Art News. Vasari Codex

article policy schedule Jul 30, 2025 visibility 13 link 2 artists

trump big beautiful bill space shuttle discovery museum houston

President Donald Trump signed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" on July 4, which includes a provision requiring the Smithsonian Institution to transfer a space vehicle—widely understood to be the space shuttle Discovery—to NASA. The shuttle has been displayed at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, since 2012. The move must be completed by January 4, 2027, and $85 million has been allocated for planning, transportation, and a new exhibition facility in Houston. The provision originated from the "Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act" introduced by Texas senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, after their state lost the original competition to host Discovery.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jul 23, 2025 visibility 19 link 6 artists

100 massive elephant sculptures beverly hills

The Great Elephant Migration, a public art project featuring 100 life-size elephant sculptures, has concluded its cross-country journey in Beverly Hills, California. The sculptures, crafted by Indigenous artisans of the Coexistence Collective in India from the invasive lantana camara weed, represent real elephants from the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. The herd traveled 5,000 miles via electric trucks, making stops in Newport, New York, Miami, Houston, Jackson Hole, and Montana, before arriving at Beverly Gardens Park. The artworks are for sale, with prices ranging from $8,000 to $22,000, and sales have exceeded $3 million, with proceeds supporting 22 conservation NGOs.

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article news schedule Jul 22, 2025 visibility 13 link 9 artists

haitian museum police rescue artworks from gangs

Haitian police conducted a two-day armed operation to evacuate thousands of artworks and documents from the Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince, as gangs tightened control over the capital. The museum, founded in 1944 and housing works by artists such as Hector Hyppolite, Georges Liautaud, and Philomé Obin, had been forced to suspend operations in February after gang members stole solar panels and a generator. Under gunfire, authorities used armored vehicles to clear barricaded streets and removed an estimated 6,000 artworks and 3,600 documents to safety.

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article news schedule Jul 22, 2025 visibility 14 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 culture schedule Jul 3, 2025 visibility 12 link 7 artists

laocoon vatican michelangelo forgery

On January 14, 1506, Florentine architect Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo Buonarroti witnessed the excavation of the Laocoön Group, a monumental ancient marble statue unearthed in a Roman vineyard. The sculpture, depicting the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons battling serpents, was quickly acquired by Pope Julius II and installed in the Vatican, where it remains today at the Museo Pio-Clementino. However, art historian Lynn Catterson controversially proposed in 2005 that the statue is not an ancient artifact but a forgery created by Michelangelo himself, citing evidence such as a drawing of a torso resembling the statue's back, bank records of Michelangelo's marble purchases, and his history of producing forgeries like the lost Sleeping Cupid.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 25, 2025 visibility 8 link 2 artists

jane austen sister artist

Jane Austen's older sister Cassandra, a skilled but historically overshadowed artist, is the subject of a new exhibition titled "The Art of Cassandra" at Jane Austen's House in Chawton, England. The show features 10 of her surviving works, including six never before publicly displayed and four newly discovered pieces, such as family portraits, a winter landscape, and copies of existing artworks. The display marks the largest-ever gathering of confirmed works by Cassandra, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 19, 2025 visibility 9 link 2 artists

work of the week emily kam kngwarray

Artnet News's "Work of the Week" highlights Emily Kam Kngwarray's painting *Desert Storm* (1992), currently on view at Pace London as part of the exhibition "My Country." Painted midway through her career, the work marks a stylistic shift from intricate dotting to broader strokes and expansive color fields. The piece is priced between $1 million and $1.5 million, aligning with the artist's auction record of $1.3 million (AUD $2.1 million) for *Earth's Creation I* (1994), sold at Cooee Art Gallery in 2017. The exhibition is organized with D'Lan Contemporary, which has branches in New York, Melbourne, and Sydney, and 10 percent of proceeds will support the Utopia community, in addition to the Artist Resale Right returned to Kngwarray's estate.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 10, 2025 visibility 18 link 4 artists

amnh pedro pascal hayden planetarium show

New York's American Museum of Natural History is launching a new film at the Hayden Planetarium titled "Encounters in the Milky Way," narrated by actor Pedro Pascal. Opening June 9, the 30-minute show uses data from the European Space Agency's Gaia observatory and contributions from over 20 academic institutions to map the sun's journey through the Milky Way over billions of years. The project involved astronomers, artists, and science visualization experts, with a score by composer Robert Miller and direction by museum trustee Shawn Levy.

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gavel restitution schedule Jun 9, 2025 visibility 13 link 2 artists

fbi recovers paintings university new mexico harwood museum art

The FBI has recovered two paintings stolen 40 years ago from the University of New Mexico's Harwood Museum of Art in Taos. Victor Higgins's oil painting *Aspens* (c. 1932) and Joseph Henry Sharp's portrait *Oklahoma Cheyenne aka Indian Boy in Full Dress* (c. 1915) were taken in March 1985, when the building housed a public library with a museum on the second floor. The recovery was triggered by a late 2023 tip from investigative reporter Lou Schachter to museum executive director Juniper Leherissey, who then led an Art Recovery Task Force. The paintings had been sold in 2018 by the Scottsdale Auction House under altered titles, and were located, recovered, and returned to the museum on May 12, 2025, with a public unveiling on June 6.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 9, 2025 visibility 14 link 4 artists

rachel ruyschs still lifes dutch toledo pinakothek munich mfa boston

The Toledo Museum of Art has opened the first major exhibition dedicated to Dutch Golden Age painter Rachel Ruysch, organized with the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and traveling next to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The show features Ruysch's vibrant still lifes of fruits and flowers, often animated by insects, and places her work alongside that of her sister Anna Ruysch and other female scientific illustrators like Maria Sibylla Merian. Curator Robert Schindler's rediscovery of Anna Ruysch's work helped inspire the exhibition, which also draws on botanical research to catalog the global plant species Ruysch depicted, reflecting colonial trade networks.

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article news schedule May 30, 2025 visibility 14 link 2 artists

museum removes maori artist new zealand flag diane prince

The Suter Art Gallery in Nelson, New Zealand, removed an artwork by Māori artist Diane Prince after public outcry. The piece, a new version of her 1995 work *Flagging the Future*, featured the New Zealand flag printed with the words “PLEASE WALK ON ME” and was part of a solo show organized by Pātaka Art + Museum. Local resident Ruth Tipu protested by picking up the flag daily, citing distress over the flag being walked on, especially given her grandfather’s service in the Māori Battalion. The museum cited an escalation in hostile discourse as the reason for removal, while affirming support for freedom of expression.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 30, 2025 visibility 14 link 4 artists

cracking the parmigianino code at the frick

The Frick Collection is presenting a single-picture exhibition of Parmigianino's portrait 'Schiava Turca' (circa 1531–34), on loan from the Galleria Nazionale di Parma. The painting, whose title means 'Turkish Slave,' depicts a woman in elaborate headdress and chains, whose identity has long been a mystery. Curator Aimee Ng proposes a new interpretation: that the sitter is the poetess Veronica Gambara, based on her confident demeanor and the Pegasus emblem symbolizing poetic inspiration. The article also recounts Vasari's anecdote about Parmigianino's absorption in his work during the 1527 Sack of Rome, and explores the painting's connection to Mannerist ideals of beauty.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 30, 2025 visibility 33 link 4 artists, 59 galleries

frieze seoul 2025 exhibitor list

Frieze Seoul 2025 will bring together 120 galleries from over 30 countries for its fourth edition, running September 4–6 at the COEX convention center with a preview day on September 3. The fair coincides with Kiaf Seoul and is split into three sections: the main Galleries section (90 exhibitors), Focus Asia (10 solo presentations of emerging artists), and Frieze Masters (20 booths covering works from the Middle Ages to the 20th century). Blue-chip participants include Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace Gallery, and David Zwirner, alongside leading Korean galleries such as Gallery Hyundai and Kukje Gallery. Five galleries have graduated from Focus Asia to the main section, and 20 first-time participants join the main section.

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article culture schedule May 27, 2025 visibility 14 link 2 artists

op ed museums gender and pay

The article examines how gender pay disparities and the fear of a "pink-collar" profession persist in the art museum world, triggered by comments from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about "masculine energy" in the workplace. It recounts a 2020 forum where National Gallery of Art director Kaywin Feldman expressed concern that art museums becoming predominantly female could lower salaries, a remark initially seen as sexist but later contextualized by the author's investigation into the origins of such fears. The author traces the concept to a 2016 New York Times article citing research on how female-dominated fields see pay drops, and explores how even progressive leaders like Feldman can inadvertently perpetuate gender bias.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 23, 2025 visibility 15 link 5 artists

artemisia gentileschi masterpiece restored beruit bombing getty debut

The J. Paul Getty Museum unveils Artemisia Gentileschi's long-lost painting *Hercules and Omphale* (ca. 1635–37) after three years of restoration. The work was nearly destroyed in the August 2020 Beirut port explosion, which caused severe damage to the Sursock Palace where it was housed. Senior conservator Ulrich Birkmaier led the delicate process of reassembling the canvas, removing glass shards and debris, and restoring the original colors.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 22, 2025 visibility 20 link 6 artists

louise bonnet swiss institute site santa fe

Louise Bonnet, a Los Angeles-based painter known for her cartoonish yet sophisticated depictions of the female nude, discusses her latest work ahead of two major exhibitions. Her two-person show with Elizabeth King, titled "De Anima," opens at the Swiss Institute in New York, focusing on shared approaches to figuration that balance objecthood and liveliness. Bonnet also created a new series for the next edition of the SITE Santa Fe International biennial, opening in June. In an interview with ARTnews editor Emily Watlington, Bonnet explains her shift to tighter cropped compositions emphasizing routine gestures like tying shoelaces or fastening bras, inspired by World War II British spies and films like Rosemary's Baby.

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article policy schedule May 21, 2025 visibility 17 link 2 artists

whitney museum breuer building landmarked sothebys

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated the former Whitney Museum building at 945 Madison Avenue as both an individual and interior landmark. Designed by Marcel Breuer and completed in 1966, the inverted ziggurat structure with raw concrete interior served as the Whitney's home until 2015, later housing the Metropolitan Museum of Art's contemporary art annex and the Frick Collection during its renovation. Sotheby's acquired the building in 2023 and plans to relocate its global headquarters there, with renovations led by Herzog & de Meuron. Preservationist groups pushed for landmark status amid concerns about commercial alterations, and the designation now legally protects the exterior and key interior elements like the lobby and main staircase.

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article culture schedule May 20, 2025 visibility 12 link 2 artists

marsha p johnson biography art tourmaline tiny reparations

This excerpt from Tourmaline's forthcoming book "Marsha: the Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson" (Tiny Reparations, May 20) focuses on Marsha P. Johnson's use of hand-sewn banners and textile art as tools of activism and joy within the gay liberation movement. It describes her creation of banners reading "GAY POOOR PEOPLE" and "Gay Love," the latter borrowed by the Hot Peaches theater troupe, and her broader artistic practice spanning acting, performance, fashion, and songwriting. The text also notes artist Tuesday Smilie's 2018 recreation of Johnson's STAR banner for an exhibit at the Rose Art Museum.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 19, 2025 visibility 11 link 7 artists

bennett prize after deliberation first all women jury winner announced

Amy Werntz, a Dallas-based figurative painter, has won the fifth Bennett Prize, the largest art award for women working in figurative painting. The announcement was made at the Muskegon Museum of Art in Michigan, where an exhibition of finalists opened. Werntz, a previous finalist in 2021, received $50,000 and a solo show for her lifelike depictions of elderly people in everyday scenes. For the first time, the winner was chosen by an all-female jury, which included painter Margaret Bowland, artist Angela Fraleigh, and curator Gloria Groom. The runner-up, Nicole Santiago, won $10,000. The traveling exhibition will visit several museums across the United States through 2027.

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article policy schedule May 15, 2025 visibility 16 link 2 artists

marilyn jackson on trump museums

Marilyn Jackson, president and CEO of the American Alliance of Museums, argues that Americans overwhelmingly trust and support museums, with 96% wanting federal funding maintained or increased. She criticizes the Trump administration's first 100 days for gutting staff and grants at the Institute of Museum and Library Services and other agencies, and for issuing an executive order called 'Restoring Truth' that restricts how museums can portray history, creating fear of retribution for factual research.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 13, 2025 visibility 15 link 5 artists

diller scofidio and renfro venice canal water coffee wins golden lion

Diller Scofidio and Renfro (DS+R) has won a Golden Lion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale for "Canal Café," a project that brews espresso using water filtered from the Venetian lagoon. The installation, part of the biennale's exhibition "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective," uses a combination of biological filtration by salt-tolerant halophytes and artificial methods like reverse osmosis to purify the polluted canal water. Michelin-starred chef Davide Oldani selected the coffee blend, and the espresso is sold for €1.20. Originally conceived for the 2008 biennale but delayed due to permit issues, the project was realized with improved filtration technology and support from engineering firms Natural Systems Utilities and SODAI, as well as Webuild.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 8, 2025 visibility 13 link 5 artists

new taipei city art museum interview

The New Taipei City Art Museum (NTCAM) opened to the public last weekend with fireworks and light installations after nearly eight years of development. Located in Yingge District, about 30 minutes from Taipei, the publicly funded museum cost 3 billion NTD (approximately $93 million) and spans 38 acres. Designed by Taiwanese architect Kris Yao, the 11-story building houses eight exhibition halls, a 500-seat auditorium, a public plaza, and a park for public art. Inaugural director Lai Hsiang-ling outlined the museum's vision to serve local audiences and the arts community while fostering international and regional collaboration. The opening includes the inaugural exhibition featuring the local art collective Xindian Boys and their commission "Don't Worry, Baby," which addresses ecological change, global politics, and artificial intelligence.

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article news schedule May 6, 2025 visibility 15 link 3 artists

water leaks from louvres roof and misses prized cimabue painting

A powerful hailstorm caused water to leak through the Louvre's roof into the Salle Rosa room, where the exhibition "A New Look at Cimabue: At the Origins of Italian Painting" is on view. The water narrowly missed Giovanni Cimabue's unprotected "Maestà" panel painting (circa 1280), but drips hit the base of Nicola Pisano's "Three Acolytes" (1264-67) on loan from Florence's Museo Nazionale del Bargello. Another near miss occurred near Duccio di Buoninsegna's "Madonna of the Franciscans" (1285-88), which was protected by glass. The museum closed the exhibition early for firefighter inspection, identified a damaged glass seal as the cause, and reopened the next morning after repairs.

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trending_up market schedule May 5, 2025 visibility 16 link 6 artists

national gallery mysterious altarpiece 20 million

London's National Gallery has acquired a mysterious altarpiece painted by an unknown artist around 1510, paying £16.4 million ($21.8 million) for the work titled *The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret*. The painting, arranged via a private sale by Sotheby's and funded by the American Friends of the National Gallery London, features unusual details including a uniquely expressive dragon beneath baby Jesus's feet, playful angels, and subtle symbolic references. The acquisition marks the museum's bicentennial and will go on public display on May 10 in the rehung Sainsbury Wing.

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article news schedule May 2, 2025 visibility 14 link 2 artists

trump inauguration donors major art patrons warren stephens

Major art collectors Warren Stephens, Ken Griffin, Paul Singer, and Charles and Helen Schwab were among the top individual donors to President Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration fundraising committee, according to data from the Federal Election Commission and Open Secrets. Stephens, a major donor to the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art, gave $4 million, the largest individual contribution, while Griffin, Singer, and the Schwabs each donated $1 million or more. The article also details additional political donations from these collectors, including Griffin's $100 million in conservative election spending, and notes that many large corporations like Amazon and BlackRock also contributed.

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article news schedule May 2, 2025 visibility 15 link 10 artists

just what happens to the sistine chapel during a papal conclave

The Sistine Chapel has closed to the public in preparation for the papal conclave beginning May 7, where cardinals will elect a successor to Pope Francis. The chapel, adorned with Michelangelo's frescoes including the ceiling (1508–1512) and *The Last Judgement* (1536–1541), has been the permanent seat of the conclave since 1878. Preparations include installing a chimney and stove for the smoke signals that announce voting results, as well as modern facilities like chemical toilets added after the 2013 conclave.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 2, 2025 visibility 16 link 3 artists

tefaf restores black book of hours

TEFAF has selected the Black Book of Hours, a rare 15th-century illuminated manuscript from the Hispanic Society Museum and Library in New York, as the recipient of its 2025 Museum Restoration Fund. The manuscript, one of only seven known black vellum books of hours, will be displayed at TEFAF New York at the Park Avenue Armory before undergoing conservation treatment by the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia. The work involves disbinding the 149-folio volume, high-resolution imaging, and addressing centuries of wear.

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article culture schedule May 1, 2025 visibility 14 link 3 artists

dar kuen wu taiwan digital art

The article examines the rise of Taiwanese contemporary art on the international stage, focusing on its growing prominence in digital and technological art. It traces the evolution of digital art in Taiwan through three phases: video art in the 1990s with pioneers like Wang Jun-Jieh and Yuan Goang-Ming, digital media experimentation in the 2000s driven by the tech sector, and a recent phase of internationalization and interdisciplinary integration fueled by the semiconductor industry and government support. Key factors include Taiwan's hardware industry, cultural liberalization after the lifting of martial law in 1987, and sustained policy support from institutions like the National Culture and Arts Foundation (NCAF), the Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB), and the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA).

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article policy schedule Apr 30, 2025 visibility 14 link 1 artist

mellon foundation state arts councils emergency grants

The Mellon Foundation is providing $15 million in emergency grants to the Federation of State Humanities Councils, which will distribute the funds to all 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils across the U.S. This comes after the Trump administration revoked $65 million in grants promised by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), redirected to the National Garden of American Heroes. The administration also terminated over 1,000 NEH grants and placed about 80 percent of NEH staff on paid administrative leave following a visit from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Many state councils now face potential closure or severe program cuts.

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