NewsMuseums & Heritage
The Huntington Library acquires two collections of US slavery and abolition records
The historic documents highlight the complexities of documenting America’s "peculiar institution"
NewsAcquisitions
Whitney Museum acquires 88 works by biennial artists
The works, by 40 artists, are among 250 that have entered the collection since the spring
NewsAcquisitions
Jayne Wrightsman leaves over 375 works of art and $80m to the Met
From European paintings to the decorative arts, the patron and her oil tycoon husband, who both served as trustees for decades, gave the New York museum more than 1,275 works in all
NewsOrazio Gentileschi
London's National Gallery launches public campaign to fund last £2m to buy Orazio Gentileschi masterpiece
The 17th-century painting The Finding of Moses was painted in London for Charles I and represented the birth of Charles II
NewsAcquisitions
New York's Morgan Library receives ‘transformational’ trove of manuscripts and bindings
Bequest comes from New York collector Jayne Wrightsman, who amassed an 18th-century library to complement her celebrated French furnishings
NewsAcquisitions
Getty acquires Bronzino’s Madonna and Child with Saints, a twin of National Gallery in London’s
The brightly coloured painting, depicting the same family scene, has been in private hands for decades, most recently the Chilean Alana Collection
NewsArt fairs
Bada sells majority stake in Chelsea fair to Masterpiece founders
The event will be renamed The Open Art Fair and will launch in March next year
NewsMuseums & Heritage
The William Blakes that got away—and why
As the Tate Britain show opens, we reveal the inside story of the Tate’s failure to acquire 19 watercolours from a portfolio that turned up in a Glasgow bookshop
NewsMuseums & Heritage
UK's most valuable museum acquisition in a decade? National Gallery set to buy Gentileschi masterpiece
The Finding of Moses, currently on loan at the London museum, is owned by sofa-billionaire Graham Kirkham
NewsIvory
UK museums lose opportunity to buy rare renaissance casket
Cabinet of curiosities cannot go to US because of tough ivory regulations
NewsAcquisitions
From Venice to California: Lisa Reihana’s post-colonial ‘digital scroll’ is acquired by FAMSF and Lacma
The massive work, shown at the 2017 Venice Biennale, re-interprets 19th-century wallpaper depicting native Pacific peoples
NewsRembrandt
Louvre bids to buy Rembrandt masterpiece from Rothschild collection in France
The state has deferred the painting's export licence giving the museum 30 months to find the funds
NewsAcquisitions
Photography gallery at Victoria and Albert Museum renamed after Elton John following 'significant' donation
The Rocket Man will organise a photography exhibition at the London institution with his husband David Furnish
NewsAcquisitions
Bumper haul of 26 acquisitions head to UK's regional contemporary art galleries
Fig-futures project brings works worth £80,000 to four venues
NewsMuseums & Heritage
The Boca Raton Museum of Art acquires seven works by George Segal
The US artist’s daughter shares memories behind the sculptures and drawings
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Dallas Museum of Art boosts Latin American focus with new curator and acquisitions
The museum aims to show the diversity of the region, where art and cultures have mixed for centuries
NewsMuseums & Heritage
National Museum of African American History and Culture to unveil rediscovered Harriet Tubman photo
She is “relaxed and very stylish” in the portrait
NewsAcquisitions
Kimbell Art Museum fêtes International Women's Day with Anne Vallayer-Coster acquisition
Still Life With Mackerel demonstrates the French 18th-century artist's virtuosity in the genre
NewsAcquisitions
Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest unveils €6.6m Van Dyck
Portrait of Charles I’s daughter was purchased at Christie’s, London in December
News
Met receives donation of ten ‘exceptional’ colonial Latin American works out of the blue
The São Paulo collector James Kung Wei Li, whose father was a Chinese ambassador in South America, says the donation is his family’s repayment for American educational largesse
NewsIvory
Frankfurt museum acquires more than 200 ivory sculptures
Liebieghaus sculpture museum says the acquisition of Reiner Winkler’s collection is the largest in its history
NewsAcquisitions
Spot the difference: newly acquired Cranach painting joins earlier work at London’s National Gallery
Moral painting of Venus and Cupid by the German Renaissance master shows the young god of desire being attacked by bees
NewsAcquisitions
Whitney acquires Abstract Expressionist painting by Norman Lewis
The museum will show the underrecognised African American artist's work alongside pieces by his contemporaries
NewsMuseums & Heritage
MacKenzie Art Gallery given 1,000 works by contemporary indigenous artists from Canada and the US
Collectors Thomas Druyan and Alice Ladner were drawn by the Saskatchewan museum’s dedication to indigenous and aboriginal art from around the globe
NewsAcquisitions
Why a six-ton scholar’s rock is making its way from China to Texas
A low-key request from the San Antonio Museum of Art director resulted in a big gift from Lake Taihu near Wuxi
NewsVienna
Albertina Museum director defends landmark gift of Essl collection
Klaus Albrecht Schröder says contemporary art acquisitions, criticised by Austrian Court of Audit, will fill a gap in country’s public museums
NewsAcquisitions
Dallas school given largest collection of Swiss art outside of Switzerland
The University of Texas at Dallas is building its first museum to house the gift
NewsDonations
Major coup for Paris’s Institut du Monde Arabe as it receives one of its biggest ever donations of works
Gallerist Claude Lemand and his wife France also set up a fund to support the museum
NewsArchitecture
Thermal spa developer buys Frida Escobedo's Serpentine Pavilion 2018
Structure will be re-installed as part of Therme Group's art and architecture initiative
NewsFrieze London 2018
Tate acquires four works at Frieze London’s VIP opening
Contemporary Art Society buys Kehinde Wiley film for The Box in Plymouth, while first Camden Arts Centre Emerging Artist prizewinner is also announced
NewsAcquisitions
Getty acquires archive of Betye Saar
Purchase is part of a new programme known as the African American Art History Initiative
NewsPodcast
Van Gogh’s postman didn't deliver: how Samuel Courtauld swapped portrait for famous Sunflowers
In this week’s podcast, hear how the British collector changed his mind and acquired the National Gallery's star attraction
NewsAuctions
Bonhams auction house bought by Epiris private equity group
The British auction house brings in former Sotheby’s financial executive Bruno Vinciguerra as part of the deal
News
Salvator Mundi will not go on show at Louvre Abu Dhabi this month, for reasons unknown
$450.3m Leonardo da Vinci painting was due to be unveiled at museum in two weeks but its display has now been delayed
News
Italy revokes export licence for the Frick Collection’s princely portrait by Gérard
Italian government claims licence application did not state portrait was of Prince Camillo Borghese
News
Dallas Museum of Art says thank you to a life-long patron
Institution recognises the “transformational” final gift of its late trustee Margaret McDermott with a special exhibition and new wall labels for more than 400 works she helped acquire
NewsAcquisitions
London’s National Gallery acquires painting by Artemisia Gentileschi for £3.6m
Piece by Italian Baroque painter boosts number of works by female artists in the museum's collection
News
Leonardo da Vinci’s $450m Salvator Mundi to go on show at Louvre Abu Dhabi on 18 September
The painting will be loaned to the Louvre in Paris next year for an exhibition marking the 500th anniversary of artist's death
News
MFA Boston acquires photographs by Graciela Iturbide ahead of major exhibition
The works, which came from Iturbide's own collection, include gifts from the Mexican artist
News
Lichtenstein Foundation gives hundreds of works to the Whitney and Smithsonian
The organisation wants to get its collection "out into the world", the director says
NewsAcquisitions
Dallas Museum of Art acquires Derick Baegert panel, a first for a US museum
The Descent from the Cross is the museum's first acquisition backed by the Marguerite and Robert Hoffman Fund, a hefty $17m endowment
NewsAcquisitions
American University Museum gets 9,000 works from Corcoran Gallery of Art’s collection
The defunct museum has given the last of its 20,000 works to 22 institutions in Washington, DC
NewsCultural policy
The blueprint for Saudi Arabia's multi-billion-euro project with France
We exclusively reveal the details of the plans for a “historic” collaboration
NewsAcquisitions
Lacma acquires major works by women through lively Collectors Committee Weekend
Ten works are added to the permanent collection, including a striking slavery themed installation by Betye Saar and the museum's first sculpture by Ruth Asawa
NewsAcquisitions
Controversial 'hip-hop version' of the Virgin Mary given to MoMA
Chris Ofili's work—donated by hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen—was once at the centre of a New York culture war
NewsAcquisitions
George Lucas gives Rockwell fans new hope with acquisition of Shuffleton’s Barbershop
The work will first goes on loan in Massachusetts and possibly elsewhere
NewsAcquisitions
Dresden receives gift of 1,200 contemporary works from private collector Erika Hoffmann
Gift includes Polke, Warhol, Twombly, Emin, Tillmans
CommentLeaders
The mirage of riches in museums’ vaults
Putting aside museum ethics, Martin Gammon looks at the financial viability of museums deaccessioning their collection as a quick fix for financial trouble
NewsPalestine
Gifts multiply for fledgling Palestinian museum’s solidarity collection
Sixty works donated by European and Arab artists will stay at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris until a permanent home is built
NewsAcquisitions
Widow of Hitler’s art dealer, Erhard Göpel, bequeaths Max Beckmann works to Berlin
Initial research into provenance 'gave no concrete cause for suspicion that these works were looted', Berlin State Museums says
NewsArchitecture
Ellsworth Kelly’s final work—and only building—opens in Texas
Artist donated his design for Austin to the Blanton Museum in 2015, the year he died
News
Estate of Nazi propaganda film-maker, Leni Riefenstahl, donated to Berlin museums
Trove of photographs, films, manuscripts and letters date back to the 1920s
NewsAcquisitions
UK-based Hyman Collection donates 125 photographs to Yale Center for British Art
James Hyman hopes the gift will improve the status of British photography both at home and abroad
NewsAcquisitions
Tacita Dean’s film of Hockney smoking bought by Royal Academy and National Portrait Gallery
Acquisition heralds triptych of London shows dedicated to Dean
NewsExhibitions
French museums' new hoard of sculptures by Camille Claudel go on show at Musée d’Orsay
State stepped in and purchased major pieces by important female sculptor at auction
NewsAcquisitions
Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros gives 200 works of Latin American contemporary art to six museums
The 90 works given to MoMA take the museum “in a new direction”, says director Glenn Lowry
Analysis
The top ten museum acquisitions of 2017
We look back at some of most important purchases and donations that entered public collections this year
NewsAcquisitions
Serpentine 2017 pavilion snapped up by Malaysian buyer
Francis Kéré’s structure in London will head to Kuala Lumpur next year in deal struck with Ilham Gallery
NewsArt Basel in Miami Beach
The Pérez Art Museum Miami acquires skateboard drawing with help from Nada
It's the first work acquired as part of the fair's new acquisition fund for the Miami museum
NewsAcquisitions
Zimmerli Art Museum in New Jersey gets treasure trove of Soviet dissident art
The collection of more than 20,000 works by 1,000 artists from throughout the former USSR was secretly amassed over decades by the US economist Norton Dodge
NewsAcquisitions
Rockefeller's Matisse and Léger fireplaces reunited in Houston
Museum of Fine Arts confirms acquisition to bring together Modern masterpieces originally commissioned for billionaire's Manhattan penthouse
CommentLeaders
Displaying the ruins of demolished social housing at the Venice Architecture Biennale is not ‘art-washing’
The V&A acquired a fragment of London's Robin Hood Gardens before it was demolished
Tristram Hunt