What’s on now at San Francisco museums, December 2025

This article provides a comprehensive guide to current and upcoming exhibitions at San Francisco museums in December 2025. Highlights include "Printing Color: Chiaroscuro to Screenprint" closing January 4, "Rave into the Future: Art in Motion" closing January 12 at the Asian Art Museum, and the upcoming San Francisco Art Week from January 17 to 25. The Legion of Honor features "Manet and Morisot" through March 1, offering a deep dive into the artistic dialogue between Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot, alongside "Drawn to Venice" opening January 24. The de Young Museum presents "Boom and Bust: Photographing Northern California," while the Museum of the African Diaspora showcases "Unbound: Art, Blackness and the Universe" and "Continuum: MoAD Over Time." A tribute to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, including his exhibition at the Legion of Honor, is also featured.

December Book Bag: from a photographic record of a lost nightclub to the tale of an accidental art heist

This article presents a roundup of four new art-related book releases for December. It covers Liz Johnson Artur's photographic monograph 'PDA' documenting a queer Black club night in London from 2011 to 2021; a survey of William Nicholson's career edited by Simon Martin, accompanying an exhibition at Pallant House Gallery; a monograph on Sandy Skoglund's surreal installations tied to a show at the McNay Art Museum; and Whit Rummel and Noah Charney's true-crime memoir 'The Accidental Picasso Thief' about a stolen Picasso painting that ended up in a forklift operator's home.

Acquisitions round-up: an ‘exceptionally rare’ portrait of an enslaved person and two large-scale donations

The article reports on three major acquisitions and donations in the art world. The Mississippi Museum of Art and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art jointly acquired an 'exceptionally rare' portrait of Frederick, an enslaved person in pre-emancipation Mississippi, painted around 1840 by C.R. Parker. The portrait sold for $508,750 at Neal Auction Company. Separately, entrepreneur and collector Hermann Gerlinger donated 42 works by the German Expressionist group Die Brücke to Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, including a marriage portrait by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Additionally, the family of late Korean artist Suki Seokyeong Kang donated around 400 of her works to Ewha Womans University in Seoul, where she studied and taught.

Collective builds on a century of art in Sarasota

Art Center Sarasota presents three concurrent exhibitions running through November 15: "SARTQ Collective: Legacy x Response: SARTQ Responds to a Century of ACS," featuring contemporary works by the local artist collective SARTQ that engage with the center's 100-year history; "Juan Alonso-Rodriguez: Earthly Glyphs," showcasing the Cuban-born artist's fictional microscopic views of Earth's strata; and "Njeri Kinuthia: Reconstruction: Mwacha Mila NiSi Mtumwa," a series of portraits exploring cultural identity through weaving, sewing, and embroidery. The exhibitions highlight the breadth of artistic practice in Southwest Florida, from established regional artists to emerging voices.

Rarely seen Matthew Wong works to go on show in Venice

A major exhibition of rarely seen works by the late Chinese-Canadian artist Matthew Wong will open at the Palazzo Tiepolo Passi in Venice from 9 May to 1 November 2025, coinciding with the 61st Venice Biennale. The show features 35 works dating from 2015 to 2019, curated by John Cheim of Cheim & Read gallery, and is organized by the Matthew Wong Foundation, founded by the artist's parents Monita Wong and Raymond KP Wong after his death by suicide in 2019. The exhibition catalogue includes a text by Nancy Spector, former chief curator of the Guggenheim Museum.

Alexander Morrison

Alexander Morrison, a prominent figure in the art world, has passed away. The article, published by The Art Newspaper, reports on his death and likely includes tributes to his contributions, though the provided text is limited to subscription prompts and footer information, lacking full details on his life and career.

Art Center Sarasota celebrates its 100th year, among 32 local art shows this month

Art Center Sarasota is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a season of exhibitions, including "SARTQ Collective: Legacy x Response: SARTQ Responds to a Century of ACS," which honors the center's history through contemporary works by local artist collective SARTQ. Other featured shows include "Juan Alonso-Rodriguez: Earthly Glyphs," presenting fictional microscopic views of Earth's strata, and "Njeri Kinuthia: Reconstruction," exploring identity through textile-inspired portraits. These exhibitions are part of 32 visual art shows taking place across Southwest Florida in October, hosted by more than a dozen art centers from Sarasota to Marco Island.

10 Art Shows to See in the Bay Area This Fall

The article presents a curated guide to 10 art exhibitions opening in the Bay Area this fall, highlighting shows by artists such as Mike Henderson, Julio César Morales, Auudi Dorsey, and Jim Melchert. It covers venues ranging from Haines Gallery and Gallery Wendi Norris to the Manetti Shrem Museum and di Rosa SF, with works addressing Black Oakland history, immigration, segregation-era Black leisure, and conceptual ceramic art.

Philly museum showcases innovations in fine art screenprinting by NYC’s Brand X

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has become the official repository for the archive of Brand X Editions, a New York City-based print studio founded in 1979. Under a new agreement, 350 archival screenprints by artists including Chuck Close, Helen Frankenthaler, Rashid Johnson, KAWS, and Mickalene Thomas have been transferred to the museum, with one copy of every future print to be added over the next decade. The museum has launched the exhibition "Brand X Editions: Innovation in Screenprinting," featuring about 90 works, including Johnson's monumental "Untitled Large Mosaic" printed with 293 colors and Close's complex self-portrait using 91 colors.

20 Fall Art Excursions Outside New York City

This article is a guide to 20 fall art excursions outside New York City, highlighting exhibitions in Upstate New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Featured shows include the 'Trees Never End and Houses Never End Biennial Exhibition' at Sky High Farm in Germantown, Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez's 'Dream Map and Cornucopia' at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, and 'All Manner of Experiments: Legacies of the Baghdad Modern Art Group' at the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College. Other notable stops include Jeffrey Gibson's exhibition at MASS MoCA, Kiyan Williams's installations at Art Omi, and 'Human Marks: Tattooing in Contemporary Art' at the Joseloff Gallery in Connecticut.

‘Landmark’ Tate exhibition to chart 40 years of works by Margate artist Dame Tracey Emin

Dame Tracey Emin will present a major retrospective titled 'Tracey Emin: A Second Life' at Tate Modern in London, running from February to August 2026. The exhibition spans 40 years of her career, featuring iconic works like the Turner Prize-nominated 'My Bed' alongside never-before-exhibited pieces across painting, video, textiles, neons, writing, sculpture, and installation. Emin, who rose to prominence in the 1990s, has recently been appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire and continues to invest in artist spaces in Margate.

The 2025 Fall Arts Preview: Our picks in Art + Design

The 2025 Fall Arts Preview highlights a vibrant season in Atlanta, featuring the return of the Atlanta Art Fair (AAF) at Pullman Yards from September 25–28 with over 60 exhibitors, including local and international galleries. Key programming includes a curatorial presentation by Melissa Messina with abstract artists Krista Clark, Sonya Yong James, and Vadis Turner honoring Mildred Thompson. Additionally, the Hammonds House Museum and National Black Arts Festival present "Black Zeitgeist: Atlanta" through December 14, exploring the city's Black art legacy, while the revived art amusement park "Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy" opens at Pullman Yards on September 24.

'Abstract art is universal': Nanette Carter on her new career survey at the Wexner Center for the Arts

Nanette Carter, an abstract artist working since the 1970s, will present her solo exhibition *Nanette Carter: Afro Sentinels* at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, opening August 22. The show includes a new three-dimensional metal commission, marking her first move off the wall, alongside collages, paintings, and sculptures that explore themes of balance, Black subjectivity, and political turmoil. Carter, born in Columbus in 1956, studied at Oberlin College and the Pratt Institute, where she taught for 20 years, and her work draws on jazz, Russian Constructivism, and her father's civil rights legacy.

Shows to See in Japan, July 2025

This article highlights five art exhibitions opening across Japan in July 2025. Featured shows include Izumi Kato's largest solo exhibition in Japan, "Road to Somebody," at Iwami Art Museum; Christine Sun Kim's eponymous project at Mori Art Museum in Tokyo; Maya Erin Masuda's solo show "Ecologies of Closeness" at Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media; and "Van Gogh's Home" at Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, which centers on the Van Gogh family collection. Each exhibition spans diverse media and themes, from Kato's animistic sculptures to Kim's exploration of sound and deaf experience, Masuda's ecological trauma investigations, and Van Gogh's legacy through his family's archive.

The galleries on Cork Street join forces for group exhibition celebrating 100 years as a landmark art destination.

Fifteen galleries on London's historic Cork Street have united for a first-of-its-kind group exhibition titled "Fear Gives Wings To Courage" to mark the street's centennial as a landmark art destination. Curated by Tarini Malik, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Royal Academy of Arts, the exhibition unfolds in three parts: an outdoor banners commission, presentations within each participating gallery from 11 to 25 July 2025, and a special catalogue issue launching during Frieze London 2025. The title references Jean Cocteau's 1938 painting of the same name, which caused controversy when shown at Peggy Guggenheim's gallery Guggenheim Jeune on Cork Street in 1938 and was confiscated by British customs.

Edward Burtynsky’s photographs convey the force of mankind’s reordering of the environment

The International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York is presenting "Edward Burtynsky: The Great Acceleration," a retrospective of over 70 photographs by Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, on view until September 28. Curated by ICP creative director David Campany, the exhibition spans Burtynsky's 40-year career documenting humanity's industrial transformation of natural landscapes, from Ontario mines and Texas oilfields to shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh and e-waste sites in China. The show is organized thematically rather than chronologically, featuring early small-scale works alongside massive recent prints, including a 10-foot-wide image of a copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a 30-foot mural of a Texas farm printed on adhesive vinyl.

National Gallery of Canada receives gift of 61 works valued at $16.8m

Canadian collector and businessman Bob Rennie has donated 61 works valued at C$22.8 million ($16.8 million) to the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) in Ottawa. The gift, which took 18 months to plan, includes pieces by Yinka Shonibare, Mona Hatoum, Rodney Graham, Ai Weiwei, and others. It surpasses Rennie’s previous record donation of C$13 million in 2017 and brings his total contributions to the NGC to over C$35 million, comprising more than 260 works since 2012. Rennie, a longtime patron of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation, emphasized his approach of collecting artists in depth rather than for momentary sensation.

30 Artists Defining Queer Art Now

Artsy has published its annual Pride Month feature 'Queer Art Now,' spotlighting 30 LGBTQ+ artists who are shaping contemporary art. The artists were nominated by leading art-world figures including curator Legacy Russell, photographer Catherine Opie, and art advisor Racquel Chevremont. The cohort spans painters, photographers, performers, and sculptors, with profiles detailing their practices and recent exhibitions. The feature also includes a reflective essay by curator Gemma Rolls-Bentley on major themes in queer art today.

Remembering Koyo Kouoh, one of the most influential curators in the global art world, and one of its most original thought leaders

Koyo Kouoh, the influential curator and executive director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz Mocaa) in Cape Town, has died at age 57, just ten days before she was to announce the title and themes of the 2026 Venice Biennale, for which she had been appointed curator of the international exhibition in December 2024—the first African woman to hold that role. Kouoh transformed Zeitz Mocaa from a fledgling institution into a globally respected museum, securing the donation of Jochen Zeitz's collection, expanding the board, and launching community-focused initiatives like the exhibition *Home is Where the Art is* (2020-21) and the online summit Radical Solidarity.

New York’s Hotel Chelsea honors the late artist Teruko Yokoi with new restaurant

New York's Hotel Chelsea is opening a Japanese restaurant named Teruko, inspired by and honoring the late artist Teruko Yokoi, who lived at the hotel from 1958 to 1961 with her then-husband, artist Sam Francis. The restaurant, helmed by chef Tadashi Ono, will feature eight recently acquired works by Yokoi and is set to open in mid-May. Coinciding with the restaurant's opening, a solo exhibition of Yokoi's work, titled "Noh Theater," is on view at Hollis Taggart gallery through June 14, showcasing over 20 works from the late 1950s to early 2000s that draw on Noh theatre traditions.

New gallery Slip House to open in 1,000sqft, three-story former carriage house during Frieze Week.

Slip House, a new gallery co-founded by Ingrid Lundgren and Marissa Dembkoski, will open to the public on May 9, 2025, during Frieze Week. Located in a 1,000-square-foot, three-story former carriage house at 246 East 5th Street in New York's East Village, the gallery's inaugural exhibition features a multigenerational roster of artists, including historic works by Jack Whitten and Claude Viallat alongside contemporary pieces by Anne Hayden Stevens, Lizzy Gabay, Max Guy, and others. Former Sprüth Magers Director Jessica Draper co-curates the debut presentation. The space includes a second-floor fireplace and kitchen, and a third-floor live/work area that will host a rotating artist residency, with co-founder Dembkoski living onsite during the first year.

At 90, Rhona Hoffman Is Closing Her Chicago Gallery—but She Isn’t Retiring Yet

Rhona Hoffman, the 90-year-old Chicago gallerist, is closing her eponymous gallery at the end of May 2025 after nearly five decades in operation. The final group show, “Not Just A Pretty Picture,” ends April 26. Hoffman, who opened her gallery in 1976, gave early platforms to artists like Sol LeWitt, Mickalene Thomas, and Carrie Mae Weems, and is especially known for championing women artists such as Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, and Jenny Holzer. She was also made an honorary member of the Guerrilla Girls after documenting her exhibition history of women artists. Hoffman plans to remain in Chicago, curating shows and working with artists, but will not use the term "pop-up" for her future activities.

Michaelina Wautier review – an astounding lost artist steps out of her male contemporaries’ shadows

A major exhibition at the Royal Academy is presenting the work of 17th-century Flemish painter Michaelina Wautier, an artist whose significant oeuvre was long misattributed to her male contemporaries, including her brother Charles. The show acts as a real-time art historical investigation, using scientific analysis, scholarship, and connoisseurship to reconstruct her career and assert her authorship of ambitious works like the monumental 'The Triumph of Bacchus'.

Richter works from gallerist Marian Goodman and Donald Judd pieces lead Christie's New York auctions

I lavori di Richter della gallerista Marian Goodman e le opere Donald Judd guidano le aste di Christie’s a New York

Christie's New York spring sales opened on May 20, 2026, with two major collections: the minimalist art collection of Henry S. McNeil Jr. and works by Gerhard Richter from the collection of legendary gallerist Marian Goodman. The 42-lot session achieved $162.7 million, with 98% sold by lot. The 21st Century Evening Sale alone reached $136.8 million, a 42% increase over May 2025 and Christie's highest result for the category in five years. Top lots included Donald Judd's "Untitled" (1969) at $12.8 million—a new auction record for a Judd stack—and Richard Artschwager's "Two-Part Invention" (1967) which soared to $635,000 from an estimate of $60,000–80,000. The Goodman collection of eight Richter works, all guaranteed, generated $78.8 million, exceeding expectations.

Billie Holiday Comes to Queens

A shortlist of artists including Thomas J Price and Tavares Strachan is competing to design a new public monument honoring jazz legend Billie Holiday in Queens, New York. The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs has revealed six commission proposals for the project, which aims to celebrate Holiday's groundbreaking legacy as a vocalist and cultural icon. Separately, the Museum of the City of New York is opening the Puffin Foundation Center for Social Activism, dedicated to civic engagement and social justice.

A $1B Evening With Nicole Kidman

Hyperallergic's newsletter reports on a record-setting $1 billion evening sale at Christie's on May 18, which included works by Jackson Pollock and Constantin Brancusi alongside Hollywood star Nicole Kidman. Other stories cover an exhibition at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center celebrating Black American artists in Paris, a painted book cover trend analyzed by Tara Anne Dalbow, a Gaza Square sculpture unveiling in Paterson, New Jersey, and a performance event by Bahar Behbahani on Governors Island.

‘Her crotchless trousers are etched in my brain for ever’: Valie Export remembered by the artists she influenced

Valie Export, the pioneering Austrian feminist artist known for provocative performances like *Tapp-und-Tastkino* (1968) and *Genital Panic* (1969), is remembered by four artists she influenced: Peaches, Florentina Holzinger, Joan Jonas, and Candice Breitz. Each shares personal reflections on Export's radical use of the female body as a political weapon, her confrontational public interventions, and her legacy of civil disobedience against patriarchal structures.

An Unlikely Friendship Between Artist and Forger

The article reviews Steven Soderbergh's 2026 film "The Christophers," which follows an unlikely friendship between two painters in London: Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen), an older artist facing cancellation, and Lori Butler (Michaela Coel), a young painter who restores and forges artworks. The film explores themes of attention, artistic legacy, and the purpose of art, contrasting with darker narratives like "Tár" by offering a comedic yet profound take on these issues.

Is This What “Made in America” Looks Like?

Christopher Payne's exhibition "Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne" at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum showcases 72 large-format photographs documenting active American factories and manufacturing processes. The trained architect turned photographer spent a decade visiting dozens of production sites across the United States, from the New York Times printing plant in Queens to the Bollman Hat Company in Pennsylvania, capturing workers' craftsmanship and the intricate steps involved in making everything from Peeps candies to jet engines. The exhibition is organized into three sections—traditional handcraft, large-scale production, and cutting-edge technologies—and coincides with the Smithsonian's celebration of the nation's 250th anniversary.

The Revolutionary Tapestry of Nigerian Modernism

The exhibition "Nigerian Modernism" at Tate Modern in London is the first show of its kind in the UK, surveying how Nigerian artists forged a postcolonial identity across the 20th century. It features works by pioneers such as Aina Onabolu, Benedict Enwonwu, and members of the radical Zaria Art Society, including Uche Okeke, Jimo Akolo, and Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu, highlighting their break from British artistic traditions and embrace of local visual heritage.