Are We Too Reverent of Marcel Duchamp?

The Museum of Modern Art has launched a major retrospective of Marcel Duchamp, co-organized with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The exhibition tracks the artist's evolution from his early Cubist experiments and the scandal of 'Nude Descending a Staircase' to his radical invention of the readymade, exemplified by the infamous urinal, 'Fountain'. The show presents a comprehensive look at 'The Duch' through a reverential, church-like atmosphere, concluding with his later years as a dapper, enigmatic figure of the avant-garde.

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The article reflects on the final 2025 edition of the Museum Artists list, which tracks the most exhibited artists in U.S. museums each quarter. The author notes that the top artists—such as Marie Watt, Jeffrey Gibson, and Rose B. Simpson—have remained consistent throughout the year, with a narrow band of stars appearing in many shows while a long tail of artists have limited visibility. Below the top 15, notable names include Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu, and Jean Shin, with a cluster of older white female artists like Petah Coyne and Joyce Kozloff also gaining recognition.

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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.

An Audacious $724 Million Building Reinvents LACMA

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has unveiled the David Geffen Galleries, a $724 million architectural feat designed by Peter Zumthor. This massive, horizontal structure spans over Wilshire Boulevard, replacing several older buildings with a single, elevated concrete form. The new space abandons traditional chronological and geographical silos in favor of rotating, thematic displays that integrate the museum’s diverse encyclopedic collections.

The Met is Finally Treating Lee Krasner as Pollock’s Equal—Will the Market Follow?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced a major upcoming exhibition titled "Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous," which aims to present Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock as artistic equals. While the museum's narrative seeks to reframe Krasner as a formidable figure of the New York School on her own terms, the art market continues to reflect a significant valuation gap. Pollock’s auction record stands at over $61 million, while Krasner’s peak public sale remains just under $12 million, highlighting the persistent commercial struggle for female Abstract Expressionists.

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Artist Nick Cave and his partner Bob Faust have transformed an abandoned Chicago textile factory into a vast live-work-gallery complex called Facility. The space houses their apartment, studios for themselves and ten assistants, and a street-facing gallery for emerging artists. Cave is preparing for a major exhibition, "Mammoth," at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, while also working on large-scale public commissions, including a sculpture for Princeton University Art Museum and a collaborative installation for the Obama Presidential Center.

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On December 7, two armed thieves stole eight prints by Henri Matisse and at least five engravings by Brazilian modernist painter Cândido Portinari from the Mário de Andrade Library in São Paulo. The works were part of the exhibition “From Book to Museum,” organized in collaboration with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art, which was scheduled to close that day. Police have arrested one suspect, and some artworks were reportedly abandoned nearby.

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Olney Gleason, a new gallery founded by former Kasmin senior staff Nick Olney and Eric Gleason, will exclusively represent the estates of Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner through the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. The gallery succeeds Kasmin, which had represented Pollock since 2024 and Krasner since 2017, and opened earlier this year after founder Paul Kasmin died in 2020. Olney and Gleason previously organized multiple Krasner exhibitions at Kasmin and supported major museum shows, including a 2019 Krasner retrospective at London's Barbican Centre and a 2024 Pollock exhibition at the Picasso Museum in Paris.

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At 92 years old, Puerto Rican artist Carmen De Monteflores has emerged as a breakout star of the 2026 Whitney Biennial. Her inclusion in the prestigious exhibition was facilitated by her daughter, renowned performance artist Andrea Fraser, who urged curators to view her mother's vibrant, shaped canvases that had been sitting in storage for decades. De Monteflores, who studied at the Art Students League and the École de Beaux-Arts, abandoned her painting career in 1969 due to the lack of opportunities for women, eventually becoming a psychologist and novelist.

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Ki Smith Gallery in New York is hosting "50 years of PUNK," an exhibition honoring the seminal punk magazine that launched in 1975. Running through January 11, the show features ephemera, new artworks, and issues 24 and 25 of the magazine, which famously covered bands like the Ramones and Lou Reed. The exhibition opened on November 28, marking 50 years since PUNK interviewed Reed and the Ramones at CBGB's. Co-curated by gallery founder Ki Smith and PUNK co-founder John Holmstrom, the show celebrates the magazine's DIY spirit and its role in shaping punk culture.

Marica Vilcek, Art Historian Whose Foundation Upheld the Work of Immigrants, Dies at 89

Marica Vilcek, art historian and co-founder of the Vilcek Foundation, has died at 89 in New York. She and her husband Jan, both immigrants from Czechoslovakia, established the foundation in 2000 to provide grants and prizes, primarily to immigrant artists, curators, and scientists, celebrating their contributions to American society.

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Google commissioned Judy Chicago to create a major public artwork for the renovation of Chicago's historic Thompson Center, involving a terrazzo floor and a 17-story glass elevator shaft. The artist and her husband, Donald Woodman, began design work in anticipation of a 2027 completion date.

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A new TV series titled "The Artist" on The Network offers a chaotic, irreverent take on art history, centering on a widow (Janet McTeer) who may have murdered her robber-baron husband. The show features historical figures like Edgar Degas and Thomas Edison, blending campy soap-opera drama with accurate art-historical references, including real artworks by Monet, Manet, Cassatt, and Degas. The final episodes air December 25 on a free ad-sponsored platform created by director Aram Rappaport.

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Ralph Lemon has been awarded the 2025 ARTnews Lifetime Achievement Award for his multidisciplinary practice spanning dance, drawing, painting, installation, sculpture, and writing. The article highlights his career trajectory from founding the Ralph Lemon Dance Company to disbanding it in 1995 to focus on broader artistic collaborations. Central to his work is the Geography Trilogy (1996–2004) and his long-term collaboration with Walter Carter, a former Mississippi sharecropper, whose life and family became a recurring subject. Lemon's recent exhibition "Ceremonies Out of the Air: Ralph Lemon" at MoMA PS1 (November 14, 2024–March 24, 2025), curated by Connie Butler and Thomas Lax, featured videos, found African sculptures, drawings, and a four-channel performance piece, Rant (redux), with Kevin Beasley and Okwui Okpokwasili.

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Adam Levine, director and CEO of the Toledo Museum of Art, has transformed the Ohio institution into a model for digital adaptation. Over five years, he grew the operating budget from $15 million to $23 million, expanded the endowment by $90 million, and launched TMA Labs, an in-house consultancy focused on data, Web3, AI, and emerging technologies. The museum has acquired digital artworks including NFTs and digital numismatics, established a digital artist-in-residence program, and opened the exhibition "Infinite Images," which traces the history of computer and digital art. Levine, one of the youngest museum directors in the U.S. at 38, discussed these initiatives in an interview with ARTnews.

Radiohead Hits the Road With a Haunting Immersive Installation

Radiohead has announced a North American tour for "Motion Picture House," a massive 17,000-square-foot immersive audiovisual installation. The project features a 75-minute film titled Kid A Mnesia, directed by Sean Evans, which incorporates art created by frontman Thom Yorke and longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood. Launching at the Coachella festival before traveling to cities like Brooklyn and Mexico City, the experience combines surround-sound studio recordings with physical galleries displaying the original source art from the band's seminal turn-of-the-century albums.

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A wave of exhibitions and projects is celebrating the 90th anniversary of the births of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the late husband-and-wife duo known for monumental environmental installations. Their nephew Vladimir Yavachev, who directs their foundation, is overseeing the realization of their final permanent work, *The Mastaba* in Abu Dhabi, while temporary works like *The Gates* in Central Park are being revived through augmented reality. The anniversary also marks 30 years since *Wrapped Reichstag* and 20 years since *The Gates*.

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Yoshiko Mori, the founding chairperson of Tokyo's Mori Art Museum, died on December 23 from pneumonia at age 85. Alongside her husband, real estate developer Minoru Mori, she opened the museum in 2003, which has since become one of Japan's premier contemporary art institutions. Mori served as chairperson from 2003 to 2024, then as chairperson emerita until her death. She also founded the Mori Contemporary Art Foundation in 2025 and held numerous international board positions, including trustee at the Royal Academy of Arts and member of the International Council at MoMA and Tate.

‘Designed to disorient’: LA art museum unveils enormous concrete gallery, 20 years in the making

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has unveiled the David Geffen Galleries, a $724 million concrete structure designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. Spanning Wilshire Boulevard, the building features 110,000 square feet of elevated gallery space characterized by curving walls and massive windows. The project marks the culmination of a nearly 20-year revitalization effort led by director Michael Govan, replacing several older buildings with a single, fluid architectural statement.

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Komal Shah, a prominent art collector, announced the renaming of her Shah Garg Foundation to the Making Their Mark Foundation, coinciding with a three-day forum in Washington, D.C., scheduled for March 2025. The foundation takes its name from the traveling exhibition "Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection," curated by Cecilia Alemani, which highlights women artists from Shah and her husband Gaurav Garg's collection. The forum, held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, will feature panels, keynotes, and performances organized around themes like Visionary Voices and Changemakers, with Alemani as curatorial director and Loring Randolph as director.

On Curating Carnage

On Curating Carnage

The Berlin-based art journal *OnCurating* published a September 2025 issue titled "Let’s Talk About… Anti-Democratic, Anti-Queer, Misogynist, Antisemitic, Right-Wing Spaces and Their Counter-Movements." The article critiques this publication, arguing it uses the language of feminism, anti-racism, and anti-Semitism as a political tool to unconditionally support Israel and demonize the Palestinian cause, thereby aligning with German state policy and a specific strain of leftist thought known as Antideutsch.

These Are the Exhibitions to See During Frieze Los Angeles 2026

Frieze Los Angeles 2026 has sparked a city-wide surge of artistic activity, characterized by large-scale artist-led group shows and the creative reclamation of non-traditional spaces. Key highlights include the transformation of a massive abandoned 99 Cents Only store into a chaotic exhibition featuring over 120 artists, a sprawling video art installation across six floors of a historic vaudeville theater, and major collection surveys focusing on influential women and artists of color.

Josh Kline Misses the Mark

Critic Aruna D’Souza responds to a viral essay by artist Josh Kline regarding the extreme financial pressures of living and working in New York City. While Kline suggests that artists should abandon the city due to the affordability crisis, D’Souza argues that leaving is not a viable long-term solution and calls for a more proactive approach to systemic change within the urban art ecosystem.

50 Women Artists You Absolutely Should Know

50 artistes femmes que vous devriez absolument connaître

Beaux Arts Magazine is publishing a multi-part series throughout March highlighting 50 historically significant but often overlooked women artists. The series profiles figures like Impressionist painter Marie Bracquemond, whose career was curtailed by her husband, pioneering Spanish photographer Mey Rahola, and Brazilian modernist Tarsila do Amaral, who will be the subject of a major exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg in 2024.

David Geffen Settles Divorce With David Armstrong After Bitter Legal Fight

Billionaire art collector and entertainment mogul David Geffen has reached a private settlement with his estranged husband, David Armstrong, ending a contentious legal battle. The divorce proceedings gained significant public attention due to the absence of a prenuptial agreement and serious allegations of exploitation and psychological manipulation leveled by Armstrong. While the financial terms remain confidential, the settlement concludes months of litigation over spousal support and asset division following their two-year marriage.

‘It’s not much but, at the same time, it’s very much’: the enduring impact of Sade’s style

The article discusses the enduring style of Sade Adu, frontwoman of the British group Sade, following the band's announcement of their induction into the 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It highlights how Adu's signature look—scraped-back hair, red lipstick, hoop earrings, and simple black dresses or denim—has become iconic and influential, with her outfits featured in exhibitions like V&A East's 'The Music is Black' and referenced by celebrities such as Drake. The piece traces the origins of her style to her fashion design studies at Saint Martin's School of Art and her early work with designer Fiona Dealey.

Lorna Simpson’s David Adjaye–Designed Brooklyn Home and Studio Remains On the Market—At a Much-Reduced Price

Artist Lorna Simpson has significantly reduced the asking price for her Brooklyn home and studio, located at 208 Vanderbilt Avenue in Fort Greene. Originally listed for $6.5 million in August 2025, the 3,300-square-foot townhouse is now priced at $5 million following months on the market. The property, which features a double-height great room and floor-to-ceiling windows, was custom-built in 2006 for Simpson and her then-husband, artist James Casebere.

Christine Ruiz-Picasso, Founder of Museo Picasso Málaga and Artist’s Daughter-in-Law, Dies at 97

Christine Ruiz-Picasso, the daughter-in-law of Pablo Picasso and a pivotal figure in preserving his artistic legacy, has passed away at the age of 97 in Provence, France. Married to Picasso’s eldest son, Paul, she became a primary advocate for the artist's work following her husband's death in 1975. Her most significant achievement was the 2003 founding of the Museo Picasso Málaga, realized through her donation of over 200 artworks and her persistent collaboration with the Andalusian government.

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Jonas Wood has unveiled a new series of paintings at Gagosian in Beverly Hills that transforms global tennis courts into geometric abstractions. Derived from years of photographing tournament broadcasts and Nintendo games, the works strip away players and equipment to focus on the flat bands of color, white lines, and nets that define the sport's architecture. The collection represents a systematic exploration of the ATP and WTA tours, utilizing the tennis court as a formal vehicle for color theory and composition.

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Iris Cantor, the prolific art collector and philanthropist whose patronage transformed major American institutions, has died at the age of 95 in Palm Beach, Florida. Alongside her late husband, B. Gerald Cantor, she amassed one of the world's most significant private collections of Auguste Rodin sculptures, eventually donating hundreds of works to museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum. Her death marks the end of an era for a donor whose name is synonymous with some of the most prominent gallery spaces and wings in the United States.