Fine Art

"Comprising 33 volumes and more than 16,000 images," Pablo Picasso - known in the art world as "the Zervos" - "was the result of an intense four-decade collaboration between the artist and [scholar/dealer Christian] Zervos."...

"Known for his symphonies, concertos and other orchestral pieces, he was prized for his subtle blends of ear-catching colors and formal rigor. Though steeped in the French modernist tradition that spans Debussy through Messiaen and Boulez, Dutilleux was also notably independent minded, unwilling to chase the latest fashions."...

"Davis - who has only written one novel - beat out a shortlist of 10 contenders for the 60,000-pound ($90,800) prize that included two authors banned in their home countries, the youngest ever nominee and one shortlisted for the second time." The American author won "for a body of work that includes some of the briefest tales ever published."...

"Dutch writer Gerbrand Bakker has won this year's £10,000 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize with his novel The Detour ... It is the author's second major literary prize win; his previous novel, The Twin, won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2010."...

"The Theatre Royal in Dumfries, which has been in operation for more than 200 years, has been given £455,000 by Dumfries and Galloway Council. The grant ... will allow the theatre to be refurbished and additional facilities installed."...

"They are rarely interviewed. Few people outside theatre, film and TV know who they are. Yet casting directors rank among the most influential operators in show business. ... So who are they, and what do they do?"...

"Dancing on Ice mentors Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean have revealed that the ITV series would end in early 2014" as the Olympic champions prepare to retire....

"'The best predictor of belief in a conspiracy theory is belief in other conspiracy theories,' says [researcher] Viren Swami ... Psychologists say that's because a conspiracy theory isn't so much a response to a single event as it is an expression of an overarching worldview."...

"I talked to them after the show, at the CD signing. But you can also tell by the ambient noise in the room during the performance, the coughing. I'm highly attuned to that sort of thing."...

"Overall, college education seems a matter of mastering a complex body of knowledge for a very short time only to rather soon forget everything except a few disjointed elements." So what's the point of higher education? Pleasure, says Gary Gutting. (Yes, that's the word he uses.)...