Artists who defy categorisation take pride of place at Independent 20th Century

The Independent 20th Century art fair opened to VIPs on September 4, featuring dealers who present deep dives into canonical and under-recognized artists. Notable stands include Galerie Lelong's survey of Elda Cerrato (1930-2023), an Italian-born artist who worked in South America, with works priced between $80,000 and $100,000; Rosenberg & Co's showcase of Gertrude Greene (1904-56), a Constructivist and Abstract Expressionist; and Forum Gallery's presentation of Gregory Gillespie (1936-2000), known for surreal, layered paintings. The fair's founder Elizabeth Dee notes that some stands take two to three years to organize, aiming to bring important exhibitions to New York that might not otherwise travel there.

Notre-Dame Stained Glass: The Fight Continues!

Vitraux de Notre-Dame : le combat continue !

The French government has authorized the removal and replacement of the 19th-century stained-glass windows designed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in Notre-Dame Cathedral with new windows by contemporary artist Claire Tabouret. This decision, posted as a work permit on the cathedral, is being challenged in court by the heritage association Sites & Monuments, which argues the replacement is not a legitimate act of conservation or restoration.

Latest acquisitions of the Musée Jules Desbois

Dernières acquisitions du Musée Jules Desbois

The Musée Jules Desbois in Parçay-les-Pins has expanded its collection with several new acquisitions by its namesake sculptor. Jules Desbois, a contemporary and close collaborator of Auguste Rodin, is being highlighted for his distinct artistic career that moved beyond his role as Rodin's assistant. The new additions include examples of his classical training from the Beaux-Arts de Paris as well as his later ventures into decorative arts and Art Nouveau styles.

Step Aboard the Superyacht Circling This Year’s Cannes Film Festival

Over the weekend of the Cannes Film Festival, director Ron Howard premiered his documentary *Avedon*, which traces photographer Richard Avedon's rise from a working-class Jewish immigrant background to a defining chronicler of American culture. The film received a second life aboard the Renaissance superyacht with a party hosted by editor Graydon Carter, Ancient chairman and CEO Alexander Klabin, and Burgess chief executive John Beckett. Guests included actors Natasha Lyonne and Rosemarie Dewitt, photographer Jean Pigozzi, model Eddie Mitsou, Avedon's grandchildren Michael, Matthew, and Caroline Avedon, and producers Courtney Kivowitz, Sara Bernstein, Darcie Reisler, Dallas Rexer, Chris St. John, and Justin Wilkes. The after-hours cocktail allowed attendees to relive the film's most impactful scenes while mingling with the producers and the photographer's family.

literature ann rower lee and elaine autofiction

Ann Rower's novel "Lee & Elaine," originally published in 2002 by Serpent's Tail, is being reissued next month by Semiotext(e). The autofictional work follows a narrator—a lightly fictionalized version of Rower—who, after learning of the death of her friend, artist Hannah Wilke, becomes obsessed with the graves of Lee Krasner and Elaine de Kooning at Green River Cemetery. The narrator imagines these two women, known primarily as wives of famous male painters, as secret lovers or comrades, and attempts to write a joint biography that doubles as a journey of self-discovery.

art diane severin nguyen protest music

Artist-filmmaker Diane Severin Nguyen is preparing for her live-performance directorial debut, "WAR SONGS," premiering at the Performa Biennial in November 2025 at BRIC in Brooklyn. The piece features a cast of musicians performing a wide-ranging program of protest music, from Woody Guthrie to Black Sabbath, led by musical director Laszlo Horvath. Nguyen, known for her films exploring performance and identity, is working with a group that practices being a band rather than an actual band, creating a raw, protean work that blends music, theater, and filmic sensibilities.

A Persian Garden Blooms on Governors Island

Artist Bahar Behbahani organized a four-hour event called "Damask Rose: A Gathering" on Governors Island, transforming three shallow fountains with handwoven carpets and crocheted canopies. The gathering featured West African musical improvisation, Kurdish poetry, a cyanotype workshop, and communal activities like hair braiding and tea ceremonies, involving over two dozen community groups including the Asia Contemporary Art Forum and Eat Offbeat. The event was part of Governors Island Arts's annual Interventions series, curated with associate curator Juan Pablo Siles.

Hamburg Culture Prize Renamed After Namesake’s Nazi Ties Emerge

Hamburg's Senator Biermann Ratjen Medal, a culture prize awarded for nearly five decades, is being renamed the Medal for Art and Culture in Hamburg after historian Helmut Stubbe da Luz uncovered evidence that the prize's namesake, Hans Harder Biermann-Ratjen, confirmed his Nazi Party membership in a 1943 application. Biermann-Ratjen, who later served as Hamburg's senator for culture, had been deemed not to have been a member during post-war de-Nazification, but the new research prompted the city to rebrand the award.

A sonic tribute to the act of speech on New York City’s Roosevelt Island

Sound artist Hans Rosenström has launched a site-specific sound installation titled "Out of Silence" at Four Freedoms Park on New York City's Roosevelt Island, running until 21 June. The multi-speaker work features layered voices sung by the Estonian choir Vox Clamantis, arranged across four sections of the park as an homage to Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 Four Freedoms speech. Rosenström, a Finnish artist based in Stockholm, developed the project during an International Studio & Curatorial Program residency in New York in 2024, after being approached by Latvian curator Alina Girshovich to mark the 90th birthday of composer Arvo Pärt. The park's memorial to FDR was designed by architect Louis Kahn, who was born in Estonia and benefited from New Deal programs.

How sweet it is: chocolate Russell Crowe at the Malta Pavilion

Artist Charlie Cauchi presents a 150-kg chocolate sculpture of Russell Crowe as Maximus from *Gladiator* in her installation *Dolce* at the Malta Pavilion's group exhibition *No Need To Sparkle: Experiments in Love and Revolution* in the Arsenale during the Venice Biennale. The chocolate effigy, originally made by Tiziano Cassar for the Hamrun Chocolate Festival in 2023, was previously admired by Crowe himself, who joked about being made of chocolate.

From Eurovision to the Venice Biennale, culture contests are being overshadowed by politics

The Venice Biennale and Eurovision Song Contest are being overshadowed by political controversies rather than artistic merit. At the Venice Biennale, the Russian pavilion opened for press previews for the first time since the Ukraine invasion, a decision that may cost the festival €2m in EU funds. The Israeli pavilion will open despite protests from 200 artists and curators, while the South African pavilion will remain empty after its government blocked an artist's tribute to a Palestinian poet. The Iranian pavilion is also shut, and the awarding jury has resigned en masse, meaning no Golden or Silver Lion awards will be given for the first time in 40 years. Similarly, Eurovision's 70th anniversary is dominated by five countries boycotting over Israel's participation, with little focus on the music.

Historic Monument Honors New York's First Arabic-Speaking Community

New York City unveiled its first commemorative public artwork under Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration on April 30, honoring the historic "Little Syria" neighborhood in Manhattan's Financial District. The monument, titled "Al Qalam (The Pen): Poets in the Park," is a mosaic installation and sculpture by French-Moroccan artist Sara Ouhaddou, created over the past decade. It celebrates nine members of the enclave's literary community, including Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran, who co-founded the writers' association Pen Bond in 1920. The $1.6 million artwork sits in Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza, within the blocks where immigrants from Greater Syria settled in the late 19th century before being displaced by tunnel construction in the 1940s.

Ada: My Mother the Architect review – illuminating profile of brilliant builder balances work and family

Architect-turned-filmmaker Yael Melamede directs a documentary portrait of her mother, Israeli architect Ada Karmi-Melamede, who co-designed the Supreme Court of Israel building in Jerusalem in the early 1990s with her brother Ram Karmi and later created Ben Gurion Airport. The film explores Karmi-Melamede's architectural philosophy of "architecture of the ground and of the sky," her departure from her brother's brutalism, and a painful family split when she left her husband and children in New York after being denied tenure at Columbia University.

Rawya El Chab Tends to the Wounds of Lebanon's Civil War

Lebanese performance artist Rawya El Chab has debuted the second installment of her trilogy, "Crossing the Water," at The Brick in Brooklyn. The performance explores the collective trauma of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and her family's subsequent flight to the Ivory Coast, blending personal memory with political satire and mythology. By embodying various roles—from suspicious neighbors to puppet-like politicians—El Chab navigates the complexities of life under military occupation and the persistent feeling of surveillance.

us holocaust museum canceled programming angering trump

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has reportedly removed educational content and canceled programming to avoid potential conflict with the Trump administration. Former employees allege that the museum preemptively scrubbed web pages linking Jim Crow laws to Nazi-era policies and rebranded or canceled workshops on the "fragility of democracy" to avoid being labeled as "woke." While the museum claims these decisions were based on funding challenges, internal records show a significant increase in net assets during the same period.

The shot that shows the absurdity of war: Peter van Agtmael’s best photograph

Photographer Peter van Agtmael reflects on a photograph he took 20 years ago while embedded with the U.S. military in Iraq. The image, captured during his first experience of war, depicts a dejected American soldier sitting in an ordinary Iraqi living room, a scene he describes as showing the vast military machine mobilized in the Middle East.

Airstrikes, rockets and fields of mustard: photos of the day – Tuesday

The Guardian's picture editors curated a global selection of photographs from March 24, 2026. The images depict scenes of conflict, including a distraught woman in Beirut after an Israeli airstrike, rockets fired from Lebanon towards Israel, an Iranian missile embedded in the West Bank, and damage in Tel Aviv from a missile barrage. Other photos show people sheltering in Kyiv during an air raid and firefighters in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

Wine and Spirits Sales at Sotheby’s Grew 12% Last Year to $127.5 M.

Sotheby's reported a 12% increase in its wine and spirits auction sales for 2025, reaching $127.5 million. The growth was driven by a surge in demand for rare and expensive whiskies, with a third of buyers being new to Sotheby's and over half under 50 years old. Key highlights included a record-setting $162,500 sale for a bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle bourbon and a successful charity auction partnership in Scotland.

Not just dollars, euros and pounds: Tefaf speaker sets out art’s deep value for wellbeing

Professor Daisy Fancourt presented research at the Tefaf Summit in Maastricht, detailing the measurable health benefits of arts engagement. Her findings, drawn from longitudinal data and biological markers, show arts therapies can double symptom improvement for depression and regular cultural attendance can nearly halve depression risk over a decade.

biennale of sydney jewish group pro palestine artists

The Biennale of Sydney has officially denied allegations of discrimination and bias following claims from Australia’s Jewish community that the exhibition's selection process favored anti-Zionist artists. The controversy intensified when the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies declined a preview invitation, citing "objectionable social media activity" by participating artists rather than the artworks themselves. In response, the Biennale maintained that its selection process is based strictly on artistic merit and that the organization maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward all forms of racism, including antisemitism and Islamophobia.

scholars and mps slam uk museums as unethical and sacrilegious for holding vast collections of human remains

A major investigation has revealed that UK museums and universities hold more than 263,000 human remains, including at least 37,000 sourced from overseas and former British colonies. The findings indicate that many institutions lack proper documentation, with thousands of items stored anonymously in cardboard boxes or mixed together, often in violation of government guidelines regarding respectful handling and transparency.

lebanese ministry of culture urges unesco to grant enhanced protections to cultural property

Lebanon’s Ministry of Culture has formally petitioned UNESCO to secure enhanced protections for the nation’s cultural heritage sites as regional conflict intensifies. Culture Minister Ghassan Salamé urged the UN agency to intervene with belligerent parties to ensure the safety of irreplaceable landmarks, including the National Museum of Beirut and the Roman ruins of Baalbek. UNESCO confirmed it has shared the coordinates of these World Heritage sites with all involved parties to prevent accidental or intentional targeting during military operations.

Israeli Authorities Plan to Seize Major Archaeological Site in West Bank, Sparking Outrage

sebastia west bank archaeological site israel palestinians

Israeli authorities have announced plans to seize a 182-hectare archaeological site in the West Bank town of Sebastia, the largest such land seizure for an archaeological project since 1967. The plan includes building a visitor center, parking lot, and a fence that would separate the site from the Palestinian town, cutting off local access to both the ruins and surrounding olive groves. The move has been denounced by Palestinian residents and officials as an aggression that threatens livelihoods and erases Palestinian identity.

bad bridget movie

“Bad Bridget,” an archival research project about Irish women who emigrated to New York, Boston, and Toronto between 1838 and 1918 and engaged in criminal and sexually deviant activities, is being adapted into a Hollywood film. The project, launched by historians Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick in 2015, has already produced a podcast, a book, and a museum exhibition at the Ulster American Folk Park. The film will be produced by Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment, directed by Rich Peppiatt, and star Daisy Edgar-Jones and Emilia Jones as two Irish sisters navigating scandal in 19th-century New York.

ai generators artists tools creative process

Shanti Escalante-De Mattei's column 'Link Rot' examines the debate over generative AI in creative fields, focusing on the argument that AI is just another tool like a paintbrush. The article critiques this view by highlighting how AI is being used by clients and studios to pressure animators, cut pay, and impose unrealistic deadlines, while the technology was built on ethically questionable datasets scraped from public websites without permission.

art world favorite water brand new collection art themed sparkling beverages

Saratoga, the bottled water brand known for its blue glass bottles and ubiquity at art world events, has launched a new collection of flavored sparkling waters with art-themed names. The three flavors are Abstraction of Lime, Anatomy of a Peach, and Untitled Berry No. 3, each packaged in cans with colorful geometric abstract designs. The brand's marketing leans into art world language, describing the flavors as a "curated blend" and using ornate picture frames in promotional imagery.

canterbury cathedral jd vance elon musk artist responds

Artist Alex Vellis responded to criticism from conservative commentators, including Elon Musk and US Vice President JD Vance, over a graffiti-style art installation at Canterbury Cathedral. The installation, titled “HEAR US,” features questions posed to God, such as “What is the architecture of heaven?” and “Why are you indifferent to suffering?” Created through workshops with marginalized communities—including the Punjabi, black and brown diaspora, neurodivergent individuals, and the LGBTQIA+ population—the work uses spray-paint-like lettering but was not actually painted onto the historic building. Vance called the installation “ugly,” while Musk accused it of being “anti-Western propaganda.” Vellis responded on Instagram with a crude retort and the hashtag #freepalestine.

ancient egyptian iconography roman bathhouse sagalassos turkey

Archaeologists have identified ancient Egyptian iconography on a marble lintel in a Roman-era bathhouse at Sagalassos, Turkey. The carving depicts the sphinx god Tutu, flanked by two human figures wearing the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, along with deities Horus and Sobek. Dating to the reign of Emperor Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE), the panel was found in the frigidarium and was sourced from marble quarried over 124 miles away in the Afyonkarahisar region.

trump epstein statue dc returns national mall

A controversial 12-foot-tall statue depicting President Donald Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has returned to Washington, D.C.'s National Mall after being removed by the National Parks Service late last month. Originally titled *The Secret Handshake*, the work was created by anonymous artists to "celebrate" Trump's ties to Epstein during Friendship Month, and features plaques with a message Trump allegedly wrote to Epstein. The National Parks Service cited the statue's height as non-compliant with its permit, and the artists accused the Trump administration of suppressing free speech. The statue has since been repaired and retitled *Why Can't We Be Friends?*.

federal court rules gender ideology ban on art endowments unconstitutional

A Rhode Island federal court ruled on Friday that National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grants do not have to comply with President Trump’s executive order banning “gender ideology.” The order, introduced in February, prohibited federal funds from being used to promote the idea that males can identify as women and vice versa, and was applied to the NEA grant application process. The ACLU’s Rhode Island branch filed a lawsuit in March on behalf of several theaters, arguing the policy violated First Amendment rights by restricting the types of works that could receive funding. Judge William E. Smith, appointed by former President George W. Bush, found the policy unconstitutional, noting that the 1965 law establishing the NEA requires grants to be awarded solely on merit. A subsequent “final notice” allowing the NEA chair to review applications on a case-by-case basis was also struck down as a viewpoint-based restriction on artists’ speech.