pressure is at Madrid. It’s the mark of a great player.”

Petit, who scored in the 1998 World Cup final and played at Euro 2000, thinks that Benzema can flourish at Euro 2012.

“When you consider his mental strength, the way he took up a difficult challenge at Madrid, he’s gone up a level,” Petit said.

The 24-year-old Benzema reached 20 league goals for the first time with Madrid this season, and set up many for Cristiano Ronaldo. He is one of several attacking players peaking in time for Euro 2012 — where France opens against England before playing co-host Ukraine and Sweden.

Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri, Newcastle winger Hatem Ben Arfa and Paris Saint-Germain winger Jeremy Menez are all in fine form.

Benzema, Ben Arfa, Nasri and Menez are part of the what is known within French football circles as “La Generation ’87″ (The 1987 Generation). They won the under-17 European Championship together in 2004, and great things have been expected of them since.

They now have the chance to shine.

“They have to seize it,” Blanc said. “There’s a new page to be written.”

With Benzema and Olivier Giroud both reaching 20 league goals this season, Blanc will be happy with his attacking options. But defense is a major headache — with half of his established back four missing.

Losing Barcelona left back Eric Abidal (recovering from a liver transplant) was already a major blow, but then right back Bacary Sagna broke his leg playing for Arsenal against Norwich. Sagna’s place will be contested by Anthony Reveillere and Mathieu Debuchy, and Adil Rami is jostling with Laurent Koscielny for a center-half slot.

Hugo Lloris is among Europe’s best goalkeepers, but the back four now looks uncertain.

The midfield also needs sorting out.

Blanc considered the injury-prone Abou Diaby as his preferred central midfielder, but Diaby has not even started a league game for Arsenal this season. Yoann Gourcuff, who cost Lyon €22 million ($27.8 million) and used to be compared to Zidane, had a poor season.

That makes Yohan Cabaye a contender for a starting place in midfield following his fine season with Newcastle, while Ben Arfa will also be pushing for inclusion after scoring some fantastic goals this season.

– Jerome Pugmire

Ribery’s poor form a concern for Blanc

PARIS (AP) — The contrast between Franck Ribery in the red of Bayern Munich and the blue of France is a puzzle national team coach Laurent Blanc admits he can’t figure out.

Ribery’s best ever club season saw him star in Bayern Munich’s run to the Champions League final and break his personal scoring record.

For France, he cuts a frustrating figure, somewhere between trying too hard to repeat his club brilliance and desperate to win back the fans who once adored him.

They turned on him after France’s miserable World Cup campaign two years ago and his involvement in a prostitution scandal.

“Little signs, little things that sometimes make me feel like everything I do is forced,” Ribery said. “It was amazing when I started out in the national team. People loved me and I gave it back to them. I really want things to start over again. I used to be the crowd favorite, but then I was rejected.”

The fact he has not scored for France since April 2009 does not help, either, and Blanc is running out of patience with the European Championship starting in less than a month.

“It’s incomprehensible. He’s very good with his club and he can’t do it for France. He has a mental block, that’s for sure,” Blanc said recently in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper. “Given how good he is, he deserves our patience. Up to a certain point. We’re sticking with him, we believe in him, we’re helping him a lot. But others also need (our help). It’s not all about Franck.”

Blanc had made it clear that he doesn’t see Ribery as a leader in the way Zinedine Zidane was. Back in November, when Ribery expressed a desire to run things on the field, Blanc responded firmly by saying he would “not be given the keys” to the team.

Ribery’s insistence on playing on the left wing — his position at Bayern — has rarely worked, and is problematic because Florent Malouda also plays there.

This was highlighted at the 2010 World Cup when former coach Raymond Domenech alternated between them to little effect.

Ribery entered that campaign embroiled in a sex scandal for allegedly soliciting an underage prostitute. He left it completely shell-shocked after France’s training-ground strike shocked a nation.

Worse still for Ribery, with his family life in tatters, he was slapped with a three-match France ban for his perceived role as one of the strike’s ringleaders.

Politicians screamed in outrage, urging Blanc not to pick him ever again. Blanc ignored them, but the fans jeered Ribery when he made his home return against Croatia at Stade de France last year.

“I asked myself, ‘What am I doing here?’ I sometimes felt it was a bit nasty,” Ribery said in a television interview with Canal Plus. “‘Have I done something really bad?’ I was asking myself a lot of questions.”

The difference between the warmth Ribery receives from Bayern’s fans and the open scorn of some French fans is emphatic.

“I’m not going to start a fight with everyone,” he said. “Some people like me, some people don’t. What’s most important is that I enjoy life again, and enjoy playing again.”

Ribery, who has made 57 international appearances and scored seven goals, admits the prostitution scandal, of which he was cleared of wrongdoing, took its toll.

“It’s a big relief that it’s all over. It was hard to face up to it all … but it was harder for my loved ones and my wife,” Ribery said. “I messed up like never before. I was rubbish at the World Cup and people can resent me for that. But not for other stuff.”

Even in Marseille, where Ribery was the darling of the fans from 2005-07, there is no respite.

Ribery was mocked by Marseille’s fans during a Champions League match at Stade Velodrome in March. One banner even read: “Ribery, don’t run too fast, or your brain won’t be able to keep up.”

Ribery publicly thanked Blanc for sticking by him during his difficult times, and now he has to repay him at Euro 2012 by rediscovering the spark that made him an overnight star at the 2006 World Cup.

At 29, and with Blanc even questioning his France form, Ribery doesn’t have much time left.

– Jerome Pugmire

Sweden’s hopes rest on Ibrahimovic

In between two of Sweden’s European Championship qualifiers last year, Zlatan Ibrahimovic invited the entire team to his house for a barbecue, serving up a wild boar he had shot himself.

The team better hope his shots deliver some more big-game trophies in Ukraine.

Sweden will enter Euro 2012 counting heavily on “Ibra” to provide the spectacular, and the team’s fate is largely tied to the play of the AC Milan striker. As its only true star, leading scorer and captain, Ibrahimovic is Sweden’s clear focal point and biggest threat — an asset that makes them dangerous for any opponent, but also threatens to make them one-dimensional.

For group opponents England, France and Ukraine, the plan is simple: Stop Ibrahimovic, and they’ll probably stop Sweden as well.

“You can always view something as a problem or an opportunity,” Sweden coach Erik Hamren told The Associated Press. “For me, it’s about seeing the opportunities. Zlatan is a world-class player who gives us opportunities. He’s the kind of player who can decide a game, the kind of player every team wishes they had.”

And the type of player Hamren wishes he had more of.

With Henrik Larsson and Fredrik Ljungberg out of the picture, Ibrahimovic is the only member of the Sweden squad playing for a top-level European club these days. The backbone of the Sweden lineup is made up of players like Lyon midfielder Kim Kallstrom, Sunderland winger Sebastian Larsson and Galatasaray forward Johan Elmander — who are all capable of producing goals but are unlikely to strike much fear in opposing teams. A handful of other players, like playmaker Rasmus Elm and forward Ola Toivonen, can be found in the Dutch league.

“We may have had more big individual players in previous years, playing in bigger clubs than we have now,” Hamren said. “But that doesn’t mean that our team is worse. … This is a team that is ready to work extremely hard for each other. That is our true strength.”

Still, one of the first things Hamren did when he took over Sweden following its failure to reach the 2010 World Cup was to make it clear that this is Ibrahimovic’s team.

The temperamental striker had quit international play following that failed qualifying campaign, but Hamren lured him back with the promise of the captain’s armband and a more free role at the center of the attack. While Ibrahimovic has been Sweden’s top player for the last decade, previous coach Lars Lagerback preferred to have players like Ljungberg or defender Olof Mellberg wear the armband and centered the attack as much on Larsson as on “Ibra.”

The 30-year-old Ibrahimovic responded to Hamren’s challenge by leading Sweden with five goals in eight games in qualifying and has become more of a leader off the field as well, taking on a bigger role in dealing with media and welcoming new players to the squad — or welcoming the entire team to his house.

“He’s done a fantastic job as captain,” Hamren said. “Not least for the younger players, he takes a great responsibility for them. … You have to remember, a lot of these younger players grew up with him as their idol.”

In Sweden’s last game in February — a 3-1 friendly win over fellow Euro 2012 qualifier Croatia — Hamren experimented by putting Ibrahimovic in more of a playmaking role rather than at center forward. He dominated that game, scoring one goal and setting up the other two, and said he would like to continue playing as a No. 10 at Euro 2012.

“I get the ball a lot more. When I’m up there (as a lone striker), the balls are harder to receive,” Ibrahimovic said. “Here, I get the chance to get the ball on my feet, turn around and attack with speed. That’s what I want to do.”

While Ibrahimovic has said he wants to continue playing through the 2014 World Cup, this could be his last chance at leading Sweden to international success. And he does have a few exciting up-and-coming players to help him out.

Elm has impressed for AZ Alkmaar in the Dutch league and has been linked with a move to a top Premier League club for next season. While he has only scored one goal in 22 appearances for Sweden, he could be set for an international breakthrough in Kiev, where Sweden will play all three of its group matches.

Then there’s John Guidetti, the 20-year-old Manchester City striker who scored 20 goals in 23 games while on loan at Feyenoord this season — including hat tricks in three straight home games.

Guidetti has been lauded as perhaps Sweden’s biggest talent since Ibrahimovic, and made his international debut in the friendly against Croatia.

While Guidetti is struggling to get fit from a right leg injury, he is one player that Ibrahimovic wants to see in the squad.

“He’s an exciting player,” Ibrahimovic said. “Every team has to have a young joker, and he’s our joker.”

But “Ibra” is still the ace.

– Mattias Karen

Sweden coach puts wins ahead of style

Sweden coach Erik Hamren wants his team to play an attack-minded, possession-based and eye-pleasing style of football. At the European Championship, though, he’s more than willing to sacrifice style for results.

Hamren has brought a different philosophy to Sweden since taking over the national team two years ago, replacing an often stodgy, defensive-minded 4-4-2 system with a more free-flowing, passing-based approach. That worked just fine in his first qualifying campaign, where Sweden averaged more than three goals per game — a feat matched only by Spain, the Netherlands and Germany.

But going up against countries like England and France in Group D at Euro 2012, Hamren acknowledges that Sweden may have to switch its mindset.

“I wish I could say that things will look the same at the Euros (as in qualifying),” Hamren told The Associated Press. “But we have to be realistic and see that we’re now playing the very best teams in Europe, which makes it tougher on a small country like Sweden.

“We’ll try to win, and we’ll try to do it with as positive and attack-minded play as possible. But it will depend on how strong our opponents are.”

The 54-year-old Hamren, who had a very modest playing career but won league titles in both Norway and Denmark as a coach, was a little-known name outside Scandinavia when he took over Sweden from longtime incumbent Lars Lagerback following its failure to reach the 2010 World Cup. Lagerback had molded Sweden into a team that was very hard to defeat — guiding it to the second round at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and Euro 2004 — but also into a squad that was very inflexible in its formation and often very predictable.

Hamren changed all that, experimenting with 4-5-1 and 4-3-3 setups centered around Zlatan Ibrahimovic up front. That has given more freedom to creative midfielders like Kim Kallstrom and Rasmus Elm, but also puts more emphasis on individual skill and slick passing than the hardworking, physical approach championed by Lagerback.

“Every coach has a choice: How do I want to win?” Hamren said. “And I would like to see attack-minded football, where we create a lot of chances and a lot of goals.”

Sweden proved quite adept at the new approach when playing teams like Hungary, Moldova and Finland in qualifying but was given a hard lesson by the Netherlands that it might be better to play defensively sometimes.

In Sweden’s third qualifier, Hamren tried to take on the Dutch at their own game in their own stadium — and endured a 4-1 drubbing. The Swedes rebounded to beat the then already qualified Dutch 3-2 at home in their last qualifier to clinch the best runner-up spot, but Hamren is likely to take a more cautious approach in Ukraine.

“England and France are much bigger football nations than us, and they have more individually skilled players,” Hamren said. “That’s just the way it is. For us to beat them, we have to be better at other things. We have to play really, really well as a team.”

With Sweden having missed the 2010 World Cup — its first qualifying failure since the 1998 World Cup — this will be the first major tournament for both Hamren and a lot of his players. But Swedish football federation President Karl-Erik Nilsson — who is also new in the job — is still optimistic about the team’s chances.

With the final set to be played on July 1, Nilsson said on the federation website that “I’ve booked our trip home for July 2.”

He added that Sweden will likely get an edge from playing all three group games in the same stadium in Kiev, rather than traveling around the country like their opponents.

“It’s a great advantage to play all your games in the same place, and to live close to the stadium,” Nilsson said. “This is a group of possibilities, even though our opponents are very tough.”

Hamren was not quite as brash, saying England and France are favorites to advance from the group.

“But I’m a dreamer,” he said. “If we do advance from the group, we won’t be satisfied with that. Then we’ll start dreaming about medals.”

– Mattias Karen

Co-host Ukraine faces tough opposition

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Oleh Blokhin has done it with Ukraine in the past, and he’ll be the man hoping to lead the team into the quarterfinals of a major tournament once again.

The former Soviet Union great was the coach of Ukraine when the team reached the World Cup quarterfinals in 2006. At Euro 2012, however, things will be difficult in Group D with England, France and Sweden.

Since his return following the team’s failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, Blokhin has tried to blend the remnants of his earlier squad, including Dynamo Kiev striker Andriy Shevchenko and Bayern Munich midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, with younger talent.

“The times have passed when the backbone of the national team was made of three stars — (goalkeeper Oleksandr) Shovkovskiy, Tymoshchuk and Shevchenko,” Blokhin said recently.

Tymoshchuk rarely starts for Champions League finalist Bayern, Shovkovskiy has been ruled out of Euro 2012 with a shoulder problem, and Shevchenko has spent much of the season on the sidelines with injuries.

“Everything depends on him,” Blokhin said of Shevchenko. “He is important for the team and I know what the tournament means for him. But names don’t play on the pitch, just players who are in good shape. If he is fit, we will take him.”

In the search for the right combination, Blokhin has picked more than 40 players in friendly games. The results have been mixed.

After two losses last year — 4-1 to an experimental France team and 4-0 to the Czech Republic — Ukraine has turned its form around in its last four matches with three wins and a draw.

In those games, Ukraine showed glimpses of the play it will need to overcome its Group D opponents.

The Ukrainians took a 3-1 lead over tournament-favorite Germany in November at the reopening of the Olympic Stadium, which will host the Euro 2012 final. But the team then wilted, conceding two second-half goals and barely hanging on for a draw.

That game showed Ukraine’s best and worst sides — it’s weak, error-prone defense and its occasionally scintillating counterattacks.

Dynamo Kiev forward Andriy Yarmolenko and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk winger Yevhen Konoplyanka, both 22 years old, have emerged as key players in the team with their pace and quick feet on the wings.

“(Blokhin) has been at the team’s helm for only a year, but he’s already managed to do a lot of work,” veteran Ukraine striker Andriy Voronin said. “A lot of bright young players have appeared who can shine at the European Championship.”

Ukraine has plenty of forwards to choose from. As well as Shevchenko and Voronin, Artem Milevskiy and Marko Devich have started in recent games. Defense, however, is the main problem area.

Shakhtar Donetsk center back Dmytro Chygrynskiy returned to Ukraine in 2010 after an unsuccessful year at Barcelona but has been hampered by injuries and rarely played this season. Teammate Yaroslav Rakytskiy has also developed well in recent years, but other center backs lack composure and presence.

Further adding to the defensive troubles is a goalkeeping crisis. Shovkovskiy is definitely out of the tournament, and Spartak Moscow goalkeeper Andriy Dykan is doubtful. A third keeper, Oleksandr Rybka, has been suspended for doping.

Blokhin, however, remains upbeat.

“Everything is going to plan at the moment,” the coach said. “Our latest results have been rather better, but not yet how we want them.”

– James Marson

Co-host Ukraine in goalkeeping crisis

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — With two goalkeepers ruled out and a third in a race to recover from injury, Ukraine is heading into the European Championship in crisis.

Dynamo Kiev veteran Oleksandr Shovkovskiy is out because of shoulder surgery and Shakhtar Donetsk keeper Oleksandr Rybka has been banned for doping.

That leaves Spartak Moscow goalkeeper Andriy Dykan as the first choice, but he is recovering from facial injuries and may not be healthy in time.

“I can’t say my condition is satisfactory, although it is better,” Dykan said. “As for Euro 2012, I really, really want to play. But time is passing, and I realize that my dream is drifting away.”

The 34-year-old Dykan was hit in the face during a game in the Russian league on March 31, less than 10 weeks before co-host Ukraine opens Euro 2012 against Sweden.

“I hope that Dykan will return to the national team,” Ukraine goalkeeper coach Yuriy Romenskiy said. “Although the chance of that isn’t very high.”

If Dykan joins Shovkovskiy and Rybka on the sidelines, Ukraine coach Oleh Blokhin will likely turn to 27-year-old Andriy Pyatov. The Shakhtar Donetsk keeper has made 24 international appearances but has played rarely for his club this season after losing his place to Rybka.

The loss of Shovkovskiy is the biggest blow to the team’s chances of getting through Group D, which also includes England, France and Sweden.

The 37-year-old Shovkovskiy, who has made 92 appearances for Ukraine, injured his shoulder ligaments in a domestic-league game in late April — only five weeks before the tournament. Doctors initially hoped to put off an operation until after the tournament, but had to leave that idea behind two weeks later.

“It’s a cruel world. Circumstances often ruin all our dreams,” Shovkovskiy wrote on his Facebook page. “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans for tomorrow.”

The 25-year-old Rybka would have been the obvious replacement for the two injured goalkeepers, but he was banned for two years by UEFA in January after failing a doping test. The club said he accidentally took a banned diuretic as a slimming method without informing the team doctor.

The lack of an experienced keeper further weakens Ukraine’s already-shaky defense. The team conceded two goals in a victory over Israel in February and three in a draw with Germany at home in November.

– James Marson

Elsewhere

Rangers administrators accept bid for club

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — A consortium headed by former Sheffield United chief executive Charles Green agreed to buy financially stricken Scottish club Rangers on Sunday.

Administrators running the record 54-time Scottish champions confirmed the deal after an American takeover of the club collapsed on Tuesday.

The administrators announced that an “irrevocable” contract had been struck with the group, and — unlike the former preferred bidder Bill Miller — cannot now back out.

Under the plans for the 8.5 million-pound ($13.7-million) takeover, Rangers should exit bankruptcy protection before the start of the new season.

“There are 20 individuals and families who have pledged support — the cash is in a bank account,” said Green. “No investor will own more than 15 percent. There are some investors from the U.K., the Middle East, Asia and the Far East.”

Green said the names of the investors would be released if the club is granted a Company Voluntary Arrangement — a legal procedure to help rescue a struggling firm by agreeing to deals with creditors over the repayment of debt.

Rangers entered bankruptcy protection in February following a long-running dispute with British tax authorities.

Its future has been at stake after falling into tax debts of $14 million since a takeover by Craig Whyte a year ago. The Glasgow club is also awaiting the verdict of a tax tribunal involving as much as $119 million.

Its already narrow hopes of retaining the Scottish Premier League title were ended by a 10-point deduction that was automatically triggered by going into administration.

The full takeover is expected to go through at the start of June.

“We are not out of the woods yet,” Rangers manager Ally McCoist told the BBC. “Once the complete sale goes through prior to 6 June, I will be the most relieved man in the country.”

Prandelli names five uncapped players in squad

MILAN (AP) — Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has included five uncapped players in his provisional 32-man squad for the European Championship.

Mattia Destro, Emanuele Giaccherini, Ezequiel Schelotto and Marco Verratti have never played for the Azzurri before. Pescara midfielder Verratti was one of two second-division players included on Sunday, the other being Torino defender Angelo Ogbonna.

Controversial strikers Mario Balotelli and Antonio Cassano have been included in the squad, which will be cut to 23 players by May 29.

Prandelli, who introduced a code of ethics when he became coach after the 2010 World Cup, left Balotelli off the squad for a friendly against the United States in February after he received a four-match suspension in January for his stamp on Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker.

Cassano fell ill with stroke-like symptoms on AC Milan’s team plane while returning from a match at Roma in October and then required minor heart surgery that kept him out for five months.

Previous coach Marcello Lippi left Cassano off his squad at both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, but he was a fixture in attack in Euro 2012 qualifying under Cesare Prandelli.

It is the first call-ups under Prandelli for Udinese striker Antonio Di Natale and Rubin Kazan midfielder Salvatore Bocchetti.

The squad — apart from Juventus and Napoli players, who face each other in the Italian Cup final next weekend — will meet up on Monday at its training base in Coverciano on the outskirts of Florence for two days of fitness tests.

400,000 fans celebrate at Juventus parade

TURIN, Italy (AP) — More than 400,000 fans packed the streets of Turin on Sunday night as Juventus celebrated its Serie A title victory with an open-top bus parade.

The parade was meant to finish at 10 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) but lasted two and a half hours longer as the bus struggled to get through the sea of ecstatic fans. It took five hours for the bus to negotiate the crowded streets from the stadium to Parco del Valentino where the team will continue its celebrations with family and close friends in the Cacao club.

Fans sat on top of bus shelters, monuments and shops to cheer the Italian champions along the route as fireworks lit up the sky.

It is Juventus’ 28th title and first in nine years after it was stripped of the 2005 and 2006 trophies because of the matchfixing scandal which saw it relegated to Serie B.

Goalkeeper Foster rejects Hodgson’s England plea

WEST BROMWICH, England (AP) — England coach Roy Hodgson has failed to persuade goalkeeper Ben Foster to come out of international exile for the European Championship.

Foster has impressed on Hodgson while on loan at West Bromwich Albion from Birmingham this season. Hodgson’s final match as West Brom manager was on Sunday, a 3-2 loss to Arsenal.

The 29-year-old Foster announced a year ago that he was taking an indefinite break from international football. Foster says Hodgson “tried hard to persuade me to change my mind … but he totally understood my reasons why and was very respectful of that.”

Foster wants spend time with his family instead of going to Euro 2012. And he says his “best form has been since I retired from England and I feel my body gets a good rest.”

Raul signs with Qatar’s Al Sadd

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Spanish veteran striker Raul Gonzalez has signed with Qatar’s Al Sadd, several weeks after announcing he would leave Bundesliga club Schalke at the end of the season.

The Qatar Football Association said Sunday that the Doha club had signed the 34-year-old former Real Madrid and Spain captain to a one-year deal. No further details were released.

Raul was in the stands Saturday to watch Al Gharrafa beat Al Sadd 5-4 on penalties in the Emir Cup. Raul was a fan favorite at Schalke, where he scored 27 goals in 63 Bundesliga appearances. He won the German Cup and reached the semifinals of the Champions League in his first season with the club. Raul’s signing continues a trend of aging stars ending their careers in the cash-rich Gulf.

Leekens resigns as Belgium coach

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium coach Georges Leekens announced his resignation on Sunday, saying he would take over with immediate effect at FC Brugge, the league runner-up whose manager Christoph Daum departed last week.

The Belgian federation said it was surprised to learn of the departure, since it had been counting on Leekens to lead a talented Belgian squad to the World Cup finals in Brazil in two years’ time. Belgium, which failed to reach the finals of Euro 2012, will play England in a friendly on June 2.

Leekens was a longtime player of FC Brugge and coached it from 1989 to 1991. He has signed a three-year contract.

Guidolin could quit as Udinese coach

MILAN (AP) — Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin says he may leave the club in the offseason.

Udinese qualified for the Champions League for the second successive year as a 2-0 win at Catania saw the team finish third in Serie A on Sunday. After the game Guidolin says he is “very tired” and needs “a long rest.” The Udinese coach says he has not yet made a decision and will talk to the club directors.

The 56-year-old Guidolin has been at Udinese since 2010 and the club has taken great strides under him, with its third-place finish this year being the highest in the club’s history.

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How the CCP will transform into Paris Opera House

Posted on 13th May 2012 in The monuments of world

By: Emmie G. Velarde
Philippine Daily Inquirer

May 13, 2012 | 8:46 pm

“Everybody knows the Paris Opera House. At least by reputation. It is with regret that I assure you it hasn’t changed at all: For the sake of the passerby who hasn’t been warned, let me say that it looks like a railway station. But once you’re inside you’ll be more likely to mistake it for a Turkish bath.”—Debussy (1862-1918)

culturalcenter.gov.ph photo

Today, of course, the Paris Opera House is regarded as a masterpiece of architecture and is a staple in all package tours of the French capital. In “Great Architecture of the World,” English historian and travel writer John Julius Norwich raves:

“Garnier (Charles, 1825-1898, the architect) triumphed over a cramped and difficult site, handling the carriage-ramps and approach steps, the foyers and staircases, both in section and plan, with confidence and skill. The style is monumental, classically based and opulently expressed, as the times demanded, in an elaborate language of multi-colored marbles and lavish statuary … Every city needs its occasional monuments and occasions of grandeur.”

The “cramped and difficult site” includes, among other things, a lake underneath.

Neither one of these two impassioned descriptions of a theater arts address applies to the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Three months from now, however, the CCP will start transforming into what the Paris Opera House means for theatergoers around the world—the remarkable setting of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera,” object of the most lavish praises from critics across the continents, and the longest-running show on Broadway.

The CCP run, which starts August 25, features the touring production that is still performing in Johannesburg, whose cast members come from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and South Africa.

“Phantom” proved to be such an audience magnet for the 1,870-seat Teatro in the leisure-casino complex Montecasino where it opened on January 31 that the final date was moved from March 25 to April 22. And thank goodness for that. On April 17, a small group of Filipino journalists watched “Phantom” there.

Even before they left Johannesburg, the run was again extended to May 22.

Current online notices read: “Over 200,000 tickets sold. Show must end on June 3.” That’s because, in order to open in Manila by end of August, the production’s packing should start on June 4 and not a day later.

“Tons and tons and tons of stuff,” in the words of Pieter Toerien, South African producer. Details offered by international technical director Richard Martin includes “110 tons of scenery and nearly 50 fly lines (systems of ropes, blocks and counterweights) to hang all that scenery …” At least two out of 40 container vans will be carrying lights alone.

And, not to forget, the chandelier—effectively one of the main characters—that weighs no less than a ton, which will be suspended above the audience for almost the full length of the show. (The CCP Main Theater’s ceiling may have to be reinforced for this.) Plus the false proscenium modeled after a portion of the original in the Paris Opera House. Let alone onstage “stuff,” even special washing machines for the hundreds of costumes are coming to Manila with the cast and crew.

Absolute replica

Toerien relates: “Cameron Mackintosh (one of the original producers) prepared a blueprint and said, ‘You can do my shows in other countries but they have to be absolute replicas of the originals.’”

Mackintosh sent a team to Johannesburg to train the South African company. “When they finished,” Toerien continues, “they left behind a local team empowered to carry on [with] the work.” This is the team that will mount the musical in Manila.

Toerien says it took him two years of planning to bring the show to South Africa, at the end of which 33 people from all over the world came to build the set into Teatro. “That process took a full two weeks. They worked 16 hours a day, six days a week, and there wasn’t a minute to be wasted. When something went wrong, they had to work right through the night; that’s the only way they could catch up.”

Source of pride

The elaborate production design and intricate costumes by the late Maria Björnson are a constant source of pride for any company that stages the musical.

“Phantom,” as a stage production, is 25 years old and the South African company has some of the original costumes, a few of them made of antique material to start with, about 100 years old. Eugene Titus, head of wardrobe, says: “The people who guard over [Björnson’s] work insist that every single detail is as it was when she first designed them. We started pre-production four months before rehearsal; there was a lot of planning and organization involved to bring the wardrobe up to form. It takes 19 people to run the department.”

During the Johannesburg junket, one question asked of the Manila promoter, Concertus, by the Philippine journalists was, where would all these—scenery, props, costumes, lights, etc.—be stored at the CCP? Bambi Verzo, in charge of logistics and promotions, admitted that this aspect would take some figuring out. “But we will find space.”

‘God’s gift’

As for the show, from the spectators’ end, little remains unknown about “Phantom.” The iconic half-mask renders the musical’s title decipherable in any language or script. And what contemporary music lover hasn’t been captivated by “All I Ask of You” or “Music of the Night”?

For the record, these two all-time favorites, both haunting and thrilling, are not the only numbers that a member of the audience is bound to be humming in his head while striding out of the theater.

It is hard to imagine “Phantom” without the songs; harder even to think that it was first presented to an audience in 1925 as a … silent movie!

Further back, in 1911, the book on which it was based, “Le Fantome de Opera,” by Gaston Leroux, was published. Leroux has been quoted as saying that he was inspired after visiting the Paris Opera House to write the story of a disfigured genius masterminding the career of his beautiful protégé. Roaming its lower depths, the writer said, he found a mysterious subterranean lake (where he eventually envisioned the Phantom’s lair to be). He also said he recalled an accident in 1896 when one of the counterweights had crashed on the audience.

Leroux gave a copy of his book to Carl Laemmie, then president of Universal Pictures, who stayed up all night reading it and, by the morning, was determined to turn it into a film. “The Phantom of the Opera,” the movie, starred Lon Chaney, Hollywood’s “man of a thousand faces.”

In May 1984, Andrew Lloyd Webber came across a review about a stage adaptation of the movie and called Mackintosh about the possibility of turning it into a new musical.

Mackintosh’s account: “The original production went into rehearsal in London on Aug. 18, 1986. Hal Prince (director) and Gillian Lynne (choreographer) had assembled a wonderful cast. After several weeks of exhilarating mayhem, ‘Phantom’ opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Oct. 9 and proceeded to become one of London’s greatest musical successes.”

The Times UK called it “God’s gift to musical theatre.” In 1988, “Phantom” won seven Tony Awards, including best musical.

Ultimate test

On Dec. 18, 1874, the famous seven-ton (some accounts peg it at six) bronze-and-crystal chandelier in the theater of the Paris Opera House was lit for the first time. The architect Garnier himself had designed it. It aroused much controversy and was criticized for obstructing views of the stage by patrons in the fourth-level boxes. In his 1871 book, “Le Théâtre,” Garnier wrote this defense: “What else could fill the theatre with such joyous life?”

In May 1896, the falling of one of the counterweights resulted in the death of one member of the audience. This was the incident that inspired Leroux’s gothic novel.

As musical theater, one of “Phantom’s” trademarks is the scaled-down (only six tons lighter) replica of that chandelier. Certainly a thrill—and the ultimate test of how engaging the music can be—is sitting right under it and forgetting it is there.

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Filming 'Saving Hallowed Ground' – The Radnor War Memorial project

Posted on 12th May 2012 in The monuments of world

 For generations the charging Dough Boys on the bronze relief of the Radnor War Memorial have been frozen in time.

But on Thursday they came to life as World War I soldiers marched among the memorial grounds.

And there were soldiers from other wars, too: World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the War Against Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was all part of a film production for “Saving Hallowed Ground,” a project spearheaded by Radnor American Legion Posts 668 and 418 to draw attention to the 120 names etched on the 1922 memorial as well as the need to preserve memorials like Wayne’s throughout the country.

 Video Plays Below:

“For the last three years we have been dealing with issues of the conservation and preservation of this memorial,” said Eugene Hough, a member of Post 668 and a preservationist of military cemeteries and monuments. “The most important thing we are encapsulating in this project is that we want to template this project in other communities across Pennsylvania and across the United States. From experience I can attest there are numerous markers and monuments like this one that aren’t being taken care of. Hopefully by involving the military academy, community, students, businesses we can bring to life what these truly are, living-history memorials.”       

The production is slated to debut at Radnor Memorial Library on Tuesday, May 15, after a 7 p.m. public re-dedication ceremony of the refurbished Radnor War Memorial, which is across from the middle school.

 The video, produced by Radnor Studio 21, involved cadets from the Valley Forge Military Academy.

Many of the garments used in Thursday’s production were actual vintage military uniforms. The actors were students from 2nd Lt. Adam Messinger’s U.S. history class. Continued…

“They’re also the same age of a lot of the men who wore the uniforms,” he said.  

He pointed out that all branches of the military are represented in the production except for the U.S. Coast Guard, the only uniform that could not be located for the shoot.

“We have a full spectrum of the history of the United States…the different services,” explained Messinger.

 

One uniform for the production belongs to Marty Costello, commander of Bateman-Gallagher Post 668 and owner of Joe’s Place in Wayne. He served in the Navy during Vietnam. 

 

Aside from the VFMA actors, Emily Rafferty, who bartends at Post 668, took part in the production representing Mary Holmes Howson.

Howson’s name is on the Radnor War Memorial. The Radnor resident and 1936 Radnor High School graduate was a teacher by profession, teaching at the former Booth School in Devon, before enlisting in World War II.

Howson, who lived on Parks Run in Wayne, was training to be a domestic military aviator in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She died in April 1944 after an air-traffic controller’s error had her AT-6 training aircraft in the same air corridor as another plane and as a result the aircraft collided. Howson, who was only about a month away from completing her training, died as she did not have enough altitude to deploy her parachute before hitting the ground.  

 She earned her silver wings posthumously. She is buried at Washington Memorial Chapel’s cemetery in Valley Forge National Historical Park.     Continued…

 For generations the charging Dough Boys on the bronze relief of the Radnor War Memorial have been frozen in time.

But on Thursday they came to life as World War I soldiers marched among the memorial grounds.

And there were soldiers from other wars, too: World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the War Against Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was all part of a film production for “Saving Hallowed Ground,” a project spearheaded by Radnor American Legion Posts 668 and 418 to draw attention to the 120 names etched on the 1922 memorial as well as the need to preserve memorials like Wayne’s throughout the country.

 Video Plays Below:

“For the last three years we have been dealing with issues of the conservation and preservation of this memorial,” said Eugene Hough, a member of Post 668 and a preservationist of military cemeteries and monuments. “The most important thing we are encapsulating in this project is that we want to template this project in other communities across Pennsylvania and across the United States. From experience I can attest there are numerous markers and monuments like this one that aren’t being taken care of. Hopefully by involving the military academy, community, students, businesses we can bring to life what these truly are, living-history memorials.”       

The production is slated to debut at Radnor Memorial Library on Tuesday, May 15, after a 7 p.m. public re-dedication ceremony of the refurbished Radnor War Memorial, which is across from the middle school.

 The video, produced by Radnor Studio 21, involved cadets from the Valley Forge Military Academy.

Many of the garments used in Thursday’s production were actual vintage military uniforms. The actors were students from 2nd Lt. Adam Messinger’s U.S. history class.

“They’re also the same age of a lot of the men who wore the uniforms,” he said.  

He pointed out that all branches of the military are represented in the production except for the U.S. Coast Guard, the only uniform that could not be located for the shoot.

“We have a full spectrum of the history of the United States…the different services,” explained Messinger.

 

One uniform for the production belongs to Marty Costello, commander of Bateman-Gallagher Post 668 and owner of Joe’s Place in Wayne. He served in the Navy during Vietnam. 

 

Aside from the VFMA actors, Emily Rafferty, who bartends at Post 668, took part in the production representing Mary Holmes Howson.

Howson’s name is on the Radnor War Memorial. The Radnor resident and 1936 Radnor High School graduate was a teacher by profession, teaching at the former Booth School in Devon, before enlisting in World War II.

Howson, who lived on Parks Run in Wayne, was training to be a domestic military aviator in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She died in April 1944 after an air-traffic controller’s error had her AT-6 training aircraft in the same air corridor as another plane and as a result the aircraft collided. Howson, who was only about a month away from completing her training, died as she did not have enough altitude to deploy her parachute before hitting the ground.  

 She earned her silver wings posthumously. She is buried at Washington Memorial Chapel’s cemetery in Valley Forge National Historical Park.    

 

As part of the Saving Hallowed Ground initiative, students from Wayne’s St. Katharine of Siena School’s David Heacock’s eighth-grade class are currently researching the life histories of the 20 fallen World War I soldiers whose names are on the Radnor memorial. Several St. Katharine students were involved in Thursday’s video production.    

The May 15 re-dedication of the war memorial will include an overview of the renovation by  Costello, commander of Post 668;  and Hough, who owns Heritage Guild Works, a company that specializes in cemetery and monuments restoration, will discuss the restoration process.

The program, co-sponsored by the Radnor Historical Society, will then move to the Winsor Room of the library where Costello will outline the rich history of the memorial and Hough will explain a national program for veterans to help restore war memorials. Julie Pierce will then talk about Gold Star Mothers.  

 

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'Saving Hallowed Ground' The Radnor War Memorial project

Posted on 11th May 2012 in The monuments of world

 For generations the charging Dough Boys on the bronze relief of the Radnor War Memorial have been frozen in time.

But on Thursday they came to life as World War I soldiers marched among the memorial grounds.

And there were soldiers from other wars, too: World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the War Against Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was all part of a film production for “Saving Hallowed Ground,” a project spearheaded by Radnor American Legion Posts 668 and 418 to draw attention to the 120 names etched on the 1922 memorial as well as the need to preserve memorials like Wayne’s throughout the country.

 Video Plays Below:

“For the last three years we have been dealing with issues of the conservation and preservation of this memorial,” said Eugene Hough, a member of Post 668 and a preservationist of military cemeteries and monuments. “The most important thing we are encapsulating in this project is that we want to template this project in other communities across Pennsylvania and across the United States. From experience I can attest there are numerous markers and monuments like this one that aren’t being taken care of. Hopefully by involving the military academy, community, students, businesses we can bring to life what these truly are, living-history memorials.”       

The production is slated to debut at Radnor Memorial Library on Tuesday, May 15, after a 7 p.m. public re-dedication ceremony of the refurbished Radnor War Memorial, which is across from the middle school.

 The video, produced by Radnor Studio 21, involved cadets from the Valley Forge Military Academy.

Many of the garments used in Thursday’s production were actual vintage military uniforms. The actors were students from 2nd Lt. Adam Messinger’s U.S. history class. Continued…

“They’re also the same age of a lot of the men who wore the uniforms,” he said.  

He pointed out that all branches of the military are represented in the production except for the U.S. Coast Guard, the only uniform that could not be located for the shoot.

“We have a full spectrum of the history of the United States…the different services,” explained Messinger.

 

One uniform for the production belongs to Marty Costello, commander of Bateman-Gallagher Post 668 and owner of Joe’s Place in Wayne. He served in the Navy during Vietnam. 

 

Aside from the VFMA actors, Emily Rafferty, who bartends at Post 668, took part in the production representing Mary Holmes Howson.

Howson’s name is on the Radnor War Memorial. The Radnor resident and 1936 Radnor High School graduate was a teacher by profession, teaching at the former Booth School in Devon, before enlisting in World War II.

Howson, who lived on Parks Run in Wayne, was training to be a domestic military aviator in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She died in April 1944 after an air-traffic controller’s error had her AT-6 training aircraft in the same air corridor as another plane and as a result the aircraft collided. Howson, who was only about a month away from completing her training, died as she did not have enough altitude to deploy her parachute before hitting the ground.  

 She earned her silver wings posthumously. She is buried at Washington Memorial Chapel’s cemetery in Valley Forge National Historical Park.     Continued…

 For generations the charging Dough Boys on the bronze relief of the Radnor War Memorial have been frozen in time.

But on Thursday they came to life as World War I soldiers marched among the memorial grounds.

And there were soldiers from other wars, too: World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the War Against Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was all part of a film production for “Saving Hallowed Ground,” a project spearheaded by Radnor American Legion Posts 668 and 418 to draw attention to the 120 names etched on the 1922 memorial as well as the need to preserve memorials like Wayne’s throughout the country.

 Video Plays Below:

“For the last three years we have been dealing with issues of the conservation and preservation of this memorial,” said Eugene Hough, a member of Post 668 and a preservationist of military cemeteries and monuments. “The most important thing we are encapsulating in this project is that we want to template this project in other communities across Pennsylvania and across the United States. From experience I can attest there are numerous markers and monuments like this one that aren’t being taken care of. Hopefully by involving the military academy, community, students, businesses we can bring to life what these truly are, living-history memorials.”       

The production is slated to debut at Radnor Memorial Library on Tuesday, May 15, after a 7 p.m. public re-dedication ceremony of the refurbished Radnor War Memorial, which is across from the middle school.

 The video, produced by Radnor Studio 21, involved cadets from the Valley Forge Military Academy.

Many of the garments used in Thursday’s production were actual vintage military uniforms. The actors were students from 2nd Lt. Adam Messinger’s U.S. history class.

“They’re also the same age of a lot of the men who wore the uniforms,” he said.  

He pointed out that all branches of the military are represented in the production except for the U.S. Coast Guard, the only uniform that could not be located for the shoot.

“We have a full spectrum of the history of the United States…the different services,” explained Messinger.

 

One uniform for the production belongs to Marty Costello, commander of Bateman-Gallagher Post 668 and owner of Joe’s Place in Wayne. He served in the Navy during Vietnam. 

 

Aside from the VFMA actors, Emily Rafferty, who bartends at Post 668, took part in the production representing Mary Holmes Howson.

Howson’s name is on the Radnor War Memorial. The Radnor resident and 1936 Radnor High School graduate was a teacher by profession, teaching at the former Booth School in Devon, before enlisting in World War II.

Howson, who lived on Parks Run in Wayne, was training to be a domestic military aviator in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She died in April 1944 after an air-traffic controller’s error had her AT-6 training aircraft in the same air corridor as another plane and as a result the aircraft collided. Howson, who was only about a month away from completing her training, died as she did not have enough altitude to deploy her parachute before hitting the ground.  

 She earned her silver wings posthumously. She is buried at Washington Memorial Chapel’s cemetery in Valley Forge National Historical Park.    

As part of the Saving Hallowed Ground initiative, students from Wayne’s St. Katharine School’s David Heacock’s eighth-grade class are currently researching the life histories of the 20 fallen World War I soldiers whose names are on the Radnor memorial. Several St. Katharine students were involved in Thursday’s video production.    

The May 15 re-dedication of the war memorial will include an overview of the renovation by  Costello, commander of Post 668;  and Hough, who owns Heritage Works, a company that specializes in cemetery and monuments restoration, will discuss the restoration process.

The program, co-sponsored by the Radnor Historical Society, will then move to the Winsor Room of the library where Costello will outline the rich history of the memorial and Hough will explain a national program for veterans to help restore war memorials. Julie Pierce will then talk about Gold Star Mothers.  

 

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True story behind Huangyan Island dispute in South China Sea

Posted on 10th May 2012 in The monuments of world

The controversy over a tiny island in the South China Sea has intensified, making it the most serious standoff between China and the Philippines in the sea in recent years.

In early April, the Philippines sent a warship to harass 12 Chinese fishing vessels which sailed into the waters of Huangyan Island to shelter from bad weather.

According to media reports, the Philippines has also notified China on its readiness to raise the issue of the sovereignty of Huangyan Island to international arbitration. In addition, it tried to rename the island and remove the signs and monuments related to China.

WHO IS THE TROUBLEMAKER

Huangyan Island, a group of reefs and islets about 550 sea miles away from the Hainan Island in south China, has long provided a perfect shelter for fishing ships from nearby islands and the mainland of China.

“For many generations we have fished in this water,” said Ke Weixiu, a fisherman and native from the port of Tanmen in Hainan.

However, since the 1990s, Chinese fishermen have repeatedly been harassed by Philippine warships.

According to the fishery department under the Ministry of Agriculture, four Chinese fishing boats were intercepted by the Philippine navy in the waters around the island from January to March in 1998 and 51 fishermen on board were detained for about six months.

In May 1999, a Chinese fishing boat was rammed by a Philippine warship and sunk, according to the ministry.

From 2000 to 2011, at least 32 fishing ships, with 439 fishermen on board, were chased, robbed or detained by the Philippine navy.

The latest event occurred in April. Xu Detan, captain of one of the 12 fishing ships harassed, has not recovered from the shocking encounter with the Philippine navy even three weeks after returning home.

“A Philippine warship blocked our entry to the lagoon where we docked our ships,” Xu recalled. “We had no choice but to wait inside as they were armed.”

On April 10, nine Philippine soldiers, on a inflatable, boarded Xu’s ship with seven of them carrying rifles.

“They turned off the radio and satellite positioning system on my ship, searched the whole ship and took pictures while the 16 members of the crew, including me, were standing on the deck under the hot sun for four hours.”

Two Chinese Marine Surveillance ships conducting routine patrols in the area later came to the fishermen’s rescue and helped Xu and his colleagues return home safely.

“Usually a fishing trip will take 50 days but this time we were forced to cut it short to 25 days,” he said.

PHILIPPINES’ TERRITORIAL CLAIM IS UNTENABLE

Until 1997, the Philippines never disputed China’s jurisdiction and development of the island. But recently the Philippines has played tricks and triggered disturbances, as well as claiming the island as theirs.

The Philippines says it is the nearest country to Huangyan Island, so it claims the island belongs to it on this premise.

“This theory based on geographic distance for territorial sovereignty has absolutely no basis in international law and judicial practice,” according to Zhang Haiwen, deputy director of China Institute for Marine Affairs under State Oceanic Administration.

“There is no such principle in international law that determines territorial ownership by geographic distance,” Zhang said, noting that many countries around the world have territories which are far away from their mainland and much closer to other countries.

“For example, the British Channel Islands are less than 12 nautical miles off the French coastline at their closest proximity. Some French territorial islands stretch across the Atlantic, lie close to the Canadian coastline in north America and even in the Pacific. But none of these islands have territorial disputes due to geographic distance,” said Zhang.

“The world map would be totally redrawn if the Philippines’ theory was upheld,” Zhang said.

The Philippines claims that Huangyan Island is in the country’s 200-nautical miles-wide Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and says its claim is in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law Of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Liu Feng, a researcher with National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said that the UNCLOS has neither the articles to change a country’s land territory, nor does it have the authority to allow a country to take another country’s territory by the right of the EEZ and the continental shelf.

The Philippines claims that the United States controlled Huangyan Island, thus it has inherited the island’s sovereignty and jurisdiction from the U.S. military.

“U.S. forces in the Philippines used Huangyan Island as a shooting range, but the U.S. has never claimed sovereignty over the island. How could the Philippines inherit it? It’s ridiculous,” said Zhang Haiwen.

“All the Philippine rhetoric is untenable in terms of international law,” said Liu Feng. “So the Philippines wants to take the initiative to stir things up by sending warships to harass Chinese fishermen in Huangyan Island waters and escalate tensions.”

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Craig Claiborne Biography, 'The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat,' Tells Story Of Legendary Restaurant Critic

Posted on 7th May 2012 in The monuments of world

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Review: Bio details revolution in approach to food

Posted on 7th May 2012 in The monuments of world

“The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat: Craig Claiborne and the American Food Renaissance” (Free Press), by Thomas McNamee: Many of us can no longer remember what life was like before arugula and balsamic vinegar became part of the larder, celebrity chefs strutted their stuff on TV and the term “foodie” made its way into common parlance.

But that was the state of the culinary scene little more than a half-century ago when the writer who was to become arguably the most influential restaurant critic of our time landed his dream job by being named food editor of The New York Times.

“What Craig Claiborne saw when he looked out across the vast expanse of the United States was a gastronomic landscape blighted by ignorance and apathy, a drearily insular domain of overdone roast beef and canned green beans,” Thomas McNamee writes in “The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat: Craig Claiborne and the American Food Renaissance,” his comprehensive biography of this towering figure whose public success masked a troubled life.

Claiborne reshaped the world of food criticism, taking it from advertiser-friendly puff pieces displayed on what were then known as the newspaper’s women’s page to a respected genre whose work reflected the same rigor and gravity as that of the Times’ drama, music and art critics. He guided a generation of readers from TV dinners, Reddi-wip and Cheez Whiz to classic French cuisine, Szechwan cooking from China and Mexican dishes that went beyond tacos and tortillas.

“Julia Child was beloved, but Craig Claiborne was the authority,” says McNamee.

The author recounts Claiborne’s unhappy childhood in the Mississippi Delta, where he grew up in genteel poverty, was bullied by schoolmates and found refuge in the kitchen of his mother’s boarding house. After studying journalism in college, he joined the Navy during World War II and was introduced to exotic cuisine and gay sex during a stint in Casablanca.

Claiborne joined the Times after training in classic French cuisine and service at a prestigious hotel school in Switzerland and writing for Gourmet magazine. His prodigious output went beyond his newspaper columns and reviews, encompassing a string of best-selling cookbooks, many co-authored by longtime friend Pierre Franey.

Despite his success and many honors, Claiborne’s life appears to have brought only superficial joy. Forced by the strictures of the times to hide his homosexuality, he was often depressed and nagged by self-doubt. His alcohol consumption was mind-boggling, as he routinely downed a half-dozen margaritas or scotches, a bottle or two of wine and a few stingers or cognacs before, during and after dinner. It was a rare morning that didn’t include a hangover.

This first comprehensive account of Claiborne’s life transports readers to renowned restaurants, profiles innovative chefs and traces the revolution in dining that his writings did much to inspire.

The book is replete with anecdotes and memorable incidents, some of them monuments to breathtaking excess. There is the lavish party on the liner SS France to celebrate Claiborne’s 50th birthday, where guests included Salvador Dali and his pet ocelot; the closing of the legendary restaurant Le Pavillon in 1960 after the staff walked out amid a feud with its tyrannical boss, Henri Soule; and, of course, Claiborne’s $4,000 dinner for two in Paris, an outgrowth of a public television auction.

Students of social history and readers with an abiding interest in food will find much to savor in this book. But those whose palates aren’t attuned to the likes of foie gras and truffles may get their fill early on. De gustibus.

___

Online:

http://www.thomasmcnamee.com/index.htm

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Bio traces achievements, troubled life of food writer who revolutionized US approach to food

Posted on 7th May 2012 in The monuments of world

“The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat: Craig Claiborne and the American Food Renaissance” (Free Press), by Thomas McNamee: Many of us can no longer remember what life was like before arugula and balsamic vinegar became part of the larder, celebrity chefs strutted their stuff on TV and the term “foodie” made its way into common parlance.

But that was the state of the culinary scene little more than a half-century ago when the writer who was to become arguably the most influential restaurant critic of our time landed his dream job by being named food editor of The New York Times.

“What Craig Claiborne saw when he looked out across the vast expanse of the United States was a gastronomic landscape blighted by ignorance and apathy, a drearily insular domain of overdone roast beef and canned green beans,” Thomas McNamee writes in “The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat: Craig Claiborne and the American Food Renaissance,” his comprehensive biography of this towering figure whose public success masked a troubled life.

Claiborne reshaped the world of food criticism, taking it from advertiser-friendly puff pieces displayed on what were then known as the newspaper’s women’s page to a respected genre whose work reflected the same rigour and gravity as that of the Times’ drama, music and art critics. He guided a generation of readers from TV dinners, Reddi-wip and Cheez Whiz to classic French cuisine, Szechwan cooking from China and Mexican dishes that went beyond tacos and tortillas.

“Julia Child was beloved, but Craig Claiborne was the authority,” says McNamee.

The author recounts Claiborne’s unhappy childhood in the Mississippi Delta, where he grew up in genteel poverty, was bullied by schoolmates and found refuge in the kitchen of his mother’s boarding house. After studying journalism in college, he joined the Navy during World War II and was introduced to exotic cuisine and gay sex during a stint in Casablanca.

Claiborne joined the Times after training in classic French cuisine and service at a prestigious hotel school in Switzerland and writing for Gourmet magazine. His prodigious output went beyond his newspaper columns and reviews, encompassing a string of bestselling cookbooks, many co-authored by longtime friend Pierre Franey.

Despite his success and many honours, Claiborne’s life appears to have brought only superficial joy. Forced by the strictures of the times to hide his homosexuality, he was often depressed and nagged by self-doubt. His alcohol consumption was mind-boggling, as he routinely downed a half-dozen margaritas or scotches, a bottle or two of wine and a few stingers or cognacs before, during and after dinner. It was a rare morning that didn’t include a hangover.

This first comprehensive account of Claiborne’s life transports readers to renowned restaurants, profiles innovative chefs and traces the revolution in dining that his writings did much to inspire.

The book is replete with anecdotes and memorable incidents, some of them monuments to breathtaking excess. There is the lavish party on the liner SS France to celebrate Claiborne’s 50th birthday, where guests included Salvador Dali and his pet ocelot; the closing of the legendary restaurant Le Pavillon in 1960 after the staff walked out amid a feud with its tyrannical boss, Henri Soule; and, of course, Claiborne’s $4,000 dinner for two in Paris, an outgrowth of a public television auction.

Students of social history and readers with an abiding interest in food will find much to savour in this book. But those whose palates aren’t attuned to the likes of foie gras and truffles may get their fill early on. De gustibus.

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Online:

http://www.thomasmcnamee.com/index.htm

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Hillary Clinton arrives in India to breathe life into ties

Posted on 6th May 2012 in The monuments of world

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in Kolkata on Sunday on a 3-day India visit.

KOLKATA: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in India on Sunday with hopes of reinvigorating a relationship seen as losing steam despite efforts to bring the world’s two largest democracies closer.

Clinton will be wading into a row over Iran, which is sending a trade delegation this week to New Delhi despite US threats to slap sanctions on countries that buy the Islamic republic’s oil.

Clinton’s final stop on a three-nation tour follows a tense visit to China defusing a crisis over a dissident and a stop in Bangladesh where she urged the country’s polarised politicians to unite in the push for development.

The veteran politician arrived in Kolkata, where she will tour monuments and meet citizens in her latest bid to use her personal popularity as a diplomatic tool.

Clinton said that she saw ample progress in relations with India, pointing to rising trade and cooperation in areas from education to clean energy.

“I think it’s like any relationship — there is progress in some areas that we are very heartened by, and there is more work to be done,” Clinton told reporters before her arrival.

“But that’s the commitment that we make when we say to another country, we want to be your partner,” she said.

The United States and India, which had uneasy relations during the Cold War, started to reconcile in the late 1990s under former president Bill Clinton and reached a milestone when his successor George W. Bush championed a deal that ended India’s decades of isolation over its nuclear programme.

But champions of the relationship have begun to voice disappointment, with US businesses upset that India’s parliament has not passed legislation they seek to enter the nuclear and retail sectors.

India has bristled at a US law that would impose sanctions on banks from countries that buy oil from Iran due to concerns over Iran’s contested nuclear programme.

Only EU nations and Japan have so far been given exemptions to the law which starts on June 28.

India has been reducing oil imports from Iran, but is highly dependent on foreign energy and has historically enjoyed friendly relations with Tehran.

TP Sreenivasan, a former Indian ambassador to the United Nations, said that expectations for the US-India relationship had not been met but that Clinton had the advantage of being considered a friend of New Delhi.

The visit “comes at a useful time as there is a certain amount of strain in relations that needs to be rectified,” he said.

“The relationship has lost momentum partly because… both are preoccupied with their own internal problems,” he said.

C. Raja Mohan, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, said that India and the United States had the same objectives in Iran and would likely want to “keep their differences to manageable limits.”

“Contrary to what one might think, the relations are reasonably on track in terms of their engagement. The US is in election mode; India has its own problems,” Mohan said.

Experts noted that the United States made little fuss last month when India tested its nuclear-capable Agni V missile, which can reach across China.

“Now the US views India as a strategic partner with growing economic and political clout that will contribute to promoting security and stability in Asia,” said a paper by Lisa Curtis and Baker Spring, of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative US think tank.

India has recently worked to repair relations with historic enemy Pakistan, removing one potential headache for the United States whose own relations with Islamabad have been in crisis since last year’s killing of Osama bin Laden.

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