Visual arts/museums

Abstract painter Frank Stella. The 64 year old artist was first well known in the late 1950s for his Black Paintings series - striped monochrome works that helped touch off the minimalism movement. Over the years his work evolved from the canvas to colorful geometrical configurations of sculpture and architectural dimension. Some of his recent work is being shown at the Lock Gallery in Philadelphia, through November 25th.

Cartoonist Ben Katchor, creator of the weekly comic strip, Julius Knipl (ka-NIP-le), Real Estate Photographer. Through his comic strips, Katchor has been an astute and witty commentator on New York in particular and urban life in general. His new book, “Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer: the Beauty Supply District” (Pantheon), is a novel that incorporates some of his single-page strips from the last few years. Katchor has been syndicated in alternative newspapers and magazines since 1988.

Associate curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Russell Ferguson He curated the exhibit “In Memory of My Feelings: Frank O’Hara and American Art,” (there’s also a companion book). Frank O’Hara was part of a small group of poets in New York City in the 1950s and 60s, influenced by the Abstract Expressionist painters of that time, including Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. O’Hara died in 1966 after being struck by a jeep. Also, poet David Lehman (“LEE-man”), author of “the Last Avant-Garde: The Making of the New York School of Poets” (Anchor Books)

George Segal died last Friday. In this interview, Segal talks about his work which is being featured through October at The Jewish Museum in New York City. It is his first major exhibition in North America in 20 years. He is best known for his free standing sculptures depicting everyday people in urban settings. (REBROADCAST from 7/23/98)

Painter Jacob Lawrence died on June 9th at the age of 82. For six decades, Lawrence had been widely regarded as one of America's most important black artists. His work depicted the black American experience from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement. (REBROADCAST from 5/16/88)

Bodybuilders Pudgy and Les Stockton. Pudgy was an early pioneer of women’s body building, and began working out and performing at Santa Monica’s Muscle Beach in 1939, often teaming up with Les who she married in 1941. Pudgy is featured in an exhibit, “Picturing the Modern Amazon” at New York’s New Museum of Contemporary Art (to June 25th). There’s also a companion book of the same title (Rizzoli publications).

Macabre cartoonist and illustrator Edward Gorey died on Saturday at the age of 75 of a heart attack. His illustrations are the opening credits of the PBS show "Mystery." He wrote over 100 books including “The Gashlycrumb Tinies” an alphabet book which began “A is for Amy who fell down the stairs.” One of his other books “The Doubtful Guest” was a classic, about a creature who shows up uninvited at a dreary mansion and becomes a member of the family. Toward the end of his life, GOREY lived in a 200 year old house in Cape Cod, with his five or six cats. (REBROADCAST from 4/2/92)

Photojournalist James Nachtwey. Ten years of his photographs taken around the world In areas of war, famine, and conflict are collected In the new book, "Inferno." (Phaidon Press). Nachtwey has been awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal four times. The award is the highest honor among photographers and is given to those for the "best photographic reporting or interpretation from abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise," and it entails a deliberate decision to go in harm's way.

Charles Schulz, the creator of the cartoon strip "Peanuts" died Saturday night. He was 77 years old and had recently been diagnosed with colon cancer. He died the night before his final cartoon ran In the Sunday papers. We remember him with an excerpt of our 1990 Interview With him. (REBROADCAST from 12/18/90)

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews two blockbuster exhibits of Egyptian art: The Age of the Pyramids, at the Metropolitan Museum in New York which runs thru Jan 9, and Pharaohs of the Sun at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts thru Feb 6.