Possible medieval artefacts, discovered at Canadian thrift store, will form basis of university archaeology class

A group of 11 rings and two medallions, believed to be medieval, was discovered at a Thrifty Boutique charity shop in Chilliwack, British Columbia. A volunteer found the items while sorting donations, and a customer with an archaeology background alerted staff that the objects might be ancient. The manager contacted Sabrina Higgins, an associate professor at Simon Fraser University (SFU), who arranged for the artifacts to be donated to the university’s Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Higgins and colleague Cara Tremain have designed a course for autumn 2026 in which students will analyze the artifacts' designs and materials to determine their provenance, culminating in an exhibition at the museum.

New Building at Burg Halle Takes Shape

Neubau an der Burg Halle nimmt Form an

The long-delayed new building for the Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle (University of Art and Design Halle) is moving forward, with a construction start now planned for autumn 2027. The Finance Committee of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament has approved the updated cost estimate of around 42 million euros, clearing the way for the project. While the building was originally slated for completion in 2027, a more realistic finish date is now 2030, with preparatory moves and demolition work scheduled to begin in late 2026.

Nature is the focus of Pacific Beach Library art exhibition

San Diego artist Young Min Jo is presenting his solo exhibition "Late Autumn in San Diego" at the Pacific Beach/Taylor Library’s Community Room through January 30. The free show features his impressionistic landscape paintings inspired by nature scenes from San Diego and around the world, including beaches, palm trees, harbors, and the San Diego-Coronado Bridge. A public reception will be held on January 17.

Festival Fever in Wells this autumn

Wells, England, is hosting a month-long cultural festival in October 2024, featuring a mix of food, art, literature, music, geology, and sustainability events. Highlights include Mendip Rocks!, a photography exhibition by artist Elizabeth Woodger at Wells & Mendip Museum exploring the geological and human shaping of the Mendip Hills; Wells Art Contemporary (WAC), an international open competition and installation show at Wells Cathedral with over 100 artworks and site-specific pieces themed around 'Flowing Light'; and the Wells Food Festival, a family-friendly event with over 200 artisan traders, street food, and wine tastings.

Festival Fever in Wells this autumn

Wells, England, is hosting a month-long cultural festival in October 2024, featuring multiple events including the Mendip Rocks! geological festival with a photography exhibition by artist Elizabeth Woodger at Wells & Mendip Museum, the Wells Art Contemporary open competition and installation show at Wells Cathedral, and the Wells Food Festival. The photography exhibition, titled 'Menhir,' explores how landscapes are shaped by geological processes and human actions, using a multi-layered technique of printing photographs onto local rock specimens and projecting them onto natural rock faces.

Tumut Art Exhibition entertains everyone

The Tumut Art Society recently concluded its 68th annual art exhibition in regional New South Wales, marking a successful two-week event that drew approximately 500 visitors. The show featured 39 sales across both physical and virtual platforms and distributed $15,000 in prize money across nine categories. Melbourne artist Nina Volk emerged as the primary winner, securing both the prestigious Bendigo Bank Acquisitive Award for her work "The Storm is Coming" and the People’s Choice Award for "Grazing in the Autumn Mist."

New exhibition features work from UWRF BFA candidates

Seven Bachelor of Fine Arts candidates from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls are set to present their capstone exhibitions at the Kleinpell Fine Arts Gallery from April 13 to May 1. The showcase features a diverse range of media including ceramics, oil painting, photography, and interactive installations, representing the culmination of the students' undergraduate artistic development.

Exhibition | 'News from Nowhere: Laboratory of Spring and Autumn Collection' at SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, Tokyo, Japan

A new exhibition titled 'News from Nowhere: Laboratory of Spring and Autumn Collection' has opened at the SCAI THE BATHHOUSE gallery in Tokyo. The show presents a curated collection of works, though the specific artists involved are not detailed in the provided text.

Upcoming Fall River art exhibit explores city's identity. How to join

The Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, Massachusetts, is preparing to host a group exhibition titled "Fall River: A Sense of Place" this autumn. The show will feature works by local artists exploring the city's unique identity, history, and community through various mediums.

Tate Britain will Exhibit ‘90s Art and Fashion, and Other News.

Tate Britain will stage "The 90s: Art and Fashion" in autumn 2026, guest curated by Edward Enninful, featuring nearly 70 artists, designers, and photographers including Steve McQueen, Damien Hirst, Alexander McQueen, and Vivienne Westwood. The exhibition explores how the decade reshaped British cultural identity through art, fashion, and social commentary, highlighting DIY anti-fashion aesthetics and themes of identity, race, class, and representation. Separately, Gagosian opened a new ground-floor flagship at 980 Madison Avenue in New York, replacing its longtime sixth-floor space after 37 years. A rare 17th-century Mughal astrolabe is heading to Sotheby's London with a £1.5–2.5 million estimate. Fondazione Sozzani launched an award for emerging creative talent. A Manhattan federal jury ordered art publisher Michael McKenzie to pay $102.2 million in damages to the Morgan Art Foundation for producing unauthorized works by Robert Indiana.

Back to the 90s: Tate exhibition to explore decade’s art and fashion

Tate Britain will stage a major exhibition titled "The 90s: Art and Fashion" this autumn, curated by former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful. The show will feature nearly 70 artists, photographers, and designers, including Steve McQueen, Chris Ofili, Damien Hirst, Alexander McQueen, and Tracey Emin, alongside works by Juergen Teller, Mark Leckey, and others. It will explore the decade's art, fashion, and club culture, with pieces such as McQueen's film "Bear" (1993), Ofili's Turner Prize-winning "No Woman, No Cry" (1998), and images from Manchester's Haçienda and London's Bagley's nightclubs.

Towering homage to Bamiyan Buddhas rises over Manhattan’s High Line

A new public sculpture by Vietnamese American artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen has been installed on the High Line Plinth at Hudson Yards in Manhattan. Titled "The Light That Shines Through the Universe" (2026), the 27-foot-tall sandstone monument pays homage to the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the 6th-century colossi destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. The work features carved sandstone forms with two monumental steel hands cast from melted-down artillery shells sourced from Afghanistan, making gestures of fearlessness and compassion. It will remain on view through autumn 2027 and is accompanied by monthly lectures and meditation sessions.

From YBAs to McQueen: Tate Britain’s New Exhibition Reframes the Creative Explosion of the 1990s

Tate Britain has announced a major new exhibition, *The 90s: Art and Fashion*, opening in autumn 2026, which will be the first to examine the intersection of contemporary art, photography, and fashion during the 1990s in Britain. Featuring over 100 works by nearly 70 artists, photographers, and designers—including Sarah Lucas, Alexander McQueen, Tracey Emin, and Steve McQueen—the show explores the decade's raw experimentation, anti-establishment energy, and the rise of the Young British Artists. Curated with input from Edward Enninful, the exhibition also highlights subcultures, nightlife, and the work of figures who challenged dominant narratives around race, identity, and class.

New Museum’s longtime director to retire after building expansion opens

Lisa Phillips, the director of the New Museum in Manhattan since 1999, will retire in April 2026 after the completion of an $82 million expansion designed by OMA and Cooper Robertson. The expansion, which doubles the museum's exhibition space, is set to reopen this autumn, marking the culmination of Phillips's transformative 26-year tenure. She will become director emeritus and curate an exhibition on the Bowery's artistic history.

Prague’s best autumn 2025 art exhibitions and events

Prague's autumn 2025 art season features a wide range of exhibitions, from classical paintings celebrating Czech identity to contemporary digital art. Highlights include Spanish painter Miquel Barceló's major show at DOX, an exhibition marking 150 years of Bedřich Smetana's 'Vltava' at Jízdárna Pražského hradu, and the largest-ever exhibition of Czech pop artist Pasta Oner at Municipal House Gallery. Other notable shows include a retrospective of sculptor Aleš Veselý at Veletržní palác, the Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2025 exhibition, and the opening of Prague's first permanent digital art gallery, Signal Space, with its inaugural exhibit 'Echoes of Tomorrow'.

Japanese museum’s collection of Western art could bring $60m at auction

The Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, a private museum near Tokyo that closed permanently in March 2025, has consigned 80 works from its collection of Western modernism to Christie’s. The consignment is expected to generate at least $60 million across multiple sales in New York this autumn, led by a 1907 Claude Monet *Nymphéas* painting estimated at $40 million. Other highlights include a Pierre-Auguste Renoir *Baigneuse* from 1891, two Marc Chagall paintings, and works by artists such as Mark Rothko, Pablo Picasso, and Cy Twombly. The museum’s parent company, DIC Corporation, plans to retain only about 100 works and sell the remaining roughly 280 pieces gradually.

interest in asian art strong despite challenges art market 1234752590

The autumn edition of Asia Week New York is underway, with auction houses reporting strong interest in Asian art despite broader economic challenges. Bonhams kicked off the week with sales totaling $7.3 million, including Chinese ceramics and snuff bottles, though it offered 47% fewer lots than last year. Top results included a blue-and-white jar selling for $1.75 million and a pair of famille rose dishes for $1.5 million. Christie’s sold a Vasudeo S. Gaitonde painting for $2.35 million and a Tyeb Mehta work for nearly $2 million. New US tariffs under the Trump administration have added uncertainty, particularly for cross-border consignments and purchases.

From Dior's golden coat to landscape jewellery at Christie's: where the worlds of art and luxury collide this autumn

The article highlights two luxury-art crossovers this autumn: Jonathan Anderson's debut Dior menswear collection for spring/summer 2026, presented in Paris, and Natasha Wightman's new jewellery collection displayed at Christie's London. Anderson's show reimagined Dior's iconic women's silhouettes for men, featuring a standout €200,000 coat embroidered with ancient Indian mukesh work that took 12 artisans 34 days to create. Wightman's jewellery incorporates bog oak, a semi-fossilised wood from British fens, carved into pendants celebrating the country's remaining temperate rainforests.

Despite new autumn slot, Tokyo Gendai remains a largely local affair

Tokyo Gendai held its third edition from September 11-14, 2025, in Yokohama, shifting from its original July slot to an early autumn date to attract more international dealers and collectors. The fair reported mixed sales amid a slow economy, with local Japanese collectors making up the vast majority of buyers. Notable sales were reported by Pace Gallery, while other galleries like Anomaly noted a slower start but eventual sales. The fair also featured a new partnership with Art Busan, bringing Korean and Chinese galleries with subsidized booth fees.

Sotheby’s secures $120m Pritzker and $400m Lauder collections, with works by Matisse, Munch and Van Gogh

Sotheby’s has secured two major private collections for its autumn New York sales: the Pritzker collection, estimated at $120 million, and the Lauder collection, valued at around $400 million. The Pritzker collection includes Vincent van Gogh’s *Romans Parisiens* (1887) with a $40 million estimate, while the Lauder collection features Gustav Klimt’s *Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer* (1914-16) estimated at over $150 million, along with works by Matisse, Munch, and Martin. The sales will take place at Sotheby’s new headquarters in the Breuer Building this November.

Back into the Fray: Fall’s Must-See Museum Shows

Boston Art Review (BAR) has published a guide to must-see museum exhibitions for fall 2026, highlighting major shows across the United States. The article curates a selection of institutional presentations that are expected to draw significant attention during the autumn season, though the specific exhibitions and venues are not detailed in the provided text.

Autumn Arts: Visual Art

Seattle's galleries and museums are launching a fall season of exhibitions addressing politics, identity, and the environment, alongside works celebrating beauty. Highlights include Karey Kessler's map-inspired show 'the Where' at Shift Gallery, Ethan Murrow and Mary Finlayson exhibitions at Winston Wächter Fine Art, Anila Quayyum Agha's immersive light installation 'Geometry of Light' at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, and a politically charged neon show 'Call It What It Is' at The Factory. The city-wide Art + Culture Week returns for its second edition, featuring free events across 12 neighborhoods.

‘Final spurt’: decades-long rebuilding of Dresden’s Royal Palace nears completion

The decades-long reconstruction of Dresden's Royal Palace (Residenzschloss), a project costing €400 million, is nearing completion after beginning in 1985. The palace, which was reduced to a burnt-out shell by Allied bombing in February 1945 and remained a ruin through much of East Germany's history, will see its final phases unfold from autumn 2024 through 2027. These include a new installation in the former picture galleries, the rebuilt Schlosskapelle (palace chapel) opening in November, a Rüstkammer installation in the ballroom in early 2026, the completion of the Grosser Schlosshof courtyard in 2027, and a new exhibit in the Gothic Hall chronicling the palace's history. The palace now houses major collections of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD), including the Grünes Gewölbe, Kupferstich-Kabinett, and Rüstkammer.

Uptown and downtown, re-imagined museums in New York prepare to reopen

Two of New York City's most influential contemporary art institutions, the Studio Museum in Harlem and the New Museum on the Bowery, are set to reopen this autumn after major architectural transformations. The Studio Museum will unveil its first purpose-built facility, an 82,000 sq. ft seven-story building on West 125th Street designed by Adjaye Associates with Cooper Robertson, featuring expanded exhibition space, artist studios, and a "reverse stoop" for public programming. The New Museum will debut a seven-story expansion to its flagship building at 235 Bowery, doubling its exhibition space and reinforcing its role as a hub for experimental art.

London’s Hayward Gallery director Ralph Rugoff to step down after 20 years in role

Ralph Rugoff, director of London's Hayward Gallery for nearly 20 years, will step down in spring 2026. The gallery declined to provide a reason for his departure, but Rugoff, 68, plans to continue working as an independent curator and writer. During his tenure, he curated 23 major exhibitions, commissioned public works by artists including Tracey Emin, Yinka Shonibare, and Phyllida Barlow, and oversaw the Hayward Gallery Touring program, which produced exhibitions like the British Art Show across the UK. He also served as artistic director of the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019 and received an OBE for services to the arts.

Christie’s expects Elaine Wynn’s collection to bring $75m, while her record-breaking Bacon triptych goes to Lacma

Christie’s will auction more than a dozen jewels from the collection of the late billionaire and philanthropist Elaine Wynn this autumn in New York, with total estimates exceeding $75 million. Highlights include Lucian Freud's *The Painter Surprised by a Naked Admirer* (2005) and Richard Diebenkorn's *Ocean Park #40* (1971), each estimated at $15–$25 million, alongside works by Joan Mitchell, J.M.W. Turner, Wayne Thiebaud, and others. Meanwhile, the crown jewel of Wynn’s collection—Francis Bacon’s 1969 triptych *Three Studies of Lucian Freud*, which she bought for a record $142.4 million at Christie’s in 2013—has been bequeathed to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) and will debut in its new David Geffen Galleries building next April.

JDCAC Artist's Harvest Exhibition: Reception and Market Oct. 9

Auburn Parks and Recreation is hosting the Artist’s Harvest Gallery Reception, Costume Sale and Market on October 9, 2025, from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center (JDCAC) in Auburn, Alabama. The event features autumn- and Halloween-themed artwork by local artists, a market with handcrafted goods from JDCAC-affiliated artists, and a costume sale by the Auburn Area Community Theatre. Artists can submit family-friendly works for the exhibition at no cost, with registration closing September 19.

Must-see exhibitions in New York this autumn

The Museum of Modern Art is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its New Photography series with 'New Photography 2025: Lines of Belonging,' featuring 12 international artists from Mexico City, Johannesburg, Kathmandu, and New Orleans. Other must-see exhibitions include 'Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald' at the Bronx Museum, showcasing the artist's ceramic works born from her HIV diagnosis and art therapy; 'The Magical City: George Morrison’s New York' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, highlighting the overlooked Abstract Expressionist painter; and 'Christian Marclay: Doors' at the Brooklyn Museum, a cinematic supercut in the new Moving Image Gallery.

Collector’s eye: the art Kyongho Kim has bought and why

Kyongho Kim, a Seoul-based dentist and art collector, discusses his journey into collecting contemporary art, which began in 2019 when he bought his first painting to fill bare walls in his new home. He now owns around 250 works, including pieces by Hernan Bas, Genieve Figgis, Scott Kahn, and Jack Kabangu, and describes his philosophy as stewardship rather than ownership. The interview, published by The Art Newspaper, covers his first purchase (Byung-Rock Yoon's *Scent of Autumn*), his regret over missing a George Condo piece, and his love for art fairs like Frieze Seoul, where he acquired a work by Marina Perez Simão.

London Art Exhibitions Not To Miss Opening Autumn 2025

London's major museums and galleries are preparing a packed autumn 2025 season with blockbuster exhibitions. Highlights include 'Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Müller’s Neo-Impressionists' at the National Gallery, 'Theatre Picasso' at Tate Modern, a Kerry James Marshall retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts, Peter Doig at the Serpentine, Gilbert & George at the Hayward, and 'Encounters: Giacometti x Mona Hatoum' at the Barbican. The Barbican show pairs historic works by Alberto Giacometti with new and existing pieces by Mona Hatoum, including several UK debuts and site-specific large-scale sculptures.