American Museums

Is the US museum sector in crisis?

Plus, a new antisemitism scandal at Documenta and a Kim Lim sculpure on show at the Hepworth Wakefield

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Frick Collection's fundraising for renovation and capital campaign reaches $242m

With 83% of its renovation fund raised, the museum is on target to reopen in its historic home in late 2024

The Met and Yemeni government reach agreement for long-term display and care of two ancient sculptures

The artefacts, dating from the third millenium BC, will remain in New York as Yemen’s civil war drags on

After provenance concerns were raised over Greek antiquities in Florida museum's exhibition, its curator was fired

The dismissal of Michael Bennett, a curator at the Museum of Fine Arts in St Petersburg, came after colleagues at another institution raised flags about provenance gaps

Manhattan District Attorney's Office seizes $5m bronze bust in Turkish repatriation sting

The sculpture, which depicts a daughter of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, is the second out-of-state item to be seized by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit

Floodsnews

As floods level Vermont, its arts community takes action

Extreme weather conditions continue to roil the East Coast, putting arts communities at risk

San Diego's museums of art and photography will merge

The Balboa Park cultural mainstays will form one institution, effective 1 July

Amid mounting scrutiny of its collecting practices, Metropolitan Museum will form provenance research squad

The museum has responded to accusations that its collection includes looted artefacts by creating its largest research arm to date

A pop-up museum in New York pushes back against 'excessive policing'

The Museum of Broken Windows takes on themes of state-sponsored racial injustice in light of New York mayor Eric Adams's planned municipal budget allocating $11bn to the NYPD

50 US museums receive grants and art from the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation

As the late artist's 100th birthday nears, his foundation is undertaking the largest philanthropic project in its history

Workers at New York's Hispanic Society will go on strike just as museum completes six-year renovation

Unionised workers at the museum cite stagnant wages, inadequate contracts and unsustainable workloads as just some of the problems at the world-class collection

Genesis of Phil Collins’s collection of Alamo artefacts questioned ahead of museum opening

A new public exhibition hall is mired in controversy over the provenance of the musician’s collection of relics related to the Alamo in Texas

Long-awaited International African American Museum delays January opening

The museum says humidity and temperature control issues must be addressed before it can open to the public

Metropolitan Museum receives $10m donation for ongoing performance art initiative

The philanthropist Adrienne Arsht is a longtime supporter of the museum and performing arts programmes nationwide

Former president Bill Clinton previews $155m expansion of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts

The renovation spearheaded by Studio Gang, details of which were unveiled during a luncheon in New York, will open in the spring of 2023

Brooklyn Museum completes ten-year renovation of Asian and Islamic art galleries

The approximately $9m project included modernising 20,000 sq. ft of galleries and bringing key objects out of storage for public display for the first time

Marvin Gaye-inspired exhibition to inaugurate Rubell Museum in Washington, DC

The exhibition will feature nearly 200 works from Don and Mera Rubell's collection

An overdue ode to the influence of Black cinema opens in Los Angeles

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures exhibition exlores the contributions of celebrated and overlooked minds in Hollywood alongside works by contemporary artists

Historic Baltimore museum reopens after $5.5m renovation

The Peale Museum, considered the first “purpose-built” museum in North America, reopens with a contemporary and local focus

An historic appointment: Lynette L. Allston is the first Indigenous person to serve as board president of a major US museum

Allston had previously advised the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in devising its land acknowledgement agreement

Frick Collection honoured for employing people with disabilities

The institution is the first New York museum to be honoured by the city’s mayor for its employment efforts

Raphael tapestries exhibition illustrates the ‘dawn of image reproduction’

The Columbus Museum of Art’s exhibition of the six historic Dresden tapestries belatedly commemorates the 500th anniversary of the Italian master’s death

Exhibition at New York's Drawing Center explores the ‘freedom to ornament’

Nearly 200 works from various civilisations, cultures and histories chronicle shifting approaches to beautification and the complex language of patterns

Kohler heiress's foundation announces inaugural grants for non-profit cultural organisations

The grant-making initiative was launched with a $440m bequest from the late vernacular art collector and patron Ruth DeYoung Kohler

Metropolitan Museum of Art increases admission fee

The museum initially changed its "pay-as-you-wish" policy in 2018

Daniel H. Weiss will step down as president and chief executive of the Metropolitan Museum

Weiss, who guided the Met through several major projects and challenges during his tenure, will step down in June 2023

Smithsonian's hunt for sites for national Latino and women’s museums narrowed down to four locations

The institution will announce the selected Washington, DC sites for the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum by the end of the year

The newly-restored Morgan Library and Museum opens a public garden

The $13m project entailed a comprehensive exterior restoration and landscape redesign

Jewel box museum of Old Master artworks reopens in San Diego

The Timken Museum of Art, the only museum with a Rembrandt on public display in San Diego, underwent a major two-year renovation