Art News. Vasari Codex

article news schedule Nov 20, 2025 visibility 30 link 21 artists, 4 galleries

photo archive historic new york gallery shows

The New York Gallery History Project has launched its first installment: an online archive of Jay Gorney Modern Art, which operated from 1985 to 1998. The archive documents over 90 exhibitions held at the gallery, featuring artists such as Catherine Opie, Jessica Stockholder, Gillian Wearing, Haim Steinbach, and Martha Rosler. The material includes installation views, artwork images, and original invitations, all digitized from analog transparencies and slides. The project is an initiative of the Independent art fair and the Contemporary Art Library, a Los Angeles nonprofit.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 21 link 5 artists

gustav klimt portrait of elisabeth lederer auction record

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.

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article culture schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 22 link 7 artists

peter hujar day biopic ira sachs

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*.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 17 link 5 artists

leonard lauders klimt painting fetches sothebys

A Gustav Klimt painting, *Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer* (1914), sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby’s in New York, setting a new auction record for the artist and becoming the most expensive work ever sold at Sotheby’s as well as the most expensive Modern artwork at auction. The work was part of a sale dedicated to the collection of the late art patron Leonard Lauder, who died in June at age 92. The bidding lasted about 20 minutes, with Sotheby’s auctioneer Oliver Barker opening at $130 million; the winning bid of $205 million came from Sotheby’s staffer Julian Dawes, representing a phone client. The sale included two dozen works from Lauder’s trove, which also featured three Klimt paintings and six Henri Matisse bronzes.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 10 link 9 artists

christies 20th century art november new york by the numbers

Christie’s fall auction season in New York opened with a robust evening sale of 20th-century art on Monday night at Rockefeller Center, achieving a total of $690 million after fees. The sale featured an 18-lot offering from the private collection of Robert and Patricia Weis, followed by the main 20th-century auction. The top lot was Mark Rothko’s *No. 31 (Yellow Stripe)* (1958), which sold for $62 million, while Claude Monet’s *Nymphéas* (1907) brought $45.5 million. The sale had a 95 percent sell-through rate, with 55 of 80 lots guaranteed, and strong in-person bidding provided a boost of market confidence after months of art fair cancellations and gallery closures.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 16 link 8 artists

basquiat crowns peso neto sothebys auction

An early Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, *Crowns (Peso Neto)* (1981), sold for $48.3 million at Sotheby’s contemporary evening sale on Tuesday night, exceeding its pre-sale estimate of $35–45 million. The work, making its auction debut, was created when Basquiat was 21 and features his signature motifs of crowns, black faces, and cartographic lines. Bidding lasted five minutes, with Sotheby’s chairman for China Jen Hua winning on behalf of a phone client. The painting had been held in three private collections over four decades and was previously exhibited at Basquiat’s first solo show at Annina Nosei, documenta 7, the Whitney Museum, and the Fondation Louis Vuitton.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 19 link 8 artists

norman rockwell president white house paintings auction 2

A four-panel suite of paintings by Norman Rockwell, titled *So You Want to See The President!* (1943), sold for $7.2 million at Heritage Auctions on November 14. The work, which hung in the White House for decades, was bought by the White House Historical Association, marking its most expensive acquisition to date. The sale followed a bitter ownership dispute among descendants of the original commissioner, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's press secretary Stephen T. Early, with a federal judge ruling in favor of the current owner, William Elam, in 2023.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 22 link 8 artists

shanghai art week 2025

Shanghai Art Week 2025 is underway, anchored by two major concurrent art fairs: Art021 Shanghai and West Bund Art and Design, running from November 13 to 16. West Bund has relocated to a new venue, the West Bund Convention Center designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, featuring over 200 participants including 106 galleries in its main sector. Art021 returns to the Shanghai Exhibition Center with 139 galleries from 22 countries, including 33 first-time participants. The Shanghai Biennale opened early at the Power Station of Art, curated by Kitty Scott under the title "Does the Flower Hear the Bee?" featuring 67 artists and collectives. Meanwhile, alternative events like "Artist's Treat," launched by Xu Zhen in collaboration with Hol Platform and ShanghArt Gallery, are drawing attention in repurposed local spaces.

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article news schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 15 link 4 artists

pioneer works choke hole performance

At Brooklyn's Pioneer Works, a drag queen professional wrestling event called Choke Hole, part of artist Raúl de Nieves's exhibition, was disrupted when audience member and performer Chiquitita stormed the stage. She objected to a skit that made light of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportations, shouting that 'ICE is not entertainment!' and hurling the microphone into a video screen. The performance, titled ARMAGEDDON, featured an alien queen plot involving nuclear codes and ICE, and Choke Hole later apologized, removing the segment from subsequent shows.

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person people schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 18 link 12 artists, 2 galleries

friedrich kunath

Artist Friedrich Kunath, known for his sincere yet absurd paintings, discusses his unlikely friendship with tennis star Reilly Opelka, who is also an art collector. The two share a mutual obsession with each other's crafts—Kunath coaches Opelka in tennis, while Opelka seeks Kunath's insights on artists like Philip Guston. Kunath is preparing for his solo debut at Pace Gallery in New York this November, following his move from Blum Gallery, which closed shortly after. He reflects on the loneliness of both tennis and art, and his creative process, which draws heavily from music and film.

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

j paul getty trust glenn lowry lionel sauvage board

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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trending_up market schedule Nov 12, 2025 visibility 16 link 3 artists

amoako boafo red dress consignor jesse williams

An Amoako Boafo painting, *Red Dress* (2017), has been consigned to Phillips’s upcoming modern and contemporary art day sale by actor and ARTnews Top 200 collector Jesse Williams. The work, estimated at $150,000 to $200,000, depicts Thelma Golden, director of the newly reopened Studio Museum in Harlem. It was previously featured in Boafo’s 2022 solo exhibition “Soul of Black Folks” at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. This marks another instance of a work from Williams’s collection appearing at Phillips, following a Noah Davis painting consigned by his ex-wife in 2024.

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person people schedule Nov 11, 2025 visibility 19 link 9 artists

wadsworth atheneum president allison blais

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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trending_up market schedule Nov 11, 2025 visibility 19 link 3 artists

thomas kaplan rembrandt lion fractionalize collection

Sotheby's hosted a lunch in Paris for billionaire collector Thomas S. Kaplan, who is selling a Rembrandt drawing titled *Young Lion Resting* (ca. 1638–42) from his Leiden Collection. The drawing, with a high estimate of $20 million, will be auctioned in New York in February, with all proceeds donated to Panthera, the wild cat conservation charity Kaplan founded. Kaplan acquired the work in 2005 from the Herring gallery and has kept much of his collection anonymous, but is now stepping forward to support conservation and public access.

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article culture schedule Nov 10, 2025 visibility 13 link 1 artist

ed ruscha collaborating andsons holiday chocolate bar

Ed Ruscha has collaborated with Los Angeles-based boutique chocolatier andSons to create a limited-edition chocolate bar. The bar is molded to resemble California's Central Valley topography and contains Peruvian dark chocolate, sea salt from Tomales Bay, and blood orange olive oil from Sonoma County. Packaged in an orange box with a reproduction of Ruscha's 1971 lithograph *Made in California*, only 300 bars will be produced, priced at $295 each, available starting early December 2025.

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article culture schedule Nov 7, 2025 visibility 19 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

timothee chalamet michael heizer city vogue

Actor Timothée Chalamet visited Michael Heizer's monumental Land art installation *City* in the Nevada desert for a profile in *Vogue*. The article, tied to Chalamet's upcoming film *Marty Supreme*, includes his brief remarks on the artwork and photographer Annie Leibovitz, who shot his portraits at the site. The piece also quotes art critic Kristen Swenson's reflections on the sensory experience of *City*, which opened in 2022 after decades of construction.

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article news schedule Nov 6, 2025 visibility 19 link 3 artists

teen tourist faces charges after dousing met museum masterpiece

A 19-year-old tourist, Joshua Vaurin, allegedly vandalized artworks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on November 3. He threw water at Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres's 19th-century painting *The Princess de Broglie* and a 16th-century altarpiece by Girolamo dai Libri, then ripped two tapestries. Vaurin was taken into custody, arraigned on criminal mischief charges, and appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance. The Met reported minor damage with repairs estimated at $1,000.

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article news schedule Nov 5, 2025 visibility 25 link 15 artists

zohran mamdani mayor new york city art world responds

Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral election, prompting a wave of reactions from the art world. Artists, curators, and critics expressed hope and joy, with figures like Siddartha Mitter calling it a "beacon of civic renewal," while others like Jerry Saltz offered cautious support. Artists such as Aria Dean, Martine Syms, and Salman Toor were involved in his campaign, and El Museo del Barrio was the only institution to officially endorse him. However, some voices, like the market-oriented account Jerry Gogosian, criticized his socialist policies as potentially harmful to the art market.

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article news schedule Nov 4, 2025 visibility 15 link 2 artists, 2 galleries

matthew day jackson skiwear aztech mountain

Matthew Day Jackson, a multidisciplinary artist represented by Pace Gallery, has created 10 original artworks for a 23-piece luxury skiwear collection from Aztech Mountain, a ski brand based in Aspen, Colorado. Titled "Planet Aspen," the line includes ski jackets, pants, and innerwear adorned with Jackson's designs, with prices ranging from $101 to $1,850. Jackson, described as a passionate skier and adventurer, collaborated with Aztech Mountain on its first artist partnership, drawing inspiration from the quiet absurdity and fleeting joy of skiing.

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article news schedule Oct 31, 2025 visibility 16 link 6 artists

talladega college hale woodruff murals partnership

Talladega College, a historically Black college in Alabama, has partnered with the Toledo Museum of Art, Art Bridges, and the Terra Foundation for American Art to share six monumental murals by artist Hale A. Woodruff. Painted between 1939 and 1942, the murals depict key moments in African American history, including the Amistad uprising and the Underground Railroad. Under the agreement, the Toledo Museum of Art acquired *The Underground Railroad* (1942), while Art Bridges and the Terra Foundation jointly acquired the three Amistad murals; the remaining two murals stay at the college. All six works will be periodically reunited on campus, ensuring their continued connection to the institution that commissioned them.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 31, 2025 visibility 19 link 4 artists

canceled samia halaby exhibition recreated qatar

Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar has mounted a presentation of seven works by Palestinian artist Samia Halaby that were originally slated for a canceled survey at Indiana University’s Eskenazi Museum of Art in December 2023. The university cited “safety reasons” for the cancellation, which Halaby criticized as occurring amid the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza. The works are displayed in the first gallery of the exhibition “we refuse_d,” curated by Vasif Kortun, which also includes pieces by other artists whose shows were canceled, such as Jumana Manna. Halaby’s paintings span 1980 to 2024 and include the previously unseen “Worldwide Intifadah” (1989) and “Massacre of the Innocents in Gaza” (2024).

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trending_up market schedule Oct 28, 2025 visibility 28 link 13 artists, 6 galleries

altman siegel closes gallery san francisco

Altman Siegel, a key gallery in San Francisco's art scene, will close in November 2025 after 16 years. Founder Claudia Altman-Siegel attributed the closure to a challenging market for mid-size galleries, stating it became too difficult to scale in the current climate. The gallery's final show is a solo exhibition by Shinpei Kusanagi, ending November 22. Its roster included artists such as Simon Denny, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Trevor Paglen, and others. The closure follows a trend of galleries shutting down or scaling back, including Blum and LA Louver in Los Angeles, and Clearing and Venus Over Manhattan in New York.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 23, 2025 visibility 12 link 1 artist

james turrell skyspace aros museum denmark

A new James Turrell "Skyspace" titled *As Seen Below – The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell* will open in June at the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Denmark. Billed as the largest such work in a museum context, the installation features a domed space roughly 50 feet tall and 130 feet in diameter, accessible via an underground corridor, with an open aperture at the top that brings the sky into intimate focus. The work completes the museum's "Next Level" expansion, which already includes an underground exhibition space and an outdoor "Art Square" set to open next year.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 22, 2025 visibility 25 link 12 artists, 7 galleries

50 million picasso in paris industry moves october 22 2025

The ARTnews article reports on several major art market moves as of October 22, 2025. Highlights include Nahmad Contemporary offering a $50 million Picasso at Art Basel Paris, likely the 1941 work 'Femme au corsage bleu (Dora Maar)'; Gagosian Gallery now representing the estate of Richard Diebenkorn with a November exhibition; Alison Jacques Gallery joining Tina Kim and Silverlens to represent the Pacita Abad Estate; Gladstone Gallery taking on Celia Paul in New York; and Freeman's | Hindman expanding its trusts and estates team across the US. The piece also notes Rodder's inaugural show for Wyatt Kahn and Kaufmann Repetto adding Bice Lazzari to its roster.

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article news schedule Oct 22, 2025 visibility 21 link 7 artists

obama presidential center new york times interview

Barack Obama discussed the Obama Presidential Center, set to open spring 2025 on Chicago's South Side, in a New York Times interview. The four-building complex will include a museum, library, auditorium, basketball court, gardens, and commissioned works by 25 artists, including Julie Mehretu, Maya Lin, Nick Cave, Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith, and Richard Hunt. Designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects, the centerpiece is an eight-story granite museum nicknamed "the Obamalisk," featuring an 83-foot-tall abstract glass work by Mehretu. Obama emphasized the center's role as a public space to inspire community action, not a presidential mausoleum.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 22, 2025 visibility 17 link 4 artists

joel shapiro ellen phelan lennox hill home sale 4 75 million

The Manhattan duplex of the late sculptor Joel Shapiro and his wife, painter Ellen Phelan, has been listed for $4.75 million. Located in a 1907 Lenox Hill building on East 67th Street, the home was purchased in the early 2000s and renovated with beveled glass doors, brass hardware, and a sculptural staircase. The listing is held by Eileen Angelo and Max Collins of Sotheby’s International Realty. The couple also owned a lakeside estate in Westport, New York, called Kenjockety, which is also on the market, reduced from $5.49 million to $4.8 million.

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article news schedule Oct 22, 2025 visibility 22 link 9 artists

canal projects art space new york closing

Canal Projects, a nonprofit art space in New York's Tribeca neighborhood, announced it will close its physical location on May 23, 2026, after just four years of operation. The organization will pivot to a grant-making model, allocating $3 million over three years to support arts projects, including Ayoung Kim's upcoming exhibition at MoMA PS1. The decision was driven by the high costs of maintaining an outdated building and a desire to redirect resources toward direct financial support for artists. The space, launched in 2022 by the YS Kim Foundation, hosted notable shows by artists such as Karimah Ashadu, Sin Wai Kin, Candice Lin, Geumhyung Jeong, and Seung-taek Lee. Artistic director and curator Summer Guthery departed at the end of March 2025. The final exhibition will feature Jakkai Siributr, opening January 30, 2026.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 17, 2025 visibility 17 link 6 artists

gene hackman bonhams auction

Bonhams will auction works from the collection of late actor Gene Hackman this November, spanning three sales—one live and two online. The live sale, titled “Gene Hackman: A Life in Art, Part I,” takes place November 19 in New York and features highlights such as Milton Avery’s 1957 painting *Figure on the Jetty* (estimate $500,000–$700,000) and Richard Diebenkorn’s 1986 color etching *Green* (estimate $300,000–$500,000). Online sales include two of Hackman’s Golden Globes, a still life painting by the actor himself, and additional lots of annotated books, scripts, and cinematic memorabilia. Hackman, who died in February, was a major arts patron in Santa Fe, a painter, and a board member of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 17, 2025 visibility 14 link 7 artists

robert rauschenberg dance guggenheim

A gala performance at the Guggenheim Museum in New York marked what would have been Robert Rauschenberg's 100th birthday, featuring dancers performing Paul Taylor's 'Tracer' (1962), for which Rauschenberg created costumes and sets—including a spinning bicycle wheel that served as a portal to the exhibition above. The show, 'Robert Rauschenberg: Life Can’t Be Stopped,' opened in one of the museum's tower galleries and runs through May 3, presenting select works from the Guggenheim's collections and loans from the artist's foundation, including major pieces like 'Barge' (1962–63), the largest silkscreen painting Rauschenberg made in the early 1960s, back in New York for the first time in nearly 25 years.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 16, 2025 visibility 17 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

gagosian first to announce it sold out at frieze london

Gagosian became the first exhibitor at Frieze London to announce a complete sellout of its booth, featuring a solo presentation of works by Los Angeles artist Lauren Halsey. The booth included pieces from Halsey's 2025 untitled series of polymer-modified gypsum and stain on wood, as well as a six-foot-tall plaza sign sculpture titled 'LODA PLAZA (2025)'. Gagosian director Antwaun Sargent confirmed that the works were placed with both institutions and serious long-term collectors in the U.S. and Europe.

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