Free Republic

300 students have signed a petition to have the creepy, yet lifelike statue removed. In part, the petition reads; "This highly realistic sculpture has, within just a few hours of its outdoor installation, become a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for many members of our campus community. While it may appear humorous, or thought-provoking to some, it has already become a source of undue stress for many Wellesley College students, the majority of whom live, study, and work in this space." The Boston Globe reports the piece is called "Sleepwalker," it was put up to...

The scene is an evening at Peggy Guggenheim's apartment in 1947. One of the guests is Clement Greenberg, art critic and champion of Abstract Expressionism, particularly of the artist Jackson Pollock, who is on the cusp of national fame. (Life magazine will come calling two years later.) The predominantly American-led movement is threatening to usurp Europe's longstanding domination of the art world, and as it happens a European Surrealist, the German Max Ernst, is also at Guggenheim's gathering. Apparently provoked by Greenberg's preaching on art (it didn't help that the critic had it in for the Surrealists), Ernst dumps an...

"What can men do against such reckless hate?" --King Theoden. In the area of Chicago in which I live there are at least ten art galleries within a square mile of my home, and the other day I had the unexpected opportunity to actually enter one of them. What brought several of us to the open house was not a desire to examine art, imbibe free wine or socialize with the trendy poseurs by the door. It was for the most Philistine of reasons; we were attracted to its name. It was called the Verbeek, which also happens to be...