Jewelry artist Douriean Fletcher’s exhibition opens at Walters Art Museum this weekend

The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore is set to open "Douriean Fletcher: Jewelry of the Afrofuture," a major exhibition featuring over 100 works by the renowned jewelry artist. Fletcher, who gained international acclaim for her costume design work on Marvel’s "Black Panther" franchise, will see her contemporary Afrofuturistic pieces displayed alongside ancient artifacts from the museum's permanent collection, including items from Ancient Egypt and Ethiopia.

At Kohei Nawa’s studio, the world is seen through glass bubbles

Japanese sculptor Kohei Nawa has launched his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles at Pace Gallery, titled "Photon Camp." The show features 20 new works from his renowned "PixCell" and "Prism" series, which utilize glass beads and light refraction to transform everyday objects—ranging from taxidermied animals to consumer electronics—into pixelated, magnified sculptures. The artist operates out of Sandwich, a sprawling Kyoto-based creative hub housed in a former sandwich factory that employs a team of 50 across art, design, and architecture.

New York exhibition to explore relationship between instruments and the body

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is set to launch 'Musical Bodies' on June 7, an ambitious exhibition featuring over 130 objects that explore the historical and aesthetic links between musical instruments and the human form. The show integrates a diverse array of items, including Antonio Stradivari’s 1693 ‘Gould’ violin, ancient Egyptian rattles, and contemporary artifacts like one of Prince’s guitars, alongside masterworks by Titian and Degas.

'Cigars!' exhibit at Florida Museum of Photographic Arts captures a fading history

The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts has launched "Cigars! Photography, Industry and Identity," a new exhibition by local photographer Zack Wittman. The show documents the architectural remnants of Tampa’s historic cigar industry, which once boasted over 200 factories but has dwindled to approximately 25 standing brick buildings. Through a collaboration with the J.C. Newman Cigar Company, Wittman captured both preserved and derelict structures that define the unique personality of Ybor City.

How Delilah Montoya’s art confronts ICE detention abuses

The Albuquerque Museum is hosting a retrospective of Chicana artist Delilah Montoya, titled "Delilah Montoya: Activating Chicana Resistance." The exhibition's centerpiece is "Detention Nation," an immersive installation created in collaboration with the Sin Huellas Artist Collective that simulates the conditions of ICE detention centers. The work features cyanotype images of detainees on prison cots, chain-link fencing, and displays of meager government-issued personal items alongside the official National Detainee Handbook.

Inside de Young Museum’s New Indigenous American Art Galleries

The de Young Museum in San Francisco has unveiled its completely reimagined Arts of Indigenous America galleries, featuring nearly 2,000 objects from across North, Central, and South America. Developed in close collaboration with Indigenous scholars and community advisors, the new installation moves away from traditional chronological or ethnographic displays. Instead, it integrates historical artifacts with contemporary works to emphasize the continuity and living nature of Indigenous artistic traditions across four regional sections.

LETTER | Wires crossed on art museum crisis

A local resident has criticized the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality and local media for their delayed response to the deteriorating state of the historic NMB Metropolitan Art Museum. The critique highlights significant factual errors in recent reporting regarding the museum's history, specifically correcting the timeline of its construction phases which date back to 1927, rather than the 70-year history recently cited by officials.

Trinity Professor’s Art Installation Comes to Connecticut Museum

The New Britain Museum of American Art has opened "The Museum of the Old Colony," a site-specific installation by Trinity College Professor Pablo Delano. The exhibition uses archival photography, sculptural objects, and text to examine the enduring impact of U.S. colonial rule in Puerto Rico since 1898. For this iteration, Delano has expanded the work to include new materials specifically documenting the history and experiences of the Puerto Rican community within Connecticut.

British Museum's looted ewer set for return to Ghana on long-term loan

The British Museum is expected to loan the 14th-century Asante Ewer to Ghana on a long-term basis, following discussions between the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi and the London institution. The ewer, made in England and later looted from the Asante royal palace in 1896, has been in the British Museum's collection ever since. Ivor Agyeman-Duah, director of the Manhyia Palace Museum, plans to travel to London to make a formal loan request on behalf of Asantehene Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II. The British Museum has already lent other looted artefacts to the Ghanaian museum, and the loan would likely be for three years, with Ghanaian authorities acknowledging British Museum ownership.

Museum of Art Donors Celebrate at Impressionist Exhibit

On November 17, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) hosted a donor appreciation reception for its high-level supporters and special guests to celebrate two concurrent exhibitions: "The Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse from the Dallas Museum of Art" and "Encore: 19th-Century French Art" from SBMA's own collection. Over 100 guests enjoyed cocktails and toured the galleries, welcomed by Eichholz Foundation Director Amada Cruz, who highlighted the revolutionary nature of Impressionism and its role in birthing modernism. Chief Curator James Glisson led a guided tour, noting the exhibition coincides with the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibit in 1874. Major donors recognized include The Dana and Albert R. Broccoli Charitable Foundation, Manitou Fund, SBMA Ambassadors, and several individual benefactors.

A rare jewellery box identified in Vermeer paintings sheds new light on the artist’s connections

New research by curator Alexandra van Dongen of Rotterdam’s Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum reveals that a rare Indo-Portuguese jewellery casket depicted in two Johannes Vermeer paintings—Mistress and Maid and A Lady Writing (both 1664-67)—is a real, surviving object. Van Dongen tracked down the sole known example in the Távora Sequeira Pinto collection in Porto, with help from Amsterdam dealer Dickie Zebregs. Her findings, published in the book De tastbare wereld van Johannes Vermeer, suggest the casket likely belonged to Vermeer’s patron Maria de Knuijt, a wealthy Dutch East India Company shareholder who may have asked the artist to include it in her paintings.

After 550 years, a fabric found in a Norwich bishop’s tomb is recreated

Fragments of silk from a ceremonial robe buried with Norwich Bishop Walter Lyhert in 1472 have been recreated after 550 years. The tiny pieces were discovered in 1899 during building works at Norwich Cathedral and have been on long-term loan to Norwich Castle. A project led by assistant curator Agata Gomolka used high-resolution photography, chemical fiber analysis, and dye testing by scientists at the British Museum and KIK-IRPA in Brussels to reconstruct the red and purple fabric. The recreated silk is now on display at Norwich Castle, and Norwich Cathedral plans to make ceremonial copes from it for use in services.

Book Honors for Art Museum’s Monhegan Show Publication

A book produced by Bowdoin College faculty, highlighting artistic portrayals of ecological change on Maine's Monhegan Island, has won the 2025 Historic New England Book Prize as one of two Honor Books. The interdisciplinary project was co-created by Frank Goodyear, codirector of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, plant scientist Barry Logan, and Jennifer Pye, director of the Monhegan Museum of Art & History, where the accompanying exhibition ran through September 30, 2025. The book and exhibition merge art, science, and history to explore ecological events on the island—such as pastureland formation and abandonment, forest recovery, and land conservation—through visual art and historical artifacts.

Book Honors for Art Museum’s Monhegan Show Publication

A book produced by Bowdoin College faculty, highlighting artistic portrayals of ecological change on Maine's Monhegan Island, has won a 2025 Historic New England Book Prize as one of two Honor Books. The interdisciplinary project, led by Frank Goodyear (codirector of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art), plant scientist Barry Logan, and Jennifer Pye (director of the Monhegan Museum of Art & History), accompanied an exhibition that ran at the Monhegan Museum after its Bowdoin showing. The book and exhibition examine ecological shifts on the island—such as pastureland formation, forest recovery, and land conservation—through visual art, historical documents, and artifacts.

In a new biography, Vanessa Bell is cast as the Bloomsbury Group's leading light—and as central to 20th-century visual culture

Wendy Hitchmough’s new biography, *Vanessa Bell: The Life and Art of a Bloomsbury Radical*, argues that Vanessa Bell (1879–1961) was a central figure in 20th-century visual culture, both as an artist and designer. The book details how Bell navigated sexism through collaboration and anonymity, with works like *Dancing Couple* only attributed to her in 1999. Hitchmough, a former curator of Charleston, presents Bell’s life with a matter-of-fact tone, weaving in the complex personal and professional entanglements of the Bloomsbury Group, including her relationships with Clive Bell, Roger Fry, and Molly MacCarthy.

Is Vermeer’s ‘The Art of Painting’ in fact a lost work?

Paul Taylor, a curator at London’s Warburg Institute specializing in 17th-century Dutch art, argues that Vermeer’s celebrated painting *The Art of Painting* (1666-68), housed at Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, may not be the work referenced in a 1676 legal document by the artist’s widow, Catharina. Taylor tracked 25 period descriptions of “de schilderconst” (the art of painting) and found they all depict allegorical personifications of painting, not studio scenes like Vermeer’s composition. He believes the document refers to a now-lost Vermeer that could still resurface.

Is Vermeer’s ‘The Art of Painting’ in fact a lost work?

Paul Taylor, a curator at London's Warburg Institute and specialist in 17th-century Dutch art, argues that Vermeer's celebrated painting 'The Art of Painting' (1666-68), housed at Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum, may not be the work referenced in a 1676 legal document by Vermeer's widow Catharina. Taylor tracked down 25 period descriptions of 'de schilderconst' (the art of painting) and found they all depict allegorical personifications of painting, not studio scenes like the Vienna canvas, which shows an artist painting a model as the muse Clio. He suggests the document refers to a now-lost Vermeer that could still surface.

True Origins of King Tut ‘Curse’ Emerge in Newly Sold Letter

A three-page letter written by archaeologist Howard Carter, which disputes the origins of the famous "Curse of the Pharaohs" linked to King Tutankhamun's tomb, has sold at auction for $16,643. In the letter, Carter explicitly blames journalist Arthur Weigall for inventing the sensationalist myth out of professional pique after being excluded from exclusive coverage of the 1922 discovery.

Strange Coin Used on U.K. Bus Turns Out to Be 2,000-Year-Old Relic

A 2,000-year-old Phoenician bronze coin, originally used as bus fare in Leeds in the 1950s, has been identified and donated to the Leeds Discovery Centre. The coin was minted in the ancient Carthaginian settlement of Gadir (modern-day Cádiz, Spain) and features imagery of the deity Melqart and tuna fish, reflecting its maritime origins.

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London's Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has acquired a reconstructed version of YouTube's 2006 interface, including its first-ever uploaded video, 'Me at the zoo.' The interactive display, built using archived code and Adobe Flash, is now on view in the museum's 'Design 1900-Now' gallery, representing a significant effort to preserve the look and feel of early internet culture.

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Egypt has recovered two ancient artifacts from Belgium after a decade-long effort, announced on December 2 by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The objects—a painted and gilded Ptolemaic sarcophagus (305–30 B.C.E.) and a wooden beard from a Middle Kingdom statue—were seized by Belgian authorities in 2015 following an Interpol alert, as they were displayed in a Brussels antiques gallery without legal documentation. After a drawn-out diplomatic and legal process, the artifacts were returned in a ceremony at the Royal Museums of Art and History in July, attended by senior Egyptian culture ministers.

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Archaeologists have unearthed the Roman Empire's second-largest olive oil processing complex in the Kasserine region of Tunisia, near the Algerian border. Co-directed by Ca' Foscari University of Venice, the excavation at the 33-hectare site called Henchir el Begar revealed a monumental torcularium with twelve beam presses, a second eight-press facility, oil mills, cisterns, and a water collection basin. The team also found artifacts including a copper-and-brass bracelet, a limestone projectile, and architectural elements dating from the modern to Byzantine periods. A Latin inscription confirms senatorial approval for a bimonthly market on the land in 138 AD, indicating the site was a hub for social, political, and religious life.

Canada returns 11 artefacts to Turkey in the first repatriation between the countries

Canada has returned 11 Ottoman-era artefacts to Turkey, marking the first official repatriation of cultural property between the two nations. The items, which include manuscript pages and calligraphy works from the 17th to 19th centuries, were handed over in a ceremony at the Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa following a federal court ruling.

Pixels and paintings: video games return to the V&A

The Victoria & Albert Museum hosted a special Friday Late event in collaboration with the London Games Festival, transforming its historic galleries into a playground for interactive and independent video games. Visitors could play titles like the Bafta-winning 'Thank Goodness You’re Here!' and the comedic 'Sex With Friends' amidst the museum's permanent collection, while live-coding music performances and participatory art projects like 'Robot Karaoke' and 'The Line is the Game' emphasized communal, performative experiences.

Recalling When Lower Manhattan Was New Amsterdam

The New-York Historical Society has launched a major exhibition exploring the 17th-century origins of New York City during its era as the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. The show utilizes a diverse array of artifacts, maps, and historical documents to trace the colony's development from a fur-trading outpost to a diverse maritime hub, highlighting the complex interactions between Dutch settlers, Indigenous populations, and enslaved Africans.

Donna Distefano Recreates Centuries-Old Jewelry for the Frick Collection

Donna Distefano, a contemporary jewelry designer, has meticulously recreated 16th-century jewelry pieces for The Frick Collection's exhibition "Gold, Silver, and Rare Stones: Renaissance Jewelry in the Robert Lehman Collection." Her work involved extensive research into historical techniques and materials, resulting in wearable replicas of intricate pendants and brooches originally owned by European nobility.

A Washington Museum Zeros In on the Watergate Scandal

A Washington Museum Zeros In on the Watergate Scandal

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., has opened a new exhibition titled "Break the News: Watergate and the American Presidency." The show features over 60 objects, including photographs, political cartoons, and artifacts like the infamous tape recorder used by President Richard Nixon, to explore the scandal's impact on media, politics, and public trust.

Lost Page From Archimedes Palimpsest Reappears In French Museum

A researcher has identified a long-lost page from the Archimedes Palimpsest, a 10th-century manuscript containing copies of the Greek mathematician's treatises. The page, held at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Blois, France, was matched to a leaf documented in 1906 photographs and contains diagrams from "On the Sphere and the Cylinder" on one side and a later-added religious illustration on the other.

Saginaw Art Museum announces ‘Warhol and the Image Machine’ exhibition

The Saginaw Art Museum & Gardens has announced the upcoming exhibition "Warhol and the Image Machine," set to open on May 20. The show explores Andy Warhol’s fascination with the manufacturing of icons through repetition and mass production, featuring celebrity portraits and appropriated imagery. The exhibition aims to demonstrate how Warhol’s work predicted a modern era where digital images and recognition serve as a primary form of cultural currency.

Dive into Contemporary Art in Seoul, South Korea: Amorepacific Museum of Art Showcases Global and Korean Masters

The Amorepacific Museum of Art (APMA) in Seoul has established itself as a premier destination for contemporary art, featuring a diverse collection that bridges global masterpieces with traditional Korean aesthetics. The museum's current programming highlights its commitment to international dialogue, showcasing works by world-renowned artists alongside significant Korean historical artifacts and modern pieces.