Art News. Vasari Codex

article culture schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 15 link 6 artists

marina abramovic moma klaus biesenbach artist present 1234762185

In a podcast interview with Louis Theroux, Marina Abramović revealed that curator Klaus Biesenbach was initially skeptical of her landmark 2010 performance "The Artist Is Present" at MoMA. Biesenbach, then chief curator at large at the Museum of Modern Art, had invited Abramović for the institution's first performance art retrospective, proposing the title "The Artist Is Present." When Abramović suggested sitting silently in the museum's atrium every day for three months, Biesenbach reportedly called the idea "ridiculous," predicting no one would participate. Despite his doubts, the performance drew some 1,500 visitors, with one person sitting for an entire day, and became a defining moment in 21st-century art.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 15 link 15 artists

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.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 7, 2025 visibility 11 link 1 artist

philadelphia art museum van gogh sunflowers exhibition 1234760629

The Philadelphia Art Museum (PAM) will mount an exhibition titled “Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: A Symphony in Blue and Yellow” from June 6 to October 11, 2026, bringing together two of Vincent van Gogh’s iconic “Sunflower” paintings: PAM’s own Sunflowers (1889) with a turquoise background and the National Gallery’s Sunflowers (1888) with a yellow background. The exhibition continues a collaboration between the two institutions, following a recent loan of PAM’s painting to the National Gallery’s “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers” show, where the two works hung in a triptych with van Gogh’s Lullaby: Madame Augustine Roulin Rocking a Cradle (La Berceuse).

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 7, 2025 visibility 13 link 6 artists

erwin olaf freedom retrospective stedelijk 1234760428

The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam has opened "Erwin Olaf—Freedom," a major retrospective of the late Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf, who died in 2023 at age 64. The exhibition spans over a dozen rooms, showcasing his diverse output from subcultural documentation and commercial work to staged tableaux, self-portraits, and club ephemera, alongside video and sculpture. It juxtaposes formally refined portraits, such as Queen Máxima, with provocative early works like "Joy" (1985), refusing to impose a single narrative on his career.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 21, 2025 visibility 19 link 8 artists

offscreen paris julien frydman salon 2025 1234758079

Offscreen, the nomadic Parisian art salon founded by former Paris Photo director Julien Frydman, returns for its fourth edition from October 21 to 26, 2025, held concurrently with Art Basel Paris. This year, the event takes over La Chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière, a historic church on the grounds of a former hospital that once detained and studied women labeled as “degenerate” or “insane.” The venue previously hosted exhibitions by Anselm Kiefer, Nan Goldin, and Christian Boltanski. Offscreen features 28 artists from 27 galleries, including a guest of honor tribute to late video-sculpture pioneer Shigeko Kubota, a durational performance by Maria Stamenković Herranz, and new talks and museum acquisitions from the Centre Pompidou and ZKM.

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article local schedule Oct 15, 2025 visibility 13 link 1 artist

frank lloyd wright kalil house national historic places 1234757302

Frank Lloyd Wright's Kalil House, a 1957 Usonian Automatic home in Manchester, New Hampshire, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Commissioned by Dr. Toufic and Mildred Kalil, the house was built using 2,580 concrete blocks and retains nearly all of its original Wright-designed furnishings. It is one of only seven such Usonian Automatic homes ever constructed and was purchased by the Currier Museum of Art in 2019.

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candle obituary schedule Oct 15, 2025 visibility 18 link 2 artists

dara birnbaum lynn hershman leeson tribute 1234757303

This tribute article recounts the profound impact of artist Dara Birnbaum's work on the author, describing a chance meeting with Birnbaum at MoMA's café and the subsequent friendship that developed. It highlights Birnbaum's pioneering role in video art, including her manipulation of single video frames and use of color bars, and cites key works like "Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman" (1978–79), "Local TV News Analysis" (1980), and "MTV: Artbreak" (1987) that deconstructed mass media and gender representation.

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person people schedule Oct 13, 2025 visibility 14 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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article policy schedule Oct 2, 2025 visibility 10 link 1 artist

saudi arabia deutsche bank ink cultural partnership 1234754701

Saudi Arabia announced over 5 billion Saudi riyals ($1.3 billion) in new cultural funds and agreements at the first Cultural Investment Conference in Riyadh, held under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Key initiatives include a partnership with Deutsche Bank for training and cultural exchanges, and the immediate establishment of the Riyadh University of Arts, set to open in 2026 with courses in film, performing arts, and theater. The Ministry of Culture also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Royal Commission for AlUla to boost cultural infrastructure in the AlUla oasis.

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person people schedule Sep 27, 2025 visibility 26 link 15 artists, 2 galleries

ebony l haynes zwirner global head of curatorial projects 1234753820

Ebony L. Haynes, a director at David Zwirner since 2020 and founder of the gallery's affiliated space 52 Walker in 2021, has been promoted to the newly created position of global head of curatorial projects. In this role, she will oversee special exhibitions, projects, and collaborations with Zwirner's artists globally, while continuing to direct 52 Walker in New York's Tribeca neighborhood. The space has hosted 16 shows since opening in October 2021, featuring artists such as Kandis Williams, Nikita Gale, Nora Turato, and Raymond Pettibon, whose wrestling-themed drawings and live matches open tonight.

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article news schedule Sep 25, 2025 visibility 13 link 5 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 25, 2025 visibility 19 link 10 artists

aspen art museum redefining future 1234753597

The Aspen Art Museum is undergoing a strategic shift under director Nicola Lees, moving away from its reputation as a collector's clubhouse toward becoming a global institution. The museum's annual ArtCrush gala and fundraiser week, once centered on wealth-displaying collector home visits and glitzy parties, now emphasizes intellectual programming like the inaugural AIR festival, a $20 million artist-led interdisciplinary initiative featuring talks by Werner Herzog and Hans Ulrich Obrist. This change comes amid soaring local real estate prices, including a $108 million home co-purchased by Steve Wynn and Thomas Peterffy, and contrasts the area's deep pockets with the museum's free admission since 2008.

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article culture schedule Sep 23, 2025 visibility 17 link 9 artists

john giorno dial a poem online 1234753334

John Giorno's 1969 conceptual artwork "Dial-A-Poem," originally a phone-based poetry service featured in MoMA's landmark 1970 exhibition "Information," has been relaunched as an online platform. The new version, created by Giorno Poetry Systems, presents randomized readings of both historic and contemporary poems, including contributions from Laurie Anderson, William S. Burroughs, and Gary Snyder. International editions have been added for France, Mexico, Thailand, Italy, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and Brazil, with poems recited in their native languages.

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person people schedule Sep 17, 2025 visibility 14 link 3 artists

jennifer packer and marie watt win 250000 heinz award 1234752264

American artists Jennifer Packer and Marie Watt have been named winners of this year's Heinz Awards for the Arts, each receiving an unrestricted cash prize of $250,000. The awards, now in their 30th year, are distributed by the Pittsburgh-based Heinz Family Foundation and honor six recipients annually across three categories: arts, the economy, and the environment. Packer, based in New York, is known for her jewel-toned paintings that explore Black figuration and abstraction, while Watt, a citizen of the Seneca Nation, works with printmaking, textiles, and sculpture to examine Indigenous traditions and community memory, notably through her "Blanket Stories" series.

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person people schedule Sep 16, 2025 visibility 18 link 5 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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rate_review review schedule Sep 5, 2025 visibility 21 link 9 artists

stephen shore early work mack 1234750750

The article reviews Stephen Shore's book *Early Work*, which collects photographs he took between the ages of 13 and 18, from 1960 to 1965. Despite his youth, the images display remarkable sophistication, a feat Shore attributes to an atypical childhood that included early access to cameras and a copy of Walker Evans's *American Photographs*. The book includes a "pre-history" essay in which Shore reflects on his formative influences, including time spent at Andy Warhol's Factory and a friendship with headmaster William Dexter, who deepened his interest in photography. The earliest image in the book is a portrait of Dexter taking a photograph, which Shore describes as a metanarrative of a photographer photographing a photographer.

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article news schedule Aug 13, 2025 visibility 10 link 2 artists

frank lloyd wright building conservancy price tower bartlesville 1234749269

The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy has acquired 11 original pieces designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, including the lobby direction board, an armchair, three copper tables, two stools, and four embossed copper panels. The acquisition, funded by donors, was made to prevent further sale and dispersal of the items after they were sold without the conservancy's permission in spring 2024, despite being protected under a preservation easement. The artifacts are currently stored in the Dallas area, and the conservancy intends to return them to Price Tower.

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candle obituary schedule Aug 11, 2025 visibility 31 link 46 artists, 1 gallery

legendary art collector sylvio perlstein has died 1234749167

Sylvio Perlstein, the legendary art collector, patron, and impresario, died on August 6. Hauser & Wirth confirmed the news, calling him a visionary who shaped one of the most important art collections of the past century. In 2018, the gallery exhibited 380 pieces from his collection across its Chelsea and Hong Kong locations in the show 'The Sylvio Perlstein Collection – A Luta Continua'. Perlstein was born in Belgium in the 1930s, fled to Brazil with his family during World War II, and later joined the diamond business in Antwerp. His collection spanned Dada, Surrealism, American minimalism, and Land art, featuring works by Man Ray, René Magritte, Donald Judd, and many others. He maintained close friendships with artists and displayed works throughout his Paris home, which cultural critic Arthur Lubow described as 'a contemporary version of Ali Baba's cave'.

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trending_up market schedule Aug 4, 2025 visibility 17 link 17 artists

sothebys karpidas collection sale lots magritte surrealism 1234748729

Sotheby's has announced the headline lots for the upcoming sale of British socialite and arts patron Pauline Karpidas's collection, set to take place September 17–19 in London. The 250-item auction, described as the 'greatest collection of Surrealism to emerge in recent history,' is led by René Magritte's oil painting *La Statue volante* (1940-41), estimated at £9–12 million ($12–16 million). Other highlights include ten more Magritte works, four Andy Warhol pieces from his 'Art from Art' series, and works by Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Leonora Carrington, along with furniture and design objects.

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article news schedule Jul 24, 2025 visibility 17 link 4 artists

amy sherald cancels smithsonian exhibition amid censorship concerns 1234748194

Painter Amy Sherald has canceled her upcoming solo exhibition “American Sublime” at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery after the museum considered removing her painting *Trans Forming Liberty* (2024), which depicts a Black transgender Statue of Liberty. The show was scheduled to open in September. Sherald stated she was informed of internal concerns about the painting and that discussions arose about replacing it with a video featuring reactions and discussion of trans issues, which she opposed over fears it would include anti-trans views. She wrote to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III that institutional fear shaped by political hostility toward trans lives compromised the integrity of her work.

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candle obituary schedule Jul 14, 2025 visibility 15 link 4 artists

bill dilworth new york earth room caretaker dead 1234747310

Bill Dilworth, the longtime caretaker of Walter De Maria's "The New York Earth Room," died on December 10, 2024, at age 70 from a stroke. His death was reported by The New York Times on Saturday. Dilworth tended the 1977 installation—280,000 pounds of dirt piled two feet high—for 35 years, from 1989 until his retirement in 2024. Managed by the Dia Art Foundation, the piece has been open to the public since 1980 and became a cult favorite, even inspiring a lookalike in a music video by pop star Lorde. Dilworth, an abstract painter, also maintained another De Maria work, "The Broken Kilometer," through his wife Patti, who served as its caretaker.

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person people schedule Jul 10, 2025 visibility 20 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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article culture schedule Jun 30, 2025 visibility 13 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

the bear tyler mitchell photographs 1234746538

The fourth season of the FX series *The Bear* features two photographs by Tyler Mitchell in an episode centered on the character Syd. The works shown are *Untitled (Kiki and Stephan Dancing)*, a grid of shots commissioned by *Vogue* featuring actors KiKi Layne and Stephan James, and *Untitled (Group Hula Hoop)*, a 2019 image of children hula hooping in Brooklyn. Mitchell, who rose to fame for photographing Beyoncé, is now represented by Gagosian and has seen his market prices climb above $24,000 at auction.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 26, 2025 visibility 13 link 6 artists

cara romero photographer hood museum exhibition 1234746099

Cara Romero, an enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, is the subject of her first institutional solo exhibition, "Panûpünüwügai," at Dartmouth's Hood Museum in New Hampshire. The show features her photography that fuses Indigenous ancestral memory with pop culture, depicting Native women as powerful agents reclaiming space against colonial stereotypes. Romero has also been featured in over 10 museum group exhibitions since last fall, including shows at the Hudson River Museum and Cantor Art Center.

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candle obituary schedule May 20, 2025 visibility 16 link 8 artists

bill horrigan curator video wexner center dead 1234742812

Bill Horrigan, a pioneering curator who transformed Ohio's Wexner Center for the Arts into a leading destination for film and video art, died on May 15 after a long battle with amyloidosis. Over 34 years at the Columbus museum, he built a celebrated film and video program that attracted world-renowned artists like Chris Marker and Julia Scher, and organized landmark exhibitions for Mark Dion, Gretchen Bender, and Shirin Neshat. He also served as a curatorial adviser for the 2008 Whitney Biennial, helped program the Video Data Bank, and led the 1989 edition of Video Against AIDS.

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article policy schedule May 16, 2025 visibility 11 link 1 artist

smithsonian teams up with saudi arabias alula project 1234742505

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA) has signed a formal partnership agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), formalizing two years of behind-the-scenes collaboration. Signed by NMAA director Chase Robinson and RCU chief executive Abeer Al Akel, the deal covers joint archaeological research, exhibition loans, curatorial exchange, and professional development, with a focus on the ancient site of Dadan, a key stop on the Incense Road. The partnership is part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan to rebrand the kingdom as a global cultural destination.

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trending_up market schedule May 15, 2025 visibility 17 link 7 artists

met receives photography collection walter artur 1234742347

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has received a promised gift of more than 6,500 photographic works from German American collector Artur Walther and the Walther Family Foundation. The collection spans 19th-century vernacular photography to contemporary video, with strengths in African studio photography, German post-war photography, Chinese conceptual art, and early vernacular images. Artists represented include Malick Sidibé, Zanele Muholi, Ai Weiwei, Thomas Struth, and Bernd and Hilla Becher. A selection will debut when the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing reopens this month, with further displays planned for the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing opening in 2030.

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candle obituary schedule May 12, 2025 visibility 16 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 23, 2025 visibility 6 link 2 artists

mauritshuis museum rembrandt paintings copies 1234739388

The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague has reclassified three paintings previously attributed to Rembrandt as copies or studio works: *Portrait of Rembrandt with a Gorget* (ca. 1629), *Study of an Old Man* (ca. 1655–60), and *‘Tronie’ of an Old Man* (ca. 1630). The first was identified as a copy in 1999, the second was found to be by a student despite a genuine signature, and the third may have been painted by a student or Rembrandt himself. The museum now lists 11 works as authentic Rembrandts, including *The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp* (1632), and seven works whose authenticity has been questioned.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 14, 2026 visibility 4 link 5 artists

Does L.A’s Bold New LACMA Museum Work?

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has debuted a long-awaited new building designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, costing $750 million. The museum opened to the public last month with a gala for the David Geffen Galleries, and its charismatic director Michael Govan promises a new vision for how museums show art and relate to the public. Art critic Carolina Miranda joins Artnet News's Ben Davis to discuss the building's significance, having published her own analysis calling it an instant LA icon.

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