Leonardo scholar claims newly discovered document proves artist’s mother was enslaved
While researching a work of historical fiction, Carlo Vecce says he found a document signed by Leonardo da Vinci’s father implying his mother was an enslaved woman from the North Caucasus region
The arts made up more than $1 trillion of the US economy in 2021
The art and cultural sectors had a larger impact on the US GDP in 2021 than ever before, according to a new report from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bureau of Economic Analysis
New international laboratory aims to study and promote health benefits of arts activities for individuals and communities
The Jameel Arts & Health Lab is a collaboration between the World Health Organisation, New York University’s Steinhardt School, the roving art non-profit Culturerunners and Community Jameel
Estate of Ralph Iwamoto—Japanese-American painter overlooked after early-career successes—gains gallery representation
New York gallery Hollis Taggart is preparing a solo show of Iwamoto’s Surrealist works of the 1950s
Los Angeles Natural History Museum’s $75m expansion to create new, free spaces
The ambitious campus revamp will include construction of an admission-free entry pavilion and “sustainable” gardens designed in consultation with a new Indigenous advisory council
The Smithsonian and MTV are launching a reality television art competition
The winner of “The Exhibit” will receive $100,000 and a solo exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum
Postponement of exhibition on Russian architecture school sparks accusations of ‘censorship and historical erasure’
New York’s Cooper Union postponed an exhibition on Vkhutemas, a school that operated in Moscow for ten years in the early 20th century before Stalin shut it down
Frieze Los Angeles bringing a skyscraper, a truck-based gallery and more to Santa Monica Airport
The fair’s special programmes include performances and large-scale installations around its venue, as well as contemporary art interventions at storied West Los Angeles locales
Alfred Leslie, rising star of Abstract Expressionism who embraced figuration, has died, aged 95
After rising to prominence in New York’s AbEx scene of the 1950s, Leslie devoted much of his career to honing a style of monumental figuration that was decades ahead of its time
Peter Doig awarded $2.5m in sanctions following legal saga over prison painting
The lawsuit centred on the authorship of a desert landscape painting signed “Pete Doige” and created by an inmate at a Canadian prison
Ronald Feldman, art dealer who ‘championed big ideas’, has died, aged 84
Feldman, an early supporter of artists like Joseph Beuys and Chris Burden, opened his gallery in 1971 and quickly established himself as a gallerist willing to take risks
Philip Pearlstein, whose nude portraits helped revive figurative painting, has died, aged 98
Pearlstein, a classmate of Andy Warhol’s who similarly worked against the grain of the dominant Abstract Expressionist style of the time, remained committed to representation from the late 1950s onward
MoMA trustee Leon Black accused of rape
A lawsuit claims that the billionaire sexually assaulted a woman in Jeffrey Epstein's New York mansion
Miami Beach hotels showcase local talent during Art Basel fair
A dozen hotels around the city will display works, predominantly from Florida artists, during the fair
From photographs submerged underwater to Hervé Télémaque's early paintings: must-see exhibitions in Miami
Here are the shows to visit beyond the Art Basel fair this week
Washington, DC’s National Gallery of Art acquires Leonardo da Vinci drawing that helped inspire centuries of caricature artists
The drawing, Grotesque Head of an Old Woman (1489-90), was last displayed at the museum in 2017 and is now available for study
Dagny Corcoran, an influential art book dealer in Los Angeles, has died, aged 77
Her bookstore Art Catalogues, which she founded in 1977 and is still in operation, has long been a gathering place for the Los Angeles art community
Lee Bontecou—artist known for haunting, ominous wall sculptures made from industrial materials—has died, aged 91
The artist, who rose to prominence in the New York art scene of the 1970s, remained committed to an unclassifiable and otherworldly aesthetic
Peter Schjeldahl, the revered art critic for the New Yorker, has died, aged 80
Following stints at Art News and the Village Voice, and as a poet, Schjeldahl joined the New Yorker in 1998, becoming one of the most influential art critics of his generation
Billy Al Bengston, painter who epitomised the visual lexicon of California culture, has died, aged 88
The artist was best-known for his abstract lacquered works and played a key role in the development of the Los Angeles art scene in the 1960s
Bard College, in partnership with Indigenous art organisation Forge Project, will use $50m gift to overhaul Native American studies programme
The school’s American Studies programme will become the American and Indigenous Studies programme, and Forge Project’s executive director will become a fellow at Bard’s Center for Curatorial Studies
Former Dallas Contemporary director Peter Doroshenko to take the helm of New York’s Ukrainian Museum
Doroshenko, a Chicagoan of Ukrainian heritage, was the founding president of the PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv and was the commissioner of the country’s Venice Biennale pavilion three times
Aperture, the storied non-profit photography publisher and exhibitor, buys permanent Manhattan home
The non-profit, long housed in a sprawling fourth-floor space in Chelsea, will decamp uptown to a location with ample street-level space
Manhattan private school to unveil James Turrell work
An ambitious campus redevelopment includes one of the artist’s Skyspace installations
Ballroom Marfa, the west Texas town’s contemporary art kunsthalle, names new executive director
Daisy Nam, who joined Ballroom in 2020 as curator, will take the reins of the organisation from Laura Copelin
The Armory Show to examine conflict and debate around public monuments
The 2022 edition of the New York fair will feature a section of large-scale installations organised by the Tate curator Tobias Ostrander
Pace Gallery to close space in Palo Alto, California
The outpost opened in 2016 as an attempt to reach the potential tech-funded collector base in Silicon Valley
Seminal Pop Art artist Claes Oldenburg has died, aged 93
“The one rule of my work is that it must not have any function,” Oldenburg said in an interview, “I begin by removing the function of the thing because it’s true function is to become an artwork.”
San Francisco Art Institute closes as fate of $50m Diego Rivera mural hangs in limbo
Following years of financial hardship, the university has announced it will become a nonprofit, but it is unclear how it will handle its famed Rivera mural