PreviewBiennials & festivals
Toronto’s Contact Photography Festival expands its takeover of public spaces
Month-long event to celebrate its 25th anniversary with a series of installations across the city
NewsAntiquities & Archaeology
Egyptian archaeologists uncover ‘lost golden city of Luxor’
The 3,000-year-old site is remarkably preserved, with pottery, daily tools and human remains found among its intact walls
NewsCanada
Work for the Weekend: Vancouver unveils sound piece inspired by 1980s working-class pop anthem
The public art work by the local artist Brady Cranfield has been installed in the Vancouver Art Gallery's newly pedestrianised south plaza
NewsMonuments
Stitching together a monument to sick kids, one bead at a time
Anishinaabe artist Nico Williams’s testament to the bravery of children facing difficult illnesses has been created using pieces that record every procedure, test or jab of a needle they undergo
BlogDiary
Supermodel Kate Moss turned into an NFT triptych
NewsArt market
Frieze Los Angeles 2021 is cancelled, new venue for 2022
The fair will move from Paramount Studios to a tent on Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, for its next edition in February
PreviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in New York this weekend
From Alice Neel at the Met to an ode to the first Black woman astronaut by Damien Davis
NewsHank Willis Thomas
Hank Willis Thomas builds a memorial to victims of gun violence at the National Building Museum
The project was developed in collaboration with the Mass Design Group and gun violence prevention organisations
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Dutch police arrest over Van Gogh smash-and-grab raid: how long until the landscape is recovered?
The suspect is linked to a Frans Hals theft, which should help track down paintings from two museums
Newscoronavirus
Siberian surgeon’s drawings show devastating rise in domestic violence in Russia due to Covid-19 pandemic
Ruslan Mellin turned to art as a refuge from the brutal reality of lockdown and the effects of the virus
NewsArt market
Christie’s to auction a slice of NFT history for $9m this May
Larva Labs created 10,000 CryptoPunks three years ago—and gave away most of them
NewsTracey Emin
'All clear': Tracey Emin says she is finally free of cancer
Artist also slams government decision to re-open museums in England next month
ReviewExhibitions
The Big Review: Kaws at the Brooklyn Museum
He is a global brand, but can a museum show lend Brian Donnelly’s art any credibility?
NewsAcquisitions
Adding to a robust trove, High Museum in Atlanta fields a gift of works by self-taught artists
Local couple donates 47 paintings, drawings and sculptures by Southerners and African Americans
NewsArt market
Tefaf permanently scraps autumn fair in New York—but spring edition will return in 2022
Cancelled this year, the Modern and contemporary art event will return to the Park Avenue Armory next May but the October fair for historical art and antiques has been dropped
FeatureBook Club
Will the real Isabel Rawsthorne please stand up?
A new biography explores the British artist’s role in bringing the Paris scene to London and considers how frequent name changes and reinventions muddied her legacy
PreviewExhibitions
A flurry of Yayoi Kusama shows are about to open, but restrictions on her installations may limit their appeal—and visitor numbers
The Japanese artist's exhibitions usually draw millions of people, will they be the same in a post-pandemic world?
BlogBook Club
April’s book bag: how four lesbians shaped Modernism, why we love to hate biennials, and a photographic history of African women
A roundup of the latest art publications
InterviewBook Club
Q&A | Guy Kennaway on how his comic novel was inspired by the art world taking itself too seriously
The Accidental Collector features a wealthy heiress, jet setting dealers and a Swiss-owned mega gallery in Somerset… sound familiar?
BlogBook Club
An expert’s guide to David Hockney: five must-read books on the British artist
All you ever wanted to know about Hockney, from the best biography to the artist's “radical” investigations into art history—selected by the critic (and longtime friend) Martin Gayford
NewsSocial media
'Stuffy and dusty' no more: Uffizi builds on new-found social media savviness with Clubhouse appearance
Florence museum director Eike Schmidt will discuss the fate of museums in the wake of Covid-19 on the audio app following successes on Facebook and TikTok
CommentDiary of an art historian
Boo to NFTs! Hang on, think of no customs fees
As Brexit makes buying anything from Europe almost impossible, purchasing questionable digital art is almost tempting
NewsNFTs
Sorry to burst your bubble: NFT prices slump 70%
Sales for NFTs linked to art dropped from $16.7m to $12.5m—but experts say it's not a permanent dip
BlogDiary
Golazo! UK artists design football shirts as collectable art
NewsArt market
Send art, not staff: more than half of Art Basel in Hong Kong galleries take 'ghost booths'
Of the 104 exhibitors at the fair next month, 56 will take remote participation stands instead of travelling in person
NewsAbu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi’s next mega museum is back on track—now with a director
UAE’s withdrawal from a disastrous and costly war in Yemen means it can refocus on an ambitious cultural agenda including the opening of Zayed National Museum
NewsObituaries
Contemporary Greek artist Kornelios Grammenos has died, aged 62
The sculptor and painter was known for his disarming Alien and Knight sculptures, installed in Greece and abroad
NewsMuseum expansion
Crystal Bridges plans an expansion that will boost its size by 50%
The design of new galleries and other spaces is overseen by Moshe Safdie, the Arkansas complex’s original architect
FeatureBook Club
Extract | The day Anthony van Dyck received ‘wise advice from the words of a blind woman’—the 17th-century artist Sofonisba Anguissola
New book by Jennifer Higgie gives astute insights into brilliant women artists shut out of art history
NewsRestitution
London’s Horniman Museum—home to 15 Benin bronzes—announces new ‘transparent procedures’ for looted object requests
South London museum has released new policies on restitution but says it will need to seek legal advice about the right to return artefacts
NewsArt market
French galleries sue state over Covid-19 closure
The gallery association CPGA is going to court, claiming its members are “victims of a distortion of competition” as auction houses are allowed to stay open
FeatureBook Club
Extract | How Sandro Botticelli brought Dante’s Divine Comedy to life
New book by Martin Kemp considers the impact of poet’s vision of divine light on artists such as Michelangelo and Titian
NewsSalvator Mundi
The real reason why the Salvator Mundi didn't make it into the Louvre's Leonardo show
A feature-length film, screening next week in France, sheds new light on the political machinations surrounding the world's most controversial painting
NewsConservation & Preservation
Getty teams with city of Los Angeles to identify places that are important to African American heritage
Conservation effort goes beyond architectural distinction to highlight sites where Black residents embraced their culture and advocated for advancement
NewsFrida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul vies for Guinness World Record with concert by 97-year-old drummer this weekend
Legendary musician Tino Contreras says he looks forward to setting up his drum kit among pre-Colombian sculptures in the patio garden for live-streamed event
NewsArt schools
Michigan billionaires Jennifer and Dan Gilbert give $30m to Cranbrook Academy of the Arts
The donation will support diversity efforts and student scholarships for the Detroit area art school
NewsConfederate monuments
Jefferson Davis memorial throne stolen from Confederate cemetery—and under threat of being turned into a toilet
A group calling themselves White Lies Matter demands that the United Daughters of the Confederacy hang a banner critiquing white supremacy before they will return the ornate stone chair
NewsIndia
Hindu nationalists tear down Delhi temple statue of Indian spiritual teacher, claiming he is a Muslim
The demolition has been praised by high-profile Hindutva leaders
NewsBiennials & festivals
The 'male graze': Guerrilla Girls to put up billboards across UK reasserting women's place in art history
Anti-discriminative posters are part of festival Art Night 2021, where commissions this year will have a political tone
AnalysisNFTs
But is it legal? The baffling world of NFT copyright and ownership issues
With interest in non-fungible tokens growing fast, the legal questions are testing the experts
NewsVenice Biennale
Venice town council blocks the rental of private property for the Biennales
The new time limits are shorter than the duration of the exhibitions
NewsArt market
Picasso portrait of Marie-Thérèse to sell for $55m at Christie’s New York this May
The 1932 work was last sold in 2013 at Sotheby's when it seemingly sold to the guarantor for a low estimate £28.6m
Newslayoffs
After avoiding layoffs, Oakland Museum of California now plans job cuts of 15%
Staff will shrink from 126 to 106 as institution pursues an organisational makeover
NewsNew York
‘Way too close to homeless already’: New York’s live models teeter on the brink
Henry William Oelkers, one of the most beloved artist’s models in the city, may be a dream subject, but the pandemic has exacted a heavy toll on everyone in a financially insecure profession
InterviewTess Jaray
Tess Jaray: ‘I wanted to make space, to make something that you could disappear into’
As shows of her paintings open in the UK and Austria, Jaray reflects on the influence of Piero della Francesca and Brunelleschi on her work across six decades
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Mosul Cultural Museum rises from the ravages of Isis
Painstaking reconstruction by multi-agency task force is salvaging what artefacts remain after Islamic State occupation
NewsAcademic research
Six scholars fool the public with invented documents about the date Venice was founded
On 25 March, the city began celebrating 1,600 years of its history—but the date is somewhat fishy
BlogDiary
Poldark star Aidan Turner on how to play Leonardo (hint: learn to paint with your left hand)
NewsAntiquities & Archaeology
Twenty-two mummies transported in nitrogen-filled caskets across Cairo in museum move
Pharaohs opulent golden parade was streamed as part of marketing exercise
NewsAttendance
While US museum attendance nosedived in 2020 amid pandemic, disparities in reopenings yielded a few surprises
Huntington Library in California and Crystal Bridges in Arkansas ascended to the top of the visitor figures list
NewsVenice
After long complaints about pollution and blocked views, Italy bans cruise ships in Venice’s historic centre
Decision will affect partying art collectors and redirect the mass tourism routed through the Giudecca Canal
NewsProtest art
Protest artist arrested in Paris after trying to enter presidential grounds with fake Molotov cocktail
Alexei Kuzmich, who is known for performances critiquing the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, warned France is also “slipping into fascism” and accused president Emmanuel Macron of punishing dissenters
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Children’s Museum of the Arts to launch online video channel for art-loving kids
The New York institution is looking to raise $25,000 to fund future series, and children who visit will have a chance to take part in production
PreviewNew Museum Triennial
New Museum 2021 triennial will explore themes of impermanence
The show takes its title, Soft Water Hard Stone, after a Brazilian proverb about perseverance and the impact of incessant actions over time
ReviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in New York this weekend
From Alexander Calder’s early works at MoMA to Molly Greene’s psychedelic flowers at Kapp Kapp
FeatureTravel
From Bridgerton vibes to fantastical fireworks: here are the best arty staycation spots in the UK
Summer is coming! And with a cultural cornucopia of delights to enjoy here at home who needs to holiday abroad anyway?
BlogInsta’ gratification
Who needs a gallery space? Meet the people creating Instagram-only exhibitions
As physical spaces remain shut and audiences head online, Freeze Magazine and Guts Gallery explain how shows on social media could be the way forward
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Who bought the €13m Van Gogh? Britain’s second richest family
Montmartre painting was auctioned twice by Sotheby’s, after a bidder failed to have the necessary cash
NewsBiennials & festivals
They see ‘dead people’: billboard works removed from Vancouver photography festival after locals complain
The images of sleeping people were too creepy for many residents, in a city where property values are a major concern
ReviewArt & Technology
A year of viewing art virtually: the best and worst AR and VR work created during the pandemic
Our expert panel of artists and storytellers review extended reality exhibitions and events
NewsRepatriation
After criticism, Harvard's Peabody Museum will revise its policies on repatriating Native American objects
The Association on American Indian Affairs issued an open letter accusing the institution of failing to fulfill its legal obligations
NewsMuseums & Heritage
V&A will not scrap focus on materials in restructuring U-turn
An updated proposal will keep the collection organised around mediums instead of switching to a chronological approach
InterviewVenice Biennale
‘Art suffers when money is scarce’: Venice Biennale’s new president on saving the city from economic devastation
Roberto Cicutto's plans range from encouraging collaboration between Venice's arts organisation to delving into the biennial's archives
NewsMemorials
France's planned slavery memorial on hold over debate about naming 200,000 freed slaves
Shortlisted proposals by artists including Adrian Piper, Julien Creuzet and duo Sammy Baloji and Emeka Ogboh did not adequately adhere to the requirements, campaign group says
InterviewVisitor Figures 2020
Going viral, the right way: what it's like running the world’s best museum social media accounts during a pandemic
We asked the people behind the Royal Academy’s Twitter, the Met’s Instagram, the Uffizi’s TikTok and the Van Gogh Museum’s Facebook account what 2020 was like for them
NewsCentre Pompidou
Centre Pompidou plans to show 120,000 works 'as much as possible' around France during three-year closure
While Paris museum undergoes renovations, Europe's biggest modern and contemporary art collection will go on tour—keeping curators employed
NewsArt market
Pared down and profit sharing: here are the sales from Art Dubai, this year’s first physical fair
Meanwhile, a crypto-art cruise during the fair indicates which way the wind may be blowing for future editions
CommentArt fairs
The world of art fairs is going to change for good—and only the better-funded fairs will survive
From hybrid online ventures to new subscription models, mass events in the art world won't look the same post-pandemic
NewsExhibitions
Major show of Vivian Maier—a Chicago nanny who was also a secretive street photographer—is heading to the UK
Laura Knight and Ingrid Pollard exhibitions also part of year-long women artists programme at MK Gallery in Milton Keynes
NewsNazi Germany
We reveal the chilling history of a Nazi tapestry hidden in the Louvre probably made with gold from Jewish victims
The woven hanging bears a slogan from Hitler's Mein Kampf
NewsNFTs
Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi—the world's most expensive work of art—to be turned into an NFT
Author Ben Lewis is minting the masterpiece to highlight the art world’s ‘age-old inequities and injustices’
CommentArt Market Eye
How the art market turned upside down—in one month
Banksy, NFTs and Sacha Jafri et al are ripping up the rulebook
ReviewExhibitions
Calder-Picasso connections are thin in San Francisco show
The De Young’s current exhibition, comparing the work of the two Modern artists, is not a perfect coupling
NewsRestoration
Solace through conservation: World Monuments Fund makes strides in restoring war-damaged sites in Yemeni city
Amid debilitating war, conservation of mausoleum and museum palace in Taiz is now complete
BlogJeremy Deller
'Choose art' with a T-shirt by Katharine Hamnett (just like Sam Smith and Jeremy Deller)
NewsExhibitions
Egg hunt at the V&A: rare Fabergé treasures from the Queen and Moscow Kremlin Museums included in new show
Russia's Tsar Alexander III began the most expensive Easter tradition in history in 1885 when he began gifting bejewelled eggs to his wife
NewsBritish Museums
The cost of the cuts: what now for UK museums as the Covid-19 crisis bites?
Museum directors in London and the regions are cutting jobs and slashing budgets, raising concerns for the post-pandemic future of the sector
NewsCryptocurrency
NFT art bubble? 2017 crypto bust could spell out the future of current boom
Mania for non-fungible tokens is gripping the art world, with one selling for $69m. But artists unfamiliar with the mercurial cryptocurrency markets ought to curb their enthusiasm—this has happened before
InterviewExhibitions
Humboldt Forum to show Britain’s 1897 violence and plunder in Benin exhibition next year
The exhibition will include around half of Berlin’s collection of Benin bronzes as Germany lays groundwork to return them to Nigeria
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Gifted to the English city 80 years ago, Coventry's medieval Charterhouse will finally open to the public
After a £4.3m National Lottery Heritage Fund grant and years of restoration, the historic priory is set to open this summer
PreviewArt market
Object lessons: from illuminated early golf memorabilia to a marble fragment with a twist
Our pick of the highlights from April's auctions
NewsAcquisitions
Mass Moca breathes new life into Taryn Simon's mourning sculptures
The Pipes were originally made for performances dealing with death and mourning but will now serve less specific purposes
NewsAcquisitions
Getty acquires a striking painting by Artemisia Gentileschi of the Roman heroine Lucretia
The museum, which did not disclose the price, says the work reflects a shift to a more idealised style
CommentMuseums
How museums can ethically invest their money
There are plenty of funds with good Environmental, Social and Governance ratings, and the financial returns often outperform the S&P 500
NewsVirtual exhibitions
Armory Show will launch digital exhibition space, starting with a pandemic-related show
First offering will feature works by Hank Willis Thomas, Gordon Matta Clark and others
NewsArt market
NFT breakthrough: Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin creates 99% energy efficient blockchain—and Damien Hirst is its first artist
Hirst launches the Palm platform with a drop of 10,000 works on paper linked to NFTs that “explore the boundaries of art and currency”
NewsBeirut
France gives €500,000 towards reconstruction of Beirut's blast-hit Sursock Museum
French aid will restore the stained-glass windows and Arab salon of the historic villa, which was severely damaged in port explosions last August
NewsVisitor Figures 2020
British Museum hit hardest by 2020 lockdown among UK’s big museums
Major UK institutions lost 78% of their visitors due to the pandemic last year, our research reveals
NewsMuseums
Musée d’Orsay in Paris renamed after late French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing
The formal name change—an administrative move—also means the Muséee de l’Orangerie will be rebranded
NewsResidencies
Looking for free artist studio space in central London? A new scheme could help out
New award backed by Spanish fashion brand Loewe will fund workspaces for seven artists at Studio Voltaire
CommentArt market
EU proposes tough new laws on antique ivory trade—despite lack of evidence it leads to modern-day poaching
Proposal appears to contradict European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen's assertion that any new restrictions must be proportional and "evidence based"
AnalysisVisitor Figures 2020
Visitor Figures 2020: top 100 art museums revealed as attendance drops by 77% worldwide
The Art Newspaper's annual survey shows how the pandemic had a devastating impact on museums around the world—but there were some silver linings
NewsDetroit Institute of Arts
Several trustees resign from board of Detroit Institute of Arts as it reaffirms steps to monitor its besieged management
Director Salvador Salort-Pons was faulted in an independent review for authoritarian behaviour and insensitivity to race and gender
FeatureVisitor Figures 2020
Can museums really make digital visits pay?
As venues experiment with selling virtual exhibition tours, talks and workshops online, the key to success may be an emphasis on the expert, bespoke and exclusive
NewsVisitor Figures 2020
Curate-it-yourself: French museums take to social media to ask the public what they want to see in their galleries
Spurred on by the pandemic, several institutions are inviting art lovers to choose works for display
NewsVisitor Figures 2020
Who were the most Googled artists in 2020?
Search data from 84 countries last year shows that Leonardo, Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo were among the world's most popular artists
AnalysisVisitor Figures 2020
Instagram overtakes Twitter as most popular platform for museums during Covid-19 pandemic
Our global Visitor Figures survey reveals huge growth in followings online as physical doors shut to the public in 2020
ReviewExhibitions
An exhibition at Pioneer Works captures the 'perverse seduction' of nuclear weapons
The artist Smriti Keshari and the writer Eric Schlosser have adapted their acclaimed 2016 film into a blackbox format for the Brooklyn venue
CommentNFTs
NFTs and the 'Art' world: panic and possibility
The technology must become more diverse, says Ruth Catlow, the co-founder of Furtherfield
Ruth Catlow