J.D. Salinger portrait is hung in National Gallery

Salinger’s public face

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington has installed a portrait of “The Catcher in the Rye” author J.D. Salinger, who died Wednesday at age 91.

The museum hung a portrait by Robert Vickery on Monday in a first-floor gallery designated for remembrance of people who have died recently.

The portrait depicts Salinger against a metaphorical amber wave of grain. The image appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1961.

-- associated press Dell’s firm buys Magnum trove

Billionaire Michael Dell’s investment firm, MSD Capital LP, has acquired about 185,000 vintage photographic prints from the Magnum Photos agency in what is thought to be among the largest photo transactions in history.

Though no price was disclosed, the collection has been insured for more than $100 million, said a knowledgeable source who declined to be identified.

MSD Capital will lend the photos for five years to the Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin. Dell, chairman and chief executive of computer maker Dell Inc., which is based in Round Rock, Texas, is an Austin resident and University of Texas dropout.

The Magnum archive includes the work of 103 photographers, images dating from the 1930s to 1998 that in some case are as much photojournalism as fine art. They chronicle world events such as the Spanish Civil War and the U.S. civil rights movement.

Magnum retains the copyright and licensing rights to all of the images.

-- bloomberg news Rip Torn heads for rehab

Actor Rip Torn was released on bail Monday and was headed for rehab after police said they found him drunk and armed with a loaded gun in a closed Connecticut bank last week.

Torn, 78, was charged in court with burglary, criminal trespass and weapons offenses but did not enter a plea. He was released on $100,000 bond, a court spokeswoman said.

Torn’s lawyer said the actor, whose most recent role has been as a network TV boss on NBC’s comedy “30 Rock,” was disoriented and believed he was at home at the time of his arrest. He was found on Friday inside a bank in his hometown of Salisbury, Conn.

“He will enter rehab on Tuesday,” lawyer A. Thomas Waterfall said. The actor has previous arrests for drunken driving. Waterfall said he expected Torn to plead not guilty at his next court hearing on Feb. 17.

-- reuters 20 films will vie at Berlin fest

New films from Roman Polanski and Martin Scorsese will rub shoulders with a historical drama from China at this year’s 60th edition of the Berlin film festival.

Organizers on Monday presented the official program of 26 films for the Feb. 11-21 event, the first of the year’s major European film festivals. Twenty of them are competing for the top Golden Bear award.

Scorsese is expected in Berlin along with Leonardo DiCaprio for the debut of his “Shutter Island,” which follows an investigation into the disappearance of a murderess from a mental institution.

Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan are expected to attend the world premiere of Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer,” in which Brosnan plays a former British prime minister who is writing his memoirs with the help of a ghostwriter, played by McGregor.

The festival opens with “Apart Together,” from Chinese director Wang Quan’an, whose “Tuya’s Marriage” won the Golden Bear in 2007. It’s the story of a onetime soldier reunited with the love of his life decades after fleeing Shanghai for Taiwan.

From Europe, Danish director Thomas Vinterberg will be showing “Submarino” and France’s Benoit Delepine will premiere “Mammuth,” starring Gerard Depardieu.

-- associated press Music auction assists Haitians

An online auction of pop memorabilia from some of Britain’s biggest acts has raised around $80,000 so far for survivors of the Haiti earthquake, organizers Oxfam said Monday.

Among the top lots sold so far is a jacket worn by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin during the “Viva la Vida” tour, three pairs of VIP tickets to the Glastonbury festival and the Fender Stratocaster guitar played by Alex Turner in the Arctic Monkeys’ “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” video.

After fresh donations were offered, including from Kylie Minogue, the sale has been extended to Sunday.

-- reuters Finally

Broadway bound: After writing the music for two Broadway hits, “The Lion King” and “Billy Elliot,” Elton John is turning to producing. He and his partner, David Furnish, have joined the producing team of “Next Fall,” a play by Geoffrey Nauffts about the contentious relationship between two gay men.