Art News. Vasari Codex

article policy schedule Dec 9, 2025 visibility 21 link 3 artists

moma ps1 free admission sonya yu gift

MoMA PS1 in New York will eliminate admission fees for all visitors starting in 2026, funded by a gift from collector and creative strategist Sonya Yu. The three-year initiative coincides with the museum's 50th anniversary and expands its existing free admission for New Yorkers to everyone. Director Connie Butler said the goal is to remove barriers and welcome broader audiences, including families with strollers, while Yu cited her own experience as a Chinese immigrant to explain her motivation.

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article news schedule Dec 9, 2025 visibility 17 link 5 artists

professor terminated art history paintings muhammad

An adjunct professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, Erika López Prater, lost her job after showing her art history class two Medieval paintings depicting the Prophet Muhammad during an online lecture on October 6, 2022. She issued a content warning before displaying the images, which came from a 14th-century manuscript by Rashīd al-Dīn and a 16th-century work by Mustafa ibn Vali. A student, Aram Wedatalla, complained, and the university's administration, including associate vice president David Everett, decided not to renew her contract, calling the incident Islamophobic. The decision has sparked widespread debate, with a Change.org petition signed by over 2,500 scholars and a condemnation from PEN America.

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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 3, 2025 visibility 17 link 7 artists

bjork echolalia iceland gallery

Björk, the Icelandic pop icon and multidisciplinary artist, is opening an exhibition of immersive works titled "Echolalia" at the National Gallery of Iceland, coinciding with the 2026 Reykjavik Arts Festival. The show features installations tied to her forthcoming album and her 2022 album Fossora, including "Ancestress" and "Sorrowful Soil," the latter a tribute to her late mother. Simultaneously, the museum will host "Metamorphlings," the first museum retrospective for James Merry, the embroiderer behind many of Björk's masks, presenting over 80 works from the past decade.

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article news schedule Nov 26, 2025 visibility 16 link 2 artists

david adjaye speaks against sexual misconduct allegations

David Adjaye has publicly spoken out against the sexual misconduct allegations made against him in 2023, calling a Financial Times article that detailed the claims “deeply unfair” and claiming he was caught in a “#MeToo slam.” In an interview with architecture critic Tim Abrahams for the podcast Superhumanism, reported by Dezeen, Adjaye said the FT story destabilized confidence in him and that there was no interest in hearing his side. He did not explain why he believed the reporting was unfair, despite having declined to comment to multiple outlets at the time. The allegations, which included sexual harassment and assault claims from three women, led several institutions to cut ties with Adjaye, most notably the Studio Museum in Harlem, which had just opened a new building designed by his firm.

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article culture schedule Nov 26, 2025 visibility 14 link 7 artists

david adjaye me too studio museum princeton west african

The article reflects on the #MeToo movement's failure to achieve lasting change, using the case of architect David Adjaye as a central example. Adjaye was accused in 2023 by three women of sexual exploitation, harassment, and creating a hostile work environment at his firm, Adjaye Associates, allegations he denied. Despite initial backlash—including termination from projects like Westminster's Holocaust Memorial—many clients quietly resumed working with him, illustrating a broader pattern of institutional cowardice.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 15 link 1 artist

michelangelo drawing sistine chapel christies new york

A five-inch-tall red chalk drawing of a foot, attributed to Michelangelo (1475–1564), is set to be auctioned at Christie’s New York in February with an estimate of $1.5–2 million. The work was discovered when Giada Damen, a specialist in Old Master drawings at Christie’s, flagged it from a public online submission; after extensive provenance research, technical analysis, and comparison with known sketches, Christie’s has declared it a preparatory study for the Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508–1512). If authenticated, it would be one of only two such Michelangelo drawings remaining in private hands.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 24, 2025 visibility 19 link 2 artists

sothebys hong kong sells 125 works from japans okada museum for 88 m so founder can settle 50 m legal bill

Sotheby's Hong Kong sold 125 works from Japan's Okada Museum of Art in a white-glove auction on Saturday, netting $88 million (plus fees). The sale set auction records for Japanese artists Kitagawa Utamaro and Hokusai, with Utamaro's *Fukagawa in Snow* fetching $7.1 million and Hokusai's *The Great Wave Off the Coast of Kanagawa* selling for $2.8 million. The collection was sold by museum founder Kazuo Okada, an 83-year-old billionaire, to settle a $50 million legal bill stemming from a long-running feud with casino magnate Steve Wynn. Okada's law firm, Bartlit Beck, successfully pursued the fee in binding arbitration after Okada contested the amount.

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gavel restitution schedule Nov 20, 2025 visibility 14 link 2 artists

the met returns historic buddhist painting to korea

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has returned a late-18th century Buddhist painting, *The Tenth King of Hell* (1798), to the Sinheungsa Temple in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, South Korea. The work is believed to have been taken by U.S. troops during the Korean War. The repatriation was celebrated at a ceremony in Seoul attended by Met Director and CEO Max Hollein, Korean government officials, and religious leaders. The painting is part of a larger series of ten scrolls depicting the Ten Kings of the Underworld; three remain abroad, while six others previously at LACMA have already been returned.

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article news schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 11 link 5 artists

layoffs metropolitan museum art

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has laid off 79 employees and furloughed 181 workers, with 93 staff members taking early retirement, citing a $150 million deficit exacerbated by the pandemic. The museum's director Max Hollein and CEO Daniel H. Weiss announced the cuts in an email, noting that salaries comprise 65% of the annual budget. This is the second round of layoffs since April, when 81 employees lost their jobs, and the museum has also implemented pay reductions for top executives and frozen hiring. The workforce has shrunk by about 20%, from 2,000 to 1,600 staff, with 48% of those laid off being people of color. The Met aims to reopen on August 29 with reduced hours, pending government approval.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 14 link 3 artists

samurai exhibition british museum

The British Museum has announced a major 2026 exhibition titled "Samurai" that will trace the 1,000-year history of Japan's warrior class. Spanning armor, woodblock prints, paintings, clothing, ceramics, and contemporary media, the show brings together 280 objects from the museum's own collection and international lenders. Highlights include a 17th-century suit of armor recently acquired by the museum, a portrait of envoy Mancio Itō by Domenico Tintoretto, and works by Katsushika Hokusai. The exhibition also examines the modern myth of the samurai as shaped by film, manga, and video games such as Akira Kurosawa's movies and Assassin's Creed: Shadows.

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gavel restitution schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 12 link 2 artists

met repatriates painting korea buddhist temple korean war

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has returned an 18th-century Korean painting, *The Tenth King of Hell* (1798), to Sinheungsa Temple in Sokcho, South Korea. The work, part of a ten-panel series called *Siwangdo* depicting kings of the afterlife, was illicitly taken from the temple in 1954 during the U.S. military presence after the Korean War. The Met purchased the painting in 2007 from a collector via an LLC linked to Bonhams’s Chinese art head. The repatriation was coordinated with the Sokcho Committee for the Return of Cultural Heritage and the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. Six other panels were previously returned by LACMA in 2020; three remain abroad.

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article news schedule Nov 6, 2025 visibility 13 link 1 artist

lacma declines to voluntarily recognize union formed by hundreds of workers

Hundreds of staff at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) voted to form a union, LACMA United, in association with AFSCME Cultural Workers United District Council 36, calling for higher wages, better benefits, and greater transparency. LACMA leadership declined to voluntarily recognize the union, opting instead for a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election, which is currently paused due to the federal government shutdown, effectively delaying the unionization effort. The union has filed with the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), asserting its status as public sector employees.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 31, 2025 visibility 12 link 7 artists

vaginal davis moma ps1

The article profiles artist Vaginal Davis and her exhibition "Magnificent Product" at MoMA PS1, which opened shortly after the author visited. Davis, born in 1961, is described as a transformative figure who repurposes fragments of popular culture—from classic Hollywood to gay porn—to create immersive, queer alternate realities. The show includes works like *The Wicked Pavillion* (with *Fantasia Library* and *Tween Bedroom*, both 2021) and a collaboration with Jonathan Berger titled *Naked on my Ozgoad: Fausthaus—Anal Deep Throat* (2024–ongoing). Davis's practice is characterized by a playful, femme-centered critique of mainstream culture, centering Black women and inverting traditional gazes.

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article news schedule Oct 29, 2025 visibility 19 link 2 artists

lacma employees unionization effort

Employees at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) have formed a union called LACMA United in association with AFSCME Cultural Workers United District Council 36. In a letter dated October 29 addressed to museum leadership, a supermajority of eligible staff across departments requested voluntary recognition by November 5, citing wages that have not kept up with the rising cost of living and the need for fairer compensation, expanded benefits, and greater transparency. The effort comes ahead of the opening of LACMA's new Peter Zumthor–designed David Geffen Galleries, scheduled for next April.

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candle obituary schedule Oct 29, 2025 visibility 17 link 3 artists

artist jackie ferrara died by assisted suicide at 95 in switzerland

Jackie Ferrara, a New York-based artist known for her stacked-wood sculptures, died by physician-assisted suicide in Basel, Switzerland, on October 22 at age 95. She told the New York Times she had fallen twice in the past year and did not want to be dependent on anyone. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland even for those who are not terminally ill.

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article news schedule Oct 28, 2025 visibility 18 link 6 artists

curators museum directors offer support in letter to louvre

Fifty-seven curators and museum directors, including Christophe Cherix of MoMA and Michael Govan of LACMA, signed an open letter published by Le Monde expressing solidarity with Louvre director Laurence des Cars following the theft of the museum's crown jewels. The letter emphasizes that museums are not immune to global violence and that such thefts represent a profound fear for museum professionals, while reaffirming that museums must remain open and accessible despite security risks.

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article news schedule Oct 14, 2025 visibility 13 link 2 artists

british museum tudor heart henry viii

The British Museum has launched a high-profile fundraising campaign to acquire the Tudor Heart, a gold pendant from the early reign of Henry VIII, discovered by amateur metal detectorist Charlie Clarke in Warwickshire in 2019. The museum needs to raise £3.5 million ($4.6 million) by early next year to secure the piece, which features symbols of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon and is described as the only surviving Tudor jewelry of its kind. Actor Damian Lewis and historian Mary Beard are supporting the appeal, and the museum will host its first British Museum Ball on October 18 to further fundraising efforts.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 11, 2025 visibility 20 link 3 artists, 4 galleries

upsilon gallery milan opening

Upsilon Gallery, founded by German-Argentine dealer Marcelo Zimmler, will open its first continental European location in Milan on November 18. The 200-square-meter space is situated near Via Monte Napoleone in the Quadrilatero fashion district, joining a wave of international galleries—including Thaddaeus Ropac, Cardi Gallery, and Robilant + Voena—that are betting on Milan's potential to become a global art capital. The inaugural exhibition features four canvases from Osvaldo Mariscotti's Valley series, with a bilingual catalogue edited by critics David Ebony and Alex Grimley, and coincides with twin shows in Upsilon's London and New York outposts.

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candle obituary schedule Oct 7, 2025 visibility 10 link 4 artists

mohamed hamidi moroccan modernist painter obituary

Moroccan modernist painter Mohamed Hamidi has died at the age of 84, as announced by the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah. Born in Casablanca in 1941, Hamidi studied at the School of Fine Arts of Casablanca and later at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. A founding father of Moroccan modern art, he returned to Morocco in 1967 and taught at the Casablanca School, helping to democratize its curriculum. He participated in the landmark 1969 exhibition “Manifesto” in Marrakech and founded the Moroccan Association of Plastic Arts in 1972. His abstract, erotic paintings incorporated traditional Maghreb motifs and geometric shapes.

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museum exhibitions schedule Sep 27, 2025 visibility 11 link 1 artist

menachem begin grandson avinadav art exhibition israel

Avinadav Begin, grandson of former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, is currently exhibiting his latest abstract metal and steel works at Sheetrit & Wolf Contemporary Art Gallery in Tel Aviv. The pieces, which he describes as “openings, apertures,” are neither paintings nor sculptures but heavy hybrid forms weighing up to 220 pounds, resembling rubble and broken window frames. In interviews, Begin has emphasized his identity as an artist rather than a politician, distancing himself from the current Likud party leadership under Benjamin Netanyahu, while acknowledging the influence of the ongoing war and hostage crisis on his work.

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museum exhibitions schedule Sep 23, 2025 visibility 14 link 6 artists

nivaagaard collection susanna painting artemisia gentileschi

The Nivaagaard Collection, a small art museum in rural Denmark, has acquired Artemisia Gentileschi's painting *Susanna and the Elders* (1644–48), marking the first work by the Italian Baroque artist to enter a Danish institution. Director Andrea Rygg Karberg secured the painting from a private collection via New York–based Old Masters dealer Nicholas Hall, beating dozens of international galleries. The acquisition is described as the most important addition to the museum since its founding in 1908.

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trending_up market schedule Sep 18, 2025 visibility 14 link 4 artists

interest in asian art strong despite challenges art market

The autumn edition of Asia Week New York is underway, with auction houses reporting strong interest in Asian art despite broader economic challenges. Bonhams kicked off the week with sales totaling $7.3 million, including Chinese ceramics and snuff bottles, though it offered 47% fewer lots than last year. Top results included a blue-and-white jar selling for $1.75 million and a pair of famille rose dishes for $1.5 million. Christie’s sold a Vasudeo S. Gaitonde painting for $2.35 million and a Tyeb Mehta work for nearly $2 million. New US tariffs under the Trump administration have added uncertainty, particularly for cross-border consignments and purchases.

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museum exhibitions schedule Sep 10, 2025 visibility 20 link 5 artists

raphael exhibition 2026 metropolitan museum new york

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will open a landmark exhibition dedicated to Renaissance master Raphael in 2026. Titled "Raphael: Sublime Poetry," the show runs from March 29 to June 28 and will be the first major Raphael retrospective ever mounted in the United States. Curated by Carmen Bambach, the exhibition brings together 200 works including paintings, drawings, tapestries, and decorative arts, with loans from major museums worldwide such as the Louvre, the Uffizi, the Prado, and the Vatican Museums. Key loans include the Louvre's "Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione" and the Galleria Borghese's "Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn."

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article news schedule Jul 29, 2025 visibility 13 link 2 artists

wesley lepatner met museum trustee dead

Wesley M. LePatner, a newly elected trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, was among four people killed by a gunman in a Midtown office building on Monday. LePatner was a senior managing director at Blackstone, where she served as global head of its Core+ Real Estate division and CEO of the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust. She had just been elected to the Met’s board in February and was previously a member of the Met’s Friends of European Paintings group.

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article news schedule Jul 22, 2025 visibility 15 link 5 artists

raphael rooms restoration discovery

The Vatican Museums have completed the decade-long restoration of the Hall of Constantine, one of the Raphael Rooms, revealing that Renaissance master Raphael himself painted two figures—Justice and Friendship—in the hall, contrary to the long-held belief that the entire room was executed solely by his assistants after his death. Conservators identified Raphael's hand by his distinctive oil-on-resin technique, which differed from the traditional fresco methods used by his assistants Giulio Romano, Gianfrancesco Penni, and Raffaellino del Colle. The discovery was made during a meticulous restoration that began in March 2015 and finished in December 2024.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jul 21, 2025 visibility 12 link 4 artists

nagakin capsule tower moma

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has acquired and put on display a capsule from the demolished Nagakin Capsule Tower in Tokyo. The capsule, designated A1305, is the centerpiece of a year-long exhibition titled "The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower," which also includes archival materials such as photographs, models, films, and recordings. The tower, designed by Kisho Kurokawa and completed in 1972, was a landmark of the Metabolism movement, featuring 140 prefabricated modules. After years of decline, it was demolished in 2022, but 23 capsules were salvaged, with 16 finding homes in institutions including MoMA.

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article news schedule Jul 16, 2025 visibility 13 link 5 artists

mick taylor guitar stolen met museum donation

A donation of 500 guitars to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in May 2025, announced via a profile in The New Yorker, has become embroiled in controversy. Mick Taylor, former guitarist for the Rolling Stones, claims through his manager that one of the donated guitars—a Les Paul stolen from the band's French villa in 1971—is his property. The Met initially declined to comment, but later told The New York Times that Taylor played the guitar but never owned it, asserting a well-documented ownership history. The guitars were donated by collector Dirk Ziff, and the museum plans to open a permanent American guitar gallery in 2027.

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article news schedule Jun 17, 2025 visibility 16 link 7 artists

the met taps 3 international craftmakers for new artisan residency

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Swiss luxury watchmaker Vacheron Constantin have announced the inaugural class of their new Artisan Residency, an 18-month program aimed at nurturing traditional craft techniques while encouraging contemporary innovation. The first cohort includes American furniture maker Aspen Golann, Egyptian ceramicist Ibrahim Said, and Italian jeweler Joy Harvey, selected from a worldwide open call. The artisans will study The Met's collections and work with Vacheron Constantin's master craftsmen in New York and Geneva, with a public presentation of their completed works planned for 2026.

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article culture schedule Jun 5, 2025 visibility 13 link 3 artists

severance dieter rams braun vitsoe

The article examines the use of two iconic minimalist designs—the Vitsœ 620 chair and a Braun wall-mounted hi-fi system—in the Apple TV+ series *Severance*. Both objects were designed by German industrial designer Dieter Rams in the 1960s and appear in the show's dystopian corporate setting, specifically in the lower levels of Lumon Industries where experimental subject Gemma undergoes tests. The production team intentionally selected these pieces to convey themes of power, control, and commerce.

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article culture schedule Jun 3, 2025 visibility 14 link 3 artists

bint mbareh sound art palestinian resistance

Bint Mbareh, a Palestinian sound artist and stage name assumed around 2019, creates installations and performances that use water and sound as metaphors for Palestinian experience. Growing up in Ramallah and later studying at Goldsmiths in London, she learned geographically specific Palestinian rain-summoning songs, which she twists and destabilizes using digital technology in works like *Time Flows in All Directions: Water Flows Through Me* (2020). After October 7, 2023, she expanded her practice to include a “choir” of collaborators performing collective grief, with appearances at an Artists for Aid benefit concert in London and at Tate Modern. Recent installation works such as *Bodies of Knowledge* (Royal College of Art) and *What’s Left?* (Sharjah Biennial) incorporate water tanks vibrated by sound, evoking both childhood and displacement.

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