IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Monet ‘Grainstack’ painting heads to auction in November
NEW YORK » A painting from Claude Monet’s acclaimed “Grainstack” series is heading to auction next month and Christie’s says it could realize around $45 million.
The 1891 painting, shimmering with hues of reds, pinks, blues and yellow, depicts a close-up of a single cone-shaped stack after harvest.
Monet’s “Grainstack” series — 25 in all — was painted just steps from his home outside a farmer’s field in the French village of Giverny.
The one at Christie’s Nov. 16 impressionist and modern art evening sale is one of a few still in private hands. Prior to the New York sale, “Grainstack” will be previewed at Christie’s galleries in Hong Kong on Oct. 17-19 and in London Oct. 24-25.
The auction record for a Monet is $80.4 million set in 2008.
Christopher Jackson is latest to leave Broadway’s ‘Hamilton’
NEW YORK » Christopher Jackson, who earned a Tony Award nomination for originating the role of George Washington in “Hamilton,” is leaving the Broadway show Nov. 13.
Jackson, who has a role in the CBS drama “Bull,” joins fellow lead actors out the door, including LinManuel Miranda, Tony winners Leslie Odom Jr., Daveed Diggs and Renee Elise Goldsberry, and fellow nominee Phillipa Soo.
Jackson has played Simba in “The Lion King,” Benny in “In the Heights,” and Delray in “Memphis.” Jackson was in “After Midnight,” ‘’Bronx Bombers” as Derek Jeter and “Holler If Ya Hear Me,” the musical that used Tupac Shakur songs.
In other shake-ups on Broadway, Eric Petersen will take over from Alex Brightman in “School of Rock” starting Nov. 7.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti on Nobel: ‘Bravo for Dylan.’
NEW YORK » Lawrence Ferlinghetti, one of the last links to the early days of the Beat poetry movement, never doubted the artistry of Bob Dylan or his worthiness of the Nobel prize.
“Bravo for Dylan, Nobel Laureate!” Ferlinghetti told The Associated Press in an email Friday. Dylan was close to Allen Ginsberg and other Beats and Ferlinghetti told the AP that decades ago he had hoped the singer-songwriter would release his material in print form through the publishing arm of Ferlinghetti’s celebrated City Lights bookstore in San Francisco. Alas, Ferlinghetti said, “he became famous” and lived on as a “song and dance man.”
Ferlinghetti, 97, has published works by Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac among others and was a defendant in a landmark obscenity trial over his release of Ginsberg’s poem “Howl.”