Pioneering Modernist Fahrelnissa Zeid Returns to the Spotlight in London

The Turkish-Jordanian modernist Fahrelnissa Zeid is the subject of a new solo exhibition titled "Immersion" at Dirimart London, curated by art historian Adila Laïdi-Hanieh. This marks the artist's first gallery solo show in the United Kingdom this century, featuring several works from her estate that have never been publicly exhibited. The selection spans various periods of her career, highlighting her transition from monumental geometric abstractions to her late-career expressionist portraits.

Which City Will Be the Next Asian Art Hub? That’s the Wrong Question

The traditional quest to identify a single dominant Asian art hub is being challenged by the organic growth of decentralized scenes in cities like Bangkok and Hanoi. While Hong Kong and Seoul remain established centers, private initiatives and artist-led projects in Thailand and Vietnam are building resilient, hybrid ecosystems that prioritize long-term structural depth over immediate auction results. From the opening of Dib Bangkok to experimental exhibitions in Hanoi, these cities are transitioning from peripheral status to significant cultural players through a mix of private museums, biennials, and non-profit platforms.

See Inside the Long-Lost Lee Miller and Cecil Beaton Album Full of WW2-Era Photographs

The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford has acquired a rare photographic "daybook" compiled by Roland Haupt, a former darkroom assistant at British Vogue. Created between 1943 and 1949, the annotated scrapbook contains hundreds of original photographs and clippings by legendary photographers Lee Miller and Cecil Beaton. The acquisition, brokered by dealer Michael Hoppen, ensures that the album—which includes iconic images of Miller in Hitler’s bathtub and portraits of Picasso—remains intact as a singular historical record rather than being sold piecemeal at auction.

A new Istanbul gallery is offering an outlet for Iran’s artists

Shiva Zahed Gallery has opened in Istanbul’s Pera district, specifically dedicated to showcasing Iranian contemporary art. The gallery's inaugural exhibition, "Echoes," features works by the influential artist Fereydoun Ave and installation artist Shaqayeq Arabi. The opening was significantly delayed and reconfigured after civil unrest in Iran and a communication blackout prevented the founder from coordinating with the 20 emerging artists originally scheduled for the debut.

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The 2025 edition of TEFAF Maastricht has opened with 277 dealers from 24 countries, showcasing 7,000 years of art history despite significant geopolitical instability in the Middle East. While the fair remains a premier destination for Old Masters and high-end antiques, exhibitors are navigating logistical hurdles caused by regional conflicts and airport closures in major transit hubs like Dubai.

This Masterpiece by Rembrandt’s Star Pupil Has a New Owner

This Masterpiece by Rembrandt’s Star Pupil Has a New Owner

Willem Drost's 1654 painting *Man With a Plumed Red Beret* has been acquired by the Leiden Collection, a private museum focused on Dutch Golden Age art. The sale was conducted privately through Agnews Gallery at the TEFAF Maastricht fair for an undisclosed sum, with the collection's founder calling it a "capstone acquisition."

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Gallerist Ron Mandos reflects on the enduring legacy of the late Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf, whose work blended fine art, fashion, and activism. Following Olaf’s death in 2023, Galerie Ron Mandos has continued to champion his career, most recently through the exhibition “Tender Fury,” which places Olaf’s provocative imagery in dialogue with conceptual artist Kendell Geers. The partnership between Mandos and Olaf began in earnest in 2020, a period during which the artist committed to a decade of total creative freedom, resulting in significant series like “Im Wald.”

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Artist Tarek Atoui has been selected for the next Hyundai Commission in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, opening October 13 and running into April 2027. The Beirut-born, Paris-based artist is known for complex installations with specially designed instruments incorporating glass, water, or ceramics, activated by touch, breath, or motors. Curators Nabila Abdel Nabi and Dina Akhmadeeva will oversee the exhibition. Atoui has previously shown at S.M.A.K., Luma Westbau, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, and won the Suzanne Deal Booth/FLAG Art Foundation Prize in 2022.

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A significant number of American art museums are currently without a permanent director, or will soon be. Recent departures include Sally Tallant from the Queens Museum to lead London's Hayward Gallery, and David Brenneman from Telfair Museums due to a medical condition. Other high-profile vacancies include the National Portrait Gallery, MOCA Los Angeles, the New Museum, the Portland Art Museum, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the Clark Art Institute, the Newark Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among many others across various budget sizes and regions.

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Jacqueline Humphries's survey exhibition at the Aspen Art Museum features her painting installation "TSLA" (2025), a five-panel work hung on bare metal studs that bisects the gallery space. The installation plays with perception through mirrors and anamorphic imagery, including a distorted Tesla logo, and includes a hidden set of red paintings visible only as reflections. The show also presents nine smaller works generated in part by artificial intelligence, housed in a green-walled adjacent room.

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Dib Bangkok, Thailand's first international-standard contemporary art museum, opened on December 20 with a festive and dramatic inauguration in Bangkok. Founded by the late industrialist and art collector Petch Osathanugrah and completed by his son Purat "Chang" Osathanugrah, the museum debuted with the exhibition "(In)Visible Presence," curated by Ariana Chaivaranon and Dr. Miwako Tezuka, featuring 81 works by 40 artists from the museum's collection. The opening included a visceral performance by Marco Fusinato, where Chang struck a wall with a baseball bat to complete the artwork, symbolizing a "big bang" for Thailand's cultural landscape.

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British photographer Martin Parr, known for his highly saturated and often humorous snapshots of everyday life, died on December 6 at age 74 after a four-year battle with cancer. Parr's work, from his early black-and-white images of rural Yorkshire to his iconic color series like "The Last Resort" (1982–85) and "The Cost of Living" (1987-89), captured British eccentricities and social pretensions with a sharp, affectionate eye. He was a full member of Magnum Photos and his images, including those of mass tourism and consumerism, have been widely exhibited and collected.

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Argentinian artist Pilar Zeta has unveiled 'The Observer Effect', a monumental public sculpture installed on Miami Beach during Art Basel Miami Beach. The work, presented by the Shelborne by Proper, features a colonnade of columns and arches with a matte automotive paint finish that shifts appearance with light and weather. Zeta activated the piece with sunrise and sunset performances by musician Laraaji. The self-taught artist, who moved to Miami at 19 and previously created album art for Coldplay, has also announced a follow-up installation opening next month at Place du Louvre in Paris.

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The Trump administration has selected Mexico-based sculptor Alma Allen to represent the United States at the 61st Venice Biennale, with the pavilion organized by curator Jeffrey Uslip and sponsored by the newly formed American Arts Conservancy (AAC). The AAC, founded in July 2024 and based in Tampa, is run by executive director Jenni Parido, a pet foods entrepreneur with no prior art-world experience, and its board includes figures from construction, conservative media, and high-end event planning, raising questions about its qualifications for this high-profile role.

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The Louvre has temporarily closed employee offices and the Campana Gallery in the southern Sully wing due to structural concerns identified in a November 14 building assessment report, which warned of fragile floor beams. The closure affects 65 staff members and a nine-room gallery of ancient Greek ceramics. The museum has launched an investigation and plans repairs, following a year of challenges including a staff walkout in June and a dramatic theft of imperial jewels from the Gallery of Apollo in October.

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Kevin McGarry reviews the debut issue of *Even*, a new print art journal launched by *Guardian* contributor Jason Farago during Frieze New York. Named after a phrase from Marcel Duchamp's *The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even*, the magazine is a small, paperback-sized publication that prioritizes text over images, positioning itself as an antidote to market-driven art discourse. The first issue features a lengthy essay on artist Joan Jonas by Elisabeth Lebovici, timed to Jonas's U.S. pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, and a piece by Zachary Woolfe on the Björk exhibition at MoMA. McGarry critiques the journal's ambition to revitalize art criticism, noting that while its goals are lofty, the content sometimes falls back on familiar artspeak.

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Sotheby's is offering Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" (1914-1916) from the estate of the late collector and philanthropist Leonard Lauder with an asking price exceeding $150 million. The consignment also includes two Attersee landscapes valued at over $70 million and $80 million respectively, potentially generating over $300 million from just three lots. This sale follows Ronald Lauder's record-setting $135 million private purchase of Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" in 2006, and is guaranteed to set a new auction record for the artist, surpassing the current $108.8 million benchmark.

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Brandon Stanton, the photographer behind Humans of New York, has transformed Grand Central Terminal and its subway station into a massive public art installation titled "Dear New York." Running through October 19, the installation replaces over 150 digital screens typically used for advertising with thousands of portraits and stories from Stanton's archive, making it the largest public art installation in New York City in decades. The project, created in collaboration with creative director David Korins, also features live music performances by Juilliard School students and a piano donated by Steinway & Sons.

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The Otto Kallir family has donated over 130 Austrian Expressionist works valued at more than $60 million to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The gift includes the museum's first paintings by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Richard Gerstl, along with works by Oskar Kokoschka, Alfred Kubin, Marie-Louise von Motesiczky, Lovis Corinth, and Käthe Kollwitz. The collection spans from the turn of the 20th century through the 1920s and features paintings, drawings, prints, posters, and mixed-medium works from the Wiener Werkstätte. A selection of 24 works will go on view in the exhibition “Austrian Expressionism and Otto Kallir” from November 23, 2025, through May 31, 2026, with a comprehensive exhibition planned for 2030. The Kallir family is also donating rare Viennese books and prints to the Getty Research Institute.

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More than 100 artists and scholars, including Emily Jacir, Hans Haacke, and Michael Rakowitz, have signed an open letter defending Dr. Sara Nadal-Melsió, the former associate director of the Whitney Museum of American Art's Independent Study Program (ISP), whose position was eliminated in June 2025. The termination followed the cancellation of a pro-Palestine performance titled "No Aesthetic Outside My Freedom: Mourning, Militancy, and Performance" by artists Fadl Fakhouri, Noel Maghathe, and Fargo Tbakhi, scheduled for May 12, 2025. The museum canceled the event after viewing a recording where a performer asked attendees who "believe in Israel in any incarnation" to leave. Nadal-Melsió had published a protest letter against the cancellation, leading to her dismissal. The open letter also demands the reopening of the ISP, which was suspended for the 2025-2026 program.

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Performance artist Marina Abramović is being sued by her former creative and romantic partner Frank Uwe Laysiepen, known as Ulay. Ulay alleges that Abramović violated a 1999 contract by failing to share royalties and credit for collaborative works they created together. He claims Abramović has omitted his name from attributions and provided inaccurate sales statements, paying him only four times in 16 years. Abramović's lawyer has dismissed the allegations, and the case may be heard in Amsterdam district court.

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A new documentary titled "Maintenance Artist," directed by Toby Perl Freilich, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this month. The film follows Mierle Laderman Ukeles, the longtime unpaid artist-in-residence with New York City's Department of Sanitation, as she reflects on her career. It traces her journey from graduate student at Pratt Institute to pioneering maintenance art, including her Queens Museum retrospective and international projects elevating everyday workers. The documentary features interviews with art historians, curators, and city officials, and highlights Ukeles's iconic performances, such as shaking hands with every sanitation worker over 11 months.

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SuperRare, the digital art trading platform, is opening a permanent New York gallery called Offline in the East Village at 243 Bowery, the former home of Salon 94. The inaugural exhibition, “Mythologies for a Spiritually Void Time,” curated by X.S. Hou and Jack Wedge, opens July 8 and features 15 artists working across animation, painting, sculpture, and networked media. The launch includes a week-long festival with dance performances, panels on art and A.I., and a choreographed NFT auction ritual.

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Richard Hambleton, the Canadian street artist known for his iconic "shadowman" silhouettes that appeared on New York City walls in the 1980s, died on Sunday at age 65, as confirmed by Woodward Gallery. Hambleton emerged alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Kenny Scharf in the downtown graffiti scene, but a long battle with heroin and crack addiction plagued his life. His career saw a resurgence following a documentary by Oscar-nominated director Oren Jacoby, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, leading to renewed exhibitions including his participation in "Club 57: Film, Performance and Art in the East Village, 1978-1983" at the Museum of Modern Art.

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The Baloise Art Prize, worth $36,800, has been awarded to artists Rhea Dillon and Joyce Joumaa at Art Basel. Dillon's "Leaning Figures" sculptures, made from soap and molasses, were presented by London's Soft Opening gallery. Joumaa's installation "Periodic Sights," shown by Montreal's Eli Kerr Gallery, features photographs of Tripoli and Beirut commenting on energy crises in Lebanon. The prize is given annually to two artists in the fair's Statements sector.

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James Turrell's latest solo exhibition, "Reflections on Light," opened at Häusler Contemporary Zürich and runs through August 31, 2025. The show features a curated selection of recent and historic works, including the eight-part aquatint suite *Still Light* (1990–1991), a new glass and gold leaf sculpture *Roden Crater Along the Summer Solstice* (2024), and luminous glass pieces like *Tall Glass SINGULARITY* (2024) and *Small Elliptical Glass FIRST CAUSE* (2024). The exhibition traces Turrell's decades-long investigation of light as a malleable medium, from early projected light installations to his ongoing earthworks project at Roden Crater.

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A new arts institution called Canyon is set to open on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 2026, occupying a 40,000-square-foot former commercial space at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge. Founded by philanthropist and art collector Robert Rosenkranz and Joe Thompson, the founding director of MASS MoCA, Canyon will focus on video art, sound art, and performance art. The venue will include 18,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 60-foot-tall performance area, and a 300-seat performance hall. Early programming plans include a retrospective of Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda and an expanded iteration of the video game-themed group exhibition "Worldbuilding," curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist. The architecture firm New Affiliates is redesigning the space, and Sam Ozer has been appointed curator-at-large. Admission will be $30, with free access for school groups and library cardholders.

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Barbara Kruger's monumental text-based mural "Untitled (Questions)" (1990/2018) at the Geffen Contemporary in Los Angeles has become a backdrop for National Guard deployments during protests against ICE raids. Originally commissioned by MOCA in 1989, the 191-foot-long work asks "WHO IS BEYOND THE LAW?" and has been photographed twice with armed soldiers beneath it—first in 1992 during the Rodney King protests, and again this week as President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to quell demonstrations against immigration enforcement. Photographer Jay L. Clendenin captured the latest image, showing a calm scene that belies nearby unrest.

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German artist Günther Uecker, renowned for his spiritual approach to art and innovative use of nails as a sculptural material, died on Tuesday at age 95 in a Düsseldorf hospital. His family confirmed the death to German news agency dpa, though no cause was given. Uecker was a key member of the Zero Group, which sought to reset art to a "zero base," and his work ranged from nail-covered surfaces to pianos, chairs, and television sets. He also designed a prayer room for Berlin's Reichstag and participated in major exhibitions including Documenta 4 and the Venice Biennale.

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The article profiles ten young female artists who are using their work to explore and assert feminist perspectives in the face of contemporary misogyny, particularly referencing the US president-elect's rhetoric. Featured artists include Emma Sulkowicz, known for her durational performance 'Carry That Weight' protesting campus rape culture, and Sarah Maple, a British artist whose multimedia works tackle identity and gender with provocative humor. The piece highlights how these artists address themes such as sexual violence, gender fluidity, and the reclaiming of femininity through mediums ranging from performance and video to painting and photography.