Art for Our Age of Chaos

The article reviews two major New York exhibitions opening in 2026: the Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art, featuring over fifty artists, and "New Humans: Memories of the Future" at the newly expanded New Museum, with over a hundred artists. Both shows are described as enormous and defiant, responding to a distracted public and financial pressures. The reviewer notes that both exhibitions juxtapose large-scale immersive works with tiny, intimate pieces, and finds the Whitney Biennial lacking urgency, while preferring the New Museum's historical narrative about technology and modernity.

Gustave Courbet: realist and rebel

The Leopold Museum in Vienna, in collaboration with Museum Folkwang in Essen, is hosting a major retrospective titled "Gustave Courbet: Realist and Rebel." Featuring 130 exhibits, including 90 paintings and 20 graphic works, the exhibition traces the artist's journey from his early rejection of academic training to his role as the pioneer of Realism. The show highlights his revolutionary choice to depict everyday life and ordinary people on a monumental scale, a practice previously reserved for heroic or mythological subjects.

Paris to host first museum devoted to Alberto Giacometti with more than 10,000 artworks and objects

The Fondation Alberto et Annette Giacometti has announced the 2028 opening of the Giacometti Museum and School in Paris’s 7th arrondissement. Housed in the former Invalides train station, the 6,000-square-meter facility will be the first museum dedicated entirely to the Swiss master, replacing the much smaller Institut Giacometti. The site will showcase a massive collection of over 10,000 items, including 400 sculptures and 100 paintings, many of which have never been exhibited.

Gwen John: The 'reclusive spinster' artist who shunned conformity

A major retrospective of Gwen John, one of Britain's greatest 20th-century artists, is opening at National Museum Cardiff on the 150th anniversary of her birth. The exhibition, titled 'Gwen John: Strange Beauties,' brings together works from across the UK and the USA for the first time, including a significant collection acquired from her nephew Edwin in 1976 that has never been extensively researched or exhibited. John, born in 1876 in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, was long overshadowed by her younger brother, the artist Augustus John, and was often dismissed as a 'reclusive spinster.' However, curators and biographers now challenge that myth, revealing her as a socially engaged, determined artist who pursued her own path despite Victorian-era constraints on women.

Comment | Tate Britain’s Turner and Constable show got me thinking about Marxist art history

The author recounts traveling from Scotland to London to see Tate Britain's exhibition "Turner and Constable: Rivals and Originals," despite costly and slow train travel. The article also covers the Old Master sales at Sotheby's, Christie's, and Bonhams, noting mixed results: a Flemish triptych sold for £5.7m, a Hans Eworth portrait set a record at £3.2m, and a Gerrit Dou fetched £3.8m, while a Panini capriccio lost value since 2005.

Review: Shows on view at Akron Art Museum reveal creative soul of a 200-year-old city

The Akron Art Museum is hosting a series of exhibitions that explore the identity and creative spirit of Akron, Ohio, as the city celebrates its 2025 bicentennial. The centerpiece is a large-scale retrospective of Alfred McMoore (1950-2009), a self-trained outsider artist from Akron who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent much of his life in psychiatric institutions. McMoore created massive pencil and crayon drawings focused on funerals and death rituals, and his work attracted a circle of supporters including the late antiques dealer Chuck Auerbach and journalist Jim Carney, whose sons Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney later founded the Grammy-winning band The Black Keys, named after McMoore's cryptic phrase.

Amoako Boafo serves up a community tennis court in Ghana

Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo has opened Backyard Community Club, a tennis training facility in Osu, Accra, featuring the country's first regulation clay court. Designed by Accra-based architecture firm DeRoche Projects, the court is enclosed by precast rammed-earth panels—also a first in Ghana—and includes shaded seating, changing rooms, and edible plants. The project offers free tennis lessons to local children, drawing on Boafo's own background as a ball boy and tennis player before his rise as a global art star.

German artist Anselm Kiefer featured in new Saint Louis Art Museum exhibit

The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) unveiled German artist Anselm Kiefer's exhibition "Becoming the Sea" on October 18, 2025, after 2.5 years of development. Spanning nearly 30,000 square feet, the show features enormous paintings shipped from Kiefer's Paris suburb studio, some cut into sections to fit shipping constraints. The exhibition includes works influenced by Kiefer's wife's hospitalization, his studies as a constitutional lawyer, and themes of anti-nationalism and philosophy. Kiefer requested no stanchions in front of artworks and that window shades remain up to encourage visitor immersion and connection with the outdoors.

'It's about world-making': Tavares Strachan on his expansive new Lacma exhibition

Tavares Strachan's new solo exhibition, *The Day Tomorrow Began*, has opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma), running until 29 March 2026. Co-organized with the Columbus Museum of Art, the show features 20 new works across neon, ceramics, bronze, painting, text, and performance, exploring invisible histories and challenging white-centric narratives. The exhibition includes a spotlight on his *Encyclopedia of Invisibility* (2018), bronze sculptures referencing the Haitian Revolution, and a neon piece contrasting James Baldwin and Mark Twain. Strachan, who trained as a cosmonaut and collaborates with MIT scientists, also unveils a permanent participatory speakeasy called *Bar Room* in Columbus.

Dog in Rembrandt’s The Night Watch was copied from widely available book, suggests new research

New research suggests that the barking dog in the lower right corner of Rembrandt's *The Night Watch* (1642) was copied from a title-page illustration by the Dutch artist Adriaen van de Venne. Anne Lenders, curator of 17th-century Dutch paintings at the Rijksmuseum, recognized the resemblance while visiting an exhibition on Van de Venne at the Zeeuws Museum. Macro X-ray fluorescence scans of the painting's underdrawing confirmed the similarity, though Rembrandt modified the dog's posture and added a tongue to make it appear alert and barking at a drum.

Exhibition Opening: Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics & Contemporary Art

The Ford Foundation Gallery in New York will host 'Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics & Contemporary Art,' curated by Dr. Jareh Das, from September 10 to December 6, 2025. The exhibition brings together over fifty works by three generations of Black women artists, including Simone Leigh, Magdalene Odundo, and Ladi Kwali, spanning ceramics, film, photography, and archives, and traces the influence of Nigerian potter Ladi Dosei Kwali on contemporary practice.

Van Gogh Museum claims it could be ‘forced to close’ amid funding feud with Dutch state

Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum has publicly warned it could be forced to close unless the Dutch government increases its annual subsidy from €8.5m to €11m to fund essential renovations. Director Emilie Gordenker announced the museum cannot guarantee the safety of its collection, visitors, and staff without the additional funding for climate control, elevators, fire safety, security, and sustainability upgrades. The museum has filed a legal complaint against the state, arguing it is in breach of a 1962 agreement that committed the government to fund the museum's construction and maintenance in exchange for the Van Gogh family's collection. The case is set to be heard on 19 February 2026.

Thom Yorke Embraces ‘Terrifying’ Work as a Visual Artist in First Museum Exhibit

Thom Yorke, frontman of Radiohead, is presenting his first-ever museum exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, UK. Titled 'This is What You Get', the show runs until January 2026 and features the complete catalog of album covers, unseen sketchbook pages, and recent paintings created in collaboration with artist Stanley Donwood. Yorke, who trained as a visual artist before turning to music, describes returning to physical painting as 'absolutely terrifying' and sees the exhibition as a reclamation of his original artistic identity.

Language Games in a Haunted Present.

Ndéyé Kouagou has opened her first solo exhibition in Italy at Collezione Maramotti, presented in conjunction with the Fotografia Europea 2026 festival. The exhibition, titled 'Ghosts of the Moment', features recent works and new commissions that showcase her language-driven practice, blending text, performance, and image to explore unstable meaning and contemporary subjectivity.

Museum diplomacy in action at ICOM UK 2026: museums in a changing world

ICOM UK hosted its 2026 annual conference in Oxford, bringing together delegates from over 20 countries to explore the theme of 'Museum Diplomacy.' Keynote speaker Dr. Sascha Priewe of the Aga Khan Museum and ICOM Canada framed the current geopolitical moment as a 'GZERO World,' where no country is willing or able to lead globally, and discussed how sanctions, export controls, and shifting alliances are straining international museum collaborations. Sessions featured case studies from the Science Museum Group and International Arts & Artists, emphasizing that trust and networks, not grand gestures, are essential for enduring partnerships.

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Courtney McClellan's exhibition "Simulations" at the Shirley Fiterman Art Center in Lower Manhattan features deadpan photographs of empty mock courtrooms at universities across the American South, including a haunting simulation of the Supreme Court's chambers at Liberty University, an evangelical Southern Baptist college in Virginia. The show, which includes images taken over six years, is installed with blue borders and wainscoting that blur the line between architecture and image, placing viewers in the position of judge and jury while highlighting the theatricality of these spaces.

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Milton Esterow, the award-winning journalist who owned and edited ARTnews for 42 years, died on Friday at age 97. His death was confirmed by his daughter Judith Esterow, a former associate publisher of the magazine. Esterow purchased ARTnews in 1972 from Newsweek and transformed it into a news-focused powerhouse, winning a National Magazine Award and two George Polk Awards. He introduced the influential ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list in 1990 and was known for his relentless investigative journalism, particularly on Holocaust art restitution. He continued writing into his 90s, using his 1950 Royal typewriter.

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Damascus University in Syria has begun strictly enforcing a 1974 ban on nude models in its fine arts departments—sculpture, painting, engraving, and printmaking—threatening students with a failing grade if they use nude figures. Fine arts dean Fouad Dahdouh issued the directive, citing ethical and societal values, despite being a practicing artist who himself has created artworks depicting nude figures. Students have pushed back, calling the policy a violation of academic freedom and organizing a peaceful protest.

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Sotheby's Institute of Art (SIA), a for-profit graduate school in London and New York, has been under the U.S. Department of Education's 'Heightened Cash Monitoring 2' (HCM2) designation since December 2023, a status reserved for institutions with serious financial or compliance concerns. The designation bars the school from receiving federal financial aid in advance, requiring it to front its own funds and seek reimbursement. Public records and financial filings reveal that SIA has fallen below federal 'financial responsibility' baselines, and its UK auditors noted 'material uncertainty' about the school's ability to continue as a going concern, though management asserts it has adequate resources.

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Minne Atairu's augmented reality work "Deshrined Ancestors" (2024) was featured in the group exhibition "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" at REDCAT in Los Angeles. The piece is a speculative 3D rendering of a Benin bronze, created using AI trained on archives and oral histories, designed to fill the gap left by looted artifacts. Atairu, born in Benin, Nigeria, uses tools like Midjourney and Blender to generate artworks that address colonial violence and erasure, including her 2023 installation "To the Hand" at The Shed. The exhibition explores humanity's evolving relationship with AI, and Atairu's work includes an empty podium representing a Benin bronze returned to Nigeria from RISD.

Protection and Constraint are Two Sides of the Same Coin: An Exhibition in Rome Proves It

Protezione e costrizione sono due facce della stessa medaglia. Una mostra a Roma lo dimostra

The gallery Monti8 in Rome is hosting a group exhibition titled "The Bell Jar," co-curated by Massimiliano Maglione. Inspired by Sylvia Plath’s 1963 novel, the show features seven international artists—Camilla Alberti, Ruby Chen, Mounir Eddib, Stephen Buscemi, Naomi Hawksley, Steffen Kern, and Amber Wynne-Jones. The exhibition explores the dual nature of the glass bell jar as both a protective shield for precious objects and a suffocating barrier that isolates the subject from the world.

‘Reality Decay’ Is at the Root of All the Bad News

The article connects a 2009 artwork by Paul Chan, 'Sade for Sade’s Sake,' to the recent release of the Jeffrey Epstein emails. The artwork, a shadow puppet projection based on the Marquis de Sade's violent text, was referenced in a 2010 email from an art adviser to Epstein, suggesting artists who could realize his desires for his private island. This link places a contemporary artwork directly into the evidence of a high-profile criminal conspiracy.

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San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) has banned AI-generated art from its 2026 Comic-Con Art Show, reversing a previous policy that allowed AI art if marked not-for-sale and clearly identified. The change came after artists including Karla Ortiz, a plaintiff in a lawsuit against AI companies, condemned the old policy on social media as a disgrace to human artists. The new guidelines state that material created by AI, either partially or wholly, is not allowed, with the Art Show coordinator serving as the sole judge of acceptability.

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The European Union's Regulation 2019/880, aimed at combating illicit trafficking and terrorism, will take effect on June 28, imposing stricter import controls on antiquities and artworks over 200 years old and valued above €18,000 ($19,500). The regulation requires importers to provide evidence that an object was lawfully exported from its country of origin, even for items exported decades ago when such documentation was not required. This reverses the presumption of innocence, placing the burden of proof on importers. Dealers and experts express concern that the rules are not based on market realities, as importers must be registered within the E.U., forcing non-E.U. dealers to rely on third-party agents or shippers. The regulation also poses challenges for ancient objects, where borders and export controls may be historically ambiguous.

Mass shooting at Mexico's Teotihuacan archaeological site leaves one dead, 13 injured

A mass shooting occurred at the Teotihuacan archaeological site in Mexico, leaving one Canadian tourist dead and 13 others from various nations injured. The gunman, identified as Julio César Jasso Ramírez, opened fire from atop the Pyramid of the Moon before killing himself at the scene.

Exhibition | Anna Park, 'Hot Honey' at Lehmann Maupin, London, United Kingdom

Anna Park makes her United Kingdom solo debut at Lehmann Maupin London with 'Hot Honey,' an exhibition of large-scale charcoal works running from April 30 to May 30. The show features Park’s signature fractured, cinematic compositions that explore female archetypes like the 'vixen' and the 'bombshell.' For the first time, the artist introduces shaped supports that turn her drawings into sculptural reliefs, alongside restrained passages of color that heighten the psychological intensity of her social critiques.

At Perrotin Paris, Bernard Frize Pushes Against His Own Self-Imposed Constraints

Bernard Frize’s latest exhibition, "Les 26," at Perrotin Paris marks his 21st show with the gallery and a continued exploration of his rigorous, process-driven abstraction. The exhibition features his signature interlocking grids and geometric latticework, created using wet-on-wet brushstrokes locked in resin, alongside tempera paintings on glass that follow strict linear rules. By utilizing utilitarian titles and avoiding representational forms, Frize seeks to decenter his own subjectivity, allowing the physical act of painting and the resulting optical tension to lead the viewer’s experience.

Intuit Solo Show A Dream Come True For Self-Taught Morgan Park Artist Marvin Young

Self-taught artist Marvin Young, 64, who has an intellectual and developmental disability, will have his first solo exhibition, “Impressions of a City,” at the Intuit Art Museum in Chicago from April 9 to August 23, 2026. Curated by Christina Stavros, the show features Young’s vivid drawings of Chicago cityscapes, architecture, and portraits, created from memory using graphite, colored pencils, crayons, and markers. Young, who works at Envision Unlimited and Arts of Life—nonprofits supporting people with disabilities—has long dreamed of selling his art, and this exhibition marks a major milestone in that goal.

Venice exhibition of US artist Hernan Bas will tackle issue of mass tourism

American artist Hernan Bas is set to debut a major new series of over 30 paintings titled "The Visitors" at the Ca’ Pesaro International Gallery of Modern Art in Venice. The immersive installation, created in part during a residency in the city, satirizes the absurdity of global mass tourism, from iconic clichés like the Mona Lisa to "dark tourism" sites such as Chernobyl. The works depict a procession of North American and European youths performing for cameras and navigating tourist traps with a mix of naiveté and arrogance.

Border Crossings: Ten Scottish Masters of Modern Art

The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum presents 'Border Crossings: Ten Scottish Masters of Modern Art,' an exhibition running from 28 June 2025 to 14 June 2026. Curated by Janet McKenzie, the show highlights ten Scottish-born artists—including Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Eduardo Paolozzi, and William Turnbull—who left Scotland to train and build careers in London, Paris, and New York, contributing significantly to international modernism.