Latest
Chimeric creature descends on the Whitney Museum in new augmented reality commission
Nancy Baker Cahill’s augmented-reality work explores the climate crisis and interdependence between humans and nature
Installations by Theaster Gates and James Little reinvigorate riverfront park in Memphis
The public space on the banks of the Mississippi, which honours a Black skiff boat operator who saved 32 people from drowning, features work by Theaster Gates and James Little
Lakota artist Dana Claxton, whose work subverts assumptions about Indigenous identity, wins one of Canada’s top art prizes
The Audain Prize, given annually to an artist based in British Columbia, comes with a C$100,000 cash prize
Exclusive: first colour photographs shed fresh light on Ethiopia's most treasured icon and its looting by an agent of the British Museum
An Art Newspaper investigation uncovers new details on the infamous seizure in 1868 by Richard Holmes of a 500-year-old painting of Christ, the Kwer’ata Re’esu, which never reached the London institution
‘Breakthrough’ attribution for Artemisia Gentileschi painting stored at England's Hampton Court
Royal Collection curators checked provenance records and pigments, tracing the work to Queen Henrietta Maria
The Kwer'ata Re'esu and the treasures of Maqdala
The Art Newspaper has published the first colour photographs of the Kwer'ata Re'esu, a revered national icon in Ethiopia, now held in a private collection in Portugal and subject to Portuguese government export restrictions. It is one of the Maqdala treasures, looted by the British after the siege of the fortress stronghold of that name in 1868, many of which are now at the heart of restitution claims
From the archive (1998): How The Art Newspaper tracked down Ethiopia’s greatest icon after its looting by a British agent in 1868
The Kwer'ata Re'esu was kept in a bank vault in Portugal, where our correspondent examined it and took colour photographs in 1998
From the archive (1993): Where is the looted Kwer'ata Re'esu, the most revered icon of the Ethiopian empire?
As a touring exhibition, African Zion—The Sacred Art Of Ethiopia, opened in the United States in 1993, a scholar of Ethiopian history asked what had become of the country's most important painting of all
Sacred Ethiopian tablet looted by the British at the battle of Maqdala 155 years ago is returned in London church service
Restitution of tabot, which was bought by an art scholar for this purpose, puts spotlight on the British Museum to return 11 in its possession
King Charles III faces pressure to return sacred tabot—which symbolically represents the Ark of the Covenant—to Ethiopia
Westminster Abbey, which is directly under the monarch’s jurisdiction, currently refuses to return the holy tablet
Maqdala treasures looted by British troops returned to Ethiopia in 'largest single restitution'
At the ceremony in London, the Ethiopian ambassador renewed calls for museums to return Maqdala objects
Art market
Oligarch Files investigation reveals $963m art collection of Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova
Mondrian, Magritte and Freud are among the masterpieces acquired by the sanctioned Russian billionaire, according to a report by The Guardian
$1.5m bronze Buddha statue stolen from Los Angeles gallery
A single thief allegedly maneuvered the 250-pound sculpture, dating from Japan’s Edo Period, out of the Barakat Gallery’s backyard and into a rental truck
Hauser & Wirth to open in Basel—taking over Galerie Knoell's space in 2024
The mega-gallery will also welcome Knoell's founder as a senior director, in a move that will "extend its commitment in Basel"
What David Zwirner’s recent surprise losses reveal about the high-stakes art market
The dealer remains “cautiously optimistic” about the trade’s prospects this autumn
Art Basel reaches outside art trade for new chief officers of growth and digital
Hayley Romer and Craig Hepburn will work to bolster the brand's year-round presence and "engage ever broader cultural audiences"
Museums & Heritage
Sacred Ethiopian tablet looted by the British at the battle of Maqdala 155 years ago is returned in London church service
Restitution of tabot, which was bought by an art scholar for this purpose, puts spotlight on the British Museum to return 11 in its possession
New building for Memphis Brooks Museum imperilled amid lawsuit over ownership of its riverfront plot
The legal case seeking to block the art museum's new $180m Herzog & de Meuron-designed building is ongoing
Exclusive: first colour photographs shed fresh light on Ethiopia's most treasured icon and its looting by an agent of the British Museum
An Art Newspaper investigation uncovers new details on the infamous seizure in 1868 by Richard Holmes of a 500-year-old painting of Christ, the Kwer’ata Re’esu, which never reached the London institution
New £38.6m galleries at National Galleries Scotland to spotlight nation's art
The new spaces will bring together treasures by some of Scotland's best-loved artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries
‘Breakthrough’ attribution for Artemisia Gentileschi painting stored at England's Hampton Court
Royal Collection curators checked provenance records and pigments, tracing the work to Queen Henrietta Maria
Exhibitions
Drunkard or genius? Up close and personal with Frans Hals
First major survey of Dutch painter in three decades to debut at London's National Gallery will include reunited panels and monumental paintings
There is more to the female figures in Peter Paul Rubens’s paintings than being ‘Rubenesque’
An exhibition at London's Dulwich Picture Gallery will look at the “varied and important place occupied by women” in the life and work of the Flemish Baroque master
New York, London, Paris, Accra: inside the cultural week bringing the art world to Ghana
Amoako Boafo and other African art stars were flying the flag for the next generation of talent at Accra Cultural Week
Nairy Baghramian goes beyond language at the Aspen Art Museum
In her solo show, "Jupon de Corps", the Iranian German artist takes on bio-political themes in a post-verbal dimension
Female Land artists come out of the shadows at Dallas's Nasher Sculpture Center
The exhibition will shed new light on lesser-known, often ephemeral, works by women
A brush with... podcast
A podcast that asks artists the questions you've always wanted to
A brush with... Claudette Johnson
An in-depth interview with the artist on her cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Toni Morrison's writings to Picasso's Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
The Week in Art
A podcast bringing you the latest news from the art world, every week
What happens when Unesco becomes the enemy?
Plus, remembering Fernando Botero and a pioneering Barkley L. Hendricks portrait
Diary
Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy and Tracey Emin turn up for Marina Abramović's blockbuster RA show
Visitors queued to walk through Imponderabilia, the 1977 piece featuring a naked couple
Escape from the British Museum—tale of a teapot returning to China goes viral
Two social media influencers—Pancake Fruit and Summer Sister—are behind the series posted on Douyin
Art crowd attends Piccadilly church for Rachel Jones’s new opera piece
Hey, Maudie draws on classical tropes, West African traditions, jazz and gospel
Uma Thurman kills it as dodgy dealer in Hollywood's latest art-themed film
'Preposterous' plot involves a New York art dealer who teams up with a hitman to launch a money laundering scheme
Books
Coco Fusco on her new monograph, her activism and why she remains sceptical of the art world
The artist also discusses her “meditation on death”, a film shot around and above Hart Island in the US
Obituaries
Fernando Botero, the Colombian artist beloved for his rotund figures, has died, aged 91
Botero re-imagined art historical motifs but also responded to current events, including a series of visceral paintings in response to the Abu Ghraib torture scandal
Remembering Jamie Reid, a protest artist to the end and the man behind the shocking visual impact of the Sex Pistols
The artist's gallerist recalls a visionary who built creative communities in London and Liverpool and had a profound effect on British popular culture
Remembering Kavita Singh, acclaimed historian of Indian art and museology, who has died, aged 58
An expert on Mughal, Rajput and Deccan painting traditions, she was unafraid to address rising nationalism in state-led cultural institutions
Remembering Françoise Gilot, who showed that being a muse of Pablo Picasso did not preclude being a great artist herself
The French painter and memoirist, who worked in Paris, London and the United States, showed elegance and ferocity in her work and a remarkable versatility as a colourist
Angela Flowers, dealer at the heart of British art for 50 years, has died aged 90
Flowers built a global empire from Hong Kong to Hackney and always championed artists
Technology
News, background and analysis on the latest tech developments—artificial intelligence tools; Web3, the blockchain, NFTs; virtual and augmented reality; social media platforms—and how they affect the art market, museums, artists and curators.
Mexico’s Sfer Ik launches $100,000 award to support creation of AI art project
The Tulum-based art space is putting out an open call, with the winner receiving cash and a two-month residency
TikTok art star’s cross-over moment
UTA Artist Space, the visual art branch of Hollywood’s United Talent Agency, is opening a New York pop-up with a solo show by viral artist Devon Rodriguez
Fresh light on Wren: new installations interact with the domed spaces of two of the architect's greatest buildings
300 hundred years after the death of Christopher Wren, the London Design Festival has commissioned new pieces of light art for St Paul’s Cathedral and St Stephen Walbrook
Instagram’s new tools prove ‘shadowbanning’ is real—and now artists are trapped
Many users are beginning to wonder if the platform's guidelines have any positive value
Pulling at loose Threads: should the art world sign up to the latest social media app?
Art world figures are forging new personalities on the new 'Twitter clone' from Meta
Book Club
An expert’s guide to Roy Lichtenstein: five must-read books on the American Pop artist
All you ever wanted to know about Lichtenstein, from an encyclopaedic career survey to a collection of his unexpectedly witty mirror paintings—selected by the art dealer Irving Blum
Coco Fusco on her new monograph, her activism and why she remains sceptical of the art world
The artist also discusses her “meditation on death”, a film shot around and above Hart Island in the US
September book bag: from a queer Claude Cahun graphic novel to veteran critic Richard Cork’s encounters with artists
Our roundup of the latest art publications
How almost meeting Alberto Giacometti the week he died inspired a new biography
A 60-year “obsession” began when Michael Peppiatt set out for Paris with a letter of introduction from Francis Bacon
‘We never even bid one dollar’: Sheikha Al-Mayassa discusses Salvator Mundi and controversy around Damien Hirst’s foetus works in new book
An extract from a new publication about collectors by Dani Levinas features rare insights from the chair of Qatar Museums
Louvre Abu Dhabi x The Art Newspaper
Letters of Light: joining the threads through the written word
A new exhibition at Louvre Abu Dhabi brings together some of the oldest and most important religious manuscripts from Judaism, Christianity and Islam to show the deep connections between the three faiths