Princeton University Art Museum has opened its inaugural exhibition in its new building, focusing on the work of ceramic artist and longtime faculty member Toshiko Takaezu. The show, 'Toshiko Takaezu: Dialogues in Clay,' features her 'closed form' ceramics alongside works by her contemporaries, highlighting her artistic experimentation and her nearly three-decade tenure teaching at the university.
Iranian galleries have closed or altered their hours as nationwide protests, sparked by economic turmoil and a crashing currency, escalated into violent unrest. The protests began on 28 December among bazaar traders and spread to artists and gallerists, with many shutting their doors or canceling exhibitions, some under public pressure. A government-imposed internet and communications blackout on 8 January has severely limited information, though one gallerist speaking anonymously described the closures as a unified act of solidarity across society, not merely a response to safety concerns. The gallerist noted that the economy is in its worst condition, with basic necessities unaffordable and even bubble-wrap prices fluctuating wildly. Another gallery founder confirmed that all projects are on hold, and staging exhibitions risks public backlash. Instagram account Galleryinfo.ir faced online criticism for promoting exhibitions during the crisis, while Bavan Gallery reversed its initial stance of "resilience is an art form" and announced it would hold no exhibitions.
Elizabeth Goldring’s new biography of Hans Holbein the Younger takes a documentary-focused approach, prioritizing archival evidence over visual analysis. The book examines Holbein’s life (1497/8–1543) through chronological chapters, using inventories, correspondence, and other records to correct long-held assumptions and propose new theories about his work. Goldring’s detective work includes identifying the green curtain in Holbein’s portrait of Sir Thomas More as a reference to the sitter’s role as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and suggesting that a lost painting of the More family was given to Erasmus as a gift.
The Lee Kun-hee Collection international tour exhibition, titled "Treasures from Korea: Collecting, Cherishing, Sharing," opened at the National Museum of Asian Art under the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., on March 15, 2025. Within one month, it attracted over 15,600 visitors—25% more than comparable past exhibitions—and all museum merchandise sold out within a week, generating approximately 100 million KRW in orders. The show features 330 works selected from over 23,000 pieces donated to South Korea in 2021 by the late Lee Kun-hee, former Samsung Group chairman, including seven National Treasures and fifteen Treasures. Highlights include the Beopgo-dae, which gained viral attention for resembling a character from the Netflix film 'KPop Demon Hunters.'
Former Sotheby's CEO Tad Smith, who led the auction house from 2015 to 2019, has emerged as a prominent supporter of blockchain art. The article traces his connection to artist Robert Alice, who first encountered Smith while working as a porter at Sotheby's. Alice, a pioneer in NFT art, sold the first NFT through a major auction house at Christie's in 2020. Now, his blockchain-based painting BLOCK 1 (24.9472° N, 118.5979° E) from the Portraits of a Mind series is being offered at Sotheby's with an estimate of $600,000 to $800,000. Smith, who owns another work from the series, is not the consignor or guarantor but expresses hope the sale will promote Alice's work, Bitcoin, and Sotheby's, particularly among younger generations.
China's private museum sector, which boomed in the 2010s with hundreds of new institutions often tied to property developments or vanity projects, is now contracting. Notable closures include Guangzhou's Times Museum (shuttered in 2022, later relaunched as a project space), OCAT Shanghai (closed indefinitely in 2021), and Qingdao's TAG Museum (suspended operations in 2024). Other prominent museums like Sifang Art Museum, Yinchuan MoCA, and Shanghai MoCA have scaled back, while Long Museum's future appeared uncertain after its owners auctioned part of their collection. The downturn follows the collapse of China's property sector, Covid-19 restrictions, and a broader economic slump.
An exhibition opening at Strawberry Hill House in London on November 1 will explore the history of a jewel-encrusted Ottoman dagger long believed to have belonged to Henry VIII. Curator Silvia Davoli has uncovered that the dagger was actually made in late 16th-century Istanbul, decades after Henry's death, and was mistakenly attributed to the king by 18th-century engraver George Vertue. The dagger was owned by Horace Walpole, then passed through several hands before being stolen in a 1946 heist at Hever Castle, where it was kept by the Astor family. Though the original dagger remains missing, the exhibition will display two similar Ottoman daggers from Welbeck Abbey and Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum.
In February 2025, Beirut-born, Paris-based architect Lina Ghotmeh won the competition to oversee the remodelling of the Western Range of the British Museum, a series of galleries comprising one-third of the historic London institution. Her project team includes conservation specialists Purcell and engineers Arup. Ghotmeh, known for her human-centred, sustainable approach and her 'archaeology of the future' methodology, has previously designed the Stone Garden tower in Beirut and the 2023 Serpentine Pavilion in London. She also holds commissions for a contemporary art museum in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, a Venice Biennale pavilion for Qatar, and the Bahrain Pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka.
Yale Library is presenting 'Unfolding Events: Exploring Past and Present in Artists’ Books,' an exhibition at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library through March 1. Curated by Jessica Pigza and Bill Landis, the show draws from the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library and Beinecke collections, featuring works that explore marginalized communities and personal responses to contemporary life. Highlights include Clarissa Sligh's accordion-style book 'What’s Happening With Momma?' (1988) and Tia Blassingame's '’Pause' (2024), which addresses Black women's experiences with menopause.
Tony Fitzpatrick, a prolific Chicago artist known for his collages, etchings, and works on paper, died of a heart attack on 11 October at age 66. He was also a poet, author, actor, and raconteur, with his work held in major museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Fitzpatrick ran the influential gallery World Tattoo and was a vocal defender of labor unions and underdogs. He had been awaiting a double lung transplant after being diagnosed with interstitial lung disease, but continued creating until his death, including a new book and a live show at Steppenwolf Theater.
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) has opened "Contemporary Anishinaabe Art: A Continuation," its first Native American art exhibition in over 30 years. Featuring 92 works by more than 60 Anishinaabe artists from the Great Lakes region, the show spans from 1892 to 2025 and includes pieces by renowned artists such as Jim Denomie, Norval Morrisseau, Kent Estey, Jonathan Thunder, and Rabbett before Horses Strickland. Highlights include Denomie's vibrant "Four Days and Four Nites, Ceremony" (2020) and Morrisseau's spiritual works like "Punk Rockers Nancy and Andy" (1989).
The work of late Wilmington artist Minnie Evans is featured in two separate national exhibitions. One show, "The Visionary Art of Minnie Evans," is currently at the Boston Museum of Fine Art after opening at The Gund museum at Kenyon College, while a larger exhibition, "The Lost World: The Art of Minnie Evans," will open at Atlanta's High Museum of Art in November 2025 before traveling to New York's Whitney Museum in summer 2026. Evans, a self-taught artist who worked at Wilmington's Airlie Gardens and died in 1987, gained initial recognition in the 1960s after being discovered by photographer and art historian Nina Howell Starr, but had not been the subject of a major national gallery show since the 1990s.
On September 23, Bruun Rasmussen will auction ten works by Ovartaci, the Danish Art Brut master born Louis Marcussen. Ovartaci, who lived at the psychiatric hospital in Risskov for 56 years, created surreal figures, abstract female forms, and distinctive 'smoking phantoms'—handcrafted cigarette holders turned into magical beings. His breakthrough came in 1979 with the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art's 'Outsider' exhibition, and he has since been shown at the Venice Biennale and the CoBrA Museum of Modern Art. The online auction is already open for bidding, with a preview in Aarhus.
Nearly 200 Old Master treasures from the Schroder Collection, amassed by the late banker Bruno Schroder and his family over more than a century, will go on long-term display at the Holburne Museum in Bath, UK, starting 10 September. The collection includes silver, maiolica, and paintings by artists such as Lucas Cranach the Elder and Hans Holbein the Elder, many shown publicly for the first time. The loan was facilitated by Bruno’s daughter Leonie, who requested the works remain in the UK and be placed in a regional museum rather than London.
Sotheby's has announced that its new flagship auction house and gallery space, located in the iconic Breuer Building on Madison Avenue, will open on November 8. The building, designed by Marcel Breuer in 1966, originally housed the Whitney Museum of American Art and later served as temporary home for The Frick Collection and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The opening exhibition will feature works for Sotheby's marquee modern and contemporary art auctions, followed by pieces for Luxury Week in December. The building also includes a new restaurant from the team behind La Mercerie, and the galleries will be free and open to the public.
Top curators share advice on how emerging artists can get noticed in a tough art world. Key tips include being proactive in building networks, approaching curators directly, and presenting organized online portfolios. Curators like Hitomi Iwasaki (Queens Museum), Marie-Anne McQuay (Liverpool Biennial), and Lisa Long (formerly Julia Stoschek Foundation) emphasize that artists should not wait to be discovered but instead engage with peers, attend shows, and reach out to curators, even those early in their careers.
The Art Gallery of Hamilton (AGH) has announced free admission for all visitors during July and August 2025 as part of a new initiative called "Hamilton Strong." The program aims to support community health and wellbeing by providing a space for healing, reflection, and connection amid financial insecurity and political anxiety. Free entry is funded by a private donor and applies during regular business hours, though the gallery remains closed on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Current exhibitions include Helen McNicoll: An Impressionist Journey, Taking Root: Recent Acquisitions, and The Shape of Curiosity, along with the Zucker Sculpture Garden and AGH Creative Lab. Members receive a two-month extension, and new memberships purchased in July or August come with two extra months.
The Kunstmuseum Basel has reinstalled a collection of extremely fragile Hans Holbein drawings in a dedicated gallery as part of a major rehang of its 14th- to 19th-century galleries. The works, mostly preparatory studies by the Northern Renaissance painter, have not been publicly displayed for nearly 20 years and are so light-sensitive that the gallery's lighting system activates only when visitors enter. The museum's director, Elena Filipovic, notes that the drawings entered the collection in 1661 and have been kept undercover since the 1980s, last appearing in a major Holbein exhibition in 2006.
The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco is presenting "Everyday War," the first North American solo exhibition of Taiwanese artist Yuan Goang-Ming, on view through August 4. The show features two video installations—"Dwelling" (2014) and "Everyday War" (2024)—that depict domestic spaces being violently destroyed by unseen forces, only to reassemble moments later. Yuan, who created "Everyday War" for the Venice Biennale, uses slow-motion explosions and intimate household details to evoke anxiety, beauty, and catharsis without showing blood or fleeing figures.
The Wama Foundation has announced the launch of the National Centre for Environmental Art in Halls Gap, Victoria, set to open this winter. It will be Australia's first gallery dedicated solely to environmental art, located at the foothills of the Gariwerd/Grampians National Park. The inaugural exhibition will feature a major work by artist Jacobus Capone, titled 'End & Being', and the gallery will eventually form part of a larger art and ecology precinct.
The Gallery Children’s Biennale returns for its 5th edition at National Gallery Singapore, launching on 31 May 2025. Themed “Tomorrow We’ll Be…”, the exhibition features eight interactive artworks by Singaporean and Asian artists, including Fern Wong, Wyn-Lyn Tan, Hiromi Tango, Souliya Phoumivong, and Vicente Delgado. For the first time, the Biennale is baby-friendly, with zones designed for infants and toddlers. The event runs in conjunction with the National Gallery’s 10th anniversary and SG60, celebrating Singapore’s 60th year of independence.
The Tapestry Drawing Room at Castle Howard, a historic stately home in Yorkshire, England, has been meticulously restored after being gutted by a fire in 1940. The room, originally adorned with early 18th-century tapestries woven by John Vanderbank and based on scenes by David Teniers, was reduced to a scorched shell. Nick Howard, whose family has lived in the house for three centuries, oversaw the restoration, which involved reinstalling the original tapestries—found rolled up in the attic—after conservation by Alison Stanton. The centerpiece, a painting by Marco Ricci titled *Judgment of Paris*, and a newly built fireplace based on archival photographs complete the revival.
A recently discovered and restored painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, depicting Hercules and Omphale, will go on view at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles from June 10 to September 14. The work, which experts believe has not been publicly exhibited for at least a century, was damaged in the 2020 Beirut port explosion while hanging in Sursock Palace. After extensive conservation by Getty conservator Ulrich Birkmaier, the painting has been attributed to Gentileschi and is considered a major masterpiece by scholars.
Patrick Bringley, who worked as a guard at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art for over a decade, has turned his best-selling memoir *All the Beauty in the World* (2023) into a one-man Off-Broadway show of the same name. The 80-minute play, directed by Dominic Dromgoole, features Bringley performing as himself, sharing meditative tales about visitors, colleagues, and favorite artworks, with projections of Old Master paintings on three giant screens. The show weaves together his experiences as a guard, the death of his brother, his marriage, and the birth of his children.
The article examines the artistic and historical legacy of popes named Leo, following the election of Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV on 8 May. It traces the name through figures like Leo I (Leo the Great), Leo IX, and Leo X, focusing on Raphael's iconic 1518-20 portrait of Pope Leo X with cardinals Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de Rossi. The piece also discusses Raphael's frescoes in the Vatican's Stanze and Loggia, which depict earlier Leonine popes, and highlights the Medici family's role in bankrolling the Renaissance.
The National Gallery in London has purchased a 500-year-old altarpiece, *The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret and Two Angels*, for £16.4 million from an anonymous owner. The painting, created between 1500 and 1510, is of unknown authorship—experts cannot agree whether the artist was Netherlandish or French, with candidates including Jan Gossaert and Jean Hey. The oak panel was felled around 1483, and the work was first documented at the priory of Drongen in Ghent in 1602. It was sold through Sotheby’s with support from the American Friends of the National Gallery London and had been kept at the Lulworth Estate in Dorset, home of the Weld family.
Buckingham Palace will host a special exhibition titled "The King’s Tour Artists," showcasing 70 artworks created by 42 artists who accompanied King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) on official tours over the past 40 years. The tradition began in 1985 when Charles invited artist John Ward to join a visit to Italy, and has since spanned 95 countries across 69 tours, with many works being displayed to the public for the first time. The exhibition includes pieces by artists such as Susannah Fiennes, Mary Anne Aytoun Ellis, Richard Foster, and Phillip Butah, capturing moments from tours to Hong Kong, Guyana, the Galápagos, and beyond.
MoMA PS1 has unveiled the latest iteration of 'Greater New York,' its signature quinquennial survey showcasing the diverse output of artists living and working across the five boroughs. This year’s edition features 53 artists and collectives, emphasizing those who operate outside the mainstream spotlight or whose contributions have been historically overlooked. The selection leans into a gritty, experimental aesthetic that captures the complex social and physical realities of contemporary life in the city.
Iran will not participate in the 61st Venice Biennale, which opens for previews this week, the Biennale Foundation announced on May 4. The decision comes two months after the United States and Israel launched strikes across Iran, and amid renewed tensions along the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian pavilion was to be commissioned by Aydin Mehdizadeh Tehrani, director general of the visual arts office in the Iranian Ministry of Culture. Iran has had inconsistent attendance at the Biennale since 1958, with a long absence between the 1960s and 2003, but has participated semi-consistently over the last two decades, most recently in 2024.
Deux nouveaux tableaux italiens pour la Collection Bemberg à Toulouse
The Collection Bemberg in Toulouse has acquired two new Italian paintings, including a still life by Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644) purchased at the Maastricht art fair from Galerie Canesso. The work, a vibrant depiction of peonies and fruit, was previously sold at Sotheby's London in July 2013 and first published in 1985. The acquisition continues the museum's decade-long strategy of enriching its holdings with major works sourced from the art market, guided by its scientific council.