Photographer Annie Leibovitz is one of the rare photographers who can capture an ordinary moment in the middle of a dramatic setting, or the other way around. The photograph of the naked John Lennon cuddling with his wife Yoko Ono, taken three hours before he was assassinated in 1980, was printed on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and became an instant sensation because of its unusual composition and striking message. Thirty-three years later, Leibovitz has became the queen of portrait photo

NEW YORK (AP) ― For longtime Broadway actor Danny Burstein, the big challenge in preparing for his Metropolitan Opera debut has been “trying to find the funny.”Burstein will play the non-singing role of the drunken jailer Frosch in the Met’s new production of Johann Strauss’s operetta “Die Fledermaus,” which opens on New Year’s Eve and runs through Feb. 22.Some might consider it an unenviable assignment. Frosch doesn’t appear until Act 3 and then has to hold the stage alone while delivering a mo

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) ― The most expensive artwork ever sold at auction is on display at the Portland Art Museum.In New York last month, an anonymous collector paid more than $142 million for the “Three Studies of Lucian Freud,” a 1969 triptych by Francis Bacon. The museum is exhibiting the work for three months before it heads to the owner’s private collection.Two drivers transported the panels across the country, ensuring the climate-controlled truck was always on the move and never left alone

It was ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics when the Korean galleries’ ambitions for entering the Chinese art market were at their highest. From 2005, major Korean galleries flocked to China in search of big spenders and potential buyers in the booming art market. The reality was different. Galleries struggled to make ends meet with skyrocketing rent, complex shipping processes and different art-market dynamics. Now Pyo Gallery 798 remains the sole Korean gallery in Beijing, once a hopeful place f

NEW YORK (AP) ― It’s not yet Christmas, but Debbie Allen has already gotten a nice present ― the Goldstar National Nutcracker Award.The ticket discounter has declared the award-winning director and choreographer’s school the winner of the 7th annual contest that crowns the best version of “The Nutcracker” in the land. The Debbie Allen Dance Academy’s show, “The Hot Chocolate Nutcracker” that was mounted earlier this month in Los Angeles, beat out nearly 60 other productions of “The Nutcracker.”

Park Ji-yeon and Choi Jung-won shine in Asian premiere run of ‘Ghost the Musical’

Artist Li Fan’s portraits depict emotions of Chinese people shared with people around the world

LONDON (AP) ― A trove of 85 works by Spanish surrealist master Joan Miro acquired by the Portuguese government from a failing bank is up for auction with an estimated value of 30 million pounds ($49 million).Christie’s auction house said Friday the collection is “one of the most extensive and impressive offerings of works by the artist ever to come to auction,” and covers seven decades of Miro’s career.The Barcelona-born artist was influential in the surrealist movement in the 1920s and develope

Korean National Ballet’s long-time artistic director Choi Tae-ji shares her life and career in her last month as the troupe’s head

Famed ballerina speaks about her role as the Korean National Ballet’s new artistic director

Intensity filled the auction room as bidding for the 1987 “Farm” painting by modern artist Lee Dae-won climbed higher and higher at the second auction for the seized art collection of former President Chun Doo-hwan at Seoul Auction on Wednesday. In seconds, the bids soared from the 250 million won starting price to 640 million in a heated competition over the flamboyant painting that had hung in Chun’s living room. The bidding soon rose to 660 million won, which was followed by a pause. “No Regr