New Frida Kahlo museum, focused on the artist's youth and family life, opens in Mexico City

A new museum dedicated to Frida Kahlo, Museo Casa Kahlo, opened on 27 September in Mexico City's Coyoacán neighborhood, a five-minute walk from the iconic Casa Azul. Housed in the historic Kahlo family home acquired in 1930 and passed down through generations, the museum draws on the private archive of Isolda Kahlo, Cristina Kahlo's daughter, which includes letters, everyday objects, and personal effects. The intimate space focuses on Kahlo's youth and family life, featuring immersive audiovisual elements, a re-created darkroom of her father Guillermo, and a basement studio where Kahlo once painted. A notable highlight is a recently uncovered mixed-media mural from around 1949, hidden for years under white paint.

11 must-see works in MAM's new Bradley Collection exhibition

The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) has opened a new exhibition titled "The Bradley Collection of Modern Art: A Bold Vision for Milwaukee" in the Baker/Rowland Galleries, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Peg Bradley's donation of nearly 400 works to the museum. The show features highlights from the collection, including pieces by Wassily Kandinsky, Raoul Dufy, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, alongside works by American artists like Georgia O'Keeffe and Andy Warhol. The exhibition offers visitors a chance to see these works in a new setting and learn more about Bradley as a collector and philanthropist.

The Red-Hot Market for South Asian Modernism Has a New Star

A 1989 painting by Bangladeshi modernist S.M. Sultan, titled *Untitled (Cultivation)*, sold for $50,800 at Christie’s New York on Wednesday, more than doubling its high estimate of $25,000 and setting a new auction record for the artist. The work was acquired by a South Asian institution. Sultan, who died in 1994, is known for his depictions of muscular peasants and has only 14 recorded auction results, with his previous record of $19,500 set just two months earlier at Sotheby’s.

Phillips’ Mill’s “96th Juried Art Show” Opens Sept. 20

Phillips’ Mill Community Association will host its 96th Juried Art Show from September 20 to October 26 at the historic grist mill in New Hope, Pennsylvania. The exhibition features a record-breaking 700+ artworks submitted by artists from Bucks County and the River Towns region, with an opening night preview on September 19 for patrons and accepted artists. The event includes 25 awards totaling $14,500, and for the first time, the opening requires tickets. Honored Artist Shawn Campbell and Signature Image artist Jay McPhillips will greet guests, and a jury of art professionals selected the works.

Huge fashion photography archive heads this month’s acquisition round-up

The New York Historical has acquired the vast archive of legendary New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, nearly a decade after his death in 2016. The collection includes tens of thousands of images, negatives, slides, contact sheets, and correspondence documenting Manhattan street style and high-society events over 50 years. Separately, the J. Paul Getty Museum received a gift of 38 Italian manuscript illuminations from T. Robert Burke and Katherine States Burke, doubling its holdings in that area. The Hamburger Kunsthalle purchased René Magritte's painting *Le Palais de Rideaux* (1928) for €2.4 million from a Belgian private collection.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Visions of Grandeur

Middlebury College Museum of Art presents 'Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Visions of Grandeur,' an exhibition showcasing the 18th-century Italian printmaker, architect, designer, and antiquities dealer. The show features prints, drawings, a book, a map, and a recently acquired sculpture drawn from Middlebury's collections, augmented by loans from the Yale University Art Gallery, the Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum, and private collections. Curated by architectural history professor Pieter Broucke, the exhibition includes label texts researched by Middlebury students in a January 2025 curatorial lab course.

Reynolds works acquired by Waddesdon Manor under UK's acceptance in lieu scheme

Two major paintings by 18th-century British artist Joshua Reynolds—David Garrick Between Tragedy and Comedy (1761) and Portrait of Joanna Leigh, Mrs Richard Bennett Lloyd (1775-76)—have been acquired by Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire under the UK’s acceptance in lieu (AIL) scheme. The works, from the estate of Jacob Rothschild who died in February 2024, settled a combined £24.5 million in inheritance tax. Both paintings had been on loan to Waddesdon Manor, a National Trust property managed by Rothschild, since 1995.

Never-before-seen landscape photos on display at Denver Art Museum

The Denver Art Museum has opened a new photography exhibition titled "What We've Been Up To: Landscape," featuring works acquired over the past 17 years that have never been publicly displayed before. The show, curated by the museum's photography department (established in 2008), includes a range of landscape photographs from historic images by Ansel Adams, Marion Post Wolcott, and William Henry Jackson to contemporary works by artists such as Abelardo Morell, Meghann Riepenhoff, and Steve Fitch. The exhibition occupies a few rooms on the sixth floor of the Martin Building and highlights the museum's recent acquisitions in photography.

Guggenheim Fellows Featured in Stockton’s Art Gallery

Stockton University’s Art Gallery in Galloway, New Jersey, will present a fall exhibition titled “Diverse Perspectives in Photography: Four Black Guggenheim Fellows in the Philadelphia Region,” running from September 4 to November 8. The show features works by four African American photographers who are Guggenheim Fellows: Donald E. Camp (1995), Ron Tarver (2021), William E. Williams (2003), and Wendel A. White (2003). The exhibition opens with a free reception and panel discussion moderated by Julie L. McGee, associate professor at the University of Delaware, and includes a lecture by Laura Auricchio, vice president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, on the fellowship’s 100th anniversary.

Behind the scenes of assembling SAM's large-scale Ai Weiwei exhibition

The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) team faced an extraordinary challenge installing the retrospective “Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei,” which required handling eight tractor-trailers of artwork—far more than the usual two—within just three weeks. The exhibition features 130 complex works, including a giant tree sculpture, a life-size jail cell replica, and a Lego rendition of the Mueller report, many arriving without instruction manuals and requiring creative assembly by a 12-person crew led by lead preparator Joshua Gosovich.

Yale University Art Gallery withdraws federal funding applications over anti-diversity regulations

The Yale University Art Gallery has withdrawn two federal grant applications submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for an upcoming exhibition on African art exploring the migration of Nguni peoples, scheduled for 2026. The gallery objected to new anti-DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, which require that funded projects do not promote certain ideologies based on race or gender. The gallery will instead use Yale University's $46 billion endowment to cover the $200,000 exhibition costs. This follows a previous instance where the gallery opted out of NEA funding, and a separate $30,000 NEA grant for the exhibition "Nusantara: Six Centuries of Indonesian Textile" was rescinded, though that show will proceed with support from the Robert Lehman Endowment Fund.

Bill Viola’s complete moving-image works and a William Dobson self-portrait: the latest museum acquisitions

Tate and the National Portrait Gallery in London have jointly acquired William Dobson's rare self-portrait (circa 1635-40) for £2.4 million, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The painting will debut at Tate Britain in November before touring the UK. Separately, the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, will digitize the complete moving-image works of Bill Viola, following a donation of over 200 works by the Viola-Perov Trust. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has acquired a monumental Tiffany Studios stained-glass window by Agnes F. Northrop, originally installed in a San Antonio chapel, for its campus expansion opening in 2026.

Avignon becomes artist Jean-Michel Othoniel's gallery in his biggest ever exhibition

French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel has mounted his largest-ever exhibition across the city of Avignon, installing 270 artworks—140 of them new—in 10 locations including the Palais des Papes, city museums, public courtyards, building facades, and the medieval St Bénezet bridge. The show, commissioned to mark Avignon’s 25th anniversary as European Capital of Culture and 30th year as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2025, took nearly six weeks to install and involved a team of hundreds, including glassblowers, metalworkers, gilders, and dancers. Othoniel took the 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch as his thematic starting point, exploring different facets of love across the venues.

Crystal Bridges Museum and Art Bridges receive 90 works of contemporary Indigenous art in landmark acquisition

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and its Art Bridges Foundation have acquired 90 contemporary works by Indigenous artists from the John and Susan Horseman Collection. Art Bridges will receive 81 works for long-term loans across the U.S., while nine pieces will join Crystal Bridges' permanent collection. Artists include Kent Monkman, George Morrison, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and Cannupa Hanska Luger. The acquisition is part of a broader strategy to expand the museum's holdings in Indigenous and craft art, with works set to debut in exhibitions starting November 2024.

Fuse Box: Sarah Sze

The Denver Art Museum has acquired and is presenting "Sleepers," a new media installation by Sarah Sze, a renowned artist and 2003 MacArthur Fellow. The six-channel video installation projects moving images onto over 300 hand-torn paper screens suspended from strings, using footage shot on the artist's iPhone and stock libraries. This marks Sze's first work with recorded and edited sound, continuing her exploration of everyday objects and digital environments.

Which galleries are returning to Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2025—and which are not?

Frieze London and Frieze Masters have announced their 2025 exhibitor lists, with nearly 290 galleries set to participate in Regent's Park from October 15 to 19. Frieze London's 22nd edition will feature over 160 exhibitors, including blue-chip names like Gagosian, Pace, Goodman, and Sprüth Magers, alongside London staples The Approach and Corvi-Mora. Notable absentees from last year include Tanja Wagner, Magician Space, and Lia Rumma, while newcomers such as Carbon 12, Anat Ebgi, and Simões de Assis join the main section. The Focus section for emerging galleries debuts eight first-time participants, and a curated section organized by Jareh Das will highlight artists from Brazil, Africa, and their diasporas. Across the park, Frieze Masters, under new director Emanuela Tarizzo, will host around 120 galleries, with first-timers including Champ Lacombe and Vito Schnabel Gallery, and the Studio section curated by Sheena Wagstaff.

A brush with Cezanne in Aix-en-Provence, France: a blockbuster retrospective comes to town

Paul Cezanne's hometown of Aix-en-Provence is staging a major retrospective at the Musée Granet, bringing together over 130 works including still lifes, portraits, and landscapes. The exhibition coincides with the reopening of two key sites after an eight-year restoration: the artist's atelier in Les Lauves and the Bastide du Jas de Bouffan, the family estate where Cezanne painted for 40 years. The Bastide, acquired by Cezanne's banker father in 1859, had fallen into disrepair and closed in 2017; it reopens on 28 June with guided tours and grounds open to visitors.

Call for Applications: 2026–27 and 2027–28 Freund Teaching Fellowships

Washington University in St. Louis's Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and the Saint Louis Art Museum are accepting applications for the 2026–27 and 2027–28 Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellowships. The fellowship offers emerging and mid-career visual artists a $45,000 teaching award, studio space, access to WashU's facilities, and a solo exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum as part of its Currents series. Applicants must hold an MFA earned at least five years prior and have professional exhibition experience; prior teaching is not required. The deadline is September 1, 2025.

Stanford University acquires Filipina American artist Pacita Abad’s archive

Stanford University has acquired the archives of Filipina American artist Pacita Abad, a gift from the Pacita Abad Art Estate that also includes funding to catalog 120 linear feet of archival materials—photographs, correspondence, exhibition records, and personal artifacts. The archive will be stewarded by Stanford University Libraries' Bowes Art and Architecture Library in collaboration with the Cantor Arts Center, and is expected to be available to students and scholars within a year. The acquisition follows Abad's posthumous traveling retrospective that opened at the Walker Art Center in 2023, which brought her prolific 32-year practice to the attention of U.S. institutions.

Kimbell Art Museum acquires Chardin still life after record-breaking auction sale falls through

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, has acquired Jean Siméon Chardin's still life *The Cut Melon* (1760) from the Rothschild family after a record-breaking auction sale at Christie's Paris in June 2024 fell through. The winning bidder, Italian real estate promoter Nanni Bassani Antivari, never paid, leading Christie's to sue him for compensation. The Rothschilds then sold the painting directly to the Kimbell, which had been the underbidder at auction. The work, which retains its original frame from its 1761 Salon debut, went on view at the museum on 22 May in the French still life gallery.

Just a number: drawing by 11-year-old Joseph Wright of Derby goes on view for the first time

A pencil drawing of the wreathed head of Silenus, created by Joseph Wright of Derby at age 11 in 1745, will go on public display for the first time at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery. The drawing, recently rediscovered in a private family collection, is the earliest known work by the artist and is inscribed “Jos Wright 11 Years”. It features in the exhibition *Life on Paper*, which focuses on Wright’s intimate drawings, letters, and sketches, including tender depictions of his baby daughter and a self-portrait acquired through a public appeal in 2022.

‘Art is an important way of depicting these atrocities’: London show shines a light on sexual violence in conflict

The Imperial War Museum (IWM) in London has opened "Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict," the first major UK museum exhibition to address the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Featuring video testimony from journalist Christina Lamb, the show draws on the IWM's collections and new testimonies from survivors, including propaganda posters, photographs by Lee Miller, and a newly acquired miniature Sonyeosang statue. Curators Maeve Underwood and Helen Upcraft re-examined the museum's holdings to uncover hidden narratives of sexual slavery and humiliation from World War II to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Philadelphia’s “Cardboard Genius” Takes Center Stage in a New Exhibition

A new exhibition titled "Cardboard Genius: The Architectural Marvels of Kambel Smith" has opened at Historic Germantown in Philadelphia, running through June 29. The show features large-scale, intricate replicas of architecturally significant buildings—such as Philadelphia's Police Administration Building and the Georgia State House—all constructed from salvaged cardboard by self-taught artist Kambel Smith, who is autistic. Smith's father, Lonnie, coined the term "Autisarians" to describe his sons' super-human abilities and has been a key supporter of Kambel's creative journey, which has included solo shows in New York, London, and Atlanta since 2019.

Key member of Die Brücke art movement gets museum in hometown

A new museum dedicated to Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, a founding member of the German Expressionist group Die Brücke, has opened in his hometown of Rottluff, a village on the western edge of Chemnitz. The Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Haus, acquired by the city in 2023 and opened in April, displays works spanning the artist's entire career, including early pieces never before shown publicly. The museum also features works by fellow Brücke artists and a secretly painted 1944 self-portrait created in the same house during the Nazi era, when Schmidt-Rottluff was branded a degenerate artist and banned from painting.

The nonconformist: Ben Shahn is honoured in a ‘homecoming’ show at New York's Jewish Museum

A major retrospective titled "Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity" opens this month at New York's Jewish Museum, honoring the American artist's lifelong activism. The exhibition includes 175 artworks and objects from the 1930s to the 1960s, organized into sections covering Shahn's Social Realism, New Deal-era work, responses to McCarthyism and the Atomic Age, and support for the civil rights movement. Co-curated by Laura Katzman and Stephen Brown, the show is adapted from a 2023 retrospective at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, which was a surprise hit.

Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Batlló is reaping the rewards from its continual reinvention

Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Batlló in Barcelona, completed in 1906 and designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005, has undergone a series of ambitious multi-million-euro restorations and a hi-tech revamp over the past decade. Acquired by the Bernat family in 1993 and opened to the public in 2002, the monument now draws over 1.5 million visitors annually, generating a record €56 million in income in 2023—a 54% increase from the previous year. Recent projects include a €30 million investment (2018-2024) that uncovered original gold-leaf patterns and expanded immersive exhibitions such as Refik Anadol’s "Gaudí Dreams." The family plans to open the third floor for private events by late 2025.

Art initiative brings 10 new contemporary works by local artists to Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins University has acquired 10 new contemporary artworks by local Baltimore artists as part of an initiative launched in 2023 to collect and display art by regional talents. The second round of acquisitions includes works by Brandon Donahue-Shipp, Bria Sterling-Wilson, and Jerrell Gibbs, among others. The pieces will be displayed at the Irene and Richard Frary Gallery in Washington, D.C., as part of the exhibition "Strong, Bright, Useful, and True: Recent Acquisitions and Contemporary Art from Baltimore" before being installed across Johns Hopkins campuses.

A Guillon-Lethière for Worcester

Un Guillon-Lethière pour Worcester

The Worcester Art Museum has acquired Guillaume Guillon-Lethière's painting "Lucien Bonaparte contemplant Alexandrine de Bleschamp Jouberthon" (1802), which depicts the second brother of Napoleon with his second wife. The work had been on loan to the museum from London dealers Lowell Libson and Johnny Yarker, who had purchased it at a Christie's New York auction in October 2019 after it resurfaced in a Portland sale in 2005. The painting was featured prominently in the 2024-2025 Louvre exhibition "Guillon-Lethière. Né à la Guadeloupe," where it was reunited with a portrait of its patron Lucien Bonaparte.

A Painting by Gerard van Honthorst in Utrecht

Un tableau de Gerard van Honthorst à Utrecht

The Centraal Museum in Utrecht has acquired a painting by Gerard van Honthorst, titled *Extase de Marie-Madeleine* (c. 1618-1620), purchased from Cantore Galleria. The work was previewed at TEFAF Maastricht, where the museum also announced a major retrospective dedicated to the artist, titled "Gerard van Honthorst - En tout point différent de Rembrandt," which opened on April 25.

Urgent Request from Participating Artists and Curators of the 61st Venice Biennale

第61回ヴェネツィア・ビエンナーレ参加アーティストおよびキュレーターによる緊急要請

A group of 73 artists and curators participating in the 61st Venice Biennale, including Yoshiko Shimada and Bubu de la Madeleine, have issued an urgent demand to the Biennale's board to revoke Israel's participation. The collective specifically objects to the decision to relocate the Israeli pavilion to the Arsenale, arguing that its presence contradicts the curatorial vision of Artistic Director Koyo Kouoh, which emphasizes the dignity of all life. They contend that the military and police presence required for the pavilion introduces an atmosphere of violence and fear that undermines the exhibition's integrity.