NewsAcquisitions
Adding to a robust trove, High Museum in Atlanta fields a gift of works by self-taught artists
Local couple donates 47 paintings, drawings and sculptures by Southerners and African Americans
NewsMuseum expansion
Crystal Bridges plans an expansion that will boost its size by 50%
The design of new galleries and other spaces is overseen by Moshe Safdie, the Arkansas complex’s original architect
NewsConservation & Preservation
Getty teams with city of Los Angeles to identify places that are important to African American heritage
Conservation effort goes beyond architectural distinction to highlight sites where Black residents embraced their culture and advocated for advancement
Newslayoffs
After avoiding layoffs, Oakland Museum of California now plans job cuts of 15%
Staff will shrink from 126 to 106 as institution pursues an organisational makeover
NewsAttendance
While US museum attendance nosedived in 2020 amid pandemic, disparities in reopenings yielded a few surprises
Huntington Library in California and Crystal Bridges in Arkansas ascended to the top of the visitor figures list
NewsRestoration
Solace through conservation: World Monuments Fund makes strides in restoring war-damaged sites in Yemeni city
Amid debilitating war, conservation of mausoleum and museum palace in Taiz is now complete
NewsAcquisitions
Getty acquires a striking painting by Artemisia Gentileschi of the Roman heroine Lucretia
The museum, which did not disclose the price, says the work reflects a shift to a more idealised style
NewsDetroit Institute of Arts
Several trustees resign from board of Detroit Institute of Arts as it reaffirms steps to monitor its besieged management
Director Salvador Salort-Pons was faulted in an independent review for authoritarian behaviour and insensitivity to race and gender
NewsResignations
Leon Black, under fire, will reportedly not seek re-election as MoMA’s board chairman
Tumult over his former business ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein brought pressure for him to step down
NewsProtests
Coalition of activist groups announces ‘strike’ action against MoMA
Accusing the museum of elitism, alliance says its ultimate goal is “disassembling” the institution
NewsMuseum trustees
MoMA’s board leader Leon Black quits equity firm, citing 'relentless scrutiny' over links to Epstein
Decision raises questions about his future role at the museum after artists call for him to go
NewsDeaccessioning
Baltimore Museum of Art director defends diversity goals that his institution hoped to meet through art sales
At a conference on deaccessioning, Christopher Bedford says that museum collections are “a literal manifestation” of prejudice and privilege
ReviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in New York this weekend
From Julie Mehretu’s mid-career survey at the Whitney to the Frick Collection’s temporary encampment in the Breuer building
NewsDeaccessioning
Members of US museums association narrowly reject proposal to contemplate a change in guidelines on art sales
Amid debate, AAMD votes 91-88 against exploring a controversial revision of rules to allow proceeds to finance collections care
NewsDetroit Institute of Arts
After leak of recording detailing missteps by director, Detroit Institute of Arts says it is working to ensure that he measures up
Inquiry by outside law firm found a climate of retaliation, but museum says that all employees’ concerns will be addressed
Newsracism
In diversity and equity campaign, Walters Art Museum recognises the tarnished history of its founders
Institution issues newly written history that discloses its founders’ pro-Confederacy stance and business ties to racist labour practices in the South
NewsAcquisitions
Acquisitions round-up: trio of paintings by Italian artist nun Orsola Maddalena Caccia bequeathed to the Met
Our pick of the latest gifts and purchases to enter international museum collections
NewsAcquisitions
Rose Art Museum, once on the brink of closure, celebrates 60th anniversary with gift of 86 works
After a proposed shutdown and sell-off in 2009, Brandeis University has repaired trust with donors, its director says
NewsRestitution
Looted in the 1980s, a sacred stele at the Dallas Museum of Art is headed back to Nepal
After FBI investigation, sculptural antiquity lent by a collector is determined to have a disturbing provenance
ReviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in New York this weekend
From Lorraine O’Grady’s first museum retrospective to Carol Bove’s Met façade commission
NewsOutdoor sculpture
After an extended fight, acclaimed sculptural installation will leave National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington
An accord calls for Elyn Zimmerman’s Marabar to head to a new site, with the move and reinstallation financed by the society
NewsJacob Lawrence
Travelling Jacob Lawrence show spurs discovery of a second missing painting in New York
Museums now appeal for information on three unlocated panels in the artist’s 1950s “Struggle” series
NewsSculpture
‘They’re kind of impolite’: the artist Carol Bove ruminates on her steel and aluminium sculptures for the Met’s façade
Artist’s installation, delayed for months by Covid-19, playfully engages with the museum’s classical architecture
NewsFundraising
After thwarted art sales, Baltimore Museum of Art marshalls funding to promote diversity and equity
Institution announces $1.46m in gifts to finance goals such as pay increases for hourly workers and extended visiting hours
NewsConservation & Preservation
Officials reveal full extent of damage to US Capitol’s art after pro-Trump rampage
Officials explore harm to busts and paintings in the House from chemical sprays and describe frantic efforts to change airflows as melee unfolded
NewsArts funding
‘Many museums will be lost’: US association appeals to Congress to support funding for institutions
Invoking the pandemic, advocates seek federal money for agencies that support museum programmes as well as operations grants and charitable tax deductions
Newslayoffs
Whitney lays off 15 more staff members, citing ‘extremely low’ attendance
Museum’s director notes that it may take until 2025 for tourists to return in force to New York
NewsDeaccessioning
Met director defends move to consider deaccessioning for collections care rather than art purchases
Max Hollein argues that more art will not necessarily be sold, although proceeds can now go to other purposes amid the pandemic financial crisis
NewsInternships
Asserting a quest for more equity, the Met introduces its first crop of fully paid interns
Students talk about their career goals and how being compensated proved to be an incentive
Newsdiversity
Indianapolis museum apologises for posted job description describing a ‘core, white art audience’
Institution edits wording of director’s job opening to eliminate “white” after an outcry
NewsMuseum directors
MOCA in Los Angeles will redefine its director’s duties and hire a new executive to oversee operations
Klaus Biesenbach will serve as artistic director once a financial leader is in place
NewsInstallations
‘Absurd’, yet 'deadly serious’: Alex Da Corte will create the Met’s next rooftop installation
Sculptural installation will plumb the possibility of hope amid the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic
NewsConservation & Preservation
World Monuments Fund pleads with Peru's government to delay airport construction work in the Sacred Valley of the Incas
Organisation points out that Peru has not carried out an analysis of the heritage impact on Machu Picchu, Cusco and an Inca road network as requested by Unesco
NewsAppointments & departures
After a controversial year, director will leave the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Neal Benezra’s departure follows the museum’s deletion of an Instagram comment that faulted the institution on racial issues
NewsDeaccessioning
Rumbles of dissent emerge over Met’s proposal to expand deaccessioning
As the museum mulls art sales to finance collections care, critics worry that its example could open the floodgates for US art institutions
NewsAcquisitions
Acquisitions round-up: flag and sledge from British polar expedition saved from leaving UK
Our pick of the latest gifts and purchases to enter international museum collections
NewsCensorship
PEN America issues a safety guide for artists facing repression
Non-profit organisation cites a “skyrocketing’’ number of individuals around the globe needing help with on-the-ground strategies or relocation
NewsMuseum trustees
‘Toxic philanthropy’ versus ‘egalitarian principles’: artists, art workers and activists call for Leon Black’s removal as MoMA board chairman
Signers allude to his payments to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and other financial ties
PreviewExhibitions
Unorthodox preacher: Leo Steinberg's prints helped explore and explain his sometimes controversial theories
An exhibition at the Blanton Museum of Art in Texas looks at the legacy of the art historian through his vast collection, which includes different takes on Leonardo's Last Supper
NewsArtists
Joan Mitchell Foundation switches to longer-term support of US artists
Annual $25,000 grants will give way to disbursing $60,000 to individuals over five years, with an emphasis on financial advice
InterviewMuseums & Heritage
Adversity forces reinvention: Matthew Teitelbaum on turbulent times at the MFA, Boston
After charges of racism levelled at his museum in 2019, Teitelbaum had to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. And then there was the Guston controversy
NewsRestitution
Museum of the Bible in Washington returns around 5,000 disputed biblical objects to Egypt
Institution has been faulted for a lack of oversight in determining what artefacts were legally exported and sold
NewsMosul
Mosul’s artists, resurgent, speak out on new Google platform
Through videos, audio clips, 3D models of destroyed sites and images of their works, Iraqis describe what they endured and their hopes for the future
NewsConservation & Preservation
Aliph finances effort to shore up crumbling Taq Kasra in Iraq, the world’s biggest brick vault
Foundation will direct $700,000 to emergency scaffolding, sensors and the drafting of a longer-term conservation plan
NewsAcquisitions
When everything turned upside down: Georg Baselitz donates six pathbreaking paintings to the Met
Portraits date from 1969, a pivotal point for an artist departing from conventional motifs
NewsAttribution
Its attribution restored, a Rembrandt portrait goes on view in Pennsylvania
A scientific analysis and conservation effort unveiled signature brush strokes and other marks of the master
NewsMuseums & Heritage
A year after fire, Museum of Chinese in America launches digital platform with Google to celebrate its historical treasures
Viewers can track the recovery after the blaze and view hundreds of images of the New York museum’s artefacts
NewsInauguration
At US Capitol, a new president and vice president greet 1859 painting with a rainbow theme
Painting by Black artist was chosen under Jill Biden’s guidance for a gift-giving ceremony
NewsExhibitions
On eve of US inauguration, a chance to visit the president's office
Oval Office replica is a popular element of New-York Historical Society exhibition about the presidency
NewsAppointments
Guggenheim appoints Naomi Beckwith as deputy director and senior curator
Appointment of MCA, Chicago curator is seen as a step toward more inclusiveness after accusations of institutional racism
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Smithsonian downsizes $2bn expansion of its south campus in Washington
The institution unveils planned changes to its historic Castle and Arts and Industries Building
NewsUS Capitol riot
‘Shameful vandalism and desecration’ : Met leaders condemn right-wing crowd's assault on US Capitol
Museum joins other institutions in assailing protestors' rampage and hate-inspiring imagery as a threat to democracy and equality
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Hirshhorn Museum is under pressure to reconsider redesign of its sculpture garden
Critics and city planners question changes to a historic reflecting pool and addition of stacked stone walls in a Modernist environment, while the artist Hiroshi Sugimoto defends his designs but says he is open to negotiating
NewsProtests
US Capitol’s works of art survive amid right-wing rampage in Washington
The authorities say that cleaning and conservation will be needed, however, after art was damaged by tear gas, pepper spray and fire extinguishers
NewsConservation & Preservation
From lockdowns to looting: how Covid-19 has taken a toll on world's threatened heritage sites
Sites of major importance—many in regions already ravaged by conflict—are contending with security problems and funding shortfalls
Newsreopenings
Five Philadelphia museums jointly announce that they are reopening this month
Institutions act on go-ahead from the city after their second closing in November
PreviewThe Year Ahead 2021
Major museum openings and expansions in 2021
From the much-anticipated Grand Egyptian Museum to the Frick’s move to a Brutalist landmark, here are the building projects aiming to change cultural landscapes around the world
NewsMuseums
Acquisitions round-up—Fondation Beyeler gets a frosty Fischli/Weiss snowman
Our pick of the latest gifts and purchases to enter international museum collections
NewsMuseums & Heritage
'Long overdue': US will build national museums for American Latinos and women's history after Congress approves historic bill
Bipartisan effort, decades in the making, permits Smithsonian Institution to move ahead with plans
NewsOpenings
Amid Covid-19 adjustments, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles delays opening by five months
The museum’s debut, repeatedly postponed, is now anticipated in September of next year
NewsAppointments & departures
Peabody Essex Museum director is resigning after just 17 months
Brian P. Kennedy says he will seek a “new challenge” but offers no further details
NewsEmergency grants
Grants multiply as government agencies and foundations seek to rescue US cultural organisations amid pandemic
Latest allocations include $32.8m from the National Endowment for the Humanities and $47.1m from New York’s Department of Cultural Affairs
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Peace offering: how museums help in troubled times
Amid the turmoil of the pandemic and the recent elections, US institutions with Tibetan Buddhist holdings respond with mindfulness events
NewsUnions
Employees at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh vote decisively to form a union
Goals include better pay and benefits, Covid-19 safety and a role in the institutions’ decision-making
NewsAppointments
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art appoints former nonprofit executive as its new director
Alyssa Nitchun hopes to advance New York museum’s role as a queer sanctuary and “provocateur”
NewsPublic art
Noguchi lobby installation is carted away from its high-rise New York home, across the street from MoMA
Museum sought to keep the site-specific work in place at 666 Fifth Avenue, but developer decided it had to go during renovation
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Lone senator blocks US bills creating museums that would celebrate American Latinos and women
Utah Republican says that such museums would “divide an already divided nation”
NewsAcquisitions
Ronald Lauder presents major gift of European arms and armour to the Met
Describing the donation as the most significant to the department in nearly 80 years, museum will rename galleries after Lauder
NewsArtists
Artist sues Los Angeles and the Chinese American Museum for junking his work
Lawsuit demands that court issue an injunction to prevent future dismantling of works of art without artists’ supervision
NewsAntiquities trafficking
After outcry from antiquities trade, Unesco further adjusts ad campaign on looted artefacts
Dealers association challenged the campaign’s claims that two newly pictured objects were stolen
NewsDia Art Foundation
Dia Chelsea plans to reopen in April after connecting three buildings in a $20m project
Inaugural exhibition in New York will feature a film and light sculptures by Lucy Raven
NewsAppointments
Norton Museum of Art appoints Ghislain d’Humières, former director at the Speed, as its new leader
Director assumes the mantle after an expansion and long coronavirus shutdown
AnalysisThe Year in Review 2020
Museums 2020: the year of crashing revenues and anti-racism disputes
Turbulent year draws to a close with sector wracked by pandemic lockdowns and Black Lives Matter challenges
NewsResignations
After controversy over her leadership, Stanford says director of its Cantor Arts Center has resigned
Museum undertook an investigation of Susan Dackerman’s allegedly “toxic” leadership style and departures of many staff members
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Smithsonian and National Gallery of Art will shut down again amid spike in coronavirus cases
Move by Washington, DC museums comes amid a wave of new US closures
NewsArchitecture
Architect Emilio Ambasz’s foundation donates $10m to MoMA to create a green architecture institute
New entity will spur research on the relationship between architecture and nature and work toward “environmental justice”, the New York museum says
NewsMuseums & Heritage
‘From bad to worse’: over half of US museums have laid off or furloughed staff, survey shows
Museums expect to lose an average of 35% of budgeted income this year, plus an additional 28% in 2021
NewsNagorno-Karabakh
Metropolitan Museum of Art appeals for protection of cultural heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh
Plea comes as Azerbaijan moves to take control of swaths of territory under a Russian-brokered peace deal
NewsOpenings
Challenges overcome as Houston's Museum of Fine Arts completes $450m campus expansion
Delayed by just three weeks amid the pandemic, new Kinder Building will dramatically increase space for Modern and contemporary art
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Unesco under fire for using Met objects in anti-trafficking campaign
Advertisements said that the works were looted in recent years, but Met documentation shows that they have a much longer provenance
PreviewExhibitions
When Boston fell head-over-heels in love with Monet
A new show at the Museum of Fine Arts recalls the time when the US city was first captivated by the French Impressionist
NewsPolls
A ‘snapshot in time’: how US museum directors viewed their world before the pandemic
In a sign of how drastically things would change, fewer than half prioritised online offerings in a wide-ranging survey
Newselection 2020
Art world rejoices in Biden’s win of US presidency
Artists, collectors, policy makers and gallery owners share their reactions after the tightly fought election
NewsPhilip Guston
After tumult, museums say that a delayed Philip Guston exhibition will open in 2022
Citing “unease and anxiety” about the show, the director of MFA, Boston predicts it will spur “in-depth discussions about great art”
Newslayoffs
Keith Davis, senior curator at Nelson-Atkins, resigns to protest colleague's layoff
Museum’s drive to cut 36 jobs eliminated the position of photography curator Jane L. Aspinwall, who helped oversee acclaimed collection
NewsArchitectural History
New York preservation group launches online mapping tool to champion former haunts of artists and activists
Organisation hopes the city will protect former home of Jackson Pollock and other buildings south of Union Square by designating a new historic district
NewsDeaccessioning
Baltimore Museum of Art calls off sale of Warhol, Still and Marden after outcry
Last-gasp decision after talks with the US museum directors association comes just before a Sotheby’s auction
NewsDeaccessioning
US Association of Art Museum Directors sends a warning note to its members on deaccessioning
As works head to market, organisation reminds members that its relaxed rules were not adopted to “incentivise” art sales
NewsDeaccessioning
Assailing leadership, two former board chairmen say they are rescinding $50m in planned gifts to Baltimore Museum of Art
Two artists also step down as board trustees amid turmoil over plans to deaccession three paintings
NewsDeaccessioning
Responding to outcry, Baltimore Museum of Art board chair defends deaccessioning decision
“The greatness of the BMA’s collection does not live within three individual paintings,” she says as the sale of a Warhol, Still and Marden approaches
NewsPrizes
Deana Lawson, photographer of highly staged tableaux, wins the Hugo Boss Prize
The artist, the first photographer anointed, will receive $100,000 and a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim
NewsJacob Lawrence
Missing for decades, a Jacob Lawrence painting surfaces in response to a Met exhibition
A visitor makes the connection between the artist’s Struggle series and a work in a neighbour’s home
NewsAppointments & departures
'We are not a suburb of Paris': incoming director of Montreal Museum of Fine Arts champions a North American identity
Stéphane Aquin is taking over after Nathalie Bondil’s controversial dismissal
NewsAppointments
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts appoints new director
Stéphane Aquin faces the challenge of restoring stability after Nathalie Bondil’s disputed removal
NewsDeaccessioning
Former trustees and donors ask state to block sale of three important works by the Baltimore Museum of Art
Letter asks Maryland attorney general and secretary of state to investigate planned deaccessioning of a Warhol, Still and Marden
NewsDeaccessioning
Brooklyn Museum steams ahead on deaccessioning
After netting $4.2m for a Cranach, the museum plans to sell off works by Monet, Dubuffet, Degas, Miró and Matisse
NewsEthics
Inquiry into actions by Detroit Institute of Arts director and board chair found no misconduct, museum says
Law firm hired by the Detroit museum found no conflict of interest in loan of art from director's family, it adds
NewsLos Angeles County Museum of Art
Tom Gores steps down from Lacma board after pressure over prison telecom ties
Billionaire investor argues in his resignation letter that he pushed for reforms
NewsMuseum architecture
Space race: how the pandemic is pushing museums to rethink design
Experts predict bigger galleries, a stronger connection to the outdoors and an end to the expansion juggernaut