Bruno Bischofberger, Swiss Art Dealer and Early Backer of Basquiat, Dies at 86

Bruno Bischofberger, the influential Swiss art dealer, collector, and historian, died on Saturday at age 86. He opened his first galleries in Zurich and St. Moritz in 1963, championed American Pop artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, and became an early backer of Jean-Michel Basquiat, representing him from 1982. Bischofberger also helped found Interview magazine with Peter Brant and was a longtime exhibitor at Art Basel.

The Business of KAWS: What Data and a Museum Show Reveal About His Market

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is currently hosting a major survey of KAWS, marking the final stop of a three-city tour that highlights the artist's unique blend of commercial savvy and institutional ambition. The exhibition features a range of works from diamond-encrusted sculptures for Kid Cudi to a 'genius' membership drive that sold 1,000 KAWS-branded museum memberships at $300 each. Despite a significant cooling in his auction results—dropping from a 2019 peak of $112.9 million to just $7.72 million last year—the artist continues to draw massive crowds, particularly among younger demographics.

art industry news october 9 2019

Sotheby’s Hong Kong concluded its fall auction series with a robust $426 million total, headlined by a record-breaking $25 million sale for Yoshitomo Nara. Amidst this market momentum, Nara’s upcoming LACMA retrospective was announced to travel to Shanghai’s Yuz Museum. Meanwhile, the New York art scene is bracing for major institutional milestones, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 150th-anniversary plans and the imminent public opening of MoMA’s $450 million expansion.

museum artists

The article reflects on the final 2025 edition of the Museum Artists list, which tracks the most exhibited artists in U.S. museums each quarter. The author notes that the top artists—such as Marie Watt, Jeffrey Gibson, and Rose B. Simpson—have remained consistent throughout the year, with a narrow band of stars appearing in many shows while a long tail of artists have limited visibility. Below the top 15, notable names include Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu, and Jean Shin, with a cluster of older white female artists like Petah Coyne and Joyce Kozloff also gaining recognition.

collectors reveal key advice

Collectors share advice for aspiring art patrons in a two-part series, recounting their early mistakes and lessons learned. Diana Bowes, board chair of the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, recalls buying her first pieces at Art Basel in 2006 and warns against purchasing art online without seeing it in person, as well as protecting works from water, children, and house painters. Mana Jalalian, an interior designer based in Dubai with over 400 works by Iranian artists, emphasizes following instincts, continuous learning, and the value of working with an art advisor.

gunther uecker zero artist dead

Günther Uecker, the German postwar artist known for hammering nails into canvases to create abstract works, died at age 95. His death was announced by his New York gallery, Lévy Gorvy Dayan, after he had been hospitalized in Düsseldorf. Uecker was a core member of the avant-garde ZERO group, founded in 1957 by Otto Piene and Heinz Mack, and his nail-based abstractions—applied to surfaces from canvases to lightboxes and TV sets—defined his practice from the 1950s onward. He participated in major exhibitions including Documenta and MoMA's 1965 "The Responsive Eye," and continued working daily in his Düsseldorf studio into his 90s.

paint drippings art industry news mar 10

This week's art industry roundup covers NADA New York's 11th edition with 111 galleries at a new venue, the Starrett-Lehigh Building, and Photo London's 10th edition at Somerset House with 99 exhibitors. In auctions, Sotheby's London saw a Yoshitomo Nara work sell for £9.03 million, while Christie's achieved £10 million for René Magritte's 'La reconnaissance infinie' and over £3.3 million for a Nazi-looted Egon Schiele drawing, plus $728,784 in its first all-A.I. auction. Galleries saw moves including Charles Moffett's new Tribeca space, Lisson Gallery representing Tishan Hsu, and Mika Yoshitake joining Blum as senior curatorial director. Museums and institutions feature the opening of Khao Yai Art Forest in Thailand with works by Louise Bourgeois, and the J. Paul Getty Trust appointing Kelly S. Moody as vice president.

emily fisher landau sothebys preview

Sotheby's will auction the collection of Emily Fisher Landau, a prominent Whitney Museum board member and avid art collector who died in March at age 102. The sale, comprising about 120 works from her estate, is led by Pablo Picasso's "Femme à la montre" (1932), estimated at over $120 million, alongside major pieces by Ed Ruscha, Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, and Glenn Ligon. Fisher Landau amassed roughly 1,200 works over decades, displayed at her private Fisher Landau Center for Art from 1991 to 2017, and donated 417 works to the Whitney in 2010 alone.

art basel qatar wael shawky artistic director

Art Basel has appointed artist Wael Shawky as the artistic director of its upcoming fair in Doha, Qatar, scheduled to open in February. This marks a departure from the company's usual practice of selecting directors from the commercial art world. Shawky, who represented Egypt at the Venice Biennale and has had solo exhibitions at Tate Modern and MoMA PS1, will curate around 50 single-artist presentations across two venues, M7 and the Doha Design District, with equal pricing for exhibitors initially. A selection committee including dealers from international and regional galleries will assist in choosing participants.

Your Summer Guide: 20 Art World Highlights Not to Miss

ARTnews has published a summer guide highlighting 20 art world events and exhibitions not to miss in the coming months. Featured highlights include the opera 'El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego' at the Metropolitan Opera, the 'Costume Art' exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Björk show titled 'echolalia' at the National Gallery of Iceland, a book on the Venice Biennale by Massimiliano Gioni, Raven Halfmoon's 'Flags of Our Mothers' at Ballroom Marfa, a Pierre Huyghe exhibition at Fondation Beyeler Basel, a James McNeill Whistler retrospective at Tate Britain, and the inaugural Medina Triennial in New York.

Wet Paint Does Frieze Week: The Dinosaur Dealer Downtown, David Zwirner Tribeca, and More Juicy Art-World Gossip

Artnet News' gossip column 'Wet Paint' covers the opening week of Frieze New York, beginning with the group show 'Statics of an Egg' at David Zwirner's newly renamed Tribeca gallery (formerly 52 Walker). Curated by Martin Germann, the exhibition features Japanese artists gathered by Yu Nishimura and Kenji Ide, with Nishimura's painting 'in waiting' highlighted. The column also reports on a private party at the River art-world hangout and a visit to Amanita gallery for 'A Land Before Time: Three Dinosaurs and a Gondola,' which includes a John Chamberlain sculpture. Notable attendees include artists Sasha Gordon, Olivia van Kuiken, Calvin Marcus, and Josh Smith, as well as dealers Marlene Zwirner and Matthew Brown.

Who Went to Venice Last Week? Jenny Saville, Glenn Lowry, Jewel, and Many Other Power Players

Artnet News reporter Katya Kazakina recounts her experience at the opening week of the 61st Venice Biennale, describing a whirlwind of art, parties, and chance encounters. Notable figures spotted include former MoMA director Glenn Lowry, singer-songwriter Jewel (who debuted her visual art show "Matriclysm: An Archaeology of Connections Lost"), and Japanese Nintendo heir and collector Banjo Yamauchi. High-profile events included Thaddaeus Ropac gallery's reception for Georg Baselitz's final paintings (priced up to $1.5 million) and François Pinault's annual party at Fondazione Giorgio Cini, attended by Selma Hayek, Lorna Simpson, and JR. The article also highlights the social dynamics of the biennale, where dealers, curators, and collectors network across historic palazzos and hotels.

Backflips, boulders and dancing dogs: the images that shaped art photography – in pictures

A new exhibition at the Princeton University Art Museum, titled "Photography as a Way of Life," celebrates the photographers who helped establish art photography as a serious movement from the 1940s to the 1970s. The show features works by Minor White, Aaron Siskind, Harry Callahan, and others, including images by Ming Smith, Donna-Lee Phillips, and Walter Chappell. The exhibition runs until September 7 and highlights how these educators and artists transformed photography's role in both the art world and higher education.

Lee Ufan: ‘I try to bring together those things which are made and unmade’

Lee Ufan, the South Korean artist and founding member of the Mono-ha movement, is being honored with a major solo exhibition at SMAC San Marco Art Centre as an official Collateral Event of the Venice Biennale, marking his 90th year. Simultaneously, a new display of his painting and sculpture opens at Dia Beacon in New York State, and his first show in Portugal opens at Casa e Parque de Serralves in July. In an interview with The Art Newspaper, Ufan discusses his artistic journey, his rejection of the artist's hand, and the influence of seeing a Barnett Newman exhibition at MoMA in 1971, which led him to develop his signature From Point and From Line paintings that use repeated marks to express the passage of time.

Remembering Pat Steir, one of the 20th century’s late-blooming great artists

Pat Steir, the acclaimed American painter known for her Waterfall series, died in Manhattan on 25 March at age 87. The article traces her career from early struggles as a freelance illustrator and art director, through her transformative encounter with Sol LeWitt in the early 1970s, to her eventual emergence as a major figure in contemporary painting. It highlights her teaching at CalArts and Parsons, her involvement with feminist and artist-run institutions like Heresies and Printed Matter, and the pivotal moment in the early 1980s when she cut up a reproduction of a Jan Brueghel the Elder flower painting into 64 panels, repainting each in a different historical style.

Gagosian Opens a New Ground-Floor Flagship at 980 Madison Avenue with Duchamp-Rauschenberg Double Header

Gagosian is opening a new ground-floor flagship gallery at 980 Madison Avenue in New York, moving from its former upper-floor space in the same building. Designed by Caplan Colaku Architects, the 12,000-square-foot, two-level space consolidates three storefronts into a continuous layout with restrained materials like Portland Taupe stone and brushed stainless steel. The inaugural exhibition pairs a major Marcel Duchamp show with six early works by Robert Rauschenberg on loan from the Cy Twombly Foundation, coinciding with a Duchamp retrospective at MoMA and referencing a 1965 Duchamp exhibition held in the same building.

Rare Books Stolen From Ex-MoMA President’s Home Recovered After Nearly 40 Years

Seventeen rare books, valued at over $2 million and stolen nearly 40 years ago from the Long Island estate of former Museum of Modern Art president John Hay Whitney, have been recovered and will be returned to his descendants. The trove includes a $2 million portfolio of handwritten letters from poet John Keats and first editions of works by James Joyce and Aleister Crowley.

Hampshire College, Whose Alumni List Includes Many Well-Known Artists, to Close After 51 Years

Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, has announced it will officially close following the fall 2026 semester, ending 51 years of operation. The decision follows a period of significant financial instability, including a reported $20 million debt and a failure to meet enrollment targets. The college has established agreements with regional institutions, such as Smith College and Bennington College, to allow current students to complete their degrees elsewhere.

Duchamp in New York

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has launched a major solo exhibition dedicated to Marcel Duchamp, marking the artist's first comprehensive survey in New York City in over 50 years. The exhibition explores Duchamp’s revolutionary impact on modern art, featuring iconic works and archival materials that trace his history from the 1913 Armory Show to his later years in New York. The opening is complemented by a broader "Duchamp spring" in the city, including a forthcoming exhibition of his readymades at Gagosian.

Jasper Johns Marks Time

The art world is currently reflecting on the enduring legacy of Jasper Johns, highlighted by a new Gagosian exhibition focusing on his 1970s output. Critic John Yau explores Johns's career-long fascination with materiality and the inevitable decay of art, noting how the artist uses newsprint and wax to acknowledge that nothing remains static in time.

Emmanuel Di Donna Mounts Major Salvador Dalí Show as Final Exhibition in Madison Avenue Space

Emmanuel Di Donna is presenting a major Salvador Dalí exhibition, "Dalí: The Great Years, 1929–1939," at his Madison Avenue gallery from April 16 to June 13. The show features over two dozen paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from the artist's most formative decade, assembled with loans from major institutions like the Art Institute of Chicago and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It will be the final exhibition in Di Donna's current space before he launches a new joint venture with Pace and David Schrader.

Nan Goldin: Why The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is So Important

nan goldin the ballad of sexual dependency why so important

Gagosian London is hosting an exhibition of all 126 photographs from Nan Goldin’s seminal work, "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency," to mark the 40th anniversary of the photobook's publication. The exhibition traces the evolution of the project from its origins as a DIY slideshow performance in New York nightclubs to its status as a cornerstone of contemporary photography, featuring intimate portraits of Goldin’s inner circle across New York, Berlin, and beyond.

Art Market Minute February 2026

art market minute feb 23

The art market is witnessing a significant shift in the commercial viability and valuation of performance art. While the medium has been sold in various forms for years, its increasing presence at major art fairs and galleries suggests a new era where collectors are beginning to prioritize the documentation and rights to live works as legitimate assets.

praise shadows boston downtown move

Praise Shadows Art Gallery, a respected contemporary art gallery, is relocating from Brookline to a 2,000-square-foot downtown Boston storefront in the Leather District. The move was facilitated by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and the city's Space for Creative Enterprise Downtown initiative, which helped founder Yng-Ru Chen secure a 10-year lease. The gallery opens on March 13 with a group show titled "Summoning" and has a slate of solo shows planned for Boston-based artists in 2026.

wet paint jim toth art sound

Gabi Vidal-Irizarry, a guest writer for Artnet News's Wet Paint gossip column, recounts attending an "Artist Party" at the Museum of Modern Art featuring Arthur Jafa. The column then pivots to a profile of Jim Toth, the audio engineer behind the distinctive white pyramid speakers ubiquitous at New York art world events, tracing his career from the city's legendary 1980s nightlife scene to becoming the preferred sound provider for museums and elite patrons.

art basel qatar preview galleries

Art Basel has launched its first edition in Doha, Qatar, with a deliberately small and tightly controlled format. The fair features only 87 galleries, all required to mount solo presentations, with strict limits on booth size, power sources, and rehanging of works. This creates a slower, calmer atmosphere distinct from its larger, more chaotic sister fairs in Miami and Paris.

leon black art collection revealed jeffrey epstein file

A 51-page document released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files appears to catalog the extensive private art collection of billionaire collector and former MoMA board chair Leon Black. The document, which lists works by masters from Michelangelo to Picasso under corporate entities linked to Black, reveals valuations and details of a collection largely kept from public view, including works held as promised gifts to major museums like MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

art installations that could double as haunted houses

Artnet News lists 10 immersive installation artworks that are creepy enough to double as haunted houses for Halloween. Featured works include Alex Da Corte's "Die Hexe" (2015) at Luxembourg & Dayan, which transformed a townhouse into a ghostly dollhouse with a morgue; Mike Kelley's "Exploded Fortress of Solitude" (2011) at Hauser & Wirth, a sculptural interpretation of Superman's lair; Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe's "Scenario in the Shade" at Red Bull Studios, a dystopian arts festival installation; Tobias Rehberger's "Bar Oppenheimer" (2013) at Hotel Americano, featuring disorienting dazzle camouflage patterns; and Puppies Puppies' "Gollum" at Queer Thoughts, where an actor in a Gollum mask performs live.

fog design art fair san francisco sales 2026 jack whitten

The FOG Design+Art fair in San Francisco opened with a glitzy preview gala at Fort Mason Center, serving as a fundraiser for SFMOMA's education initiatives. VIP tickets started at $10,000 for the first hour, and by 7 p.m., the event filled to capacity as prices dropped to $250. Dealers reported a different energy this year, partly due to the recent Los Angeles wildfires affecting many participating galleries. Sales were strong, with New York dealer Ales Ortuzar selling multiple works by Suzanne Jackson in the first few hours. Local collector Sonya Yu, a recent ARTnews Top 200 listee, highlighted the resilience and sophistication of the Bay Area art community.

fog fair san francisco komal shah

At the opening of San Francisco's FOG Design and Art fair, prominent collector Komal Shah navigated the crowded aisles, stopping to chat with a who's who of the Bay Area art scene, including FOG founder Stanlee Gatti, ICA San Francisco director Ali Gass, and SFMOMA director Christopher Bedford. Shah, known for her collection focused on women artists, was scouting works with a handwritten list, considering pieces by Ruth Asawa and Joan Brown, though she passed on a $425,000 Asawa sculpture. The fair's gala serves as a fundraiser for SFMOMA, and Shah's collection is currently on view at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in the exhibition "Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection."