Scorsese reunion, Kennedy Center drama, and Hockney's last brush
Digest Newsletter
·
Jun 13, 2026
Scorsese reunion, Kennedy Center drama, and Hockney's last brush
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A wave of cultural gravity this morning — from a star-studded 50th-anniversary celebration of a film that redefined urban portraiture to a courthouse-sized squabble over a marquee on the National Mall. Add a major artist's death and playful public art popping up in the streets, and it's a good day to think about light, composition, and who gets top billing.
The arts
Taxi Driver reunion meets Kennedy Center legal drama
A glamorous 50th-anniversary screening of Taxi Driver reunited Jodie Foster, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader at Tribeca, reminding audiences why the film still shapes cinematic storytelling (Tribeca screening). [P]Meanwhile in D.C. the Kennedy Center is in the headlines as workers remove Trump's name from the facade and the Washington National Opera has filed a $17 million breach-of-contract suit, a clash that puts funding and institutional accountability center stage (name removal; WNO lawsuit).
Art
Hockney dies; public art and pop culture keep splashing color
The art world mourns the death of David Hockney at 88, a giant whose explorations of light and place reshaped contemporary seeing (obituary). [P]At the same time, the FIFA World Cup's “Art of the Game” project has turned city streets into galleries with giant soccer balls by 23 artists, and analysis of cultural icons from Jay‑Z to vinyl packaging shows how music and visual design are blurring into new forms of public art (Art of the Game; Jay‑Z legacy).