CommentJamal Khashoggi
Do not penalise Saudi Arabian artists for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi
"There is great fear now within Saudi Arabia, with even stricter self-censorship than before"
CommentMiddle East
Why being a royal artist in the Gulf is a mixed blessing
Rashid Al Khalifa of Bahrain is showing his art in London’s Saatchi Gallery
NewsMuseums
Top museum directors on the challenges of climate change and mass tourism
Vatican conference on preventive conservation warns of environmental impact of short-term politics
CommentIvory
The UK’s imminent law against the trade in ivory is a serious threat to liberties, says former Lord Chief Justice
Civilians will be allowed to enter your house, break open containers and use “reasonable force”
NewsArt market
How two missing legs helped the restitution of an Italian secrétaire worth €2m
The Italian state has a permanent right to confiscate illegally exported work
PreviewVenice Glass Week
Venice rallies to save its ancient glass-blowing industry from Chinese competition
Venice Glass Week is a city-wide collaboration between museums, commercial galleries and artisans of Murano
NewsCollectors
Found guilty in 1995 of embezzling investors’ money, Roberto Polo resurfaces in role of art benefactor in Spain
Toledo government hopes for “El Greco” effect from this 15-year loan of late 19th- and 20th-century works
NewsLaw
The UK’s ban on ivory sales will not protect the elephants
A spokesman for Traffic, the leading researchers of trade in endangered species, says it is the Asian market that drives the poaching, not the Western market
NewsAntiquities & Archaeology
Man decapitated while fleeing volcano’s destruction of Pompeii
Excavation tells a poignant story of an unfortunate Roman
AnalysisArt fairs
Why the new Tbilisi Art Fair restores pleasure to buying art
It’s affordable, good quality, unspeculative—and the wine is great
CommentExhibitions
Is nothing sacred? The Metropolitan Museum should apologise to the Vatican for Heavenly Bodies show
Curator Andrew Bolton’s Costume Institute blockbuster is pointlessly offensive to believers
NewsComment
Why the French can sell arms and culture to Saudi Arabia, but the US and UK only arms
France's latest deal with the Kingdom reveals the close connection between culture and foreign affairs
NewsVenice Architecture Biennale 2018
Vatican to take part in the Venice Architecture Biennale with ten chapels
Norman Foster is among the roster of international architects
InterviewArtist interview
Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: The desire for paradise
Emilia Kabakov discusses the duo’s past in the USSR and their aim to stop it defining how they are perceived as artists
Comment300
'Issue one came out in less degraded times: more idealistic, less puffed up by PR machines'
Anna Somers Cocks, founding editor and chairman, looks back
ReviewBooks
The commercial rape of Venice is the result of a moral failing in the Italians
This is the view of a former Getty chief, who says the problems of the Serenissima are a paradigm for other historic cities
NewsArt Dubai 2018
Resistance in multiple forms at Sharjah’s March Meeting
Minds from the Middle Eastern art world and beyond discussed topics such as urban planning and art and ecology
NewsArt fairs
Brian and Anna Haughton, the dealers who put intellect into art fairs
Back in 1982, these ceramic specialists realised that top curators and hot research brought in the collectors. Today, they’re still keeping the flame of knowledge alive
ReviewBooks
Peter Wilson: The man who invented modern auctioneering
Buccaneering, brilliant, art-loving—he created the power of Sotheby’s (and Christie’s learned by imitation)
NewsMuseums
French art world shock at sacking of Bordeaux museum director
"We are stupefied"—50 art professionals sign open letter in defence of María Inés Rodríguez
CommentSaudi Arabia
Crown Prince Mohammed of Saudi Arabia has roped an ancient city into his London charm offensive
The splendid Nabatean site of Mada’in Saleh may be opened to tourists
NewsOpenings
Crown Prince Mohammed adds art, Silicon Valley and movies to his Saudi reforms as Wahabi influence wanes
MoMa hosts announcement of his Misk Art Institute, led by artist Ahmed Mater
NewsExhibitions
Royal Academy of Arts tried to borrow $450m Salvator Mundi for its Charles I exhibition
New London show has received glowing reviews but there is one conspicuous absentee
FeatureVictoria & Albert Museum
A new era for heritage reproduction
Digital technologies are at the heart of a declaration by major museums and heritage organisations to record and sometimes reproduce works of art
FeatureGoogle
How Google became a major producer of cultural content
The Google Cultural Institute’s We Wear Culture fashion stories are its latest museum collaboration, its director Amit Sood tells us.
CommentMuseums
How Egypt is destroying Cairo and civil society
The pharaonic new museum will not make up for misguided policies
NewsSaudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince launches institute to promote art in the Middle East
Recently identified buyer of Leonardo's Salvator Mundi is planning a pavilion at the Venice Biennale, art teaching in schools, international exhibitions, archaeology and virtual reality
NewsLeonardo da Vinci
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince revealed as buyer of $450m Leonardo and loan confirmed to Louvre Abu Dhabi
Gesture consolidates close political alliance between Saudi Arabia and the UAE
NewsVenice
This is no way to solve the cruise ship issue in Venice
The Italian government’s latest decision is in hock to the port’s own interests
CommentFunding
Culture is compromised by donations from the Sackler family: we must not accept any more of their money
Anna Somers Cocks on the revelations published in the New Yorker magazine
ReviewBooks
How offsets on arms sales into Abu Dhabi have helped finance its Louvre
A French study of the Gulf museums sees them as the Versailles of the sheikhs—a step towards autocracy
FeaturePodcast
Abu Dhabi Focus podcast, episode three: how the UAE art scene became a force to be reckoned with
Art dealer Thaddaeus Ropac and curator Maya Allison tell us how the nation’s creative ambitions have blossomed. Plus: Silver Lion-winning musician and artist Hassan Khan on his Abu Dhabi Art performance
NewsLouvre Abu Dhabi
Louvre Abu Dhabi: Nudes? non-Islamic religions? Questioning the nature of God?
Four unexpected works on show in the new museum
FeaturePodcast
Abu Dhabi Focus podcast, episode two: How Saudi artists are driving political change
As Abu Dhabi Art fair opens, we speak to the Saudi artists Manal Al Dowayan and Ahmed Mater. Plus: Iraq's Dia Azzawi on creating the Arab world's Guernica
CommentLouvre Abu Dhabi
Louvre Abu Dhabi embraces all religions and displays the complexity of the world’s mind
New museum's universal approach derives from the open-mindedness of the founder of the UAE
FeaturePodcast
Abu Dhabi Focus podcast, episode one: Louvre Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Art
With all eyes on Abu Dhabi this week, we speak to the architect Jean Nouvel on designing the Arab world's first universal museum. Plus: a preview of Abu Dhabi Art fair
FeaturePodcast
Podcast episode eight: how hackers are attacking the art world
Galleries are losing huge sums to cybercrime, what makes them vulnerable? Plus: the dubious restoration along the Camino di Santiago.
FeatureLouvre Abu Dhabi
Introducing Emirati Voices: a video series on Louvre Abu Dhabi
Emirati citizens talk about the museum's collection and global impact
FeaturePodcast
Podcast episode six: trouble at Unesco, plus Art and Terror
Why did the US and Israel pull out of the organisation and what will happen next? Plus: 9/11 and its impact on art is explored at London’s Imperial War Museum
FeaturePodcast
Podcast episode five: what's the story behind the $100m Leonardo?
What will happen when the only painting in private hands by the Renaissance master heads to auction? Plus: the New Museum's big new show on gender, and our literary editor talks 18th-century princesses
NewsFrieze 2017
Join the orgy at Frieze Masters
Richard Artschwager's Triptych IV, Fucking Painting has a double meaning
InterviewZaki Nusseibeh
Louvre Abu Dhabi aims to make up for failed education in the Middle East
Leading Emirati thinker, Zaki Nusseibeh, on why the UAE is more humanistic than its neighbours
FeatureFeatures
Venice can’t manage its tourists—yet it’s encouraging more to come from China
The town council proposes digital monitoring and a charge to enter St Mark’s Square
NewsObituaries
Death of Russia’s 'most popular' artist, a pseudo-dissident, far-Right nationalist
Ilya Glazunov gained the backing of all Russia’s presidents from Khrushchev onwards
News
Portrait of the mystery man behind Castello di Rivoli’s £450m art loan
Federico Cerruti was extraordinary in his extreme ordinariness and austerity
News
Lavish show celebrates 70th anniversary of the fashion house that Christian Dior built
Musée des Arts Décoratifs dedicates main areas to collaboration with the House of Dior and the artistic directors who defined it
NewsMuseums
How departing director Perdita Hunt saved the Watts Gallery from near death
She led a seven-year, £10m project to restore the buildings, rehang the galleries and conserve the collection
NewsPrizes
At last: the mayor of Venice recognises the role of the private citizen in defending Venice
Jane da Mosto wins Osella d’Oro prize
NewsAuctions
Low total for Sotheby’s first African art sale (but what is “African” art?)
Highest prices for artists already in the international art system
News
Sharjah Biennial follows recipe of crops, earth, water and cooking
The curator Christine Tohme broadens the event’s potential audience by also taking it to Dakar, Istanbul, Ramallah and Beirut
News
Modernism gives Art Dubai sales a boost
Rediscovered work from the 20th century has new relevance today
News
What is the point of a biennial in the Middle East?
Social activist, art-centre founder Christine Tohmé explodes the concept with her Sharjah Biennial
FeatureFeatures
The Antarctic Biennale: a crazy idea becomes reality
In little more than a year, the artists and scientists—and, crucially, the funds—have been gathered for a unique biennial. The journey begins this month
News
The 2017 Sharjah Biennial roots for crops, earth, water and cooking
Curator Christine Tohmé also takes it to Dakar, Istanbul, Ramallah and Beirut
NewsMuseums
Comment: Is expertise at risk at the Victoria and Albert Museum?
The world’s greatest museum of decorative arts has been without a ceramics expert since 2016 and other gaps in knowledge are opening up
NewsMuseums
A totem sculpture, Physical Energy, to rise up in the woods south of London
The Watts Gallery Trust has authorised a cast of this masterpiece by George Frederick Watts to celebrate his bicentenary
CommentArt market
Will the UK be able to take part in antiquities busts after Brexit?
Nineteen of the accused in Operation Demetra face trial in December, while the alleged UK mastermind awaits extradition
Anna Somers Cocks