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American artist Llyn Foulkes has died at age 91, as confirmed by Kent Fine Art. Known for defying stylistic categorization, Foulkes was an early pioneer of Pop art, showing at Fergus Gallery in the mid-1960s ahead of Andy Warhol. He won the painting prize at the Paris Biennale in 1967 and represented the United States at the IX São Paulo Art Biennial that same year. His work incorporated collaged elements and explored themes of photography, Americana, and commercial pop culture. Foulkes was also a jazz musician, performing with R. Crumb and forming the Rubber Band, which appeared on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. He invented a one-man-band instrument called the Machine and participated in Documenta 13 in 2012, with a retrospective at the Hammer Museum in 2013.

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Billionaire hedge fund founder Kenneth C. Griffin has been revealed as the buyer of President Abraham Lincoln's handwritten copy of the 13th Amendment, which sold at Sotheby's for $13.7 million including buyer's premium. The document, one of only four privately held copies, was part of Sotheby's "Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana" sale. Griffin also acquired a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation for $4.4 million. The auction house announced the winner on Monday, noting that Griffin secured the amendment by phone after competitive bidding.

Pedro Friedeberg, key figure in Mexican art renowned for hand-shaped chair, has died at age 90

Pedro Friedeberg, the Mexico-based artist and designer famed for his iconic Mano Silla (Hand Chair) created in 1962, has died at age 90. A key figure in 20th-century Mexican art, his singular work blended intricate, fantastical architecture with ornament and irony, creating a unique visual universe that defied easy categorization within movements like Surrealism or geometric abstraction.

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Billionaire collector William I. Koch is set to auction his extensive collection of Western American art at Christie’s New York in January. Titled "Visions of the West," the sale features 76 lots with a combined low estimate of $50 million, potentially doubling the current auction record for the genre. Highlighting the event is Frederic Remington’s 'Coming to the Call', which carries an estimate of $6 million to $8 million and could set a new individual record for the artist.

10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This March

Los Angeles enters the month of March with a diverse array of exhibitions following the intensity of its major art fair week. Highlights include Hayv Kahraman’s mystical paintings at Vielmetter, which process the trauma of displacement and environmental loss, and a survey of the late muralist Noni Olabisi at Loyola Marymount University’s Laband Art Gallery. Other notable shows feature Jesse Wiedel’s expressionistic Americana at Serious Topics and Lauren Quin’s formalist abstractions at Pace Los Angeles.

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Christie’s will auction an 1804 oil portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, estimated at $500,000 to $1 million, during its “We the People: America at 250” sale in early 2025. The painting was commissioned by President James Madison and served as a model for the engraving on the one-dollar bill. It was recently deaccessioned by Clarkson University, a technical school in upstate New York, which decided to sell the work to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the United States, with proceeds supporting the university’s educational mission.

Why Was Sarah Miriam Peale, Pioneering Member of America’s First Art Dynasty, Left Behind?

Sarah Miriam Peale, a member of the prominent Peale art dynasty and arguably the first professional woman artist in the United States, is finally receiving long-overdue institutional recognition. Despite a prolific sixty-year career painting portraits of political figures and still lifes in Baltimore and St. Louis, her legacy was largely overshadowed by her uncle Charles Willson Peale and her male cousins. Her independence as an unmarried woman who supported herself entirely through her craft marked a radical departure from the gender norms of the 19th century.

Pedro Friedeberg, Surrealist Artist Known for Hand-Chair, Dies at 90

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Pedro Friedeberg, the prolific artist and designer central to Mexico’s Surrealist-aligned circles, has died at age 90 in San Miguel de Allende. Born in Italy and having fled to Mexico to escape fascism, Friedeberg became a singular figure in Latin American art, known for his architectural paintings and whimsical, absurdist sculptures. His death was confirmed by his New York representative, Ruiz-Healy Art.

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Three paintings by Bob Ross sold for up to thirteen times their high estimates at a Bonhams Skinner auction, raising $1.3 million for American Public Television. The top lot, 'Change of Seasons' (1990), painted live on his TV show, fetched $787,900, setting a new high for Ross at a traditional auction house.

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Christie’s announced a single-owner sale titled “Visions of the West” featuring artworks from the collection of billionaire Bill Koch, to be held over two sessions on January 20 and January 21. The sale includes dozens of works by artists who depicted the American West and frontier, such as Frederic Remington, Charles Marion Russell, and Albert Bierstadt, with highlights including Remington’s painting *Coming to the Call* (estimated $6–$8 million) and Russell’s *The Sun Worshippers* ($4–$6 million). Koch, 85, is the lesser-known of the four Koch brothers and an avid art collector, who also recently sold part of his wine collection through Christie’s.

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Vanity Fair has commissioned and will publish an abstract nude portrait of journalist Olivia Nuzzi, titled "How to Disappear," by artist Isabelle Brourman, in its Dec. 2 Hollywood Issue. The painting, which depicts Nuzzi nude with Americana symbols swirling around her, was created after the two met during Donald Trump's criminal trial and will also be exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach as part of Jeffery Deitch's presentation "The Great American Nude."

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The Raab Collection has listed a rare, enigmatic manuscript fragment by George Washington for $10,000, featuring the unique phrase "Fathers of the Senate!" The snippet was likely excised from a larger document in the 19th century by biographer Jared Sparks to satisfy autograph seekers. This sale joins a wave of high-value Americana hitting the market, including Jack Kerouac’s original 'On the Road' scroll at Christie's and a collection of vintage film posters at Propstore.

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A trio of Bob Ross paintings sold for over $1 million at Bonhams' “Americana” auction on January 27, 2026, with proceeds benefiting American Public Television (APT). The top lot, *Change of Seasons* (1990), fetched $787,900—more than 13 times its high estimate—followed by *Babbling Brook* (1993) at $279,900 and *Valley View* (1990) at $203,700. The sale follows APT's record-breaking November auction and is part of a series of 24 Ross paintings to be offered throughout the year.

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Bob Dylan's latest exhibition, "Point Blank," opens on May 9 at London's Halcyon Gallery, featuring nearly 100 original paintings on paper. The works, which began as sketches and were later worked over with color, depict intimate portraits, couples, nudes, and mid-century Americana scenes, reflecting Dylan's ongoing development as a visual artist. The gallery has represented Dylan for nearly 18 years and notes a shift in public perception toward his art.

‘The way the world is, something daft is appealing’ – why everything from pizzas to podcasts has a cartoon character on it

A distinctive cartoon illustration style, rooted in 1920s 'rubber hose' animation and influenced by graffiti, vintage Americana, and underground comics, has become ubiquitous in contemporary branding. This aesthetic, characterized by exaggerated, jointless limbs and friendly faces, now adorns everything from independent pizza shops like London's Yard Sale Pizza to wine labels for Top Cuvee, podcasts, and even global fashion collaborations.

Summer Previews: The Season’s Most Anticipated Shows

Artforum's editors preview twenty-five anticipated institutional exhibitions opening worldwide between May and August. Highlights include "Fade" at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the latest in its career-making "F show" series featuring seventeen emerging artists of African descent; "Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte" at the Jewish Museum in New York, showcasing over 180 women designers from Austria's famed atelier; "Replica of a Chip: The Weaving Technology of Marilou Schultz" at the Hessel Museum of Art, exploring the intersection of Navajo weaving and microchip history; the 59th Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art, with 61 artists spread across Pittsburgh venues; and "Mary Ellen Carroll: How to Talk Dirty and Influence People" at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Philadelphia museums are pooling resources — and telling bigger stories together

Philadelphia’s major art institutions are entering an unprecedented era of collaboration, launching a series of joint exhibitions that pool resources and collections. The centerpiece of this movement is “Bodies and Souls,” a dual-site exhibition hosted by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and the Woodmere Art Museum featuring the contemporary art collection of Robert and Frances Coulborn Kohler. Other notable partnerships include a three-museum retrospective of sculptor Syd Carpenter and an upcoming 18-gallery initiative titled “Radical Americana” led by the Clay Studio.

Exhibitions Coming to West Texas & the Panhandle in Spring 2026

Art museums and institutions across West Texas and the Panhandle have announced their spring 2026 exhibition seasons. Highlights include the LHUCA Review (formerly the LHUCA Members' Show) and Laura Veles Drey's installation "Passerby: Americana" at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts in Lubbock; "A Texas Legacy: Gifts from the Bill and Mary Cheek Collection" and the San Angelo North American Ceramic Competition featuring Marc Leuthold at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts; and three exhibitions at the Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at UTEP in El Paso, including "The Edge is a Center" showcasing graphic design from the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, "Les Sembrantes" by artists from La Semilla Food Center's fellowship, and Cynthia Gutierrez-Krapp's solo show "Strangers In Our Own Land."

In pictures: meet the ghosts of the US’s East Coast

Photographer Anastasia Samoylova presents her latest exhibition and photobook, "Atlantic Coast," at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach. The project documents a road trip along the old US Route 1 on the East Coast, inspired by Berenice Abbott's 1954 journey. Through her lens, Samoylova captures a country in transition, juxtaposing decaying Americana with modern structures and political commentary, including images of a statue of John C. Calhoun being removed after the George Floyd protests and the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge. She draws parallels between her work and Paul Thomas Anderson's film "One Battle After Another," both centering on road trips and shared anxieties.

From PBS to Priceless: Bob Ross Paintings Smash Auction Records

Bob Ross paintings shattered auction records at Bonhams New York's American Art Online auction (July 28–August 7, 2025). Two mountain landscapes by the beloved "The Joy of Painting" host sold for $95,750 and $114,800, with the latter more than doubling its high presale estimate. The previous record of $69,300 had been set just weeks earlier at Eldred's auction house for a painting originally purchased for $250 at a PBS auction in the 1980s.

Exhibition | Nick DOYLE, 'Collective Hallucinations' at Perrotin, New York, United States

Perrotin gallery in New York presents 'Collective Hallcinations', an exhibition of new works by Brooklyn-based artist Nick Doyle. The show features wall-mounted denim collages and an immersive installation of a psychic parlor, including Doyle's first use of artificial intelligence. The works explore the fraught relationship between land and technology, progress and destruction, using denim as a material that evokes Americana, capitalism, and masculinity. The centerpiece, 'Mirror, Mirror', is a denim-clad structure housing an AI avatar named Ava, who offers sardonic commentary on the American dream and the digital frontier.

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Three paintings by Bob Ross, the beloved host of PBS's *The Joy of Painting*, will be auctioned at Bonhams on January 27 as part of a 30-work consignment benefiting American Public Television (APT). The works—*Valley View* (1990), *Change of Seasons* (1990), and *Babbling Brook* (1993)—carry combined estimates up to $155,000. Previous Ross sales through Bonhams have been strong, including a November auction that brought $662,000 for three works and a separate sale exceeding $1 million organized by comedian John Oliver.

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Christie's auction "We the People: America at 250" on January 23, 2026, achieved $35.5 million in total sales, doubling its presale estimate. The top lot was a draft of the U.S. Constitution annotated by founding father Rufus King, which sold for $7.3 million. Other highlights included a signed Emancipation Proclamation ($6.7 million), a 1776 Declaration of Independence copy ($5.6 million), and the Apple Computer Company Partnership Agreement from 1976, signed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, which fetched $2.5 million. A Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington (ca. 1804) realized $2.8 million, setting a new auction record for the Athenaeum type.

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Christie’s is launching its largest-ever Americana Week in January, featuring a George Washington portrait by Gilbert Stuart that inspired the dollar bill. The painting, commissioned by James Madison, is expected to fetch between $500,000 and $1 million. The auction includes 700 lots across nine sales, with highlights such as a signed Emancipation Proclamation and the contract that created Apple. The portrait, a Vaughn-type from 1795, was consigned by Clarkson University and has a provenance tracing back to Madison, confirmed by a 19th-century catalog and a note from Madison’s secretary.

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A collection of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia, including personal possessions, autograph letters, and campaign artifacts, was auctioned by Freeman’s | Hindman in Chicago on May 22. The sale, held on behalf of the Lincoln Presidential Foundation, featured around 140 lots and exceeded expectations, totaling nearly $7.9 million. The top lot was a pair of blood-stained white kid gloves Lincoln wore the night of his assassination, which sold for $1.5 million. Other highlights included a cuff button bearing the initial 'L' that fetched $445,000 and a handwritten math exercise from Lincoln’s youth that sold for $521,200.

Director's Notes with Andrew Nadkarni | Trey Abdella's Miserable Dream

Director’s Notes with Andrew Nadkarni | Trey Abdella’s Miserable Dream

Director Andrew Nadkarni created a short film about artist Trey Abdella, titled "Trey Abdella's Miserable Dream." The film uses the metaphor of a Coney Island roller coaster to explore Abdella's artistic process, moving between his studio and the amusement park to show how he transforms personal memories and Americana into art.

The Clay Studio organizes "Radical Americana" exhibitions across Philadelphia

The Clay Studio has organized "Radical Americana," a sprawling exhibition series featuring 45 artists across 22 sites in the Philadelphia area. Curated by Jennifer Zwilling, the project includes a central "welcome hub" at The Clay Studio and 25 satellite exhibitions at venues such as the Museum for Art in Wood, Cliveden, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Artists were prompted to reflect on the Declaration of Independence and envision a better future, resulting in works that explore feminism, social justice, and LGBTQ rights through media including ceramics, wood, fiber, metal, glass, paper, and bookmaking. Notable participant Roberto Lugo presents "American Crib: What's Happening?" at The Clay Studio, blending Puerto Rican heritage with historical references.

A Landmark Benjamin Franklin Collection Is Hitting the Auction Block

A landmark collection of Benjamin Franklin memorabilia assembled by sports and entertainment mogul Jay Snider is heading to Sotheby’s New York on June 24. The collection includes over 150 items—books, broadsides, letters, and manuscripts—tracing Franklin’s career from printer to scientist to diplomat. Highlights include a 1758 letter to Joseph Galloway (estimated $70,000–$100,000), a 1778 letter from George Washington introducing the Marquis de Lafayette (which sold for over $1 million in January), and a bound volume of Franklin’s electrical experiments ($75,000–$125,000). The full catalogue is valued at $3 million to $4.5 million, and 40 artifacts will be displayed at the Library Company of Philadelphia from May 5 to 7.

Semiprecious Stones Coat Kathleen Ryan’s Oversized Sculptures of Rotting Food

Artist Kathleen Ryan creates large-scale sculptures of rotting fruit and food items, meticulously covering them with thousands of semiprecious stones and beads to mimic the textures and colors of mold and decay. Works like "Bad Lemon (Slice of Paradise)" and "Screwdriver" juxtapose luxurious materials like amethyst, turquoise, and serpentine with salvaged metal from vintage cars, creating a dual personality of hidden beauty and grotesque rot.

High school students to showcase 'Revolutionary Art' at Attleboro Arts Museum

Thirteen high schools from Massachusetts and Rhode Island are preparing installation artworks for the Attleboro Arts Museum's annual High Art exhibition, which runs May 12–18, 2026, under the theme 'Revolutionary Art.' Students from schools including Dedham High School, Hope High School in Providence, and Seekonk High School are creating pieces such as 'Americana' and 'Re-revolution,' with guidance from art instructors like Bridget O'Leary, Delsin Jean-Louis, and Elizabeth Machado-Cook.