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Alex Matisse, the great-grandson of Henri Matisse and co-founder of the ceramics company East Fork, has launched a permanent collection in partnership with the estate of Henri Matisse. The collection features plates, platters, and mugs adorned with iconic motifs from the artist's work, including his "Nu Bleu" series, cut-outs like "Femmes et singes" (1954), and drawings such as "Le Platane" (1951). Alex Matisse, who deliberately avoided painting and drawing to forge his own path in clay, describes the project as a coming-full-circle moment that merges his family lineage with the craft that has defined his creative life.

Lebanon’s Art Scene Is Living in ‘War Mode’

On April 8, 2025, a wave of Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon killed 357 people and injured over 1,200, a day now known as 'Black Wednesday.' Amid the violence, Lebanese artist Abed Al Kadiri, who grew up during Lebanon's civil war and Israeli occupation, has been working with displaced children in shelters, using art to help them process trauma. He collects their drawings and plans to combine them with sketches by other artists reflecting their own war experiences, creating concertina-style books to be exhibited and sold to raise funds for over 1.1 million displaced people.

Venice Unveils Stunning New Art Spaces

During the Architecture Biennale preview in Venice, two major new art spaces opened: the Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation's new home in a historic palazzo on the San Barnaba canal, and SMAC (San Marco Art Centre), a contemporary art center on Saint Mark's Square designed by David Chipperfield. Additionally, Belgian artist Luc Tuymans accepted a last-minute commission from the Abbot of San Giorgio Maggiore to replace two Tintoretto paintings with his own large-scale works. The Fiorucci Foundation's palazzo, acquired in December 2024, opened May 10 with an exhibition by Georgian artist Tolia Astakhishvili, featuring works made from found materials and drawings on walls, alongside pieces by Thea Djordjadze and Maka Sanadze. SMAC, restored by Chipperfield, currently hosts two exhibitions: one on Australian modernist architect Harry Seidler and another on Korean landscape architect Jung Youngsun.

Kaari Upson “Dollhouse – A Retrospective” at Kunsthalle Mannheim

The Kunsthalle Mannheim is presenting "Dollhouse – A Retrospective," a major posthumous exhibition dedicated to the work of American artist Kaari Upson. The show brings together her sculptures, installations, videos, and drawings, which explore memory, identity, and social reality through the lens of her personal biography.

In Naples, an International Exhibition to Map Instability and Deactivate Borders

A Napoli una mostra internazionale per mappare l’instabilità e disattivare i confini

The exhibition "Atlante" at Thomas Dane Gallery in Naples, curated by James Lingwood, brings together works by eight international artists—Igshaan Adams, Teju Cole, Luigi Ghirri, Emma McNally, Claudio Parmiggiani, Anri Sala, Tatiana Trouvé, and Akram Zaatari—to challenge traditional cartographic representations. Through maps, drawings, textiles, and photographs, the show interrogates the ideological and political assumptions embedded in mapping, reframing the Mediterranean not as a border but as a connective space, and exposing the instability and power asymmetries underlying historical worldviews.

Frist Art Museum to Present ANILA QUAYYUM AGHA: INTERWOVEN Starting May 2026

The Frist Art Museum in Nashville has announced the upcoming exhibition "Anila Quayyum Agha: Interwoven," scheduled to run from May 22 through August 30, 2026. This career-spanning survey features two decades of the Pakistani American artist's work, including her signature immersive light installations, drawings, and sculptures. The exhibition highlights major pieces such as "All the Flowers Are for Me (Red)" and the poignant installation "A Flood of Tears (Gathering Storms)," which reflects on the catastrophic 2010 Pakistan floods.

Long Overlooked, Minnie Evans’s Mystical Landscapes Are Finally Getting the Spotlight

Minnie Evans (1892–1987), a self-taught African American artist who worked for 25 years as a ticket seller at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, North Carolina, is experiencing a major resurgence. Long overlooked after her death, Evans created thousands of vibrant, kaleidoscopic drawings featuring florals, animals, and abstraction, often on scrap paper using affordable materials. A touring exhibition, "The Visionary Art of Minnie Evans," is currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, curated by Colton Klein, and a larger exhibition opens this November at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta before traveling to the Whitney Museum of American Art in summer 2026. Evans had a 1975 retrospective at the Whitney during her lifetime but faded from prominence afterward.

Gwen John—the quiet ‘seer of strange beauties’—gets major show in Wales

The National Museum Cardiff is mounting a major survey exhibition of Gwen John (1876-1939), one of the most famous artists in its collection, titled "Gwen John: Strange Beauties." The show marks the 150th anniversary of John's birth in Wales and will be the most comprehensive exhibition of her work in decades, featuring major loans from institutions such as Tate and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It will travel to Scotland and the US, emphasizing John's interest in form, materials, and color theory, including late watercolours she never sold or exhibited. The exhibition draws on the museum's extensive archive of over 900 drawings, letters, and photographs acquired in 1976, and aims to shift focus from John's biographical narrative—her relationship with Auguste Rodin and reputation as a recluse—to her artistic dedication and technical innovations.

Frederic Church in Vermont

An exhibition titled "Frederic Church in Vermont" brings together over forty graphite drawings, oil sketches, and finished paintings by the American landscape painter Frederic Church, created during his visits to Vermont over thirty years. The works, drawn from public and private collections including Olana State Historic Site, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the Newark Museum of Art, trace Church's development from an aspiring student to a mature artist following the death of his mentor Thomas Cole in 1848.

Member Previews: Willem de Kooning Drawing (Thurs)

The Art Institute of Chicago is offering members exclusive preview access to "Willem de Kooning Drawing" from June 11–13, 2025, before it opens to the public. This is the first exhibition to comprehensively examine de Kooning's drawing practice, featuring works from across his career—from his earliest drawings to late calligraphic paintings—and marks the museum's first solo presentation of the artist since 1969.

From fossils to fine art: top sales at Frieze Masters London

Frieze Masters London opened with notable sales including a 68-million-year-old Triceratops skull priced at £650,000, sold by dealer David Aaron to a private collector. Other strong sales included small drawings by Alexandre-Louis Leloir from Charles Ede, priced between £150 and £10,500, with twenty sold on opening day. Berry Campbell sold four paintings by Janice Biala, priced $18,000 to $55,000, and Stephen Friedman Gallery sold five works by Anne Rothenstein to private collectors. Hauser & Wirth reported the only seven-figure deals, while a €7.5m Rubens painting remained unsold.

Negative Impressions and Positive Traces of ’20th Century Debris’.

Marc Brandenburg's solo exhibition '20th Century Debris' is on view at the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin until September 14, 2026. The show features approximately 150 works, including early drawings from the 1990s, recent pieces, video, photography, and tattoo editions, all exploring spectral cityscapes and the debris of contemporary life through a process of tonal reversal and inversion.

À Bordeaux, la métamorphose du MADD

The Musée des arts décoratifs et du design (MADD) in Bordeaux has reopened its design-focused wing after three years of renovation, featuring a new entrance pavilion designed by Antoine Dufour Architectes that connects the historic Hôtel de Lalande and the former municipal prison. The overhaul includes a monumental shelving display of eighty vases by designers such as Andrea Branzi and Gaetano Pesce, a new "gallery of know-how" dedicated to rotating thematic presentations (starting with ceramics), a graphic arts cabinet showcasing the Jacques Sargos collection of over 130 drawings, and improved climate control for conservation.

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Bucharest-based gallery Arsmonitor is presenting the second installment of a four-part curatorial program dedicated to Romanian artist Florin Mitroi (1938–2002). Titled "Florin Mitroi: Ch.II: Autumn," the exhibition is curated by Erwin Kessler and is anchored by the recent rediscovery of over 600 previously unseen works—files, notebooks, drawings, and pieces on wood and metal—that had been forgotten in storage for nearly two decades. The show frames these recovered materials as foundational, expanding the known oeuvre of an artist who exhibited only a small fraction of his production and later regretted even those works. The program, structured around the four seasons, includes chapters titled "Winter," "Autumn," "Summer" (planned for 2027), and "Spring," aligning with the season of Mitroi's death.

Demise of world's largest mangrove forest inspires Bangladeshi artist Soma Surovi Jannat's new works

Bangladeshi artist Soma Surovi Jannat has opened her first UK exhibition, 'Climate Culture Care,' at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The show features around 20 paintings and drawings created largely during a 2023 residency, drawing inspiration from the endangered Sundarbans mangrove forest and the museum's own collections. Her works fuse human, animal, and mythological imagery to depict the region's ecological and social struggles.

FAD News: Brooklyn Museum to Stage Art of Manga, the First Major Americas Survey of Manga as Fine Art

Brooklyn Museum will present 'Art of Manga' on October 3, 2026, the first large-scale exhibition in the Americas dedicated to manga as a fine art form. Organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the show features over 600 original hand-drawn manga artworks (genga) by influential Japanese artists including Araki Hirohiko, Oda Eiichiro, Takahashi Rumiko, and Tagame Gengoroh, spanning foundational figures to eight contemporary masters.

‘Art of Manga’ NYC exhibit to bring works of One Piece, Bleach, InuYasha and more

The first large-scale exhibition in America dedicated to manga as an art form, 'Art of Manga,' will debut on the East Coast at the Brooklyn Museum on October 3. Featuring over 600 original drawings from legendary creators such as Junji Itō, Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Hirohiko Araki (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), Rumiko Takahashi (InuYasha), and Tite Kubo (Bleach), the show traces manga's evolution from foundational artists like Chiba Tetsuya and Akatsuka Fujio to contemporary voices. The exhibition also highlights themes including coming of age, LGBTQ+ rights, and environmentalism, and originally opened at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Robert McLaughlin Gallery Opens New Summer Exhibits in Oshawa

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, Ontario, will launch its summer exhibition season on June 13, 2026, featuring five new displays. The season includes solo shows by artists Stephen Andrews, Oliver Husain, and Austin Henderson. Andrews presents 'The sum of the parts,' a display of 125 drawings examining media coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Husain offers an immersive video installation titled 'I ♥ Snail,' exploring the history of IMAX cinema. Henderson, the RBC emerging artist in residence, debuts works investigating queer history and the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Canada through his family history. A free public event with curator remarks, artist-led tours, and a complimentary shuttle from OCAD University in Toronto will mark the opening.

Martin Schongauer, at the Louvre the exhibition on the master of the late Middle Ages

The Louvre Museum is hosting a major retrospective dedicated to Martin Schongauer, a pivotal German artist of the late 15th century, running from April 8 to July 20, 2026. Titled "Martin Schongauer: Le bel immortel," the exhibition features approximately one hundred works, including his world-renowned engravings, rare paintings like the "Virgin in the Rose Garden," and intricate drawings. Curated by Pantxika Béguerie de Paepe and Hélène Grollemund, the show traces Schongauer’s evolution from a goldsmith’s son in Colmar to a master who bridged the gap between Gothic tradition and Renaissance innovation.

Rare 'Ponyo' Work From Studio Ghibli Donated To Academy Museum

Studio Ghibli has donated over 120 rare production artifacts to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, marking the first time the legendary animation studio has gifted such materials to an external institution. The donation includes original Japanese release posters, artboards, and key animation drawings from the 2008 film 'Ponyo,' which were revealed to be hand-drawn by Hayao Miyazaki himself. These items are currently featured in the museum's new interactive exhibition, 'Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo.'

Master Drawings New York marks 20th anniversary as both fair and market expand

Master Drawings New York (MDNY) marks its 20th edition this month, founded in 2006 by London dealers Crispian Riley-Smith and Margot Gordon and acquired in 2023 by dealer Christopher Bishop. The fair focuses on works on paper from the 15th century to today, also including painting, sculpture, and photography. This year features 36 dealers across two dozen Upper East Side gallery spaces, with ten new exhibitors from Europe, making it the most geographically diverse edition yet. Programming includes a highlights catalogue of 20 important works sold during previous editions that ended up in major collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Getty.

Intuit Art Museum Showcases Self-Taught Artists, Work About Migration in ‘Catalyst: Im/migration’

The Intuit Art Museum in Chicago has extended its exhibition “Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago” through March 22, 2026. Featuring nearly two dozen artists, the show highlights the creative contributions of migrants and immigrants alongside the rise of self-taught art in 20th-century Chicago. Among the works is Pooja Pittie’s interactive piece “What We Build to Belong,” a hand-knotted net-like structure where visitors can add notes, drawings, or string. The museum is hosting a free community day on Feb. 7, 2026. The exhibition includes artists from diverse backgrounds, such as the late Tae Kwon “Thomas” Kong, who made collages from packing materials at his convenience store, and Charles Warner, a carpenter who created wood-carved cathedral models. Three artists came to Chicago from the South as part of the Great Migration.

Work of late Wilmington artist sees surge of national attention with 2 touring exhibits

The work of late Wilmington artist Minnie Evans is featured in two separate national exhibitions. One show, "The Visionary Art of Minnie Evans," is currently at the Boston Museum of Fine Art after opening at The Gund museum at Kenyon College, while a larger exhibition, "The Lost World: The Art of Minnie Evans," will open at Atlanta's High Museum of Art in November 2025 before traveling to New York's Whitney Museum in summer 2026. Evans, a self-taught artist who worked at Wilmington's Airlie Gardens and died in 1987, gained initial recognition in the 1960s after being discovered by photographer and art historian Nina Howell Starr, but had not been the subject of a major national gallery show since the 1990s.

‘A really pivotal moment’: 6 neurodivergent artists highlighted in a sensory-dense, striking exhibition

An exhibition titled 'LOOK HERE' opens at Haverford College's Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, featuring six neurodivergent artists from Greater Philadelphia who are connected with the Center for Creative Works (CCW). Curated by Jennifer Gilbert alongside CCW artists Paige Donavan and Mary T. Bevlock, the show highlights diverse works including mixed-media sculptures by blind artist Cindy Gosselin, textured ceramics by Clyde Henry, marker drawings by Allen Yu, and contributions from Kelly Brown, Tim Quinn, and Brandon Spicer-Crawley. The gallery is designed for accessibility, with lowered paintings, sensory backpacks, braille booklets, ASL-embedded videos, and custom seating by artists.

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art Opens Nicolai Fechin: An Artistic Journey October 2025

The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma will open "Nicolai Fechin: An Artistic Journey" on October 3, 2025. The exhibition features over fifty drawings and paintings spanning the Russian artist's career, drawn from the museum's permanent collection, the Eugene B. Adkins Collection, and a private Oklahoma collection, with many works on public view for the first time. The show explores Fechin's travels from Russia to New York, New Mexico, and Southern California, highlighting how family, training, and cultural encounters shaped his vibrant portraits.

New York's Art on Paper fair draws a fuzzy line between its titular medium and everything else

The Art on Paper fair has returned to Pier 36 in Lower Manhattan for its 11th edition, featuring 81 exhibitors from around the world. The fair, organized by Art Market Productions (a division of a21), includes a VIP preview on September 4 and a full program of interactive events and workshops, including the return of Booksmart Fair in partnership with the Center for Book Arts. Standouts include Nina Katchadourian's plant-like sculptures at Pace Gallery, Mary Beth Edelson's Story Gathering Boxes at Accola Griefen Fine Art, and Nicolas V. Sanchez's hyperrealistic ballpoint pen sketchbook drawings. Some exhibitors push the boundaries of the paper medium by showing paintings, ceramics, and other non-paper items, prompting one visitor to ask, "Where's the paper stuff?"

The US’s largest Raphael exhibition is opening at the Met next year

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will present the largest-ever Raphael exhibition in the Americas next spring, titled "Raphael: Sublime Poetry" (29 March–28 June 2026). Curated by Carmen Bambach, the show brings together over 200 works—including paintings, drawings, decorative objects, and tapestries—spanning Raphael’s career from Urbino and Florence to Rome. Major loans include the Alba Madonna from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione from the Louvre; and works from the British Museum, Uffizi, Prado, and Vatican Museums. The exhibition is structured chronologically, with special focus on recent scientific analysis and Raphael’s depictions of women.

Art gallery exhibition of works by Alberto Rey through Nov. 21

An exhibition titled “ATLAS: Historical Works and Recent Journeys of Alberto Rey” is on view at the Marion Art Gallery through November 21. The show features 133 paintings, drawings, and ceramics by Alberto Rey, a SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus who taught at Fredonia from 1989 to 2022. The works were created during and after a five-month expedition to 14 countries and 22 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2024, alongside pivotal pieces from past series such as “Binary Forms,” “Extinct Birds,” and “Critically Endangered Palms of Cuba.” The exhibition also includes journal entries, sketchbooks, and art supplies from the voyage.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art to Present Largest-Ever Exhibition of Works by American Artist John Wilson

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present "Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson" this fall, the largest-ever exhibition of works by American artist John Wilson (1922–2015) and his first solo museum show in New York. Featuring over 100 artworks—including paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, and archival material—the exhibition draws from The Met, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and a dozen other lenders, with many works never before shown. Co-curated by Jennifer Farrell and Leslie King Hammond, the show spans Wilson's six-decade career, addressing themes of racial violence, labor, the Civil Rights Movement, and family life.

Emma Talbot – interview: ‘I imagine the experience of life as an epic story – the one we all have’

Emma Talbot presents her largest UK exhibition to date, *How We Learn to Love*, at Compton Verney, featuring over 20 new and recent works including silk paintings, fabric sculptures, animations, and drawings. The exhibition explores the human experience from birth to death, with recurring motifs such as a faceless female protagonist, references to Greek tragedy, and themes of grief and love. Talbot, who splits her time between London and Italy, also has concurrent solo shows at Copenhagen Contemporary and Centraal Museum Utrecht.