ralph lemon artnews awards 2025 lifetime achievement 1234763082

Ralph Lemon has been awarded the 2025 ARTnews Lifetime Achievement Award for his multidisciplinary practice spanning dance, drawing, painting, installation, sculpture, and writing. The article highlights his career trajectory from founding the Ralph Lemon Dance Company to disbanding it in 1995 to focus on broader artistic collaborations. Central to his work is the Geography Trilogy (1996–2004) and his long-term collaboration with Walter Carter, a former Mississippi sharecropper, whose life and family became a recurring subject. Lemon's recent exhibition "Ceremonies Out of the Air: Ralph Lemon" at MoMA PS1 (November 14, 2024–March 24, 2025), curated by Connie Butler and Thomas Lax, featured videos, found African sculptures, drawings, and a four-channel performance piece, Rant (redux), with Kevin Beasley and Okwui Okpokwasili.

wafaa bilal artnews awards 2025 established artist 1234762916

Wafaa Bilal has been named the recipient of the 2025 ARTnews Award for Established Artist, recognizing his survey exhibition “Wafaa Bilal: Indulge Me” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (February 1–October 19, 2025). The show is the first major retrospective for the Iraqi American artist, featuring works that put his body at risk, including the iconic performance *Domestic Tension* (2007), in which remote participants fired a paintball gun at him over the internet, and *Virtual Jihadi* (2008), a modified video game that blurs the lines between aggressor and victim. Curated by Bana Kattan, the exhibition restages elements of Bilal’s original performance and presents his ongoing critique of U.S. involvement in the Middle East, particularly the Iraq War and the use of drone warfare.

artnews awards 2025 jury 1234764592

The second annual ARTnews Awards have announced their 2025 winners, selected by a jury of five esteemed US-based curators: Ryan N. Dennis (Co-Director & Chief Curator, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston), Anne Ellegood (Executive Director, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles), Rosario Güiraldes (Curator of Visual Arts, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis), Ruba Katrib (Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, MoMA PS1, New York), and Victoria Sung (Phyllis C. Wattis Senior Curator, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive). These jurors reviewed exhibitions held between August 2024 and July 2025, meeting twice alongside two ARTnews senior editors to nominate and select winners across six categories.

lucas museum of narrative art pilar tompkins rivas departs 1234765433

Pilar Tompkins Rivas, chief curator and deputy director of curatorial and collections at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, has left her post, as first reported by the Los Angeles Times. Her departure is the latest in a series of leadership exits at the institution, which is set to open on September 22, 2026. The museum was founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, and Rivas was one of six women of color appointed to high-ranking roles in 2020 by then director and CEO Sandra Jackson-Dumont, who left in February. The museum laid off 15 employees in May, and CEO duties are now held on an interim basis by Jim Gianopulos, while Lucas himself oversees curatorial content.

irans art market proving resilient andy warhol foundation names arts writers grant recipients and more morning links for december 4 2025 1234765016

Iran's domestic art market is proving resilient despite severe sanctions and economic hardship. In October 2025, Tehran Auction held a million-dollar sale at the Azadi Hotel in Tehran, totaling 134 trillion toman (roughly $1.5 million), featuring 120 works by leading modern and contemporary Iranian artists. The event, reported by The Art Newspaper, contrasts sharply with weak results for Iranian art at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in London, where Western demand has declined. Tehran Auction founder Ali Reza Sami-Azar notes that real domestic art spending continues to rise as more Iranians invest in art amid soaring inflation and currency collapse.

paula modersohn becker degenerate doubles auction record 1234764548

A 1906 self-portrait by German modernist Paula Modersohn-Becker, titled *Selbstbildnis nach halblinks (Self-Portrait Looking Slightly Left)*, sold for €1.3 million ($1.5 million) at Berlin's Grisebach auction house on Thursday—more than quintupling its low estimate and more than doubling the artist's previous auction record. The work was acquired by an unnamed European private collector. The painting had previously been seized by the Nazis as "degenerate" art from the St. Annen Museum in Lübeck and was later acquired by the collector Bauer, who aimed to rehabilitate persecuted artists.

southern guild tribeca expansion 2025 1234764175

Southern Guild, the prominent Cape Town gallery co-founded by Trevyn and Julian McGowan, is opening a new outpost in a restored 19th-century Tribeca townhouse on Leonard Street in New York. The expansion comes as the gallery closes its Los Angeles space, a move the McGowans describe as instinctive rather than strategic. The new space, with its sixteen-foot ceilings and exposed brick, represents a leap of faith amid a challenging 2025 art market marked by gallery closures and industry retrenchment.

richard hunt sculptor survey ica miami 1234764002

The Institute of Contemporary Art Miami is opening "Richard Hunt: Pressure," the first institutional survey of the late sculptor since his death in 2023 at age 88. The exhibition, running through March during Miami Art Week, features 28 sculptures from 1955 to 2010, drawn from Hunt's seven-decade career in which he completed over 160 public commissions and 170 solo exhibitions. The show highlights Hunt's innovative use of industrial materials and abstract forms, while also exploring the dual meaning of "pressure"—both the physical force used in his metalworking and the societal pressures he faced as a Black artist during the Civil Rights era.

flag art foundation serpentine galleries artist prize 1234764228

The FLAG Art Foundation, based in New York, has pledged £1 million ($1.3 million) to London's Serpentine Galleries to establish a new biennial artist prize. Named the Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize, it will award £200,000 ($265,000) to an international artist who has been exhibiting for fewer than ten years, along with an exhibition at both institutions and a catalog. The first winner will be selected in 2026, with exhibitions at Serpentine in 2027 and FLAG in 2028. The prize is funded by collector Glenn Fuhrman's foundation and is the largest contemporary art prize in the UK.

renoir painting missing for a century sells in paris for 2 million 1234763955

A Renoir painting that had been missing for a century sold for $2 million at auction in Paris. The work, titled *L’enfant et ses jouets – Gabrielle et le fils de l’artiste, Jean* (circa 1910), depicts the artist’s young son Jean with his nursemaid Gabrielle. It had never been published or exhibited and was discovered in remarkably good condition. Auction house Joron-Derem offered the painting in its Tableaux Modernes sale at Hôtel Drouot on November 25, where an international collector secured it for a hammer price of €1.45 million ($1.68 million), with buyer’s fees bringing the total to about €1.8 million ($2 million). The painting had been gifted by Renoir to his pupil and close friend Jeanne Baudot, then passed to her adopted son Jean Griot, who kept it in his bedroom until his death in 2011.

museo jumex football and art exhibition 2026 world cup fifa 1234763733

Museo Jumex in Mexico City will host "Fútbol y Arte. Esa misma emoción" (Football & Art. A Shared Emotion), an exhibition timed to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Opening March 28 and running through July 26, the show features around 100 works by 60 international artists, including Marta Minujín, Graciela Iturbide, Melanie Smith, and Rafael Ortega. Curated by Guillermo Santamarina with exhibition design by Mauricio Rocha, the museum will be transformed into elements symbolic of soccer, with sections exploring gender, community, identity, and the political dimensions of the game. New commissions by Diego Berruecos, Iñaki Bonillas, and Sofía Echeverri are included, along with a sculptural installation by Tercerunquinto made from recycled Estadio Azteca seats.

guggenheim abu dhabi basquiat warhol 1234763670

The chairman of Abu Dhabi's department of cultural tourism, Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, revealed at a recent briefing that the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, designed by Frank Gehry and set to open in 2026 on Saadiyat Island, will feature Western masters like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Andy Warhol alongside lesser-known contemporary artists from Asia, Africa, and the Arab world. The museum, originally announced two decades ago and delayed multiple times, will also incorporate augmented reality and artificial intelligence to enhance visitor engagement, and will include music, food, and dance as part of its civic space concept.

are there enough collectors for all the art fairs chanel opens chinas first public contemporary art library us style cultural giving on the rise in the uk morning links for november 25 20 1234763587

Frieze will launch an Abu Dhabi edition in November 2026, shortly after Art Basel opens in Qatar in February 2026, joining Art Dubai and Art Week Riyadh in an increasingly crowded Middle Eastern art fair landscape. Meanwhile, Chanel has opened mainland China's first public contemporary art library, Espace Gabrielle Chanel, at Shanghai's Power Station of Art, housing over 50,000 books and audiobooks. In other news, New York Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani named an arts transition committee including Elizabeth Alexander and Ruba Katrib, and London's major museums have seen a surge in large philanthropic donations, including a £10.3 million pledge to the British Museum and two £150 million gifts to the National Gallery.

zohran mamdani names arts culture transition committee 1234763481

llyn foulkes obituary 1234762894

American artist Llyn Foulkes has died at age 91, as confirmed by Kent Fine Art. Known for defying stylistic categorization, Foulkes was an early pioneer of Pop art, showing at Fergus Gallery in the mid-1960s ahead of Andy Warhol. He won the painting prize at the Paris Biennale in 1967 and represented the United States at the IX São Paulo Art Biennial that same year. His work incorporated collaged elements and explored themes of photography, Americana, and commercial pop culture. Foulkes was also a jazz musician, performing with R. Crumb and forming the Rubber Band, which appeared on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. He invented a one-man-band instrument called the Machine and participated in Documenta 13 in 2012, with a retrospective at the Hammer Museum in 2013.

padimai art tech studio singapore olafur eliasson 1234762360

A new experimental space called Padimai Art & Tech Studio will open in November 2025 at Tanjong Pagar Distripark in Singapore. The launch features a VR work by artist Olafur Eliasson titled "Your view matter" (2022/25), commissioned by the studio's founder, technologist and collector Vignesh Sundaresan (also known as Metakovan). Sundaresan made headlines in 2021 with his record-breaking $69.3 million purchase of Beeple's "Everydays: The First 5000 Days." The work guides participants through six geometric virtual environments, with each visitor's trajectory and point of view recorded as a unique data file stored in a blockchain-based archive.

gustav klimt portrait of elisabeth lederer auction record 1234762083

Gustav Klimt's 'Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer' (1914–16) sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby's New York on November 18, 2025, after 20 minutes of bidding. The painting, which started at $130 million, was won by a phone bidder represented by Sotheby's specialist Julian Dawes, with the hammer price at $205 million. The work was the highlight of the Leonard A. Lauder Collection sale, a 55-work trove valued at over $400 million, and proceeds will go to the Lauder trust. The portrait had been restituted after Nazi-era confiscation and was acquired by Lauder in the mid-1980s.

peter hujar day biopic ira sachs 1234762238

Filmmaker Ira Sachs has released a new film titled *Peter Hujar's Day*, based on a 1974 audio recording and subsequent book by writer Linda Rosenkrantz. The film captures a single day in the life of photographer Peter Hujar, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1987, as he recounts mundane details and artistic anxieties to Rosenkrantz. Starring Ben Whishaw as Hujar and Rebecca Hall as Rosenkrantz, the movie adapts a transcript Rosenkrantz rediscovered and published in 2021. Sachs describes the project as an exploration of portraiture, light, and emotion, contrasting with his earlier, more turbulent film *Passages*.

the phillips collection to deaccession georgia okeeffe arthur dove georges seurat 1234761918

The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., is proceeding with plans to auction major works by Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, and Georges Seurat at Sotheby's on November 20, despite sharp backlash from former curators, members of the Phillips family, and the museum's non-governing members body. The works—including O'Keeffe's *Large Dark Red Leaves on White* (estimate $6–8 million), Seurat's conté crayon drawing ($3–5 million), and Dove's *Rose and Locust Stump* ($1.2–1.8 million)—are considered central to founder Duncan Phillips's vision. Director and CEO Jonathan Binstock argues the proceeds will fund a permanently restricted endowment for commissioning new work by living artists, acquisitions, and collection care, aligning with Duncan Phillips's belief in supporting contemporary practitioners.

trustees bolt palm springs art museum director hire 1234761292

Trustee Patsy Marino resigned from the Palm Springs Art Museum board just one week after Christine Vendredi was appointed director on September 29, 2024. In a resignation letter reported by the Los Angeles Times, Marino alleged that the hiring committee failed to interview any outside candidates, despite two "exceptional" candidates being considered, and cited "inappropriate interference" by the executive committee, individual trustees, and museum staff. Two other board members also left the 22-member body, though the museum claims their departures were unrelated. Vendredi, previously chief curator and interim CEO, has a background in luxury brand management at Louis Vuitton and holds multiple advanced degrees but no prior museum directorship experience.

auction houses tapping into jewelry boom brooklyn public library launches art lending program paris photo returns morning links for november 14 2025 1234761805

Christie's incoming global head of jewellery, Max Fawcett, predicts a strong London Jewels sale, citing a 'purple patch' for the division after achieving $87.7 million in New York and a sold-out Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva. Heritage Auctions, Phillips, and Sotheby's also report record jewellery and watch sales, with demand outstripping supply. Separately, the Brooklyn Public Library has launched an experimental art-lending program alongside its exhibition 'Letters for the Future,' featuring works by 35 artists that patrons can borrow. The article also notes the return of Paris Photo to the Grand Palais, archaeological discoveries in Italy, and updates on trans-inclusivity guidance for UK museums.

j paul getty trust glenn lowry lionel sauvage board 1234761645

The J. Paul Getty Trust has appointed Glenn D. Lowry, former director of New York's Museum of Modern Art, and Lionel M. Sauvage, a French philanthropist and collector, to its board of trustees, effective in 2026. Lowry led MoMA for 30 years, overseeing major expansions and the integration of PS1, while Sauvage holds leadership roles at Les Arts Décoratifs and other cultural institutions.

tate staff vote strike inadequate pay 1234761617

More than 150 unionized workers at Britain's Tate museums, represented by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), will strike from November 26 to December 2 over what they call inadequate pay raises. The strike follows a vote where 98% of members supported action, with 88% turnout. Staff at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool, and Tate St. Ives were offered a 2-3% salary increase, which the union argues is below the government's Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance maximum of 3.25%. The action coincides with the opening of the major exhibition "Turner & Constable: Rivals & Originals" at Tate Britain on November 27.

dolce and gabbana exhibition ica miami february 1234761299

Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana announced that its exhibition “From the Heart to the Hands” will travel to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, opening February 6, 2026, and running through June 14. Curated by fashion historian Florence Müller, the show features over 300 pieces from the brand’s archival and recent collections, including its Alta Moda, Alta Sartoria, and Alta Gioielleria lines, displayed in immersive rooms inspired by art, architecture, folklore, and the dolce vita. The exhibition also includes collaborations with visual artists such as Quayola, Alberto Maria Colombo, Obvious, Vittorio Bonapace, and Felice Limosani.

tania willard wins sobey art award 1234760864

Tania Willard, a mixed Secwépemc and settler artist from Neskonlith, British Columbia, has won the 2025 Sobey Art Award, receiving CAD$100,000 ($71,000). The announcement was made at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. The award, established in 2002 by the Sobey Art Foundation, supports contemporary Canadian artists. The five other shortlisted artists—Tarralik Duffy, Chukwudubem Ukaigwe, Sandra Brewster, Swapnaa Tamhane, and Hangama Amiri—each receive CAD$25,000. Willard's land-based, community-focused practice centers Indigenous resurgence, and her site-specific installation *Declaration of the Understory* is on view at Bentway Staging Grounds in Toronto through spring 2026.

qatar to build gulfs largest art storage facility anish kapoor threatens legal action after us border agents pose next to bean sculpture morning links for november 12 2025 1234761234

Qatar is planning to build the Gulf region's largest full-service art storage and logistics facility near Hamad International Airport, in a partnership between QC+ (a strategic partner of Qatar Sports Investments and Art Basel) and Gulf Warehousing Company. The complex will offer secure storage, conservation services, and private viewing rooms, allowing artworks to be stored and traded without entering Qatar's customs territory, similar to freeports in Geneva, Luxembourg, and Singapore. Separately, British artist Anish Kapoor is considering legal action after US border patrol agents posed for a photo in front of his Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago, which he condemned as emblematic of 'fascist America.' Kapoor previously sued the US National Rifle Association for using the sculpture in a 2017 video.

wadsworth atheneum president allison blais 1234761174

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, has appointed Allison Blais as its new president and CEO, effective January 2026. Blais, currently executive vice president and chief strategy and operations officer at New York’s 9/11 Memorial & Museum, will succeed Jeffrey N. Brown, who held the role for five years. The announcement was made by board chair Duffield Ashmead IV MD, who praised Blais's experience with large-scale capital projects and stakeholder engagement. Blais, a Connecticut native, expressed her long familiarity with the Wadsworth and her enthusiasm for working with museum director Matthew Hargraves.

onassis onx opens in tribeca 1234761127

The Onassis Foundation’s experimental art and tech studio, Onassis ONX, is relocating to a larger 6,000-square-foot space in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, doubling its size. The new facility at 390 Broadway will open in January with the multimedia exhibition “TECHNE: Homecoming,” featuring works by artists such as Andrew Thomas Huang, Tamiko Thiel, and Sister Sylvester. The space includes advanced production facilities like a motion-capture stage, a three-wall projection room, an expanded sound studio, and enhanced AI and generative media infrastructure.

stolen painting saint francis returned mexico church 1234761129

A painting of Saint Francis of Assisi, stolen from the Church of San Francisco de Asis in Teotihuacán, Mexico, in 2001, has been recovered and returned to the church. The six-foot-tall work, painted in 1747 by an unknown artist, was among 18 artworks taken in a nighttime theft. It resurfaced in 2018 when it was consigned to Mexico City auction house Morton Subastas, whose due diligence with the Art Loss Register flagged it as stolen. The painting, valued at 280,000 Mexican pesos ($15,000), was returned to the church in a ceremony led by Padre Teodoro García Romero.

manny davidson collection sale results sothebys paris 1234760513

Sotheby’s Paris raised €18.6 million ($21.5 million) from two live sales of the Manny Davidson collection this week, with a third online sale still ongoing. The collection, spanning nearly 500 lots, included rediscovered Old Masters, 18th-century gold enamel, and an automaton clock by James Cox. Highlights included Michael Sweerts’s *A young man wearing a turban holding an upturned roemer: the fingernail test* (1648–52), which sold for €1.6 million, and Joshua Reynolds’s *Self-Portrait, in doctoral robes* (ca. 1770), which fetched €838,200. The evening sale achieved 83% sell-through by lot, with most buyers from Europe and a third from the US.