The documentary No Ordinary Man is not just a biography of Billy Tipton, but also a critical lens on how culture has depicted trans men.
Biography
Posted inBooks
Yayoi Kusama Gets Her First Graphic Novel Biography
In this excerpt of Kusama: The Graphic Novel, illustrator Elisa Macellari time travels to Kusama’s life in 1960s New York City, when the artist became “the high priestess of love and pacifism.”
Posted inFilm
A Documentary’s Attempt to Protect Flannery O’Connor at All Costs
Flannery expresses the author’s genius but goes to tortured lengths to excuse her racism.
Posted inBooks
A Writer’s Portrait of Louise Bourgeois
Now, Now Louison is a book that will trouble purists who believe in strict categories, such as biography, art criticism, and novel.
Posted inBooks
Ruth Asawa’s Life and Legacy, in Both Art and Education
Marilyn Chase’s new biography sheds light on Asawa’s contributions to San Francisco’s public schools and its artistic community at large.
Posted inBooks
How Alexander Calder Made Modern Art Move
In the second volume of a definitive biography, the art critic Jed Perl recalls how the innovative artist revolutionized sculpture.
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A Poet Takes Up Biography
Baron Wormser offers empathetic but unflinching portraits of a diverse group of historical figures.
Posted inFilm
Linda Ronstadt’s Passionate Life of Song
Like its subject, the documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice builds on familiar elements to make something new and beautiful.
Posted inFilm
Kronos Quartet Tells Its Story in a Live Documentary
The venerable string quartet is touring A Thousand Thoughts, playing live accompaniment for a documentary about its history and music.
Posted inOpinion
Celebrating Marriage Equality in the US with Tom of Finland
Today the United States Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage — henceforth known simply as “marriage” — is protected by the Constitution.
Posted inArt
“Abortion,” “Miscarriage,” or “Untitled”? A Frida Kahlo Lithograph’s Complicated History
DETROIT — Art may be open to interpretation, but when the work in question is a reflection of an artist’s life, historians and museums tend to present their interpretations as fact.
Posted inBooks
Invisible Man: The Biographies of J. D. Salinger
In July 1985, the British poet, editor and critic Ian Hamilton submitted the manuscript for J. D. Salinger: A Writing Life to his editors at Random House. Three years later, in May 1988, after countless depositions, preliminary injunctions, affidavits and court appeals, Hamilton’s truncated In Search of J. D. Salinger was published. This was the “legal” version of his original biography, rewritten and wiped of all quotations from Salinger’s letters that Hamilton had included, and starring now the biographer himself as the main character on a thwarted quest to write the life of America’s most famous recluse.