JEFF MATTHEWS

An angry dwarf, spurned by three flirty sisters, steals their treasure and gives up love forever in order to create an all-powerful piece of jewelry—the Ring of the Nibelung. Richard Wagner’s four-opera masterpiece, known as The Ring Cycle, lasts 15 hours altogether and includes theft and slaughter, an incest baby, a magic potion, and a […]

From 1924 to 1928, moviegoers in Rochester, N.Y., enjoyed a rare and magnificent sight: seven or eight new hand-painted movie posters every week, created by local artist Batiste Madalena for Kodak founder George Eastman’s movie theater. “Eastman decided to build the greatest movie palace ever,” says retired documentary filmmaker Steven Katten, who brought Madalena’s work […]

“All Japanese art is a niche,” says Erik Thomsen, a New York gallery owner and dealer in Japanese art, “but Fukami is a very well-known artist, and he is easy to sell.” Well known, indeed: Sueharu Fukami, a native of Kyoto, has his works in more museum collections around the world—including the Metropolitan Museum of […]