art cindy sherman holiday card transanta

Cindy Sherman is reviving her annual holiday party after a five-year hiatus, introducing a new line of kitschy Christmas cards featuring five works created with face-tuning A.I. algorithms that distort her face in a Picasso-esque style. The cards are part of the newly founded Cindy Sherman Legacy Project, curated by Lumi Tan, and all proceeds will benefit Transanta, a trans-led mutual aid project supporting unhoused or unsupported trans youth, founded by Chase Strangio, Indya Moore, and Kyle Lasky. The cards are available through Sherman's website, Hauser & Wirth's New York bookstore, and a launch party on Dec. 9 at Jean's in New York.

fashion david yurman jewelry phaidon

David and Sybil Yurman, the couple behind the iconic David Yurman jewelry empire, reflect on their origins as artists in New York in a new book, *Sybil and David Yurman: Artists and Jewelers*, published last month. The book draws from their personal archive of paintings, sculptures, photos, and jewelry, tracing their journey from working under sculptor Jacques Lipchitz and ceramicist Shōji Hamada to building a global brand. In an interview with CULTURED, the Yurmans share stories of their first date, Sybil's early career as a ceramicist and painter, and how their partnership evolved from art to jewelry.

art heist genre film tv books guide

This article from Cultured explores the history and evolution of the art heist genre across film, television, and books. It traces the genre's origins from the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa by Vincenzo Peruggia to its appearance in 19th-century detective serials by Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, and later in French New Wave noirs and slick 1990s heist films. The piece highlights recent entries like Kelly Reichardt's film *The Mastermind* starring Josh O'Connor, and compiles a list of key works including *Animal Crackers* (1930), *How to Steal a Million* (1966), *The Thomas Crown Affair* (1968/1999), and *Hudson Hawk* (1991), noting how the genre reflects changing attitudes toward wealth, crime, and the sublime power of art.

art james frey author art collection

James Frey, the controversial author of "A Million Little Pieces" and "Bright Shiny Morning," opens his home in Pound Ridge, New York, to discuss his personal art collection. The collection includes works by Rashid Johnson, Robert Colescott, Nate Lowman, Richard Prince, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, and Auguste Rodin, among others. Frey describes his art-buying philosophy as driven by emotion rather than market trends, and recounts purchasing his first pieces—a Picasso drawing and a Matisse drawing—for cash in 1994.

Marat Guelman and the group + - Komma: First of all, it’s beautiful

Marat Guelman's exhibition at Ethan Cohen Gallery in New York (April 23–May 30, 2026) features AI-generated monoprints created in collaboration with the Montenegrin digital art group + - Komma. None of the works were painted by Guelman himself; instead, he programmed AI outputs based on historical models by artists like Picasso, Gauguin, Monet, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Turner, Matisse, and Richter. Every piece in the show incorporates an image of an atomic mushroom cloud, a motif Guelman uses to respond to Vladimir Putin's nuclear threats during the Ukraine war.

Your guide to Christie's 20/21 auction week in New York

Christie's is holding its 20/21 auction week in New York from May 9–22, 2026, featuring seven live auctions and two online sales at its Rockefeller Center galleries. Highlights include the dedicated sale "MASTERPIECES: The Private Collection of S.I. Newhouse" (led by Constantin Brancusi's *Danaïde* and Jackson Pollock's *Number 7A, 1948*), the Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale, and "Defined Space: The Collection of Henry S. McNeil, Jr.," which focuses on Minimalist works by Donald Judd and Dan Flavin. Other consignors include prominent collectors Agnes Gund, Marian Goodman, and Joanna Carson. The public can view works for free from May 9–21.

Andrew Cranston’s Paintings of Dreamlike Domesticity

Scottish artist Andrew Cranston has opened a new solo exhibition titled 'I’m going in a field' at Modern Art gallery in London. The show features eleven paintings that blend landscape, memory, and domestic scenes, drawing inspiration from the artist's childhood in Hawick, Scotland, and his reflections on activities like golf, which he views as a form of landscape experience.

The Art Market Enters 2026 With Renewed Confidence and a Sharper K-Shape Divide

ArtTactic's Global Art Market Outlook 2026 report reveals renewed confidence in the art market, with 51% of participants expecting growth and 42% anticipating stability. Strong sales in London, Paris, and Miami Beach, along with multi-billion-dollar November auction results, have buoyed sentiment. The recovery is uneven but meaningful, driven by selective demand for established names: Impressionist art rose 80.4%, Modern art 19.4%, and Old Masters 68.7%. The K-shaped divide is sharpening, with robust performance at the top end (above $1 million) and accessible tiers (below $50,000), while the middle market remains sluggish. Top performers include Klimt, Picasso, Rothko, and Calder, while ultracontemporary artists like Nicolas Party and Matthew Wong have seen significant declines.

LACMA inaugurates its new building

Le Lacma inaugure son nouveau bâtiment

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has inaugurated its new David Geffen Galleries building, a massive horizontal structure spanning Wilshire Boulevard. Designed by architect Peter Zumthor, the $720 million project features 32,000 square meters of exhibition space across 90 non-hierarchical galleries, a free public park level, and a radical departure from traditional museum departmental organization.

Bidding battle for Matisse leads Sotheby’s $303.3m Modern art evening sale in New York

Sotheby’s Modern evening auction on 19 May in New York achieved $303.3m with fees, falling within its pre-sale estimate of $244m to $322.8m. The standout lot was Henri Matisse’s 1919 painting *La Chaise lorraine*, which sold for $48.4m after a ten-minute bidding battle, becoming the second most valuable Matisse painting at auction. Other highlights included Alberto Giacometti’s *La Clairière (Composition avec neuf figures)* at $23.1m, Pablo Picasso’s *Arlequin (Buste, 1909)* at $42.6m, and a Mark Rothko untitled work on paper at $9.27m. The sale also saw strong demand for works by female Surrealists Leonor Fini and Leonora Carrington, while a Rodin sculpture was passed and a Gottlieb painting was withdrawn.

‘It’s like a Ouija board – I listen to the painting’: the supernatural art of Sanya Kantarovsky

Russian-born, New York-based artist Sanya Kantarovsky presents his new exhibition "Basic Failure" at Venice's Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts, timed to coincide with the Venice Biennale. The show features his signature dishevelled, otherworldly figures—including a pallid boy with a cigarette, a child spinning in innocence, and a glass bust of a young boy with a dead spider under its eye—that explore tension, alienation, and the supernatural. Kantarovsky describes his process as listening to the painting like a Ouija board, and the exhibition includes works that confound narrative expectations, such as a scruffy toy panda and a recreation of Antonello Gagini's 16th-century sculpture.

Basquiat’s Former Dealer on the Making of an Art World Icon

Bruno Bischofberger, who served as Jean-Michel Basquiat's exclusive worldwide dealer from 1982 until the artist's death in 1988, reflects on Basquiat's life and legacy in an excerpt from the forthcoming book *Basquiat: The World of Jean-Michel*, published by Assouline. Bischofberger contrasts Basquiat's raw, politically charged approach with Andy Warhol's detached, commercial style, and recounts personal memories of Basquiat's visits to Switzerland, where he absorbed everything from visual art to folk art and design.

Malaysia Showcases Recovered 1MDB Artworks, From Picasso to Miró

Four artworks recovered from the 1MDB scandal—by Picasso, Miró, Balthus, and Maurice Utrillo—have gone on public display for the first time at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters in Putrajaya. The paintings were repatriated from New York after being traced through Sotheby’s and shipped back to Malaysia on April 14. They are part of a broader art trail linked to the massive financial fraud, with Malaysian officials framing the display as an act of restitution rather than an art event.

Texas Man Who Orchestrated $20 M. Crypto Scam Based on Fictitious Van Gogh and Picasso Masterpieces Sentenced to 23 Years in Prison

A Houston man, Robert Dunlap, was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison for orchestrating a $20 million cryptocurrency scam. Between 2018 and 2023, Dunlap defrauded nearly 1,000 investors by promoting a digital asset called “Meta-1 Coin,” falsely claiming it was backed by a $1 billion art collection featuring works by Salvador Dalí, Vincent van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso, as well as $44 billion in gold. He used forged legal and insurance documents to conceal that he owned neither the art nor the gold. A federal jury in the Northern District of Illinois convicted him on mail fraud charges in 2025, and US District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt imposed the sentence, also ordering restitution.

Klimt, Modigliani, and Freud Lead $200M Lewis Collection at Sotheby’s London

Sotheby’s London will auction a collection of 50 masterpieces from billionaire Joe Lewis and his daughter Vivienne in June 2025, expected to exceed $200 million. Highlights include Gustav Klimt’s 1902 portrait of Gertha Felsőványi (estimate £20–30 million), Lucian Freud’s never-auctioned *Woman in a Grey Sweater* (1988), and Amedeo Modigliani’s *Homme à la Pipe* (1918), making its auction debut after 45 years unseen. The sale follows a successful March auction of School of London works from the same collection, which brought $47.7 million.

Comment | The slopification of political art

The article critiques the rise of AI-generated political imagery, such as Donald Trump depicted as Jesus and viral Lego videos of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, arguing that these shallow, generic visuals fail to provide meaningful or lasting cultural commentary on current conflicts. The author contrasts this with the inventive, humorous resistance seen during the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, which later influenced a generation of Turkish artists.

Duo Who Sold Fake Warhol, Banksy Plead Guilty in $2M Fraud

A father and daughter from New Jersey, Erwin Bankowski and Karoline Bankowska, pleaded guilty in federal court on April 28 to running a counterfeit art scheme that sold fake works attributed to Andy Warhol, Banksy, Pablo Picasso, Richard Mayhew, and others. Between 2020 and 2025, they placed over 200 counterfeit pieces, many made by an artist in Poland, into galleries and auction houses across the U.S., defrauding buyers of at least $2 million. They fabricated provenance, forged gallery stamps and certificates of authenticity, and misrepresented Native American heritage works, violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act. They face up to 20 years in prison, restitution of at least $1.9 million, and deportation after serving their sentences.

Is A Random Unknown Artist More Valuable Than Picasso? AI Thinks So.

An experiment using a custom AI model to evaluate artistic value independent of market context found that the model assigned a seven-figure price to an unknown street artist's work while valuing a Picasso at under $1,000. The project, run by an art journalist with a data scientist and an AI expert, trained a Fine Art Large Vision Model on millions of images and price data. Without metadata like artist name or gallery affiliation, the model's predictions were technically interesting but commercially useless; only when those market signals were added did predictions align with real auction outcomes.

When archaeology was dominated by men | Letters

A reader named Elke Bachler writes a letter to The Guardian challenging a sentence in a review of Thomas Laqueur's book *The Dog's Gaze*. The review described a prehistoric scene as showing "a boy and a dog" standing together in wonder before cave art. Bachler argues there is no evidence the child was a boy, noting that archaeology has historically been dominated by men who interpreted evidence through contemporary gender roles.

schiaparelli fashion exhibition review

The Victoria & Albert Museum presents "Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art," the first UK retrospective dedicated to the Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli. The exhibition highlights her central role within the Parisian avant-garde of the 1930s, showcasing her famous collaborations with artists like Salvador Dalí, Alberto Giacometti, and Meret Oppenheim. By displaying iconic pieces such as the 1938 skeleton dress alongside personal notes and related artworks, the show argues that Schiaparelli was not merely a follower of Surrealism but a primary catalyst for its innovation.

Sotheby’s Tries Again to Sell $40 M. Picasso Painting That Didn’t Make It to Auction in 2008

Sotheby’s has announced the sale of Pablo Picasso’s 1909 Cubist masterpiece, Arlequin (Buste), which is expected to fetch approximately $40 million during the New York marquee auctions this May. The painting is the crown jewel of a collection belonging to the late Surrealist artist Enrico Donati and his wife Adele. This marks the second time Sotheby’s has attempted to sell the work; it was famously withdrawn from a 2008 auction just a week before the sale due to undisclosed private reasons.

The Personal Collection of ‘Last Surrealist’ Enrico Donati Heads to Auction

Sotheby’s has announced the sale of the personal art collection of Enrico Donati, often referred to as the 'last Surrealist.' The 45-lot collection, titled "A Night in May," features works amassed by Donati and his wife Adele, including a rare 1909 Cubist portrait by Pablo Picasso, 'Arlequin (Buste),' estimated at $40 million. The auction marks the first time these intimate pieces—many acquired through direct exchanges with friends like Marcel Duchamp and Yves Tanguy—have been offered since the artist's death in 2008 and his wife's passing last year.

What Made Marcel Duchamp’s Readymades So Revolutionary?

Marcel Duchamp transformed the trajectory of 20th-century art by introducing the 'Readymade,' a concept where mass-produced, everyday objects are elevated to the status of art through the artist's selection rather than manual craft. Beginning with a bicycle wheel in 1913 and a bottle rack in 1914, Duchamp eventually formalized the term during a 1915 stay in New York, where the city's industrial modernity and lack of rigid class structures inspired him to challenge traditional definitions of creativity.

Lost Cecil Beaton and Lee Miller Photos Turn Up in Old Scrapbook

A previously unknown scrapbook containing over 150 unseen photographs by Cecil Beaton and Lee Miller has been acquired by the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library. Compiled between 1943 and 1949 by Roland Haupt, a darkroom assistant who processed film for both photographers during World War II, the album includes rare war reportage, portraits, and personal mementos. Among the highlights is an unpublished alternative shot of Miller in Adolf Hitler’s bathtub and Surrealist-inflected images of the conflict's aftermath.

Yves Saint Laurent’s Lalanne Mirrors Set for $15 Million Sale

Sotheby’s has announced the sale of a monumental set of 15 gilt-bronze mirrors by Claude Lalanne, originally commissioned by fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent for his Paris apartment. The mirrors are the centerpiece of a 123-lot auction from the collection of Jean and Terry de Gunzburg, scheduled for April 22 at the Sotheby’s Breuer building. Estimated to fetch between $10 million and $15 million, the mirrors represent a significant appreciation in value since the de Gunzburgs acquired them for approximately $2.4 million at the historic 2009 Saint Laurent estate sale.

British artist Simon Fujiwara’s new Luxembourg exhibition tackles Guernica, syphilis and the death of a Japanese pornstar

British artist Simon Fujiwara has opened a major career survey, 'A Whole New World,' at Mudam Luxembourg. The exhibition features a reinterpretation of Picasso's *Guernica* using his cartoon character Who the Baer, alongside works addressing his personal experience with syphilis and a commemorative installation for Japanese gay porn star Koh Masaki. The show is structured as a thematic 'theme park' exploring contemporary issues.

christies london sales 2026

Christie’s London achieved a robust £197.5 million ($263.8 million) across three evening sales, marking a significant 52 percent increase over the previous year. The marathon auction event included the 20th/21st Century sale, the Art of the Surreal sale, and a dedicated session for the Roger and Josette Vanthournout collection. Highlighting the evening was a record-breaking £26 million sale for Henry Moore’s sculpture "King and Queen," alongside strong performances for works by Dorothea Tanning and Toyen.

washington post art critic sebastian smee laid off

The Washington Post laid off approximately 30% of its newsroom staff, including Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee, as part of broader cuts to sports, local news, and international coverage. Smee, who joined the Post in 2018 after working at the Boston Globe and The Australian, confirmed his departure in a statement to ARTnews, expressing gratitude to former editor Marty Baron and solidarity with affected colleagues. Another Pulitzer-winning critic, Philip Kennicott, reportedly remains on staff. The layoffs come shortly after the release of a documentary produced by Amazon MGM Studios, owned by Post owner Jeff Bezos.

sothebys second sale saudi arabia results

Sotheby's second auction in Saudi Arabia, titled 'Origins II,' achieved a strong result of $19.6 million, surpassing its presale estimate. The sale of 61 lots was bolstered by a new auction record for a Saudi artist and a significant increase in the value and volume of works by Saudi artists sold compared to the house's inaugural sale in the country last year.

recovered picassos art theft trial nice

Seven years after an undercover sting in Nice, France, recovered a cache of stolen artworks including several by Pablo Picasso, ten defendants are now on trial. The 2017 police operation, triggered by a tip from Belgium, involved officers posing as Swiss buyers who met a seller at a Nice hotel and were led to a house in Peillon filled with stolen pieces. Among the recovered works were Picasso's *Le vieux roi* and *Le clown*, along with other items traced to a burglary in Saint-Paul-de-Vence and an armed robbery in Èze. The trial consolidates earlier investigations into a suspected art theft and fencing network, with prosecutors alleging the Peillon property served as a storage and sales hub.