NewsRestitution
Austria promises to return ancient artefacts to Russia that were taken as war trophies
An Austrian army officer took the 2,000-year-old objects from a war-damaged museum in the port of Temryuk at the end of the Second World War
NewsObituaries
Frieder Burda—leading German collector of Modern masters including Picasso and Pollock—dies aged 83
Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden is home to the philanthropist's collection of around 1,000 works
NewsPolitics
Leipzig exhibition ousts artist with alt-right sympathies
Axel Krause’s support for anti-immigration party AfD was a step too far for the organisers, but others say his exclusion suppresses freedom
NewsNazi loot
Berlin museums appeal to US Supreme Court in dispute over €200m Guelph Treasure
The case 'shouldn't be heard in a US court', argues the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
News
Jewish Museum Berlin director steps down after a tweet misfires
Germany’s Council of Jews said Peter Schäfer “lost the trust of the Jewish community”
NewsHumboldt Forum
Humboldt Forum opening delayed until 2020
The opening festivities were to begin this year, but the final stage of construction is behind schedule
NewsNazi loot
Mass theft of art from East German citizens revealed in new report
Study reveals that up to 8% of museum acquisitions were looted from private citizens
NewsHeritage
Planned cable car attraction over Belgrade historic fortress ‘should be suspended’
Kalemegdan served as a military site for the Roman Empire and is a candidate for Unesco World Heritage status
NewsExhibitions
Exhibition resurrects East Germany's demolished Palast der Republik
Kunsthalle Rostock, the only museum built under the GDR, remembers Berlin's asbestos-riddled parliament building and culture hub
NewsHeritage
Anti-Semitic 'Jewish Sow' relief may be removed from Luther’s church
Medieval sculpture on façade of Unesco World Heritage site in Wittenberg is one of around 30 similar pieces across Europe
NewsRestitution
Netherlands to restitute two paintings sold by Jewish businessman in Nazi era
Restitutions Committee recommends return of two Golden Age works to heirs of Jacob Lierens
NewsArchitecture
Nazi site in Nuremberg to be preserved but not restored
German city launches €85m plan to prevent further decay of infamous rally grounds
News
Czech culture minister resigns amid outrage over dismissals of museum chiefs
Antonin Stanek’s sudden firing of National Gallery director Jiri Fajt sparked international protests and a petition
NewsDiscoveries
Hidden Cupid resurfaces in one of Vermeer’s best-known works after two and a half centuries
Laboratory tests revealed "sensational" discovery that the figure in Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window was overpainted decades after the artist’s death
NewsVideo, film & new media
Berlin collector turns Nazi-era Luftwaffe building into home for video art
Software entrepreneur Markus Hannebauer opens Fluentum to the public with Dutch artist Guido van der Werve
News
Berlinische Galerie forced to close suddenly because of structural problems
“Safety comes first,” the building’s manager says
NewsPolitics
US museum criticises use of Gérôme’s Slave Market in German right-wing campaign
Anti-immigration party AfD is using provocative 19th-century work on its posters for the upcoming European elections
NewsArt market
Bonn library recovers 600 books missing since the Second World War
Sotheby's assisted the return of the books, including 11 medieval manuscripts, which were found in Belgium
NewsEuropean Union
EU adopts new rules on cultural heritage imports
Regulation is designed to protect against smuggling and cut off a source of terrorist financing
NewsRestitution
Indigenous human remains returned to Australia by five German institutions
Australia is pursuing further repatriations from Germany, ambassador says
PreviewGermany
New Berlin exhibition exposes Emil Nolde’s Nazi ties
Show at the Hamburger Bahnhof explores how the German artist hid behind Hitler's "degenerate" label
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Weimar—birthplace of Bauhaus—opens new museum dedicated to the influential design school
On the same day, the nearby Neues Museum Weimar will open a new permanent exhibition on early Modernism
NewsSponsorship
Jewish Museum Berlin says it would no longer accept Sackler family donations
But the Sackler Staircase in the museum will keep its name
NewsContemporary art
German art collective under investigation by state prosecutor
Zentrum für politische Schönheit sees artistic freedom under attack
NewsPrivate Museums
Software billionaire plans to turn decaying Potsdam restaurant into museum for East German art
Hasso Plattner also plans to put his Impressionist works on permanent display in his Barberini Museum
NewsErnst Ludwig Kirchner
Norwegian foundation bought $22m Kirchner that the Guggenheim restituted last year
Painting acquired for Oslo's National Gallery was bought at auction from heirs of Jewish dealer persecuted by the Nazis
News
Angela Merkel to open James Simon Galerie in Berlin
The entrance building to Museum Island is the German capital’s answer to the Louvre Pyramid
NewsRestitution
Panel urges return of Hitler’s Bellotto paintings to heirs of Jewish retail magnate
German advisory commission on Nazi-looted art says paintings in government collection should be restituted to the descendants of Max James Emden
NewsYoko Ono
Yoko Ono requests photographs of women's eyes for Leipzig retrospective
The exhibition opening in April at the Museum of Fine Arts is billed as the artist’s biggest-ever solo show in Germany
InterviewArt Basel in Hong Kong 2019
David Chipperfield on his design for West Bund Art Museum in Shanghai
The UK architect talks about working in China and the decline of its "funny-shaped" buildings
NewsNazi loot
German cathedral returns Nazi-looted Dutch Old Master to heirs
Dutch Square is one of many paintings Bavaria returned to the families of the looters instead of the original Jewish owners after the war
FeatureAuctions
Going, going, gone online: Europe's auction houses go digital
Online-only auctions may tend to focus on the lower end of the market, but they are key to expanding clientele. We survey ten auction houses to find out their strategy
NewsObituaries
Okwui Enwezor, curator of Documenta and Venice Biennale, has died aged 55
Enwezor inspired a global, inclusive view of art history
NewsCornelius Gurlitt
Signac painting in Gurlitt hoard identified as Nazi loot
Restitution discussions with descendants of Jewish owner are underway
NewsRestitution
Culture ministers from 16 German states agree to repatriate artefacts looted in colonial era
Joint declaration is “a statement of historical responsibility,” says Culture Minister Monika Grütters
NewsRestitution
Dutch museums take initiative to repatriate colonial-era artefacts
Rijksmuseum opens talks with Sri Lanka, ethnology museums publish guidelines
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Austrian exhibition to reveal story of Wolfgang Gurlitt, art dealer for the Nazis turned museum director
Lentos Kunstmuseum in Linz confronts the legacy of its controversial first director, cousin of Hildebrand Gurlitt
NewsAuction
Van Ham to auction 4,000 contemporary works from SØR Rusche collection
Dutch Old Masters in the retailer’s corporate collection are to be sold at Sotheby’s
NewsSyria
Berlin's Pergamonmuseum reveals the crowdsourced archive preserving Syria's war-torn heritage
New exhibition presents documents that lay the foundations for reconstruction of Aleppo and other sites ruined by civil war
NewsAdolf Hitler
Faking Hitler: the story behind a sinister market
Despite the failure of five of the dictator-to-be’s watercolours to sell at auction last month, a market for his works—both real and forged—remains
PreviewExhibitions
Burst of Venetian colour in largest show of Titians in Germany
Exhibition about the Venetian Renaissance at Frankfurt’s Städel Museum also includes works by Giovanni Bellini and Jacopo Tintoretto
NewsDocumenta
Documenta appoints Indonesian artists cooperative Ruangrupa to lead 15th edition
Group says it will focus on urban structures in Kassel with links to other sites
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
NewsArt market
European Parliament calls for restitution overhaul
Resolution includes proposals for database of looted art, support for provenance research and exemptions from statutes of limitations
NewsCensorship
Ai Weiwei’s contribution to Berlin movie scrapped amid censorship fears
“It was infuriating to find our involvement had been erased,” Ai says
NewsNazi loot
Max Stern: dealer's heirs still fighting for looted art justice
With works from the forced liquidation of his gallery by the Nazis still regularly turning up in Germany, two current restitution claims by his heirs could have major ramifications for all those seeking to recover looted art
NewsFakes & copies
Nuremberg prosecutor seizes 63 Hitler works from auction house on forgery suspicions
Twenty-six of the seized works were to be auctioned at Auktionshaus Weidler tomorrow
NewsLooting
Heirs of Baron Herzog continue battle for Nazi-looted art collection despite US Supreme Court dismissal
Decades-long case to reclaim works held in Hungary’s museums will now go through US District Court
NewsGalerie Bastian
Galerie Bastian opens new venues in London and Berlin
Former David Chipperfield-designed premises has been donated to Berlin's heritage foundation
NewsRestitution
Germany allocates €1.9m for museums to research colonial-era acquisitions
An eight-member panel including Bénédicte Savoy will assess grant applications
NewsFakes & copies
Hitler watercolours seized as suspected fakes
Three landscapes signed A. Hitler were offered for sale at Berlin’s Auktionshaus Kloss
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Dresden ballroom returns to gilded glory as part of €300m palace reconstruction
Residential Palace complex, a casualty of Allied bombing in the Second World War, is due to be rebuilt by 2021
NewsDigitisation
Romani arts and culture make online debut in new digital archive
RomArchive aims to pool knowledge and counter clichés
NewsPolitics
Germany and France to establish joint culture institutes
First four institutes to be set up in Rio de Janeiro, Bishkek, Erbil and Palermo
NewsBanksy
Shredded Banksy work to go on long-term loan to Stuttgart museum
Love Is in the Bin will be shown among works by Rembrandt, Holbein, Marcel Duchamp and Picasso
PreviewExhibitions
More to Viennese Modernism than Klimt and Schiele: new show on forgotten female artists
Organisers had to delve deep into the Belvedere archives and visit artist's descendants to assemble the exhibition
News
Munich's Haus der Kunst, leaderless since June, appoints expert commission
Commission is to support curators until successor to Okwui Enwezor is found
FeatureBauhaus
Germany celebrates 100 years of Bauhaus with a bonanza of museum openings and exhibitions
From newly conserved buildings and puppet shows to virtual-reality installations and ballet, across the country the German school is finally getting its due
NewsBanksy
German museum to show shredded Banksy work
Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden aims to make the work “accessible to as many people as possible”
NewsRestitution
Dutch policy on Nazi-loot restitutions under fire
The “smallest and most chilling distinctions are being made in order to allow museums to keep their collections intact,” experts say
NewsRestitution report 2018
Scholars call for Berlin centre on colonial-era heritage
Appeal published in Die Zeit welcomes Macron report but says debate should not be limited to restitution
NewsExhibitions
Berlin's 200-year-old replica workshop finds a niche at new Museum Island hub
First-ever exhibition on the Gipsformerei, which copies works for museums and Jeff Koons, will open the James Simon Gallery next summer
PreviewExhibitions
Female artists emerge from shadow cast by Berlin Wall
Exhibition at Dresden's Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau reveals how women in the Eastern Bloc were often more radical than the men
NewsDocumenta 14
Documenta deficit caused by Athens overspending widens to €7.6m in final audit
Shareholders agree to increase funding for the 2022 edition
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Washington Principles: the restitution of Nazi-looted art is still a work in progress, 20 years on
Major conference in Berlin this week marks anniversary of landmark agreement
NewsLouvre Abu Dhabi
Austrian company behind Louvre Abu Dhabi dome is insolvent after non-payment
Spiralling costs of museum project chiefly to blame for bankruptcy, say press reports
NewsAppointments & departures
Sotheby’s Germany chief Philipp von Württemberg resigns
Heinrich von Spreti will serve as interim managing director until a replacement is found
NewsRestitution
Dusseldorf auction house returns Dutch seascape to heirs of Jewish art dealer Max Stern
Auctioneer Frank Hargesheimer compensates consignor, sees “moral duty” to restitute art lost due to Nazi persecution
PreviewExhibitions
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's exotic art was inspired by cabaret, circuses and the travels of fellow artists
New show explores the flights of fancy made by the Expressionist who never ventured outside Germany and Switzerland
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Berlin’s Natural History Museum receives an eye-watering €660m of public funds for rebuild
Vast sum outstrips budget for reconstruction of city’s royal palace and creation of Humboldt Forum
NewsVienna
Austrian culture minister Gernot Blümel ‘is a no-show’, claims opposition
Austrian People’s Party politician has refused to schedule parliamentary culture committee meetings and has overseen a decline in the culture budget
NewsPolitics
Merkel calls for more women in the arts on day she announces exit from politics
The German Chancellor also welcomed debate on colonial-era art at a ceremony in the Humboldt Forum