NewsControversies
Luanda Leaks: Isabel dos Santos—who owns vast African art collection—accused of making her $2.2bn fortune by exploiting Angola
Dos Santos and her husband Sindika Dokolo own around 3,000 works by artists including William Kentridge and Zanele Muholi
NewsBritish Museum
Climate activists urge British Museum to reject BP funding, as Arctic exhibition announced
Planned show seeks to raise awareness of climate change, but London museum dogged by controversy over partnership with oil and gas giant
NewsPalais de Tokyo
Artists criticise Palais de Tokyo partnership with Qatari museum over LGBTQ rights
Mathaf's guest show at Paris contemporary art centre marks Qatar-France 2020 Year of Culture
NewsControversies
Russian collecting couple arrested in Belgium
Igor and Olga Toporovsky linked to controversial show of Russian avant-garde works in Ghent
NewsControversies
Artist defends anti-racism football campaign that uses images of monkeys
Italian football league—which commissioned the paintings made by Simone Fugazzotto—have now apologised saying they are "inappropriate"
NewsArt market
Sotheby's wins case over 'modern forgery' Frans Hals
Consigner of problematic painting must repay auction house for reimbursement to American client
NewsCensorship
Artists call for Kyrgyz minister of culture’s resignation in wake of censorship scandal
Open letter argues that censorship of the exhibition Feminnale violated a number of constitutional protections
NewsControversies
German art activists apologise for upsetting Holocaust survivors with monument containing human remains
Centre for Political Beauty concedes “mistakes,” says it will veil monument
NewsControversies
Art activists anger Holocaust survivors with Berlin monument containing ashes
Centre for Political Beauty says action targets conservatives open to allying with far right
NewsBiennials & festivals
Moscow Biennale opening marred by 2017 controversy
Event’s president Julia Muzikantskaya accused of allegedly threatening artists and withholding payments
NewsControversies
Aichi Triennale show embroiled in censorship row reopens—but only for visitors selected by lottery
Visitors had to sign a consent form promising not to post works on social media
NewsControversies
Candice Breitz pulls work from South African museum that is exhibiting convicted murderer's art
Curator at newly opened Javett Art Centre defends decision to show drawing by artist who killed a sex worker in Cape Town in 2013
NewsPublic art
Officials reject reports of permanent Prince Philip statue for London's Fourth Plinth
Mayor of London’s office says contemporary art series will continue with Heather Phillipson sculpture planned for 2020
NewsMusée du Louvre
Bad bedfellows? French politician blasts Louvre over partnership with Airbnb
Paris deputy mayor Ian Brossat says that teaming up with the online rental giant is “disastrous and shocking”
NewsControversies
Nazi design exhibition at Dutch museum braces for protests
The show called Design of the Third Reich features the Volkswagen Beetle and Riefenstahl’s films
NewsControversies
Eleven artists withdraw or modify their works at Aichi Triennale in ongoing censorship row
Cuban activist Tania Bruguera closes down her exhibit while other artists reconfigure works to reflect the controversy
NewsExhibitions
Photograph using ‘redface’ pulled from Brooklyn show
The work by the Taiwanese artist Ching-Yao Chen features him and three women wearing feathers, buckskin and body paint
NewsAppointments & departures
Serpentine Galleries chief Yana Peel resigns amid controversy over Israeli cybersecurity firm
The move follows a Guardian report linking Peel to the NSO Group, which has been criticised by Amnesty International
AnalysisArt Basel 2019
Art Basel: where political cartoons still have a home
As the New York Times bans satirical illustrations, Art Basel has plenty on show, from the 1920s to today
NewsNational Portrait Gallery
Artists call for National Portrait Gallery to drop BP sponsorship
Gary Hume says funding for the arts is 'outweighed by the need to act urgently on the climate crisis'
NewsControversies
Artist defends controversial mural of New Zealand prime minister embracing Muslim woman
Loretta Lizzio's memorial image of Jacinda Ardern unveiled in Melbourne divides public opinion
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Uzbekistan’s troubled Nukus Museum embroiled in new row
Museum seeks fourth director in as many years amid claims its renowned avant-garde collection is being “mistreated”
NewsVenice Biennale 2019
Deadly boat that sank with hundreds of migrants on board becomes work of art at Venice Biennale
Swiss artist Christoph Büchel's Arsenale project is a symbol of global immigration crisis
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
NewsAnthony d'Offay
Artists protest Tate decision to resume ties with Anthony d’Offay
Over 35 artists and curators have signed an open letter to the institution asking it to reveal details of its investigations into allegations of sexual harassment made against the retired dealer
NewsCopyright
Ai Weiwei denies his porcelain works borrow from Lebanese artist's prize-winning vases
Raed Yassin says there are "striking similarities" between his ceramic series on the Lebanese civil war and Ai's pieces on the Syria war and refugee crisis
NewsControversies
Gaetano Pesce's anti-patriarchy sculpture outrages feminists in Milan
Work created for Milan Design Week perpetuates violence against women, critics say
NewsCaravaggio
Attic to auction: a timeline of the 'Lost Caravaggio'
The painting, thought to be the second version of the Baroque artist’s Judith Beheading Holofernes will be auctioned this June with an estimate of £86m-£129m
NewsForgeries
Fake Marsden Hartley found in medical giant’s collection points to a larger scandal
Abbott Laboratories suspects fakes found their way into its collection during conservation process
NewsControversies
Nan Goldin’s anti-opioid activist group storms New York museums
Pain held demonstrations at the Guggenheim and the Met over the weekend
NewsControversies
Tory peer involved in controversial sale of Iraqi antiquities
Reliefs from Ashurnasirpal II’s Nimrud palace, fixed to the walls of a Scottish mansion, have been removed, stripped and sold abroad
NewsControversies
'Too conservative' to direct France's arts academy? Jean de Loisy hits back at critics
A petition protesting his appointment at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts has been signed by 60 arts professionals
News
Protesters stream into Whitney, calling for removal of board vice chairman
They assailed the trustee's business ties to the tear gas fired by US border agents
NewsControversies
Smoking pipe, razor and revolver removed from Van Gogh sculpture in London's Brixton
Controversial items relating to the artist's life were scrapped from original design over fears they could be linked to drug, knife and gun crime
NewsPhilanthropy
Sackler family—major cultural patrons—amassed $31.2m in offshore HSBC bank accounts, investigation finds
Mortimer Sackler opened a handful of accounts in Switzerland one month before federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma in 2005
NewsSaudi Arabia
Columbia University cancels talk with Saudi artist Ahmed Mater amid scrutiny over the kingdom’s cultural funding
The Metropolitan and the Brooklyn museums have also decided not to use money from the Crown Prince’s arts organisation for related events
NewsCensorship
Wolfgang Tillmans and Tania Bruguera pledge support for censored Serralves Museum director
João Ribas has stepped down following censorship row around Robert Mapplethorpe show
NewsBerlin
Ambitious project to build replica Berlin Wall blocked by city authorities
Russia film-maker Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s giant installation based on 700 hours of film faces insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles
NewsControversies
Authorities destroy sculptures in the Maldives
Destruction of Jason deCaires Taylor's Coralarium installation came after condemnation by local Muslim leaders and politicians
NewsSexual harassment
Belgian culture minister investigates Jan Fabre following allegations of sexual harassment
Twenty dancers sign letter saying that “humiliation” is rife in the artist's Troubleyn troupe
PreviewExhibitions
Brillo Boxes ‘faked’ by museum director included in new Andy Warhol show
Pop artist's fist institutional exhibition revisited 50 years on at Stockholm’s Moderna Museet
NewsPublic art
Anger over plans to 'banish' suffragette statue from Parliament to remote Regent’s Park site
Proposal to move Emmeline Pankhurst sculpture comes months after new Millicent Fawcett work was unveiled to celebrate centenary of female suffrage
NewsCommercial galleries
Artist withdraws work from gallery group show inspired by Peter Sellers brownface film
An op-ed criticising the exhibition for its dismissal of the movie's racist overtones has prompted some reflection
NewsMarina Abramovic
‘We’re all in the same boat’: Marina Abramovic poster angers Italian right-wing politician
Trieste deputy mayor Paolo Polidori calls image commissioned for sailing regatta “political propaganda”
BlogIn the frame
Catnapped: abduction of moody moggie Begemot from Moscow museum sparks media frenzy
NewsProtest
Peter Kennard among artists to remove their art from London's Design Museum in protest over arms event
Directors Deyan Sudjic and Alice Black say ‘professional activists exploited the situation’ and they stand by their ‘curatorial independence’
NewsLaw
Publishing company American Image Art strikes back in Robert Indiana case
Defendants in the much-publicised lawsuit allege the Morgan Art Foundation “duped” the US artist into giving up certain rights to his art
NewsControversies
Shepard Fairey joins group of artists demanding their work be removed from the Design Museum after ‘arms trade’ event
The London institution says it did not endorse the private event organised by the Italian aerospace company Leonardo
NewsControversies
Conflict-of-interest scandal at publicly funded UK arts centre Firstsite
Chairman and trustee resigned amid investigation into more than £90,000 spent on consultancy firm they directed
News
$890m Sydney museum move could be most expensive gallery relocation in history
Critics fear that plan will lead to parts of the Powerhouse Museum’s collection being sold off
NewsArt schools
Director of France's beleaguered national arts academy criticises culture minister for lack of support
Jean-Marc Bustamante has not had his contract renewed at ENSBA, where teachers have been accused of sexual harassment
NewsAfrican art
Contested Asante trophy head to shine in new Wallace room
Seized during the Ashanti war and long held by the London museum, the prized Ghanaian work is to be displayed in a new permanent gallery
NewsControversies
Beatrix Ruf, former Stedelijk Museum director, cleared of alleged conflicts of interest
Report commissioned by Amsterdam city council finds that she complied with Dutch regulations
NewsControversies
Once bitten, twice shy: Canadian artist caught using comedians' photos without permission promises no more funny business
Despite controversy over public art project in Calgary, Derek Michael Besant has been commissioned to create a similar work in Ottawa
News
German museum and auctioneer Im Kinsky tussle over looted glass goblet
Object was returned to consigner not museum from where it was looted at the end of Second World War
NewsAppointments & departures
Zeitz Mocaa director Mark Coetzee embroiled in #MeToo scandal
Curators accuse the Cape Town museum director of inappropriate and abusive behaviour, according to local reports
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
NewsCensorship
Instagram deletes photographer Dragana Jurisic's account and Facebook censors her work
Image is no more contentious than those shared on the platforms by celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, supporters say
NewsControversies
Paris mayor wants to turn city into ‘refuge’ for works in conflict zones
Anne Hidalgo’s plan, which has drawn fire, involves storing items threatened by conflict in buildings owned by the city authority
NewsExhibitions
Controversial animal works pulled from Guggenheim New York will go on show in Bilbao
Contemporary Chinese installations drew 'threats of violence' from animal rights activists last year
InterviewSonia Boyce
‘At the heart of all this is the question of power’: Sonia Boyce on the notorious Hylas and the Nymphs takedown
The artist reveals the story behind the headlines and the film she made about the painting's removal
NewsControversies
Chinese art professor responds to sexual assault allegations
Xu Gang has been dismissed as curator of the Shenzhen Biennale
NewsControversies
Adel Abdessemed’s blazing chickens withdrawn from Lyon show
Violent animal video triggers another avalanche of criticism for provocative Algerian artist
Newsgun control
'Disgusted' Anish Kapoor condemns NRA’s use of his Chicago ‘Bean’ sculpture in advert
The organisation’s “intolerant, divisive vision perverts” the work’s democratic nature
NewsSponsorship
BAE Systems pulls sponsorship of Great Exhibition of the North after protests
The defence giant withdrew after Art not Arms petition condemned company’s sales to Saudi Arabia
NewsProtest
Tate's artist-in-residence resigns over institution's 'appalling response to sexual harassment'
Liv Wynter says Tate is failing women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds
Feature
The ethics of appropriation
Can art represent the culture of marginalised groups without exploiting them? Jillian Steinhauer investigates
NewsControversies
Russian art critics challenge director of Ghent museum over show of dubious Russian avant-garde works
De Standaard newspaper reports that the contract allowed any piece in the display to be sold
NewsReligion
Church of the Holy Sepulchre re-opened after three-day protest closure
Shrine was shut amid escalation of Israeli-Palestinian hostilities
NewsCensorship
Facebook censors 30,000 year-old Venus of Willendorf as 'pornographic'
Nude statue is latest artwork to be deemed inappropriate by social media giant
News
Sam Durant and Anne Ellegood reflect on being in the hot seat of museum controversies
The artist and curator shared what they learned from their 2017 experiences during a College Art Association panel on "censorship"
NewsCensorship
Santiago Sierra work censored at Arco fair to be shown at Catalan museum
Media mogul Tatxo Benet says that censorship is damaging for artists—and the viewing public
NewsControversies
Palais de Tokyo removes work showing artist protesting against Dana Schutz's Open Casket painting
Parker Bright says protest image of him taken at Whitney Biennial was used by Neil Beloufa without permission
NewsControversies
Commission to investigate dubious Russian avant-garde works disbands due to 'a de facto veto of our work'
Belgium rocked by Ghent museum scandal and major museums consider refusing future loans
CommentCensorship
'Museum directors have lost panache and grit': 30 years on, the legacy of the Corcoran's Robert Mapplethorpe cancellation
New exhibition at the George Washington University looks back the censorship of the photographer's work—but what impact did it have on the art world?
Brian Allen