PreviewThe Year Ahead 2020
New museums and major expansions opening in 2020
From Tutankhamun's new king-sized home in Cairo to Munch's sleek space in Oslo, here is our pick of the big openings this year
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Centre Pompidou could close for three years for 'essential' renovations
French government also considering option of a seven-year overhaul that would allow the Paris gallery to stay partially open
NewsGrand Palais
Grand Palais's long-awaited renovation curtailed over soaring costs
Following government intervention, the historic Parisian exhibition space will now undergo a more 'sober restoration'
NewsPhilip Guston
Critics, scholars—and even museum’s own curator—condemn decision to postpone Philip Guston show over Ku Klux Klan imagery
Move is deemed “cowardly” and “patronising” after joint statement from host museums including National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and London’s Tate Modern
FeatureBook Club
Ka-boom! How art history is embracing the comic book genre
Publishers looking for ways to draw in wider audiences to the lives and careers of famous artists are increasingly turning to graphic novels
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Discover Raphael’s creative process with new state-of-the-art renovation of V&A's Cartoons Court
New 3D imagery reveals secrets of the Renaissance masterpieces as space reopens in time for 500th anniversary of Old Master's death
NewsArt market
Class of 2020: five picks from Art Basel's online viewing room (another one)
The latest virtual fair, OVR:2020, limits 100 galleries to showing six works each, all produced this year—we pick our highlights
NewsAcquisitions
What Beatrix Ruf did next: former Stedelijk director oversees new fund that will donate works to the Netherlands
Dutch entrepreneur Rob Defares has donated €10m to the new initiative
NewsMuseums
Plans for world's biggest Picasso museum in south of France scuppered
Aix-en-Provence city council says that sale fell through after negotiations with artist’s stepdaughter broke down
NewsFunding
New £25m fund aims to help UK museums ‘get back on their feet’
The Garfield Weston foundation is offering grants of up to £2m while Historic England is launching a £7.4m initiative for artist projects that help boost high streets
NewsArt fairs
Online market place for art continues to grow as new digital fair announced during Frieze week
Daata fair is dedicated to video and digital works and aims to reach collectors who “simply don’t have the patience” to watch films at real-life fairs
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Fotografiska complex in London—world’s ‘largest photography venue’—is dropped
Investment group behind the project blames Brexit and Covid-19
NewsAppointments & departures
Six women, one foreigner: Italy appoints 13 new museum and heritage directors
Culture minister Dario Franceschini reverses trend for appointing foreign leaders for its leading institutions
NewsSaudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia pushes soft power by launching new teamLab digital art museum in Jeddah
The hi-tech Tokyo-based collective will create trademark immersive experiences for the new space
ReviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in London this weekend
From Danh Vo's millennia-spanning pastoral show at White Cube to Abbas Zahedi's rosewater sprinkler system at South London Gallery
NewsArt market
2021 art fair calendar already in flux after Taipei Dangdai moves from January to May
Delay and cancellation of events early next year prompts the question: will Frieze Los Angeles still take place in February?
NewsVenice Biennale
Wanted—curator of the British Pavilion at Venice Biennale (who will work for £12,500)
Collector Shane Akeroyd sponsors post for ten-year period
NewsBrexit
Post-Brexit UK festival chief seeks country’s 'brightest talents' amid criticism over £120m cost
The project, planned for 2022, promises £3m in total to successful applications
NewsExhibitions
Saatchi Gallery exhibits London’s graduate artists deprived of degree shows
The exhibition forms part of the education programme at the collector’s gallery which has now ‘transitioned into a charity’
NewsAntony Gormley
Waste of money? New Antony Gormley sculpture in British seaside city rattles residents
Plymouth city council unable to reveal cost of public project after signing confidentiality agreement with the artist
NewsAwards
French tech entrepreneur funds new €150,000 award for European cultural institutions focused on 'digital and environmental impact'
Public and private European organisations—including UK and Switzerland— are encouraged to apply before the deadline later this month
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Bailout fail? Fewer than half of museums in England apply for government’s £1.57bn rescue package
Survey by The Art Newspaper also reveals that the Serpentine and Barbican have been left in limbo while the Southbank Centre is already £20m in debt
NewsBritish Museum
Trove of 'lost' Hokusai drawings acquired by British Museum
103 forgotten works by the renowned Japanese artist resurfaced at a Paris auction after slipping out of sight for more than 70 years
NewsResidencies
New York-based residency for Russian artists goes ahead as 'East-West divide' intensifies
US-Russia tensions heightened in the run up to November's US presidential election
BlogBook Club
Can’t make it to the Met? Dive into a new book for an unconventional look at the museum's collection
Publication aims to open up 6,000 years of art history using objects as a springboard—but is it worth the effort?
NewsBiennials & festivals
How to organise a biennial in the Covid era
Bangkok Art Biennale director on grappling with coronavirus constraints and displaying "sensitive" works
NewsExhibitions
Basel’s new culture hub puts Caribbean artists, Picasso and Klaus Littmann’s nature project in the mix
Delayed by coronavirus, the new Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger has opened with the promise of free entry and catalogues for visitors
NewsFrans Hals
Frans Hals painting stolen from Dutch museum for the third time
Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer was taken in previous heists with a work by Jacob van Ruisdael
News#ArtistSupportPledge
#ArtistSupportPledge—what happened next to the ‘lifeline’ that helped artists survive during lockdown?
Instagram scheme rallying art community in the wake of the pandemic has so far generated £60m
Newsprizes and contests
Venice Biennale awards Golden Lions to the late curators Okwui Enwezor and Germano Celant
Honour bestowed on four previous artistic directors of the international exhibition
NewsArt crime
Man who punched £20m Picasso painting at Tate Modern is jailed for 18 months
Repairing the piece—on long-term loan from a private collection—will take more than a year and cost up to £350,000
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Debate flares as British Museum moves bust of slave-owning founder Hans Sloane
As part of the museum's efforts to address Britain’s colonial past, officials acknowledge that the collector "exploited slaves"
FeatureBook Club
Misogyny and making art in the shadow of Jackson Pollock—how Lee Krasner was shut out of art history
New digital publication argues that the late US artist is the “unacknowledged equal” of her superstar husband
NewsMuseums & Heritage
First Hagia Sophia, now Turkey's 'Sistine Chapel of Byzantium' will be turned back into mosque
The 14th-century mosaics at Chora Church—which was converted to a museum in 1945—risk being covered up and remaining part-restored
NewsRagnar Kjartansson
Ragnar Kjartansson’s 'never-ending lullaby' to be performed in Milan church for the Covid era
Singers will perform The Sky in a Room every day for six hours next month at the church of San Carlo al Lazzaretto
NewsTate
Ten artists who won Turner bursaries from Tate 'fully support' museum's striking workers
Open letter says that redundancies contradict Tate’s commitment to "champion the richness of art for everyone"
NewsMuseums
The next Tate Modern? Helsinki power plant to become vast new arts hub under city masterplan
Hanasaari plant will be at the heart of burgeoning Suvilahti culture district
NewsPolitics
German activist art group sells 'anti-fascist' works on eBay to support left-wing organisations
Peng collective auctions off ten objects bought from committed anti-fascists for €10,000
NewsPrivate Museums
Vacuum cleaner billionaire James Dyson plans to build art gallery in his garden
Planning permission has been submitted for a building in the grounds of Dodington Park
NewsBeirut
Unesco, Icom and Louvre rally to help Beirut as museums tackle extensive explosion damage
A coalition of international museums and heritage organisations are working to provide expertise to Lebanese institutions
NewsRacism in the art world
Paint names like 'Flesh Tint' are racially biased says UK fine art supplier
Jackson’s says it is campaigning to help dismantle “exclusionary culture” that privileges caucasian skin tones as the "default"
FeatureBook Club
Why Jeff Koons is so difficult to please, the strange Venice Biennale selection process and which collector is a game changer
A new book by Matthew Israel gives an insider’s view of the art world over the course of a year
NewsUnited Kingdom
Bristol creatives fundraise for new boat venue championing black artists
“There has been a stigma around the harbour which needs to be decolonised,” says project co-founder
NewsBiennials & festivals
Wham! London's first Brent Biennial to launch with a nine-metre high George Michael mural
The inaugural exhibition in the north-west borough opens in September and will include 23 new commissions
NewsUnions
Strike action looms at Tate and Southbank Centre as unions fight restructuring plans
Around 600 jobs are set to be axed across both sites as financial fallout from coronavirus pandemic intensifies
NewsBeirut
Emergency fund launched in aid of Beirut's devastated art community
Belgian non-profit Mophradat says that 100% of the money raised will support individual artists and arts organisations
NewsMaXXI
MaXXI to open new museum in earthquake-ravaged L'Aquila in October
Contemporary art outpost of Rome museum will be housed in an 18th-century palace rebuilt with Russian government funds
NewsBritish Museum
After 163 days closed, British Museum will reopen on 27 August
The London museum, which will mark its reopening by showing a work by Grayson Perry, will enforce social distancing measures and a daily visitors cap
InterviewBook Club
Q&A | Vintage photo trove hidden in attic for decades revealed in new book
Alberto di Lenardo’s secret 8,000-strong archive has been distilled into a new publication by his granddaughter Carlotta, who tells us all about it
NewsHagia Sophia
Russia to fund small-scale replica Hagia Sophia in Syria that will be used as a church
Tactical move comes after Turkish president ordered historic Istanbul site to be turned into a mosque
NewsDisasters & destruction
After CCTV footage is released, tourist who damaged Canova sculpture turns himself in
Italian court may press charges after three toes on the statue were broken
NewsArt market
Christie's exhibition of Black art is not about virtue signalling, curator says
Destinee Ross-Sutton has co-organised the online selling show Say It Loud which features works by 22 artists including Nelson Makamo and Yoyo Lander
FeatureBook Club
Art, enlightenment and plenty of sex: life according to John Giorno
Some takeaways from the late US artist and poet’s new memoir Great Demon Kings
NewsSouthbank Centre
'Brutal' planned redundancies at London's Southbank Centre called out in open letter
Signatories claim cuts will disproportionately affect Bame staff and question chief executive’s salary
NewsDisasters & destruction
Snap! Tourist takes a selfie on a 19th-century Canova sculpture—and breaks off two toes
Concerns raised about how the visitor gained access to the Paolina Bonaparte cast
NewsHeritage
Origins of Stonehenge's giant slabs revealed in new research
Sample taken in 1958 was key in discovering ancient site’s "geochemical fingerprint"
ReviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in New York, London and online this weekend
From William Copley's New York years at Kasmin to the Tate's Andy Warhol retrospective
NewsArts funding
UK government finally announces details of its £1.5bn funding support package for the arts
Museum trusts in Birmingham and York warn job cuts are in the pipeline
NewsSalvator Mundi
Salvator Mundi! The Musical—tale of world’s most expensive painting to be turned into a stage blockbuster
Caiola Productions plan to put on the show—a mix of Hamilton and Willy Wonka—in New York in 2022
NewsControversies
Picasso murals ripped from Oslo building as legal battle intensifies
Daughter of the works' co-creator Carl Nesjar says safeguarding the sandblasted works is imperative
PreviewBook Club
New Getty publication brings together life-affirming DIY masterpieces made during lockdown
Participants worldwide re-created famous works by Vermeer, Munch and Klimt—using everyday household items
NewsHouse of Illustration
House of Illustration closes in King’s Cross but museum expands to historic north London site
The £8m Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is on track to open in late 2022 despite Covid-19 pandemic, officials say
News
French photographers demand President Macron puts his arts pandemic plan into practice
Signatories say that a ‘new deal’ is needed in France, enabling photojournalists to document the epidemic
Newsprizes and contests
UK’s largest art award Artes Mundi postponed until 2021 due to coronavirus
Challenge of transporting works and artists means £40,000 prize now scheduled for spring next year
News
UK government approves banknote designs featuring ethnic minority pioneers
Founder of advocacy group championing BAME figures says she is “tackling statues, artwork and signage next”
NewsBanksy
Banksy triptych—estimated at £1.2m—to be sold at Sotheby's in aid of Palestinian hospital
Artists has donated the works, which were previously on display in his Walled Off hotel in Bethlehem
ReviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in New York, London and online this weekend
From works by Pollock and Congo the chimpanzee to Sarah Lucas at Sadie Coles
BlogBook Club
Summer Reads: which books do Oxford librarians want to dip into by the pool?
Bodleian scholars give their top tips for The Art Newspaper Book Club
NewsMuseums
Tate Modern reopening overshadowed by protests over job cuts
Due to the pandemic, around 300 jobs are at risk at Tate Enterprises, which operates retail, catering and publishing services across all of the Tate sites
NewsUK politics
UK may become 'cultural wasteland' after government's failure to provide funding quickly, says parliament report
MPs say £1.5bn government support package for the arts sector is “too little too late”
NewsClosures
Artist Kader Attia 'heartbroken' as Covid-19 forces closure of his decolonial Paris art hub
The French-Algerian is now looking for a new, smaller space in the city's suburbs
NewsObituaries
Neon pioneer Keith Sonnier—who has died aged 78—honoured with exhibition at New York's Dia Beacon
The late artist was a key figure in the 1960s post-Minimalist New York art scene
NewsAppointments & departures
Influential political cartoonist Steve Bell dropped by the Guardian newspaper after 40 years
Biting satirist looks to art history for some of his caricatures, such as a recent sketch of Boris Johnson as Mona Lisa
ReviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in New York, London and online this weekend
From Nicholas Galanin’s 'escape plans' for Indigenous objects at Peter Blum Gallery to the Royal College of Art's virtual degree show
NewsExhibitions
'Corona-proof plan': Dutch museum launches drive-by art show
Exhibition visitors must drive electric cars through an arena housing major works by artists including Bas Princen, Bruce Nauman and Anselm Kiefer
NewsVenice Biennale
New Venice Biennale show reveals fraught episodes in its 125-year history
Interdisciplinary display in the Giardini will look at how the international exhibitions “crossed paths with history”
InterviewBook Club
Q&A | Lisa Tickner on the inspiration behind her book on London’s 1960s art scene
From student sit-ins to the importance of air travel in shaping the art world as we know it
NewsMonuments
Marc Quinn's Black Lives Matter sculpture removed by Bristol council
Statue that replaced toppled monument to slave trader Edward Colston has polarised opinion
NewsExhibitions
'Get rid of prisons': artist Stanley Whitney speaks out against US judicial system in online show
Initiative highlights disproportionate number of African Americans incarcerated in the US
NewsMonuments
Marc Quinn sculpture of Black Lives Matter activist replaces statue to slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol
Installed overnight, the work depicts local resident Jen Reid who was photographed on the site when the monument was toppled last month
NewsObituaries
Frank Popper—the historian at the forefront of art’s digital revolution—has died, aged 102
Expert in art and technology led the way in documenting the development of "virtual art"
NewsMuseums & Heritage
‘Racist’ gallery in Liverpool museum to be overhauled in light of Black Lives Matter
World Cultures Gallery at the World Museum ‘privileges the actions of white colonial collectors’, says curator
InterviewBook Club
Q&A | Drawings of ‘eruptions of violence’ against statues fill Sam Durant’s new book
The US artist speaks about his research into historic cases of iconoclastic annihilation
ReviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in New York and London this weekend
From David Goldblatt's images of apartheid-era South Africa to Sophie Taeuber-Arp's Swiss abstraction
NewsStatues
UK's first statues of black Brits—sited at Brixton station—to be restored after 34 years
The overlooked works are modelled on local residents
NewsMedia & broadcast
Our friend Keith Haring: in new BBC documentary buddies of the late artist draw back the curtain
Street Art Boy debuted recently on BBC2 and uses unheard interviews to document Haring's upbringing and work
NewsArt market
Fiac organisers determined to go ahead with Paris fair this October despite coronavirus turmoil
But dealers ponder crucial question of whether US collectors will venture overseas by the autumn
NewsMuseums & Heritage
UK's historic houses fight for survival post-lockdown after financial crash
Heritage organisations such as the National Trust rely on visitors for most of their income—but they have been staying away
NewsConservation & Preservation
Turkish government on collision course with Unesco over turning Hagia Sophia into mosque
President Erdogan’s plans to convert the museum have drawn fire from Greece and the US
ReviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in New York, London and online this weekend
From Vanessa Thill's mixed-media sculptures at Deli Gallery to Ella Kruglyanskaya's figurative works at Thomas Dane Gallery
FeatureBook Club
In Pictures | Can’t travel to Venice? Immerse yourself in a new book on Turner’s paintings of the watery city
Five paintings and sketches by the British artist selected from a new book
NewsControversies
Pace Gallery shuts down homophobic slurs on Instagram over Peter Hujar photographs
In Pride Month post, gallery speaks out against "individuals who wish to degrade marginalised communities"
NewsAuctions
Waning market for African artefacts? Controversial Benin bronze fails to sell at Christie's
Academics challenge the provenance of the Edo plaque as well as two Igbo alusi figures that sold under estimate for €212,500
PreviewExhibitions
Derek Jarman's love of gardening is subject of new London show
Exhibition at the Garden Museum focuses on the late artist and film-maker's time at Prospect Cottage in Dungeness
NewsThree to see
Three online exhibitions honouring Pride Month
From the history of discriminatory blood donation policies at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art to the history of the rainbow flag
NewsCrime
Teenager who threw boy from Tate Modern is given a life sentence with minimum term of 15 years
Jonty Bravery intended to kill, judge says
NewsExhibitions
Major slavery exhibition heads to MFA Houston and the National Gallery of Art in Washington
Afro-Atlantic Histories, which opened in São Paulo in 2018, tells the story of the transatlantic slave trade and its legacies
NewsArthur Jafa
Arthur Jafa’s searing chronicle of Black America to be screened by museums worldwide for 48 hours
Fourteen institutions including Tate will livestream Love is the Message, The Message is Death
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Facebook and Instagram ban trading of historical artefacts
Heritage group Athar were part of a campaign highlighting the social media giants' “black market in antiquities”
NewsMuseums
UK museums can reopen from 4 July—but for some it's too soon
News of the government's latest easing of lockdown measures today has been welcomed by the art world but "huge problems still remain for the sector"