California Literary Review

Whirling Dervishes Of Design: The first half of the exhibition “Rococo: The Continuing Curve, 1730–2008,” which just opened at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, is absolutely stunning. No matter how austere your aesthetic sensibilities, “Rococo” has enough fine-tuned dreamy opulence and pizzazz to make even the most ascetic among us swoon and grow a little wobbly in the knees. [NY Sun]

Oldfangled Interaction Gains Steam: As museums add online exhibitions and try to envelop visitors in virtual worlds, some are also taking steps to reinvent themselves as communities — places where people engage with one another, not just with computers. [NYT]

Asian Art Blowing in Like a Monsoon: Asia Week is bearing down on the auction market like a monsoon. The first big thunderclap will be Sotheby’s auction of Contemporary Asian Art on Monday, March 17. Though the sale does include work by some Japanese and Korean painters, this is really a showcase for contemporary Chinese art. [NY Sun]

In Santa Fe, on the Trail of New Deal Artists: But New York was hardly the only center of New Deal artistic activity. Another hub was northern New Mexico, where more than a hundred artists — including prominent American Indians — signed on to the government payroll. Although scholarship on their involvement has been spotty at best, local curators say that is beginning to change. [NYT]