Vasari Art Codex

article news schedule Nov 24, 2025 link 5 artists

sasha suda philadelphia art museum 2711154

Sasha Suda, the former director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, has filed a lawsuit against the institution less than a week after her abrupt firing. The legal complaint alleges breaches of contract, bad faith, unfair treatment, and abuse. Suda, who served for three years, is seeking two years' severance and damages, represented by high-profile art world attorney Luke Nikas of Quinn Emanuel. Her ouster came shortly after the museum unveiled a controversial rebranding, changing its name from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the acronym PhAM and introducing an unpopular griffin logo. The museum has stated the lawsuit is without merit. Louis Marchesano, deputy director of curatorial affairs and conservation, is currently serving as interim leader.

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article news schedule Nov 22, 2025 link 1 artist

philadelphia art museum accuses ex director sasha suda theft 1234763125

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has accused its former director and CEO, Sasha Suda, of misappropriating funds and lying to cover up theft, according to a motion to compel arbitration filed by the museum. The motion denies Suda's claims of wrongful termination and alleges that she awarded herself unauthorized salary increases after the Compensation Committee denied her requests. Suda had filed a civil suit earlier this month alleging wrongful termination, unfair treatment, and abuse. Her lawyer, Luke Nikas, called the museum's allegations false and part of a pattern of misconduct.

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article news schedule Nov 22, 2025 link 1 artist

This Washington Museum Sold Some of Its Art. But at What Cost?

The New York Times reports that a Washington museum has sold off some of its art collection, raising questions about the financial and ethical costs of such a decision. The article details the sale, likely involving deaccessioned works, and explores the motivations behind it, such as funding operational expenses or new acquisitions.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 21, 2025 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

‘This is how art history is built’: unprecedented Mumbai exhibition unites works of Indian and Arab Modernism

A new exhibition titled 'Resonant Histories' has opened at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) museum, running until 16 February 2026. It is the first show to focus on the relationship between Indian and Arab Modernism, featuring over 40 works lent by the Sharjah-based Barjeel Art Foundation alongside pieces from Mumbai's Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation (JNAF). The exhibition highlights visual and thematic resonances between artists from both regions, such as Syrian painter Marwan Kassab-Bachi and Indian master Francis Newton Souza, and addresses shared post-colonial struggles through works by artists like Chittaprosad Bhattacharya, Krishen Khanna, Abdul Qader Al Rais, and Naim Ismail. It also explores direct cultural exchanges, for example Egyptian artist Nazek Hamdi's adaptation of Bengali folk-art.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025

christies paris suspends sale pascaline calculating machine 1234762433

Christie’s Paris suspended the sale of a rare Pascaline calculating machine, one of only nine surviving examples built by 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal, after a court-ordered export ban prevented it from leaving France. The device, expected to fetch between $2.3 million and $3.5 million, was part of an auction of the collection of late manuscript collector Léon Parcé. French scientists and researchers argued the calculator is a national treasure, prompting the ban despite an export certificate issued in May.

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gavel restitution schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 1 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

pascaline early arithmetic machine christies sale 2687208

Christie’s has halted the sale of a rare 17th-century Pascaline arithmetic machine, originally scheduled for auction on November 19, after the Administrative Tribunal of Paris suspended its export license. The machine, invented by Blaise Pascal and estimated at €2–3 million, was pulled from sale at the consignor’s request following pressure from French cultural campaigners who argue it should be classified as a National Treasure to prevent its departure from France.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 19, 2025 link 5 artists, 1 gallery

In his own words: Antwerp museum uses AI to recreate Magritte's voice

The DEK Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) has used artificial intelligence to recreate the voice of Surrealist artist René Magritte for its exhibition "Magritte. La ligne de vie." The AI voice reads a 1938 lecture Magritte gave at the museum—the only known text of him discussing his work—which was never recorded but survived as slides and a transcript transcribed by fellow Surrealist Marcel Mariën. The exhibition, on view until February 2026, features over 100 works and is structured around key themes from that lecture, culminating in a room where visitors hear Magritte's reconstructed voice in French with English and Dutch subtitles.

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article local schedule Nov 18, 2025

mutter museum expansion philadelphia 1234762184

Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum is expanding into the adjacent Swedenborgian Church and Parish House, with construction set to begin in early 2026. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, which oversees the museum, purchased the property for $9.3 million in 2023 and has raised $27 million to create a unified campus. The expansion will add new rotating galleries, a larger museum store, and multi-purpose educational spaces, allowing the museum to display more of its nearly 500,000 objects currently in storage.

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article local schedule Nov 18, 2025

mutter museum expansion philadelphia 1234762184

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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gavel restitution schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 1 link 4 artists

california attorney general nazi looted picasso madrid 1234762075

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has re-entered a decades-long legal battle over a Camille Pissarro painting, *Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain* (1897), which was sold under duress by Lilly Cassirer Neubauer to a Nazi appraiser in 1939 for 900 Reichsmarks. The painting is now held by the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. The case, originally filed in 2000 by Neubauer's son Claude Cassirer, has been continued by his heir David Cassirer, Ava's estate, and the United Jewish Federation of San Diego County. A new California law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in September allows exceptions for property taken due to political persecution, and Bonta is now defending the state's authority to compel the return of stolen art to victims connected to California.

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gavel restitution schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 1 link 4 artists

california attorney general nazi looted picasso madrid 1234762075

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has re-entered the long-running legal battle over a Camille Pissarro painting, *Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain* (1897), which was sold under duress by Lilly Cassirer Neubauer to a Nazi appraiser in 1939 for 900 Reichsmarks. The painting is now held by the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, and the Cassirer family has sought its return for decades. A new California law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in September allows exceptions for property taken as a result of political persecution, and Bonta is now defending the state's authority to compel the return of stolen art to victims connected to California.

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article news schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 1 link 11 artists, 3 galleries

the phillips collection to sell major works vatican returns 62 artifacts to indigenous peoples six works that could predict the market morning links for november 17 2025 1234761996

The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, plans to auction major works by Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, and Georges Seurat at Sotheby's New York on November 20, sparking controversy. Director Jonathan Binstock says proceeds will support commissions from living artists, new acquisitions, and care of the permanent collection, but longtime supporters and museum members oppose the sale. A last-minute agreement allows the sale to proceed while imposing tighter limits on future deaccessioning. Separately, the Vatican has returned 62 artifacts from its Anima Mundi ethnographic collection to Indigenous peoples in Canada, marking a significant step in the Catholic Church's efforts to confront its historical role in suppressing Indigenous cultures. The artifacts, including an Inuit kayak, will be delivered to Indigenous communities via the Canadian Museum of History.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 18, 2025 source 3 sources visibility 1 link 20 artists, 3 galleries

In major auction night, rare Klimt painting smashes records at $236.4 million

Sotheby's held its first sale at its new US headquarters in New York, where Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" sold for $236.4 million, becoming the most valuable work of modern art ever sold at auction and the most expensive artwork ever sold by Sotheby's globally. The record-breaking 20-minute bidding war also saw strong results for works by Edvard Munch ($35.1 million) and a Klimt landscape ($86 million), while the evening's total reached $706 million. However, two top lots by Kerry James Marshall and Barkley L. Hendricks failed to sell, and Maurizio Cattelan's gold toilet "America" drew only a single bid from Ripley's Believe It or Not! for $12.1 million.

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article culture schedule Nov 17, 2025 link 20 artists, 2 galleries

kevin mcgarry reviews jason faragos even 300996

Jason Farago, a Guardian contributor, launched a new print journal called *Even* during Frieze New York. Named after a phrase from Marcel Duchamp's *The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even*, the magazine is designed as a compact, text-focused publication that aims to counter the market-driven and superficial aspects of the contemporary art world. The first issue features a lengthy essay on artist Joan Jonas by Elisabeth Lebovici, timed with Jonas's U.S. pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, and a piece by Zachary Woolfe on the Björk exhibition at MoMA.

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article news schedule Nov 17, 2025

christoph buechel art mosque iceland pavilion venice biennale shut down 301246

Authorities in Venice have shut down the working mosque installed by Swiss artist Christoph Büchel in the city center as part of his presentation for the Icelandic Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale. The closure followed an evaluation by a public safety committee, citing overcrowding at Friday prayers that exceeded the legal limit of 90 people, as well as concerns about the building's location near a pedestrian bridge and the difficulty of providing security amid terrorist threats. The mosque, housed in the former Catholic church of Santa Maria dell’Abbazia della Misericordia, had been open for barely two weeks before the City Council of Venice withdrew authorization.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 17, 2025 link 5 artists

liebermann resituted gurlitt auction 301243

Max Liebermann's painting *Two Riders on a Beach* (1901) has been restituted to the Rosenburg family from the Cornelius Gurlitt hoard and will be auctioned at Sotheby's London on June 24, with an estimate of up to £500,000 ($850,000). The work is one of the first two paintings returned from the trove of over 1,200 artworks seized from Gurlitt's Munich apartment in 2012; the other, Henri Matisse's *Woman with a Fan* (1932), was also returned to the Rosenburg family the previous week.

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article local schedule Nov 17, 2025 link 5 artists, 2 galleries

elizabeth street garden eric adams zohran mamdani 1234761926

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has permanently designated the Elizabeth Street Garden in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood as public parkland, a move that blocks his successor, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, from building affordable housing on the site. The one-acre art garden, managed by executive director Joseph Reiver since 1991, was previously slated for demolition under Adams to make way for housing, but he abandoned that plan in June after record public outcry and support from celebrities like Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, and Patti Smith. Mamdani, who campaigned on resurrecting affordable housing for older adults at the location, now needs state legislature approval to develop the land.

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article local schedule Nov 17, 2025 link 5 artists, 2 galleries

elizabeth street garden eric adams zohran mamdani 1234761926

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has permanently designated the Elizabeth Street Garden in Manhattan's Nolita neighborhood as public parkland, blocking plans for affordable housing on the site. The move comes just weeks before Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani takes office, who had campaigned on building affordable housing for older adults on the lot. The garden, a one-acre green space managed by executive director Joseph Reiver since 1991, had previously faced eviction under Adams before he abandoned the housing project in June. Mamdani now needs state legislature approval to pursue any development on the land.

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article news schedule Nov 17, 2025 link 2 artists

reindeer hunting facility found in melted ice norway 2713876

Melting ice in Norway has revealed a 1,500-year-old reindeer hunting facility, preserved beneath centuries of snow and ice. Archaeologists from the University Museum of Bergen and Vestland County uncovered wooden mass-capture fences, marked antlers, iron spearheads, arrow shafts, wooden spears, a crafted antler brooch, and a mysterious decorated pine oar at the site on the mountain plateau of Aurlandsfjellet. The trap, composed of hundreds of tree branches stacked into two fences, was likely used around the middle of the 6th century at the start of a cold period, when year-round snow and ice made it unusable yet ideal for preservation.

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article news schedule Nov 15, 2025 link 1 artist, 3 galleries

hauser wirth charged by uk authorities for breaching criminal sanctions 1234761572

UK tax authority HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has charged mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth with breaching criminal sanctions by allegedly making a luxury artwork available to a person connected with Russia. The case involves a 2021 work-on-paper by George Condo titled *Escape from Humanity*, sold by the gallery between April and December 2022, after the UK banned luxury goods exports to Russia-linked individuals in April 2022. The gallery, along with shipping company Artay Rauchwerger Solomons, faces charges under the sanctions law, which was enacted following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Hauser & Wirth has stated it strongly contests the charge and intends to plead not guilty.

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article policy schedule Nov 14, 2025

university of leicester trans inclusive museum guideline updates 1234761758

The University of Leicester has updated its guidance on trans-inclusivity for museums and galleries, despite facing litigation threats from the campaign group Freedom in the Arts (FITA). The 44-page document, originally published two years ago by the university’s Research Center for Museums and Galleries (RCMG), offers a framework for creating inclusive public spaces and workplaces, addressing legal and ethical questions about trans inclusion. FITA sent two letters threatening legal action, arguing the guidance is “misleading” and “unlawful,” particularly objecting to bathroom etiquette that states trans visitors should use the bathroom they feel most comfortable using. The university is reviewing the latest correspondence and declined further comment.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 1 link 3 artists, 2 galleries

Jacksonville-born Whitney Oldenburg with exhibition at hometown museum

The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (MOCA) will open "Whitney Oldenburg: left behind" on November 20, 2025, the first institutional survey of the artist's paintings and drawings. The exhibition features 23 sculptures and 19 drawings exploring the complex relationship between humans and objects in contemporary culture, and will remain on view through April 19, 2026. Oldenburg, a Jacksonville-born artist now based in New York, incorporates repurposed consumer items, personal belongings, and craft materials into her work, which challenges viewers to question their attachments to material possessions.

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article news schedule Nov 11, 2025 link 2 artists

sasha suda investigated philadelphia art museum lawsuit 1234760847

Sasha Suda, former director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, has filed a lawsuit against the institution after being dismissed last week. The suit alleges that board members accused her of misusing museum funds for personal gain, which she claims was part of a "sham" investigation. Reports indicate the investigation examined her salary—just under $729,000 in 2023, among the highest for museum leaders—and expenses that had already been cleared. Suda also alleges the "final straw" was a disagreement over board chair Ellen Caplan's attempt to bring lobbyist Melissa Heller onto the board, which Suda opposed. She says she was fired without valid basis while leading an event for international museum leaders.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 10, 2025

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Launches New Immersive Virtual Reality and Online Feature with Iconic Works from Its Collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has launched a new immersive virtual reality and online feature that showcases iconic works from its collection. This digital initiative allows users to explore selected artworks in a virtual environment, enhancing accessibility and engagement with the museum's holdings.

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