During its 30 years in business, well-known artists and cultural heavyweights designed over 65 menu covers for New York City restaurant Chanterelle. Now owners David and Karen Waltuck have put dozens of menus from their archives up for sale to help pay off creditors. Visit their website to scoop up one by Cy Twombly for $3,000; Robert Rauschenberg for $1,000; and Marcel Marceau for $400. But hurry — two by Kiki Smith have already sold for $3,000 a pop.
View some arty menus — including a few that are really cool, but not for sale — after the jump.
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1. While he’s not being killed off, Sal “sexual harassment” Romano will not be returning for Mad Men‘s fourth season. [via Vulture]
2. Holy Hogwarts: Thanks to Avatar‘s crazy box office numbers, the next Harry Potter films will be released in 3-D. [via Reuters]
3. George Lucas is producing an “untitled, top-secret CGI-animated” musical about fairies. [via THR]
4. NBC has picked up a pilot from Conan O’Brien‘s production company. It’s a “new take on a law show with a larger-than-life character at the center.” The project’s unofficial (and deliciously ironic) name: Justice. [via THR]
5. Merce Cunningham Co.‘s 35-city farwell tour will begin February 12 in Columbus, Ohio and end with a New Year’s Eve 2011 performance at the Park Avenue Armory. [via NYT]
Bonus link: Is Indie Dead?
As the dance world reflects on the passing of one of its legends, we caught up with Village Voice dance critic Deborah Jowitt to get her thoughts on Merce Cunningham’s vast contributions to the art form, both as a choreographer and a dancer. “He had a tremendous air of animal alertness, a kind of inner fire,” Jowitt told us. “He didn’t mug, he didn’t emote. He had this blazing quality.”
From configuring choreography based on a roll of the dice to insisting that music and dance exist independently of one another, Cunningham revolutionized traditional ideas about what dance is and how it should look. Here, Jowitt talks about some of the defining characteristics of his work and recalls the first time she saw the company. Read More »
Way Station, (2001). Cedric Andrieux, Derry Swan. Photo by Tony Dougherty.
Earlier today the New York Times announced that modern dance master Merce Cunningham had died Sunday night at the age of 90. While his formal obituary isn’t up yet, this paragraph describing the famous choreographer in his later years on Arts Beat made us smile. Read More »
