Allen Rosenbaum, former director of Princeton University Art Museum with a keen curatorial eye and astute administrative foresight, dies at 88

Allen Rosenbaum, the former director of the Princeton University Art Museum who led the institution from 1980 to 1999, died on August 3, 2025, at Calvary Hospital in New York City at age 88. Rosenbaum joined Princeton in 1974 as assistant director under Peter Bunnell, and during his 25-year tenure as director, he significantly expanded the museum's collections, adding major works such as Giulio Cesare Procaccini's "The Martyrdom of Saint Justina," Pinturicchio's "Saint Bartholomew," and Pietro da Cortona's "Saint Martina Refuses to Adore the Idols." He also oversaw the 1989 opening of the Mitchell Wolfson Jr. Wing, which added 27,000 square feet of exhibition space.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Announces Its MetLiveArts Fall and Winter 2025–26 Season

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced its MetLiveArts fall and winter 2025–26 season, featuring world premiere performances and commissions created specifically for the museum's galleries, as well as concerts in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium. The season highlights a significant number of new works by female artists, including composers and musicians Gabriela Ortiz, Wu Man, Hanzhi Wang, Emily Wells, Layale Chaker, and Leilehua Lanzilotti. Performances will draw inspiration from the Met's collection and special exhibitions like 'Man Ray: When Objects Dream,' with events beginning September 9, 2025, featuring Wu Man and The Knights. The season also includes the JACK Quartet as the museum's 2025–26 Quartet in Residence and the appointment of Sarah Jones as Head of Live Arts.

These Are the 44 Best Art Museums in the U.S. Right Now

Time Out has published a list of the 44 best art museums in the U.S., ranking institutions like the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) at the top. The article highlights each museum's collection highlights, architectural features, and visitor tips, with prices and recommendations for immersive experiences.

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth announces the exhibition - David-Jeremiah: The Fire This Time

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth will present "David-Jeremiah: The Fire This Time," a solo exhibition organized by guest curator Christopher Blay, running from August 17 to November 2, 2025. The show features new works by multidisciplinary conceptual artist David-Jeremiah, including the final polychromatic EE (Emma Esse) series of seven paintings, and continues his exploration of Black identity, humanity, and ritual through inverted-performance installations centered on the Lamborghini as a symbol of beauty and violence.

Kew Gardens to host largest-ever open-air Henry Moore show

Kew Gardens in London will host the largest-ever open-air exhibition of Henry Moore's sculptures from May to September 2026, titled "Henry Moore: Monumental Nature." Thirty works, including major bronzes like "Large Two Forms" and "Oval with Points (1968-70)," will be displayed across the 320-acre Unesco World Heritage site, with additional pieces in the Temperate House. The Henry Moore Foundation is lending most works, while 90 more pieces—including prints and drawings—will be shown indoors at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, with loans from Tate and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. Four sculptures will also be exhibited at Kew's Wakehurst botanic garden in Sussex alongside contemporary commissions.

A blockbuster Gerhard Richter retrospective, co-organised by Nicholas Serota, is coming to Paris

A major retrospective of German artist Gerhard Richter, co-curated by former Tate director Nicholas Serota, will open at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris from 17 October 2025 to 2 March 2026. The exhibition features 270 works spanning 1962 to 2024, including paintings, drawings, watercolours, overpainted photographs, glass works, and digitally generated Strip images. It is organized chronologically, with sections devoted to Richter's early photo-based works, his 1972 Venice Biennale pieces, abstract explorations, sombre reflections including the October 18, 1977 series, and his later experiments beyond painting. Key loans come from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate, the Hirshhorn Museum, and Museum Ludwig, Cologne, alongside works from the Fondation's own collection.

Gustave Caillebotte blockbuster that sparked controversy in France opens in Chicago—with one key difference

A major Gustave Caillebotte survey exhibition, originally titled *Gustave Caillebotte: Painting Men* (in French, *Caillebotte: Peindre Les Hommes*), has opened at the Art Institute of Chicago with a revised title: *Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World*. The change was made after an internal focus group found the original title too narrow, and before the show even debuted in Paris. The exhibition, co-curated by Gloria Groom (AIC), Paul Perrin (Musée d’Orsay), and Scott Allan (Getty), explores Caillebotte’s preference for male subjects—such as rowers, soldiers, and card players—without asserting that the artist had same-sex relationships. It previously sparked controversy in France, where critics accused the curators of imposing an American-influenced, reductive queer reading on the artist.

Pennsylvania college moves to sell its entire art collection amid $20m budget shortfall

Albright College, a liberal arts institution in Reading, Pennsylvania, is selling its entire art collection of mostly works on paper to address a $20 million budget shortfall. The online-only sale, held on July 16 at Pook & Pook auction house, includes 524 lots featuring works by artists such as Karel Appel, Romare Bearden, Jasper Johns, Jacob Lawrence, and Bridget Riley. College administrators, including vice-president James Gaddy, describe the collection as "not core to our mission" and estimate the consigned pieces are worth $200,000, while the cost of maintaining the gallery and collection exceeds $500,000 annually. The sale is part of broader cost-cutting measures that have already included laying off 53 employees and selling non-contiguous properties.

Ten essential works of art to see at the National Gallery in London

The National Gallery in London, home to over 2,300 paintings spanning Western European art from Giotto to Cézanne and including early modernism by Picasso, has recently completed a comprehensive rehang of its collection at its Trafalgar Square site. This coincides with the reopening of the Sainsbury Wing after a two-year renovation. The article highlights ten essential works to see, including Jan van Eyck's *The Arnolfini Portrait* (1434), Leonardo da Vinci's *The Burlington House Cartoon* (around 1506-08), and Paolo Veronese's *The Adoration of the Kings* (1573), emphasizing the gallery's free admission and its role as a cultural treasure.

Wonderstruck: an art exhibition that will make even weary adults feel like kids again

Queensland's Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Meanjin/Brisbane has opened 'Wonderstruck', a major free exhibition featuring over 100 works from its collection. The show includes large-scale installations by artists such as Patricia Piccinini, Ron Mueck, Michael Parekōwhai, Yayoi Kusama, and Tobias Putrih, with interactive elements encouraging visitors to touch the art. Highlights include Kusama's 'The Obliteration Room', a participatory installation where visitors cover a white space with colorful stickers, and works created by local high school students in a workshop with artist Gemma Smith.

John Middleton’s secret art collection is coming out of the shadows in a blockbuster two-museum show

John Middleton, managing partner of the Philadelphia Phillies, and his wife Leigh are revealing their previously secret art collection in a major two-museum exhibition titled "A Nation of Artists," opening in Philadelphia in 2026. About 120 paintings, furniture, and decorative arts from the Middleton Family Collection will be split between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, surrounded by over a thousand other objects from both institutions. The show, billed as the most expansive presentation of American art ever mounted in Philadelphia, coincides with the nation's Semiquincentennial celebration and is being promoted as a cultural highlight of the anniversary.

US National Gallery of Art receives trove of Modern and contemporary drawings

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, has received a gift of more than 60 Modern and contemporary works on paper from longtime benefactors Lenore and Bernard Greenberg. The donation includes the first Bruce Nauman drawing to enter the collection, along with works by Susan Rothenberg, Philip Guston, Ed Ruscha, Vija Celmins, Alberto Giacometti, Franz Kline, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Willem de Kooning, Shahzia Sikander, Cy Twombly, and others. Photographs by Roni Horn, John Baldessari, Uta Barth, and Hiroshi Sugimoto, as well as a wire sculpture by Alexander Calder, are also included.

The best museum shows to see alongside Art Basel in Basel 2025

This article highlights the best museum shows to see alongside Art Basel in Basel 2025, covering exhibitions at Fondation Beyeler, Schaulager, Kunsthalle Basel, Kunsthaus Baselland, and Kunstmuseum Basel. Featured artists include Vija Celmins, Jordan Wolfson, Steve McQueen, Ser Serpas, Dala Nasser, and Medardo Rosso, with works ranging from VR installations and immersive light-and-sound pieces to textile art and historical retrospectives.

Japan’s art islands gain a new attraction with museum designed by Tadao Ando

The Benesse Art Site Naoshima, a globally acclaimed art destination across three Japanese islands, will open the Naoshima New Museum of Art (NNMA) on May 31. Designed by architect Tadao Ando, the one-story building with two underground floors sits on a hilltop near Honmura village. Its opening exhibition, centered on wellbeing, features works by 12 artists including Takashi Murakami, Aida Makoto, Do Ho Suh, Cai Guo-Qiang, and Martha Atienza. The museum shifts focus to contemporary art from Asia with rotating exhibitions, according to director Akiko Miki.

A colorful Takashi Murakami exhibition is coming to Cleveland

The Cleveland Museum of Art is presenting an expanded version of Takashi Murakami's exhibition 'Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow,' originally shown at The Broad in Los Angeles in 2022. The show fills the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall and Gallery with Murakami's vibrant paintings and sculptures, including early drawings, self-portraits, and new works unseen by American audiences. A highlight is the Yumedono project, a re-creation of the Dream Hall at Hōryū Temple in Nara, Japan, created in collaboration with the team from the FX series *Shogun*. Curator Ed Schad emphasizes the exhibition's exploration of how art can address crisis, healing, and escapist fantasy after shared historical trauma, with loans that dialogue with classical Japanese artists like Ogata Kōrin, Kitaōji Rosanjin, and Itō Jakuchū.

The colorful world of Takashi Murakami comes to Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art has opened "Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow," a major exhibition of works by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. The show, which originated at the Broad Museum in Los Angeles, features vibrant paintings, sculptures, and an immersive recreation of the Yumedono (Dream Temple) from Nara, Japan, built in collaboration with designers from the TV series "Shōgun." The exhibition traces Murakami's career from early characters like Mr. DOB to large-scale works addressing grief and trauma, including the 82-foot-long painting inspired by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Pharrell Williams’s auction platform Joopiter teamed with Martha Stewart for first contemporary art sale

Pharrell Williams's auction platform Joopiter has partnered with Martha Stewart for its first contemporary art sale, titled 'The Contemporary Take,' running through May 6. The 48-lot sale features works by blue-chip artists including George Condo, Jeff Koons, and Ed Ruscha, alongside emerging names like Tschabalala Self and Toyin Ojih Odutola. Stewart personally selected six lots, highlighting pieces by Amy Sherald, Damien Hirst, Ai Weiwei, Louise Bourgeois, Roy Lichtenstein, and Alex Katz. Estimates range from $4,000 to $1.2 million, and early bidding has been active, with works by Amy Sherald and Roy Lichtenstein drawing significant attention.

mcny tyger shipwreck research

The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) is launching a new research project to re-examine a 17th-century shipwreck discovered during a 1916 subway dig in Lower Manhattan. The wreck, long believed to be the Dutch ship *Tyger*—one of the earliest European vessels to anchor in New York Harbor—was excavated by subway foreman James A. Kelly and later donated to MCNY in the 1940s. In partnership with the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), the museum will apply advanced scientific techniques, including dendrochronology and wood species analysis, to the ship's timbers to confirm their origins and better understand the vessel's history.

María Jesús Valenzuela: Winter Flowers

MARÍA JESÚS VALENZUELA: FLORES DE INVIERNO

María Jesús Valenzuela presents her solo exhibition "Flores de Invierno" (Winter Flowers) at Galería NAC in Santiago, Chile. The exhibition showcases a multidisciplinary approach to the natural world, featuring hand-embroidered cotton paper, color pencil drawings, and fine art photography. Valenzuela’s work acts as a contemporary field notebook, documenting landscapes ranging from the mangroves of Caddo Lake to the forests of Curaumilla, utilizing both ancient techniques like embroidery and modern digital printing.

‘Just Dudes Hanging Out’: Dustin Yellin and Paul Rudd on Making the Artist’s First Film

Dustin Yellin, known for his glass sculptures and as founder of Pioneer Works, has made his first film, *Goodnight Lamby*, produced by Darren Aronofsky's A.I.-focused studio Primordial Soup. The short film, a hero's journey to rescue his daughter Zia's favorite stuffed animal, premiered at Cannes. Yellin discusses the project with his friend actor Paul Rudd, who voices the character "Papa," exploring how fatherhood and his existing artistic practice of "frozen cinema" inspired the animation.

risd design aesthetics recession

A writer revisits the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) alumni magazine after being assigned to explore how a group of RISD graduates from the late 2000s helped shape contemporary American material culture. The article focuses on the cohort that studied at RISD during the 2008 financial crisis, a time of institutional dysfunction and curricular drift, and includes figures like fashion brand Eckhaus Latta (co-founded by Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta), designer Adam Charlap Hyman, artists Katie Stout, Misha Kahn, F Taylor Colantonio, and Martine Gutierrez. The author reflects on shared memories and the unique conditions that produced this influential group.

Georg Baselitz, German Neo-Expressionist Painter, Dies at 88

Georg Baselitz, the German Neo-Expressionist painter known for his provocative, upside-down figurative works, has died at age 88. Along with contemporaries like Anselm Kiefer, Baselitz led a frontal assault on the dominant Minimalist and Conceptualist art movements of the 1970s, reviving expressive, gestural painting in postwar Germany.

Le Louvre choisit son entrée côté colonnade

Le Louvre has selected a joint proposal by Studios Architecture Paris and Selldorf Architects for its new entrance via the Perrault colonnade, part of the 'Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance' plan. The project, announced by Emmanuel Macron on January 28, 2025, aims to create a new eastern access to relieve overcrowding at the Pyramid, with two underground entrances, vegetated moats, new services, and a dedicated space for the Mona Lisa. The selection was announced by Culture Minister Catherine Pégard on May 18, despite controversies over funding, heritage constraints, a theft in the Galerie d'Apollon on October 19, 2025, and the departure of museum president Laurence des Cars.

The artist Fabien Verschaere, creator of joyful shambles, has passed away at age 50

L’artiste Fabien Verschaere, auteur de joyeux capharnaüms, s’est éteint à l’âge de 50 ans

The French contemporary artist Fabien Verschaere has passed away suddenly at the age of 50. Known for his dense, colorful, and highly personal visual language, Verschaere was scheduled to receive the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres distinction just days after his death. His work, which drew heavily from childhood imagery and his own experiences with chronic illness, created a bridge between dreams and nightmares through a cast of recurring characters like ghosts, superheroes, and hybrid creatures.

Required Reading

This week's Required Reading from Hyperallergic features a photo by Saber Nuraldin, a finalist for the World Press Photo of the Year, depicting Palestinians climbing an aid truck in Gaza during famine caused by Israel's blockade. The article also includes Elena Megalos's essay on the American Museum of Natural History as a site of motherhood, and reports on Meenu Batra, a legal interpreter arrested by ICE, and the New York Times blocking the Internet Archive from crawling its site.

New Chilean president reverses predecessor’s policies, cutting culture budget

Chile's new president, José Antonio Kast, has implemented a 3% budget cut across all government ministries, including the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage. This reverses the trend of his predecessor, Gabriel Boric, who significantly increased cultural funding. The new Minister of Cultures, Francisco Undurraga, has stated there is "excessive spending on culture," and the government is seeking an additional $1bn in cuts, requiring ministries to identify alleged abuses in public fund usage.

Embattled Louvre Director Laurence des Cars Resigns

embattled louvre director laurence des cars resigns

Laurence des Cars has resigned as director of the Louvre Museum following months of intense scrutiny and institutional turmoil. Her departure, accepted by French President Emmanuel Macron, comes in the wake of a massive $102 million jewelry heist in October 2025 that exposed severe security lapses, outdated infrastructure, and systemic management failures. Despite proposing a major security overhaul and a massive modernization project, Des Cars faced mounting pressure from government audits, staff walkouts, and investigations into ticket fraud.

bayeux tapestry british museum loan

The Bayeux Tapestry, a 230-foot-long medieval textile depicting the Norman Conquest of 1066, will be loaned to the British Museum in London for the first time in 950 years. The historic deal between Britain and France is set to be finalized on July 9, with the tapestry expected to appear in a blockbuster exhibition about the Norman Conquest opening in September 2026. In exchange, treasures from across the U.K.—including artifacts from Sutton Hoo and the Lewis chessmen—will travel to France. The agreement will be announced by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, and signed by British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan.

varvara roza galleries

London-based gallerist and advisor Varvara Roza has established a unique business model that merges commercial representation with strategic artist development and collector education. Drawing from her background as a second-generation collector, Roza’s eponymous gallery focuses on mid-career and established international artists, prioritizing long-term career sustainability over short-term market trends. Her approach emphasizes a dual perspective, acting as both a mediator of cultural value and a strategic manager for her roster.

di rosa center selling napa campus

Northern California's di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art has listed its 217-acre Napa campus for sale at $10.9 million after years of financial struggles. The museum, which houses a renowned collection of Postwar Northern California art, plans to use the proceeds to stabilize its finances and ensure the long-term care of its collection. Executive director Kate Eilertsen, who took over in 2020, has introduced alternative revenue streams like event rentals and a summer camp, and opened outposts in downtown Napa and San Francisco. The museum will remain open during the sale, and talks are underway with the Napa Land Trust and Open Space District to sell only part of the property for a public hiking trail, while keeping the sculpture park intact.