Art News. Vasari Codex

trending_up market schedule Sep 22, 2025 visibility 15 link 6 artists

unknown pablo picasso painting dora maar for sale

A Pablo Picasso painting of Dora Maar, titled *Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat (Dora Maar)*, has been consigned to the Paris auction house Lucien Paris after not being seen publicly for 80 years. Painted in 1943 and last exhibited in 1944, the work was inherited by the anonymous seller from a grandparent. It is currently on view at Hôtel Drouot and will be auctioned on October 24 with an estimate of approximately $9.5 million. Photographic evidence of the painting appears in 1944 photos by Brassaï of Picasso’s studio.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 22, 2025 visibility 8 link 4 artists

man crushed to death by warhol painted bmw art car after winch fails in washington d c

A man was killed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., while unloading a 1979 BMW Art Car custom-painted by Andy Warhol. The accident occurred when a winch securing the vehicle on a flatbed truck failed, pinning the unidentified man beneath the car. The sports car was to be featured in a pop-up exhibition called “Cars at the Capital,” organized by the Hagerty Drivers Foundation, which has since canceled the event out of respect for the deceased.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 17, 2025 visibility 9 link 3 artists

pussy riot members sentenced in absentia by a moscow court

Five members of the punk art collective Pussy Riot—Maria (Masha) Alekhina, Olga Borisova, Diana Burkot, Alina Petrova, and Taso Pletner—have been sentenced in absentia by a Moscow court to prison terms ranging from 8 to 13 years. The charges stem from spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian Armed Forces, linked to the collective’s 2022 antiwar video referencing the siege of Mariupol. The sentences were reported by the state-owned news agency Tass and first covered by the Art Newspaper.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 17, 2025 visibility 16 link 4 artists

aichi triennale protests israel matching program

The Aichi Triennale in Japan has become embroiled in controversy over the Aichi-Israel Matching Program, a business initiative linking local companies with Israeli startups. Protesters, including several participating artists, have signed an open letter demanding the program's cancellation, accusing it of normalizing alleged human rights abuses. The triennial's curator, Hoor Al-Qasimi, has publicly criticized Israel's military actions in Gaza, and one organizing committee member, Hideyuki Tomita, has resigned amid the backlash.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Sep 16, 2025 visibility 22 link 18 artists

new yorker covers marilyn minter awol erizku

The New Yorker has commissioned six contemporary photographers—Marilyn Minter, Awol Erizku, Ryan McGinley, Collier Schorr, Camila Falquez, and Alex Prager—to reimagine historical illustrated covers for the magazine’s centennial. Each photographer created a celebrity portrait inspired by a past cover, such as Erizku’s photo of Spike Lee as Eustace Tilley and Minter’s recreation of a 1925 cover featuring actress Sadie Sink. The project marks only the third time in the magazine’s history that photography has been used for its cover.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

person people schedule Sep 15, 2025 visibility 14 link 3 artists

max carter christies chairman 20th and 21st century art americas

Christie’s has appointed Max Carter as chairman of 20th and 21st Century art for the Americas. Carter, a Canadian-American writer and art specialist who joined the auction house in 2007, previously led the Impressionist and modern art department in the Americas from 2017 to 2022. He has overseen major collection consignments from Anne Bass, Paul Allen, S.I. Newhouse, Mica Ertegun, Robert F. Weis and Patricia G. Ross Weis, and Elaine Wynn, and has achieved record prices for artists like Ed Ruscha and Henri Rousseau. Carter will report to Christie’s global president and succeeds in the role as the auction house prepares for its marquee November sales in New York.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Sep 15, 2025 visibility 17 link 4 artists

newly discovered snail named after picasso

An international team of malacologists has discovered 46 new species of Southeast Asian microsnails, all under the genus Anauchen. One of them, Anauchen picasso, is named after Pablo Picasso because the angular patterns on its 3mm-wide shell resemble Cubism. The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys, based on fieldwork in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, and comparisons with specimens from the Florida Museum of Natural History.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 12, 2025 visibility 15 link 3 artists

lee ufan painting bribery investigation south korea

South Korea's impeached former president Yoon Suk-yeol's wife, Kim Keon-hee, was arrested in August on charges including bribery. A special prosecutor revealed that a painting by renowned artist Lee Ufan is central to the inquiry. Prosecutors allege that former prosecutor Kim Sang-min purchased Lee's work *From Point No. 800298* in 2023 for about $75,000 on behalf of Kim Keon-hee's brother, Kim Jin-woo, and that the painting was given to the former first lady's circle. The transaction is being investigated for possible links to political favors, including Kim Sang-min's bid for a ruling-party nomination and his later appointment as a legal adviser to the National Intelligence Service.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Sep 11, 2025 visibility 10 link 2 artists

mahmoud khalil nan goldin market tanked palestine activism

Artist Nan Goldin and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil discussed Khalil's 104-day ICE detention, the 'Palestine Exception' to free speech, and the backlash faced by pro-Palestinian activists in a conversation published in Dazed magazine. Khalil was arrested in March 2024 after serving as a negotiator during Columbia University protests, with the Trump administration alleging he undermined foreign policy and later claiming he failed to disclose information on his green card application. Goldin compared her own experience leading the activist group PAIN, which successfully pressured museums to cut ties with the Sackler family over the opioid crisis, noting that pro-Palestinian activism has faced far greater criminal and professional repercussions.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 9, 2025 visibility 24 link 12 artists

school of visual arts transfers ownership alumni society

The School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York has transferred ownership from the Rhodes family, which owned it for nearly 80 years, to the SVA Alumni Society, a nonprofit that has funded student scholarships since 1972. The transfer took effect on September 1, with longtime president David Rhodes stating that day-to-day operations would not change. The move comes amid financial difficulties, a recent faculty unionization effort by SVA Faculty United (affiliated with United Auto Workers), and reported layoffs of around 30 workers.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Aug 30, 2025 visibility 20 link 11 artists

christies robert patricia weis collection sale

Christie’s has secured the collection of Robert F. Weis and Patricia G. Ross Weis for its November sales in New York, with 80 lots valued at over $180 million. The collection spans Cubism to Abstract Expressionism and includes major works by Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, and Rothko, with top estimates reaching $50 million. The Weis family, founders of Weis Markets, assembled the collection over more than seventy years, and 18 lots will be sold in a single-owner sale ahead of Christie’s 20th-century evening sale.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Aug 21, 2025 visibility 13 link 3 artists

christies lawsuit milos vavra egon schiele nazi looted art

A Czech man named Milos Vavra, a descendant of Jewish cabaret performer and collector Fritz Grünbaum who was murdered by the Nazis, has filed a lawsuit against Christie's in New York Supreme Court. Vavra demands that the auction house disclose the ownership and location of several blue-chip artworks from the Grünbaum Collection, including works by Egon Schiele. He alleges that Christie's entered a nondisclosure agreement with a Swiss family seeking to auction looted artworks, and he needs the information urgently to file claims before the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act (HEAR Act) statute of limitations expires in late 2026.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Aug 19, 2025 visibility 15 link 4 artists

ai weiwei ukraine front line kyiv installation

Ai Weiwei has traveled to Ukraine's eastern front, visiting Kharkiv under Russian bombardment and meeting soldiers, poets, and cultural figures resisting the invasion. He documented the trip on Instagram with stark images and was photographed in black fatigues marked "Khartiia," a volunteer unit now part of Ukraine's National Guard. His next project is a major installation in Kyiv titled "Three Perfectly Proportioned Spheres and Camouflage Uniforms Painted White," opening September 14 at Pavilion 13, a renovated Soviet-era hall, commissioned by Ribbon International.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Aug 11, 2025 visibility 17 link 6 artists

george lucas comic con panel lucas museum preview

George Lucas made his long-awaited debut at Comic-Con's Hall H to present a sneak peek of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, set to open in Los Angeles next year. The panel, moderated by Queen Latifah, included filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and production designer Doug Chiang, and revealed details about the 300,000-square-foot building designed by Ma Yansong of MAD, with 33 galleries, two theaters, and 11 acres of green space. Lucas discussed his personal collection of over 40,000 works, emphasizing narrative art's role in shaping community and shared beliefs, and highlighted pieces by Norman Rockwell, Kadir Nelson, Beatrix Potter, and Frida Kahlo.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Jul 25, 2025 visibility 16 link 9 artists

alan sonfist seeds of time

American artist Alan Sonfist, a pioneer of the Land Art movement known for his 1978 work "Time Landscape" in New York City, has opened a solo exhibition titled "Seeds of Time" at Parco Arte Vivente (PAV) in Turin, Italy. Curated by Marco Scotini, the show features a new installation, "Growth Between the Cracks" (2025), for which Sonfist collaborated with local residents to collect soil samples from overlooked urban spaces across Turin. The exhibition revisits Sonfist's early ecological works and includes a conversation between the artist and curator about the evolution of environmental art.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Jul 23, 2025 visibility 14 link 3 artists

eames house restored reopened

The Eames House, designed by Charles and Ray Eames in the late 1940s in Los Angeles's Pacific Palisades, has reopened after a six-month closure due to smoke damage from the January 2025 wildfires. The property was saved from destruction partly because hundreds of surrounding trees were removed in 2024. The restoration has expanded visitor access, opening the studio for the first time, which will host exhibitions on the house's evolution and contemporary design influences. The first exhibition may focus on community rebuilding after the fires.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Jul 23, 2025 visibility 12 link 3 artists

hieronymus bosch garden of earthly delights why important

The article examines Hieronymus Bosch's masterpiece "The Garden of Earthly Delights" (c. 1490–1510), explaining that while modern viewers often call it surreal, the term is an anachronism; the painting reflects a medieval worldview where damnation and divine order were accepted realities. It describes the triptych's structure, its likely commission by Engelbert II, Count of Nassau, and its narrative flow from grisaille exterior to vivid interior panels depicting Eden and hell. The piece also notes how 20th-century Surrealists like André Breton and Salvador Dalí claimed Bosch as a precursor, with Dalí directly borrowing motifs from the painting.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Jul 22, 2025 visibility 11 link 2 artists

refik anadol lionel messi favorite goal ai data sculpture

Refik Anadol's A.I. data sculpture "A Goal in Life," based on Lionel Messi's favorite goal from the 2009 Champions League final, sold for $1.87 million at Christie's. The artwork uses millions of data points, including Messi's biometric voice data, breathing patterns, and heartbeat rhythms, to recreate the moment in an immersive 16K-resolution mirrored room. Proceeds benefit education programs in Latin America and the Caribbean supported by the Inter Miami CF Foundation.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Jul 22, 2025 visibility 10 link 6 artists

ronald perelmans 410m trial finally begins

Billionaire collector Ronald Perelman's $410 million insurance trial has finally begun after seven years of litigation, over 1,500 court filings, and a 2018 fire at his East Hampton estate. The dispute centers on five paintings by Cy Twombly, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol that survived the fire but were exposed to smoke and sprinklers. Perelman claims the works lost their market appeal—their "oomph"—while insurers at Lloyd's of London dispute any detectable damage and allege Perelman quietly tried to sell some of the pieces. The trial has also revealed that Perelman sold over 70 works from his collection after a margin call from Deutsche Bank, with some contested paintings used as collateral.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Jul 22, 2025 visibility 15 link 3 artists

eddington ari aster poster david wojnarowicz

Ari Aster's upcoming film *Eddington*, premiering at Cannes, uses David Wojnarowicz's 1988–89 artwork *Untitled (Buffalos)* as its poster image. The film, set in May 2020, follows a sheriff and mayor clashing over face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wojnarowicz's work, originally a critique of U.S. government indifference during the AIDS crisis, depicts bison falling off a cliff—a metaphor for societal collapse. The poster slightly alters the image, and A24, the production company, has not commented on the design.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Jul 16, 2025 visibility 13 link 13 artists

simon de pury artnet hans neuendorf

Simon de Pury pays homage to Hans Neuendorf, the visionary founder of Artnet, following the announcement of Artnet's sale at the end of May. De Pury recounts Neuendorf's background as a successful art dealer who championed underappreciated artists like Francis Picabia, and describes how Neuendorf revolutionized the art world by creating the world's most comprehensive auction results database in 1989 (initially called Centrox). The article contrasts the pre-digital era of manually filing auction results with the instant access Artnet now provides, and notes that Neuendorf later expanded the platform with Artnet News and Artnet online auctions.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Jul 16, 2025 visibility 13 link 1 artist

risque pompeii mosaic looted german restituted

A Roman erotic mosaic looted from Pompeii by a German Wehrmacht captain during World War II has been returned to Italy and is now on display at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. The heirs of the last owner contacted the Carabinieri in Rome, leading to a diplomatic repatriation via the Italian Consulate General in Stuttgart, Germany, in September 2023. The mosaic, dating to around 79 C.E., depicts a pair of lovers and is thought to have decorated a bedroom floor in a Roman villa.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

person people schedule Jul 15, 2025 visibility 19 link 15 artists

racquel chevremont interview and just like that

Racquel Chevremont, a curator and collector who recently appeared on the Real Housewives of New York, was brought in by the producers of the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That… to build the art collection for the character Lisa Todd Wexley. Chevremont selected works by Black artists including Carrie Mae Weems, Deborah Roberts, Barkley Hendricks, Gordon Parks, Mickalene Thomas, Derrick Adams, and Alma Thomas to adorn the Wexley family home, carefully choosing each piece to reflect the character's identity as a successful Black documentarian and mother. In an interview with ARTnews, Chevremont explains how she researched the character's background to curate a collection that feels authentic, and describes the process of licensing images for reproduction on set rather than borrowing original works.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Jul 15, 2025 visibility 11 link 3 artists

phillips pollock painting lawsuit david mimran

Phillips auction house has filed a lawsuit against David Mimran, a film producer and son of billionaire Jean Claude Mimran, alleging he failed to pay $14.5 million for a Jackson Pollock drip painting (ca. 1948) that sold at a New York auction in November 2024. Mimran had agreed to a third-party guarantee for the work, which sold for $15.3 million with fees, but according to Phillips, he sought an extension and then claimed he could not pay. The auction house is seeking nearly $15 million including interest.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Jul 11, 2025 visibility 9 link 7 artists

nadya tolokonnikova interview police state la moca

Nadya Tolokonnikova, cofounder of Pussy Riot, has created a performance installation titled "Police State" (2025) at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (LA MOCA). The work recreates a Russian jail cell where Tolokonnikova performs daily activities—making music, creating art, and resting—observed by visitors via security camera footage and peepholes. The installation also features artworks by current and former political prisoners from Russia, Belarus, and the United States, curated through Tolokonnikova's Art Action Foundation and the Artistic Freedom Initiative. Originally scheduled for June 5–14, the show was extended due to the museum's closure amid anti-ICE protests and National Guard deployment.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Jul 11, 2025 visibility 16 link 6 artists

man ray rediscovered

A rediscovered watercolor sketch by Man Ray, created in 1913 when he was in his early twenties, has resurfaced after decades in an attic and sold for £18,000 ($24,000) at Dreweatts auction house in Newbury, England, on July 10. The work, titled *Nude Playing Musical Instrument [Study for “Tapestry Painting”]*, is a preparatory study for a lost larger oil-on-linen tapestry and offers rare insight into the artist's pivotal transition from traditional painting to avant-garde experimentation inspired by European modernism encountered at the 1913 Armory Show.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Jul 9, 2025 visibility 14 link 6 artists

ed sheeran paintings jackson pollock heni

Singer Ed Sheeran is presenting a series of abstract paintings titled the “Cosmic Carpark Paintings” at Heni Gallery in London, with the exhibition opening this Friday. The works, made by dripping and splashing paint onto canvases placed on the floor, closely resemble Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings. Sheeran’s foundation is selling prints for £900 each, with 50% of proceeds benefiting UK schools. Sheeran told the Guardian he painted in a disused Soho car park during tour downtime, and the gallery’s press release describes the works as “inspired by celestial patterns” without mentioning Pollock.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Jul 3, 2025 visibility 17 link 7 artists

canaletto walpole heads to christies auction

Canaletto's painting "Venice, the Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day" (1731–32) sold for £31.9 million ($43.9 million) at Christie's Old Masters evening sale in London, setting a new auction record for the Italian painter. The work, which once hung in the offices of Britain's first prime minister Robert Walpole, surpassed its presale estimate of £20 million and is the largest Canaletto composition to appear at market in two decades, noted for its exceptional preservation and execution during the artist's career peak.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Jul 2, 2025 visibility 15 link 1 artist

leonardo da vinci vitruvian man secrets dentist

A London-based dentist, Dr. Rory Mac Sweeney, has published a new analysis of Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" (c. 1490) in the Journal of Mathematics and Arts. Using his professional training, Sweeney identifies an equilateral triangle hidden between the figure's legs, which he links to "Bonwill's triangle," a 19th-century dental principle describing optimal jaw function. He argues that Leonardo intuitively encoded geometric relationships—including a tetrahedral ratio of approximately 1.64—that anticipate modern understanding of biological architecture.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Jun 30, 2025 visibility 18 link 9 artists

lorde virgin vinyl photograph talia chetrit

A revealing photograph of singer Lorde from the vinyl edition of her new album *Virgin* has gone viral, sparking debate on social media. The image, credited to artist Talia Chetrit, shows Lorde in see-through pants without underwear, echoing the album's cover—an X-ray of her pelvis by Heji Shin. Chetrit, known for exploring power dynamics and sexuality in her work, previously photographed Lorde for a single cover. The photo has drawn comparisons to Chetrit's earlier self-portraits and has been discussed in the context of nudity and illusion in art.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original