Arts: Picasso lost and found, Bernstein at the Bowl, Estefans on stage, Trump baby

[Arts & Culture] Arts & Culture [Send to friend]( | [Open in browser]( Presented by* [Pasadena POPS]( Finding the lost Picassos of the Los Angeles Times and kicking off summer with a little Leonard Bernstein. I’m Carolina A. Miranda, staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, with your weekly dose of what’s good in the culture: PICASSO, BABY When the William Pereira-designed corporate headquarters of the Times Mirror Co., a former parent company of the Los Angeles Times, opened in downtown L.A. in 1973, among its various luxurious features was a corporate dining room decorated with lithographs by Pablo Picasso. Over the years, as the paper has been transferred from one corporate entity to another, the Picassos were scattered. Until recently, a suite of five prints hung in The Times community room. Then they disappeared. Times reporter Daniel Miller tracks down what became of the fabled Picasso Room — a tale that involves a grocery cart, rumors of prudery and an enterprising bureau chief who hid art from a foulmouthed Chicago executive. It doesn’t get better than this. [Los Angeles Times]( [Pablo Picasso lithographs]( Pablo Picasso lithographs from his “Imaginary Portraits” series once hung in a corporate dining room at the Los Angeles Times. (Los Angeles Times) Advertisement by Pasadena POPS* Pasadena POPS at the LA Arboretum Summer of Love: Michael Feinstein Sings the Hits of the ‘60s Saturday, July 21 Principal Pops Conductor Michael Feinstein puts down the baton and picks up the mic for one night only to sing your favorite ’60s songs. From The Doors to Sinatra to Tom Jones, Feinstein defines the sounds of the ultimate decade with “Light My Fire,” “It Had to Be You,” “It’s Not Unusual” and many more hits! Bring a picnic, grab a table or a spot on the lawn and soak up the lush surroundings of the Arboretum. Get your [tickets]( today! End of advertisement. SUMMER OF LENNY Aug. 25 marks the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, and Times classical music critic Mark Swed says it’s time to “brace yourself for the Leonard Bernstein summer.” To that end, Swed caught the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s summer opening at the Hollywood Bowl, which featured an all-Bernstein program. Though L.A. Phil musical director Gustavo Dudamel seems to have been born with Bernstein’s musical DNA in his bones, writes Swed, “the program lacked freshness” and featured “heavy-handed amplification.” [Los Angeles Times]( [Gustavo Dudamel]( Conductor Gustavo Dudamel, left, and singers Sutton Foster and Brian Stokes Mitchell perform at the Hollywood Bowl. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) HOGWARTS AT THE BOWL Since we’re on the subject of the Hollywood Bowl, Times assistant managing editor Mary McNamara recently attended a screening of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” with a live score performed by the L.A. Phil. Composed by Patrick Doyle, the original score, she notes, “is a bit darker and, at times, more startling, than the swooping, swirling strings of the first three films,” which were scored by John Williams. [Los Angeles Times]( ["Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" musical performance]( Justin Freer conducts the L.A. Phil in a performance of music from the motion picture “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Need more performance? Matt Cooper has his weekend picks ready to roll — including American Ballet Theatre’s “La Bayadère” at the Music Center and Verdi’s “Otello” at the Hollywood Bowl. [Los Angeles Times]( SUN TIMES “It seems appropriate that the Los Angeles County Museum of Art would debut “Solar Reserve (Tonopah, Nevada) 2014” on the heels of a record-breaking heat wave,” writes Times culture reporter Deborah Vankin. John Gerrard’s digital installation, a simulation of a solar thermal power plant in the Nevada desert, tackles issues of conservation as well as the sun’s more mythical qualities. The work, purchased for the museum by Leonardo DiCaprio, will be displayed on a massive LED wall in the museum’s courtyard. [Los Angeles Times]( ["Solar Reserve"]( A detail from John Gerrard’s “Solar Reserve (Tonopah, Nevada) 2014.” (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) ADVERTISEMENT IN THE GALLERIES Times contributing reviewer Sharon Mizota has been doing the white cube thing. This week, she checks out a show by Young Joo Lee at [Ochi Projects]( that explores how the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea has become a nature preserve of sorts. She also examines a show of paintings by Forrest Kirk at [Chimento Contemporary]( that serve as “indictments of police violence.” Plus, in a series of collaged photographs at [Meliksetian Briggs]( Los Angeles artist Todd Gray explores questions of diaspora among African Americans. “The work communicates the ways in which people may migrate into unexpected places,” Mizota writes, “but also the ways in which places, or reductive ideas about them, get projected onto people.” [Meliksetian Briggs]( “Double Positive,” 2018, is part of Todd Gray’s latest show at Meliksetian Briggs. (Michael Underwood / Meliksetian Briggs) THEATER IN YOUR EAR Audiobook and podcast company Audible is branching into theater — recording one-person productions that might generally be accessible only to limited audiences. The Times’ Jessica Gelt sat in a recording session with actor John Lithgow as he taped his solo show, “Stories by Heart.” As Audible founder and CEO Don Katz tells her, “In a matter of seconds, more people can be listening to an Audible original than can pack a 1,000-seat theater eight times per week for half a century.” [Los Angeles Times]( [John Lithgow]( John Lithgow works in the studio recording “Stories by Heart,” his one-man Broadway show. (Audible) ON YOUR FEET Between the Latin pop tunes and their intriguing lives, the story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan is practically ready-made for a musical. The Times’ Daryl H. Miller checked out the production of “On Your Feet!” currently on view at the Pantages Theatre. At its best, he writes, the musical “explodes off the stage” with pulsating rhythms and talented dancing. But the narrative has some clichés that “flatten out and homogenize a remarkable story.” [Los Angeles Times]( Plus: Times contributor Margaret Gray profiles Christie Prades and Mauricio Martínez, who play the musical icons. [Los Angeles Times]( ["On Your Feet!"]( Mauricio Martínez is Emilio Estefan, left, and Christie Prades is Gloria Estefan in “On Your Feet!” (Matthew Murphy) Miller also reviews “Big Fish,” the 2013 stage musical that’s currently on view at the Chance Theater in Anaheim. The production is “quite wonderful,” but “problems with the story’s construction” and “weakness in the cast” deflate aspects of the work. [Los Angeles Times]( ADVERTISEMENT IN OTHER NEWS… — A federal appeals court has ruled that artists are not entitled to royalties from the sale of their works in California. [New York Times]( — The floating sculpture the whole world is talking about: President Trump as a 20-foot baby. [Los Angeles Times]( [Donald J. Trump blimp]( A baby blimp of U.S. President Donald J. Trump is flown as a protest against his visit in London. (Matt Dunham / Associated Press) — Speaking of which, the Trump baby internet memes are rolling in. [Hyperallergic]( — Closely related: Norman Rosenthal, the former exhibitions secretary at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, criticized Blenheim Palace for hosting the American president for a banquet. [The Art Newspaper]( — And because we seem to be on a politics kick: The president reportedly wants to give Air Force One a “more American look.” The editors at Task & Purpose would like to see your ideas. [Task & Purpose]( — The University of Kansas has removed an American flag artwork by Josephine Meckseper after the state governor call it “beyond disrespectful.” [Frieze]( — Large, colorful and in possession of “wall power”: an analysis of the most Instagrammed artworks at the most recent Art Basel Miami Beach fair. [Artsy]( — Janet Malcolm writes about the ways a simple snapshot can deceive. [New York Review of Books]( — “Beyond the Streets,” a graffiti and street art show organized by Roger Gastman, has extended its Los Angeles run until Aug. 26. [Los Angeles Times]( — ICA LA curator Jamillah James will co-curate the fifth edition of the New Museum Triennial. [Artforum]( — Paul Goldberger tells the whole crazy tale of how Los Angeles ended up with George Lucas’ museum. [Vanity Fair]( — Architecture critic Mark Lamster is totally over the architecture of CVS. [Dallas Morning News]( — Misty Copeland reviews books on dance. [New York Times]( AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST… In his story about Leonard Bernstein, Mark Swed refers to the rollicking versions of Bernstein’s “Mambo” directed by Gustavo Dudamel when he was still at the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra in Venezuela. It’s just what you need to roll into the weekend. [YouTube]( * This advertiser has no control over editorial decisions or content. [Email](mailto:?subject=Arts: Picasso lost and found, Bernstein at the Bowl, Estefans on stage, Trump baby&body=[Twitter]( [Sign up for Newsletters]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Unsubscribe]( | Copyright © 2018 Los Angeles Times | 202 West First Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90012. | 1-800-LA-TIMES