Latest

What's behind China's spate of museum closures and downsizings?

As the country's economy takes a nosedive, its institutions face fiscal freeze and covert control amid an increasingly chaotic and arbitrary government censorship regime

Lisa Moviusabout 2 hours ago

Questions raised about role of British Museum trustees as thefts crisis progresses

George Osborne, the museum's chair, and the UK culture department are among those in the spotlight in the wake of Roman and Greek objects being stolen

Martin Baileyabout 2 hours ago

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s foundation begins to define its scope and goals, including executing the artists’ final, gargantuan project

On the agenda at the first board meeting of the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation was what to do with its more than $150m in assets and how to carry forward the duo’s ultimate piece

Daniel Grantabout 15 hours ago

Elvis returns to Las Vegas in Marco Brambilla’s new video for the Sphere, created with AI

The King reclaims his throne in an immersive video that will play during U2’s concerts at the city’s new $2.3bn entertainment complex

Jori Finkelabout 19 hours ago

Lawsuit over removal of mural honouring victim of police shooting returns to court

Judge previously ruled that taking the artwork down did not violate free speech rights

Riah Pryorabout 16 hours ago

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

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

Martin Bailey25 September 2023
Looted artarchive

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

Martin Bailey1 April 1998
Looted artarchive

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

Stephen Bell1 November 1993

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

Martin Bailey25 September 2023

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

Martin Bailey30 September 2022

Art market

Private museum's collection of ancient arms and armour could bring in £22m at Christie’s

The privately-owned Mougins Museum of Classical Art closed in August for a revamp to rebrand as Europe’s first major museum dedicated to work by women artists

Carlie Porterfieldabout 2 hours ago

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

Museums & Heritage

After-shock: why the Parthenon Marbles negotiations must continue

Discussions about the return of the ancient Greek artefacts have likely slipped down the British Museum's list of priorities. Here, Alexander Herman, the author of a just-published book on the subject, tells us why the museum can ill afford to neglect the matter for long

Exclusive: British Museum launches webpage to recover stolen objects—and announces return of 60 items

The museum has also stated that 300 further items are “due to be returned imminently”, and that it has enlisted an international taskforce

Martin Bailey1 day ago

New stained-glass windows by Kerry James Marshall unveiled at Washington, DC's National Cathedral

The new works replace those depicting Confederate generals that were removed in 2017

Claire Voon1 day ago

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

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

Martin Bailey2 days ago

Exhibitions

Drunkard or genius? London's National Gallery gets up close and personal with Frans Hals

First major survey of Dutch painter in three decades 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… Sarah Lucas

An in-depth conversation with the artist about her cultural experiences and greatest influences, from the sculptor Eva Hesse to the Museo Diego Rivera-Anahuacalli in Mexico City

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack22 minutes ago
Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

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

Sponsored byChristie's

Russell Tovey rocks up at Claridge’s to present first Royal Academy Schools art prize

Daria Blum was given the £30,000 award by the artist Marina Abramović

The Art Newspaperabout 3 hours ago

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

Sarah Lucas’s cheeky sculptures bring light relief at Tate Britain

Guests at the packed exhibition launch included Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant and fashion icon Pam Hogg

The Art Newspaperabout 4 hours ago

Art crowd attends Piccadilly church for Rachel Jones’s new opera piece

Hey, Maudie draws on classical tropes, West African traditions, jazz and gospel

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.

Elvis returns to Las Vegas in Marco Brambilla’s new video for the Sphere, created with AI

The King reclaims his throne in an immersive video that will play during U2’s concerts at the city’s new $2.3bn entertainment complex

Jori Finkelabout 19 hours ago

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

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

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

PAD London 2023 x The Art Newspaper

The PAD London art and design fair takes place in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, from 10 to 15 October

PAD London fair celebrates 15th edition as contemporary design market matures

The art and design fair opens in London's Mayfair a day before Frieze London

Aimee Dawsonabout 20 hours ago
In partnership withPAD