Art News. Vasari Codex

person people schedule Dec 9, 2025 visibility 20 link 9 artists

christina vassallo leaving contemporary arts center cincinnati pew center for arts heritage 1234765935

Christina Vassallo is leaving her role as director of the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in Cincinnati, Ohio, effective January 2, 2026, to become the new director of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in Philadelphia starting January 5, 2026. Vassallo, who joined the CAC in 2023, oversaw exhibitions including a group show celebrating the 20th anniversary of Zaha Hadid's first completed US building, as well as solo shows by Vivian Browne, Marcus Leslie Singleton, and Sheida Soleimani. Prior to the CAC, she served as executive director of the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, Spaces in Cleveland, and Flux Factory in New York.

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person people schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 13 link 1 artist

keith haring foundation simon castets 1234763470

The Keith Haring Foundation has appointed Simon Castets, a French American curator formerly of Luma Arles and the Swiss Institute, as its next executive director, effective January 12. Castets will oversee the foundation's collection of Haring's work, its archives, and its grant-making program, which disbursed $7.7 million in 2025, including major gifts to the Studio Museum in Harlem and Bard College's Center for Curatorial Studies. Upcoming exhibitions include a Brant Foundation show on Haring's early work and Crystal Bridges Museum's "Keith Haring in 3D."

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person people schedule Nov 13, 2025 visibility 15 link 1 artist

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.

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person people schedule Nov 11, 2025 visibility 17 link 9 artists

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.

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person people schedule Oct 13, 2025 visibility 16 link 1 artist

joan weinstein vice president getty wide program planning 1234756895

The Getty has appointed Joan Weinstein, current director of the Getty Foundation, to the newly created role of vice president for Getty-wide program planning. Weinstein will continue as foundation director until a successor is named, and in her new position she will develop strategy across the institution’s four divisions: the Museum, Research Institute, Conservation Institute, and Foundation, focusing on art historical scholarship and community partnerships. She is best known for co-directing PST ART, a major Southern California cultural collaboration, and has overseen significant relief funds for artists affected by wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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person people schedule Oct 6, 2025 visibility 17 link 7 artists

frick collection chief curator aimee ng 1234755500

The Frick Collection in New York has promoted Aimee Ng to chief curator, effective November. She succeeds Xavier F. Salomon, who is leaving to become director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. Ng, a curator at the Frick since 2015, has organized exhibitions on Italian Renaissance artists and co-curated the landmark 2023 show "Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at the Frick." Her appointment is the second senior leadership choice under director Axel Rüger, who joined in March ahead of the museum's long-awaited reopening.

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person people schedule Oct 6, 2025 visibility 18 link 4 artists, 3 galleries

rowena chiu appointed gallery director of perrotins new london operation ahead of frieze week 1234755248

Rowena Chiu has been appointed gallery director of Perrotin's new London operation, which opened in March at Claridge's hotel in Mayfair. Chiu previously served as director of museum and institutional relations at Stephen Friedman Gallery for four years and spent six years at Hauser & Wirth across London, Zurich, and New York. Her first exhibition at Perrotin London will be a solo show by Laurent Grasso, winner of the 2008 Marcel Duchamp Prize, opening October 14.

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person people schedule Sep 30, 2025 visibility 17 link 6 artists, 3 galleries

white cube jessie washburne harris global director 1234754713

White Cube has appointed Jessie Washburne-Harris as a global director, based in New York, effective October 2025. She joins from Pace Gallery, where she was senior vice president, and has previously worked at Marian Goodman, Gagosian, Petzel, and Sotheby’s, as well as cofounding Harris Lieberman gallery. The appointment coincides with the second anniversary of White Cube’s permanent New York space, which opened in 2023 in a former bank on the Upper East Side and has hosted exhibitions by Tracey Emin, Theaster Gates, Antony Gormley, and Ilana Savdie.

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person people schedule Sep 30, 2025 visibility 18 link 3 artists

bana kattan selected as curator for uae venice biennale pavilion 1234754341

The National Pavilion UAE has selected Bana Kattan, curator and associate head of exhibitions at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, to curate the United Arab Emirates' presentation at the 61st International Venice Biennale in 2026. Born in Abu Dhabi and raised in the UAE, Kattan previously served as a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, where she organized shows for artists including Wafaa Bilal, Maryam Taghavi, and Mona Hatoum. A dedicated publication will accompany her pavilion presentation.

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article news schedule Sep 25, 2025 visibility 15 link 6 artists

blaffer art museum curator fired jatovia gary canceled 1234753632

The Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston has fired associate curator Erika Mei Chua Holum, leading artists Ja’Tovia Gary and Kenneth Tam to cancel or postpone their exhibitions. The turmoil follows the appointment of Laura Augusta as director and chief curator in 2024. According to a report in Glasstire, Holum was terminated in July over budget disputes she disputes, and Gary pulled her show after budget negotiations broke down. Tam’s exhibition was described as canceled by the artist but denied by the museum, while a show by Thania Petersen also faces uncertainty. The museum previously canceled a Guadalupe Maravilla presentation in February, citing construction concerns.

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article news schedule Sep 18, 2025 visibility 10 link 3 artists

glenn lowry moma values trump 1234752653

Glenn Lowry, the longtime director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), delivered a farewell speech in June 2025 at MoMA's Party in the Garden, implicitly addressing the Trump administration's attacks on cultural institutions. He urged the museum to defend values of pluralism, freedom of expression, and minority rights, warning that the coming years would present consequential choices not seen since World War II. The article notes that while Trump has not directly targeted MoMA, he has threatened the Smithsonian Institution, and artist Amy Sherald canceled a National Portrait Gallery survey alleging censorship. Under Lowry, MoMA mounted a 2017 exhibition critical of Trump's travel ban, but has otherwise avoided explicit political programming.

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person people schedule Sep 18, 2025 visibility 19 link 7 artists

met museum maria castro curator hire 1234752618

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has hired Maria Castro as an associate curator in its modern and contemporary department, a role she will begin later this month. Castro joins from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where she served as associate curator of painting and sculpture and co-organized exhibitions including a current permanent collection hang and a show centered on Henri Matisse's "Femme au chapeau" (1905). Her appointment comes as the Met prepares for the opening of the Oscar L. and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing in 2030, a major expansion that is driving departmental growth.

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person people schedule Sep 16, 2025 visibility 20 link 6 artists

perez art museum miami jose carlos diaz chief curator 1234752086

The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) has appointed José Carlos Diaz as its new senior director of curatorial affairs and chief curator, effective October 13. Diaz, a Miami native, returns from the Seattle Art Museum where he served as deputy director of art since 2022, overseeing curatorial programs and the "Calder at SAM" initiative following a major gift of 48 Calder works. He succeeds Gilbert Vicario, who left in February. Diaz previously worked at PAMM when it was the Miami Art Museum, and has held curatorial roles at the Bass Museum of Art, Tate Liverpool, the Liverpool Biennial, and the Andy Warhol Museum.

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person people schedule Sep 16, 2025 visibility 18 link 4 artists

kaws uniqlo first artist in residence 1234752211

KAWS (Brian Donnelly) has been named Uniqlo's first-ever artist-in-residence, tasked with expanding the brand's "Art for All" philosophy. He will curate art events across Uniqlo stores worldwide and collaborate with the company's museum partners, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Modern, the Louvre, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His first collection with Uniqlo is scheduled for Fall/Winter 2025.

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person people schedule Sep 16, 2025 visibility 19 link 3 artists

haegue yang kunst werke berlin board chair 1234752120

Artist Haegue Yang has been appointed chair of the board overseeing KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, succeeding German artist Katharina Grosse, who served for four years. Yang, who is based between Seoul and Berlin, takes on the role at a time when Berlin has cut its culture budget by €130 million ($154 million), sparking outcry, and as the city grapples with controversies over how institutions handle pro-Palestine artists and artworks. Yang has taught at Berlin's Städelschule since 2017 and won the Museum Ludwig's Wolfgang Hahn Prize in 2018.

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person people schedule Aug 20, 2025 visibility 20 link 2 artists

brian ferriso named director dallas museum of art 1234749635

The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) has appointed Brian Ferriso, the longtime director of the Portland Art Museum (PAM), as its next director, effective December 1. Ferriso succeeds Agustín Arteaga, who left last year to lead the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. During his 18-year tenure at PAM, Ferriso grew the endowment by $40 million, eliminated $7 million in debt, doubled curatorial staff, and made the museum free for visitors 17 and under. He also oversaw major collection diversification, co-commissioned Jeffrey Gibson’s U.S. Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale, and will open a 100,000-square-foot expansion funded by a $140 million capital campaign.

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person people schedule Jul 10, 2025 visibility 22 link 7 artists

shamim m momin bronx museum director 1234747212

The Bronx Museum of the Arts has appointed Shamim M. Momin as its next director and chief curator, effective early September. Momin succeeds Klaudio Rodriguez, who left last September to lead the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida. Most recently director of curatorial affairs at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle (2018–2024), Momin curated the group exhibition “In Plain Sight” and oversaw commissions by artists including Tala Madani, Gary Simmons, and Hank Willis Thomas. She also cofounded LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division) in 2009, curating over 100 public art commissions, and previously served as an associate curator at the Whitney Museum and branch director of its now-closed Midtown outpost, where she organized more than 50 projects. She co-curated the 2004 and 2008 Whitney Biennials.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jul 2, 2025 visibility 10 link 2 artists

balenciaga decade of demna 2660980

At Kering's historic Laennec headquarters in Paris, the exhibition "Balenciaga by Demna" presents a self-curated retrospective of the designer's decade-long tenure at the house, from 2015 through 2025. Open by appointment through July 9, the show features 101 objects including complete looks, accessories, and provocations drawn from 30 collections, alongside audio narration using an AI rendering of Demna's voice. The exhibition serves as a capstone before Demna transitions to his new role as creative director of Gucci, while Pierpaolo Piccioli prepares to take over at Balenciaga. Highlights include a metallic gold ballgown shaped like a Ferrero Rocher candy, a hyperrealistic mannequin of muse Eliza Douglas, and the Spicy Chili Chips Bag clutch.

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article news schedule Jun 23, 2025 visibility 15 link 12 artists

romania wins long term hold on disputed el greco 1234745914

Romania has secured a "long-term hold" on El Greco's painting *Saint Sebastian* (1610–1614), which was pulled from a Christie's New York Old Masters sale in February. The work is claimed by Romania as unlawfully taken from its national collection in 1947. The painting will remain at Christie's until legal proceedings resolve the dispute. Meanwhile, Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro died in Milan at age 98, and abstract painter Thornton Willis died in New York at 89. Other news includes a letter from National Gallery director Gabriele Finali defending the Rubens attribution of *Samson and Delilah*, Japan's curatorial appointments for the 2026 Venice Biennale, and a Bristol City Council fundraiser to acquire an early JMW Turner painting.

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candle obituary schedule May 12, 2025 visibility 18 link 10 artists

koyo kouoh dead zeitz mocaa venice biennale 1234741860

Koyo Kouoh, the celebrated Cameroonian-born curator known for championing African contemporary art, has died unexpectedly at age 57. She passed away in a hospital in Basel, Switzerland, due to cancer, just months after being appointed curator of the 2026 Venice Biennale—making her only the second African-born curator to lead the prestigious exhibition, following Okwui Enwezor in 2015. Kouoh was executive director and chief curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town since 2019, where she organized landmark shows like "When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting" (2022), and founded RAW Material Company in Dakar in 2008, an independent art center now considered a top space in West Africa.

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candle obituary schedule May 12, 2025 visibility 19 link 8 artists

venice biennale curator koyo kouoh dies 1234741881

Koyo Kouoh, the Cameroonian-born curator appointed to lead the 2026 Venice Biennale, has died unexpectedly at age 57. The Venice Biennale announced her passing on Saturday, describing her as a figure of “passion, intellectual rigor, and vision.” Her husband, Philippe Mall, stated that a recently diagnosed cancer was the cause of death in a hospital in Basel, Switzerland. Kouoh had served as executive director and chief curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town since 2019, and was the second African-born curator to lead the Venice Biennale.

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article news schedule Apr 30, 2026 visibility 25 link 6 artists

"Kultursenator ist kein Nebenjob"

Berlin's finance senator Stefan Evers is set to additionally take on the role of culture senator following the resignation of Sarah Wedl-Wilson, a move criticized as a stopgap solution that creates a conflict of interest between austerity and cultural advocacy. Meanwhile, the Venice Biennale faces multiple controversies: critics question how to evaluate curator Koyo Kouoh's posthumous main exhibition "In Minor Keys," completed after her death in May 2025; Israeli artist Belu-Simion Fainaru speaks out against his exclusion from the Biennale competition, calling it politically biased and reminiscent of historical persecution; and German press decries the politicization of the Biennale, particularly the exclusion of Israel and Russia from the competition.

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person people schedule Apr 22, 2026 visibility 17 link 4 artists

Closely Watched Curator Raphael Fonseca Joins Lisbon’s Culturgest

Raphael Fonseca, a prominent curator specializing in Latin American art, has been appointed as the new visual arts programmer at Culturgest in Lisbon. He will relocate to Portugal in June, succeeding Bruno Marchand, while maintaining a curator-at-large position with the Denver Art Museum, where he has served since 2021.

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person people schedule Apr 20, 2026 visibility 22 link 4 artists

Maria Schnyder Named New Director of De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art

Swiss art historian Maria Schnyder has been appointed as the new director of the De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art in Tilburg, Netherlands. She will succeed the retiring director Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen in October. Schnyder is an internal promotion, having joined the museum in 2013 and served as its deputy director for the last four years.

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person people schedule Mar 10, 2026 visibility 16 link 2 artists

Laura Phipps Named Director of Gochman Family Collection

Laura Phipps has been appointed director of the Gochman Family Collection, a private collection focused on contemporary Indigenous art. She joins from the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she was an associate curator, and will oversee the collection's strategic direction and the opening of its new 10,000-square-foot exhibition space in Katonah, New York this fall.

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person people schedule Mar 10, 2026 visibility 19 link 2 artists

Emerson Bowyer Appointed Chief Curator of Kimbell Art Museum

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth has appointed Emerson Bowyer as its new chief curator, effective March 5. Bowyer joins from the Art Institute of Chicago, where he served as the Searle Curator and oversaw significant acquisitions, including works by William Holman Hunt and Camille Claudel.

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person people schedule Apr 9, 2026 visibility 26 link 16 artists, 1 gallery

Art Movements: Meet The Met's New Photography Curator

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has appointed Oluremi C. Onabanjo as its new curator of photographs, bringing her expertise in African and Black diasporic histories from MoMA. This announcement leads a series of industry shifts, including Melissa Chiu’s move from the Hirshhorn to direct the Guggenheim, and the relocation of the influential gallery 47 Canal to Chelsea. Additionally, the New York Foundation for the Arts distributed nearly $500,000 in grants to 129 artists and organizations in Queens.

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person people schedule Apr 10, 2026 visibility 22 link 12 artists, 1 gallery

Guggenheim Museum Gets a New Director

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has appointed Melissa Chiu as its next director, succeeding Richard Armstrong. Chiu joins the New York flagship institution after a twelve-year tenure at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and is expected to assume her new role this coming September.

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trending_up market schedule May 2, 2026 visibility 19 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

Lévy Gorvy Dayan Bets on Urgency With New LGD Hammer Sales Platform

Lévy Gorvy Dayan has launched LGD Hammer, a new sales platform that blends gallery exhibition with auction-style urgency. The first work offered is Willem de Kooning's *Milkmaid* (1984), estimated at $10–$15 million, which will be on view by appointment from May 2 until the sale on May 16. Gallery cofounder Dominique Lévy will serve as auctioneer, drawing on her Christie's experience, while bidding occurs by phone with online observation. Cofounder Brett Gorvy emphasized the platform is not a market overhaul but a response to slowed private sales and cautious collectors who still respond to competitive pressure.

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person people schedule Jan 28, 2026 visibility 44 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

veneklasen gallery appoints new partners winds down los angeles 1234771182

Dealer Gordon VeneKlasen has announced plans to open his own eponymous gallery after separating from Michael Werner Gallery, where he ran the New York space for over 30 years. As part of the agreement, VeneKlasen will take over Werner's New York and London locations, while the short-lived Los Angeles branch of Michael Werner Gallery will close. Two longtime employees, Justine Birbil and Kadee Robbins, have been promoted to partners at VeneKlasen Gallery. The gallery will debut at the inaugural Art Basel Qatar with a solo presentation of works by Issy Wood, followed by exhibitions of Sigmar Polke's paintings in New York and London.

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