Art News. Vasari Codex

article local schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 12

mutter museum expansion philadelphia

Philadelphia's Mütter Museum is expanding into the adjacent Swedenborgian Church and Parish House, which it purchased for $9.3 million in 2023. Construction is set to begin in phases in early 2026, funded by $27 million raised so far. The expansion will unify the campus, add new rotating galleries, a larger museum store, and more educational spaces, allowing the museum to display more of its nearly 500,000 objects currently not on view. The Gothic Revival church, designed by Theophilus Parsons Chandler Jr., was built in 1881 and closed in the mid-1980s before being used as medical offices.

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article news schedule Oct 31, 2025 visibility 7

oakland museum of california talks stolen artifacts

A thief or group of thieves broke into the Oakland Museum of California's off-site storage facility on October 15, stealing more than 1,000 objects including six Native American baskets, 19th-century scrimshaw, daguerreotypes, modernist metalwork jewelry, and historic memorabilia. The museum initially withheld details to aid the Oakland Police Department and FBI Art Crime Team investigation, but later released a statement calling it a crime of opportunity rather than a targeted theft.

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article news schedule Oct 30, 2025 visibility 7

christies website down microsoft outage

Christie's website experienced a temporary outage on Wednesday, October 29, due to a global Microsoft 365 and Azure cloud platform disruption. Visitors saw an error message apologizing for the inconvenience and providing contact numbers for Christie's branches in London, New York, Paris, and Hong Kong. A Christie's spokesperson confirmed the outage was caused by the Microsoft issue, and the site was restored after Microsoft pushed a recovery configuration. No live auctions were scheduled that day.

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article policy schedule Oct 15, 2025 visibility 14

austin black artists matter rainbow crosswalk to be removed

The city of Austin, Texas, is set to remove a 'Black Artists Matter' street mural and a rainbow crosswalk after Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Transportation to comply with a federal order from President Donald Trump. The July 1 directive from Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy requires states to eliminate political messages and artwork from roadways, citing driver and pedestrian safety. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has identified about 16 locations that may be affected and warned that non-compliance could jeopardize $175 million in state and federal grant funding. The mural, painted in June 2020 in Austin's historically Black East side neighborhood by local artists with the Austin Justice Coalition and Capitol View Arts, was created in response to the police killing of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

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article policy schedule Oct 3, 2025 visibility 12

director eisenhower library fired trump sword king charles

President Donald Trump sought a gift for King Charles during a state visit last month, prompting his administration to request a sword from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, and Boyhood Home in Abilene, Kansas. The library refused to release the sword—a 1947 gift from Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands—citing federal law that requires preserving original artifacts for the American public. Trump instead gave King Charles a replica of Eisenhower’s West Point Officer’s Sabre. Subsequently, library director Todd Arrington was forced to resign after being told he could no longer be trusted with confidential information, a move he believes may have been linked to his refusal to hand over the artifact.

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article news schedule Sep 29, 2025 visibility 11

the oldest blue pigment found in europe identified

Researchers analyzing a stone from the Paleolithic site Mühlheim-Dietesheim in Germany have identified the earliest known use of blue mineral pigment in Europe. The study, published in the journal Antiquity, found traces of azurite on a roughly 13,000-year-old stone artifact, which is thought to have served as a palette for mixing pigments. This discovery challenges the long-held belief that Paleolithic art relied primarily on red and black pigments, as blue minerals like azurite had not been detected in Europe’s Paleolithic art until now.

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article news schedule Aug 20, 2025 visibility 8

rapa nui easter island moai statues sea levels flooding

A new study published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage warns that rising sea levels will impact Chile’s Rapa Nui National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, by 2080. Coastal flooding threatens at least 51 culturally significant artifacts, including the iconic Moai statues—nearly 1,000 volcanic tuff figures created by a native Polynesian tribe over 500 years ago, some weighing up to 80 tons. Researchers from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa used advanced computer models to simulate wave patterns and map projected flooding, overlaying this data with the locations of cultural assets provided by local partners.

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article policy schedule Jul 23, 2025 visibility 9

frances culture minister to stand trial for accused abuse of power and corruption

France's culture minister, Rachida Dati, will stand trial on charges of abuse of power and corruption stemming from her time as a Member of the European Parliament. She is accused of receiving €900,000 in lawyer's fees from a Renault-Nissan subsidiary between 2010 and 2012 while allegedly lobbying for the carmaker in the European Parliament, a prohibited activity. Dati, who has denied the allegations, was charged in 2019. The trial date is expected to be set at a hearing on September 29, and could occur after the Paris municipal elections in March 2026, for which Dati has expressed her candidacy.

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gavel restitution schedule Jul 22, 2025 visibility 15

romanesque murals return sijena monastery court ruling

Spain's Supreme Court has ruled that 13th-century Romanesque murals removed from the Sijena Monastery during the Spanish Civil War must be returned to their original home in Aragon. The artworks have been housed at the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) since 1936, after a fire gutted the monastery's chapter house. The ruling dismisses previous agreements that Catalan authorities claimed legitimized their custody, finding that the Sijena religious order never ceded ownership. The decision caps over a decade of legal battles and jurisdictional disputes between Aragon and Catalonia.

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gavel restitution schedule Jul 17, 2025 visibility 11

erotic mosaic pompeii nazi officer

An ancient mosaic looted during World War II by a Nazi officer has been repatriated to Italy and is now on public display in Pompeii. The mosaic, which depicts an erotic bedroom scene, likely originated near Mount Vesuvius and was taken by a Wehrmacht captain who donated it to a German citizen. It was returned with the help of the Italian consulate in Stuttgart on September 16, 2023, and is now housed at the Pompeii Archaeological Park.

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article news schedule Jul 11, 2025 visibility 10

national museum of puerto rican arts and culture homeland security

Agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrived at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture in Chicago on Tuesday, with at least 15 DHS vehicles occupying the museum's parking lot for nearly two hours. Museum staff reported that an agent entered the building under the pretense of using the bathroom but instead looked around and refused to leave when asked. Museum president Billy Ocasio described the incident as intimidating, comparing it to "Gestapo-style" tactics, and staff expressed fear. DHS later denied targeting the museum, stating the vehicles were staging for a narcotics investigation, but museum officials and local Representative Delia Ramirez criticized the lack of identification and the intimidating show of force.

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article policy schedule Jun 18, 2025 visibility 11

institute of museum and library services staff leave doge

The entire staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in Washington, D.C., was placed on administrative leave by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), effective immediately. Between 55 and 70 employees received a letter informing them of the leave with full pay and benefits for 90 days, requiring them to turn in government property and disabling their email accounts. This follows President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for the elimination of the IMLS within seven days as part of a broader reduction of federal bureaucracy. The agency, established in 1996, awarded approximately $266.7 million in grants last year to museums and libraries across all 50 states.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 9, 2025 visibility 12

frances most famous antiques collector hoping elon musk buys his napoleon collection at sothebys

Pierre-Jean Chalençon, described as France's most famous antiques collector, is selling around 100 lots of Napoleonic memorabilia at Sotheby's Paris on June 25. The collection includes Napoleon's bicorne hat, coronation sword, stockings, and camp bed. Chalençon has publicly expressed hope that Elon Musk will buy the entire collection to keep it together, calling Musk "the new Napoleon." The sale comes as Chalençon reportedly faces pressure to repay a €10 million loan from Swiss Life Banque Privée, which he used to finance his purchases and the acquisition of Palais Vivienne, his Parisian mansion turned Napoleon shrine.

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article news schedule Jun 3, 2025 visibility 10

egyptian blue pigment recreated

A team led by Washington State University has successfully recreated Egyptian Blue, the oldest manufactured pigment in history, which was first synthesized in ancient Egypt and used in funerary rituals and Roman art. The production process was lost during the Renaissance. Working with the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the researchers developed 12 recipes using silicon dioxide, copper, calcium, and sodium carbonate, heating them at around 1,000 degrees Celsius for up to 11 hours to mimic ancient methods. They discovered that only half the expected amount of blue-producing compounds was needed to achieve the exact chemical match.

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article news schedule May 27, 2025 visibility 7

ancient greek marble workshop discovery paros

Archaeologists on the Greek island of Paros have uncovered a Hellenistic marble workshop at the site of Floga in Parikia. The dig, overseen by the Cyclades Archaeological Society and directed by Sofia Detoratou, revealed a large number of unfinished marble statues—mainly of Aphrodite—along with clay heads, molds, seals, and a thick layer of marble dust, indicating organized sculpture production. The site shows evidence of settlement from the late 5th century B.C.E., with the workshop emerging around the end of the 3rd century B.C.E.

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article policy schedule May 20, 2025 visibility 13

icom russia president slams calls to eject russia from icom for violating code of ethics as political libel

ICOM Russia president Vasilij Pankratov has denounced calls for Russia's expulsion from the International Council of Museums (ICOM) as "political libel." The controversy follows an open letter published in Le Monde on May 5, in which a group of art experts—including art historian Konstantin Akinsha, Francesca Thyssen Bornemisza, and Vitalit Tytych—accused Russia of systematically erasing Ukraine's cultural identity since the 2022 invasion. The signatories threatened to take ICOM to court in France if it failed to oust Russia for violating the organization's code of ethics. Pankratov dismissed the accusations as unfounded, arguing that Russian museum workers operate within the country's constitution and local ethical criteria, and denied claims that Ukrainian cultural property has been appropriated by Russian museums.

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article news schedule Apr 28, 2025 visibility 9

hidden messages paris luxor obelisk

Egyptologist Jean-Guillaume Olette-Pelletier, a lecturer at Sorbonne University, discovered hidden cryptographic messages on the Luxor Obelisk in Paris's Place de la Concorde. During the pandemic, he noticed unusual hieroglyphs while walking past the 3,000-year-old monument. After scaffolding was erected for renovations ahead of the 2024 Olympics, he obtained permission to study the obelisk up close, becoming the first person in over a century to climb it. He identified seven crypto-hieroglyphs—encoded messages using puzzles and wordplay—that only a few experts can read. These inscriptions, set to be published in the journal ENiM, reveal that Pharaoh Ramses II used the obelisk as a propaganda tool to assert his divine right to rule, targeting the intellectual elite who approached the Luxor Temple by boat.

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article local schedule May 23, 2026 visibility 6 link 1 artist

Broome County Public Library brings back Da Vinci Festival Student Art Show

The Da Vinci Festival Student Art Show has returned to the Broome County Public Library in New York after a nearly ten-year hiatus. Organized by Chenango Valley art teacher Matthew Wilson, the exhibit features artwork from students in kindergarten through 12th grade across 18 schools in seven districts. The festival had not been held since 2017 due to a coordinator stepping down and subsequent delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 23, 2026 visibility 5 link 3 artists

Jaime Vallardo Chavez Announces International Exhibitions

Jaime Vallardo Chavez, known as 'El Artista de las Monedas Mundiales,' has announced a series of international exhibitions across Peru, France, Italy, and Colombia, alongside the launch of his traveling museum initiative 'Cruzada y museo itinerante del Continente Americano el Bicentenario de America.' The exhibitions include venues such as Museo Amano in Lima, the Bienal de Biarco in Colombia, the Salon d'Automne in Paris, the MAXXI National Museum in Rome, the Naval Museum of the Caribbean in Cartagena, and the Carrousel du Louvre. The traveling museum project, developed during the pandemic, commemorates bicentennial anniversaries of independence across the Americas and has gathered over 600 participating artists.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 23, 2026 visibility 5 link 2 artists

The trolls come indoors as a Danish recycling artist stages his first museum exhibit

Danish recycling artist Thomas Dambo, known for creating nearly 200 wooden troll sculptures hidden in natural settings across 19 countries, is opening his first museum exhibition. Titled “The Garbage Man,” the show at the Arken Museum of Contemporary Art near Copenhagen features a new collection of fairy tale-inspired trolls that take over the museum and build a giant human figure out of trash. The exhibition opens Sunday and runs until November 29, marking a shift from Dambo's usual outdoor treasure-hunt installations to an indoor, narrative-driven experience.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 21, 2026 visibility 4 link 4 artists

Griffin Museum of Photography brings summer exhibits to Winchester

The Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester is presenting a series of summer exhibitions running from late May through July 2026. Featured shows include "Photosynthesis XXI," a collaboration between Burlington and Winchester high schools; "Atelier 40," showcasing emerging and advanced photographers from a year-long portfolio course; "Caleb Cain Marcus: A Thousand Rectangles: On Design and the Expression of Art"; "Cassidy Thurber: I Want the Sun to Shine Down on You," the winner of the 2025 Carolyn Harder Scholarship; the 16th Annual Photobook Exhibition; a Handmade Photobook show; and "Visionary." A satellite location at Griffin Museum @WinCam will host Ellen Feldman's "WE PROTEST" from June 16 to September 1.

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article local schedule May 20, 2026 visibility 3 link 1 artist

Tracey Rose Exhibition Walkthrough + Reception

Ruby City in San Antonio is hosting a special celebration of artist Tracey Rose, featuring an exhibition walkthrough led by director Elyse A. Gonzales. The event includes a reception with music, food, and drinks, as well as voter registration resources from MOVE Texas. The walkthrough takes place on June 6, 2026, from 2–3 PM, followed by a reception until 5 PM.

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article local schedule May 13, 2026 visibility 10 link 6 artists

The Flash

Artist and educator Diego Romero is opening a new gallery called Rayo del Alma in Santa Fe, located at 130 W Palace Avenue. The space, which has been in planning for decades, will feature works by local artists including Maggie Hanley, Donica Dominguez, Oriana Lee, and Marie Maez, alongside Romero's own multimedia photography. The gallery also offers vintage Western wear, jewelry, prints, and stickers, aiming to reflect the collaborative and artisanal spirit of New Mexico. Romero, a Las Vegas, New Mexico native with a background in multimedia and digital media, draws inspiration from his grandfather, who taught him photography with a 35mm Mamiya camera. His practice focuses on nighttime sky shots printed through an aluminum process, capturing the movement of the cosmos in still images.

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article local schedule May 12, 2026 visibility 11 link 2 artists

SMC Emeritus Annual Student Art Exhibition 2026 – Part 1, Opening Celebration in Emeritus Gallery May 14

The Santa Monica College (SMC) Emeritus Art Gallery will host the SMC Emeritus Annual Student Art Exhibition 2026 – Part 1 from May 14 to June 19, with a free opening reception on May 14 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The exhibition features works by 47 student artists from SMC's noncredit Emeritus program for older adults, which was founded in 1975 and serves over 3,000 students annually. Due to high participation, the exhibition is split into two parts, with Part 1 displayed in the gallery and Part 2 opening online on June 11.

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rate_review review schedule May 12, 2026 visibility 11 link 4 artists

Before We Knew Better or We Should All Know Better

The article reviews "Before We Knew Better," a group exhibition at Elise Seigenthaler Gallery featuring artists Sarah Bedford, Day Brièrre, Josiah Ellner, and Léa LeFloc'h. The critic reflects on the show's thematic framing around narrative, folklore, and personal mythology, while expressing frustration with its open-endedness and lack of clear intent. Specific works are discussed, including Ellner's psychedelic unicorn paintings, LeFloc'h's enigmatic works on paper, Bedford's nocturnal flowers, and Brièrre's intricate ceramics, though the critic notes the installation does not always serve the pieces well.

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article local schedule May 12, 2026 visibility 12 link 2 artists

Norman Firehouse Art Center to open Sohail & Co. exhibition

The Norman Firehouse Art Center in Norman, Oklahoma, will present "Sohail & Co.," a summer exhibition focused on figure drawing and sculpture, on view from May 13 to August 7, 2026. The show brings together artists connected to the University of Oklahoma School of Visual Arts, exploring how the human figure evolves from observation to finished form across drawing, ceramics, and sculpture. An opening reception on May 13 will also feature the unveiling of "Rooted," a new public sculpture by undergraduate student Isabella Clark, installed in the Firehouse park as part of the Lions Park Sculpture Garden initiative.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 11, 2026 visibility 14 link 3 artists

Hong Kong wows the crowds to sleep at the 2026 Venice Biennale

The 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" by its late artistic director Koyo Kouoh, has been marked by loud protests and urgent environmental alarms, notably at Florentina Holzinger's Austria pavilion. Amid this chaos, the Hong Kong collateral exhibition "Fermata" at Campo della Tana offers a quiet counterpoint, featuring Kingsley Ng Siu-king's installation *Laundry Nocturne (2026)*, a rest lounge with padded floors and cushions that has caused visitors to doze off. The exhibition follows Kouoh's curatorial vision of creating space for silenced voices and convivial collectivity.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 11, 2026 visibility 14 link 2 artists

Venice Biennale performances confront war and climate fears

At the 2026 Venice Biennale, visitors encountered provocative performances and installations addressing war, climate anxiety, and human coexistence. Highlights include a naked performer acting as a human bell clapper in Florentina Holzinger's "Seaworld Venice" at the Austrian Pavilion, lifelike baby dolls in Ei Arakawa-Nash's caregiving-focused work at the Japanese Pavilion, and drone-powered flying carpets in Moldova's pavilion that transform symbols of war into tools of peace. The Nordic Pavilion also presented surreal installations exploring coexistence and environmental fears.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 7, 2026 visibility 10 link 3 artists

New exhibit at Art Room on 2nd explores the true self

Art Room on 2nd in Medicine Hat, Alberta, is presenting "Remembrance," a solo exhibition featuring the acrylic works of Jackie DeBlasio, who is also a co-owner of the gallery. The show, opening May 8, 2026, presents large-scale figurative paintings on rolled canvas with sewn edges, hung from dowels to emphasize physicality and the process of becoming. DeBlasio describes the works as exploring identity, fluidity, and the tension between structure and surrender.

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article local schedule May 1, 2026 visibility 17 link 2 artists

May Events at Lynden Sculpture Garden

The Lynden Sculpture Garden in Milwaukee announces its May 2026 events, including exhibitions, workshops, and outdoor installations. Featured exhibitions include Faythe Levine's "Time is Running Out," which explores the legacy of Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink, co-founders of the Layton School of Art, and "Slow Growing in the Time of Trees" by the mycology-focused collective mycollective. A bonsai exhibit opens on World Bonsai Day in collaboration with the Milwaukee Bonsai Society and Milwaukee Bonsai Foundation, alongside free community events like Knit @ Lynden with Sara Caron.

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