Queer eyes in focus, sculpture hits pay dirt and Whistler’s world – the week in art

This week's art roundup from The Guardian highlights a major exhibition of James McNeill Whistler at Tate Britain, showcasing the American artist's impact on Victorian Britain with avant-garde influences from Paris and Japan. Other notable exhibitions include "Gender Stories" at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, featuring works by David Hockney and Grayson Perry; Delcy Morelos's earthy sculptures at the Barbican Centre; and Henry Moore's sculptures at Kew Gardens. The article also covers news of a Nazi-looted portrait found in the home of a Dutch SS leader's family, protests at the Venice Biennale over Israel's inclusion, and the unveiling of Zineb Sedira's film installation at Tate Britain.

Sheila Hicks en 2 minutes

Sheila Hicks, the American textile artist born in 1934, is profiled in a concise overview of her career. The article traces her journey from studying under Josef Albers at Yale and learning weaving from Andean artisans in Chile, to establishing her studio in Mexico and later Paris. It highlights her monumental commissions for hotels, embassies, and public spaces, as well as her intimate "Minimes" works. Key milestones include her 2014 piece "Pillar of Inquiry/Supple Column" at the Whitney Biennial, her 2017 installation at the Venice Biennale, and a major retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in 2018.

Why Is Beeple So Successful?

The article examines the meteoric rise of artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, who broke auction records in 2021 by selling an NFT for $69.3 million at Christie's, becoming the third most expensive living artist. His robot dogs, featuring heads of figures like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, debuted at Art Basel Miami Beach and are now on view at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie during Gallery Weekend. The show, titled "Regular Animals," has sparked controversy, with critics like Markus Lüpertz denouncing the works as trivial entertainment unworthy of a museum, while curators Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev and Lisa Botti defend the exhibition.

The legendary film "Novecento" by Bertolucci in his Parma becomes a major exhibition

Il mitico film “Novecento” di Bertolucci nella sua Parma diventa una grande mostra

A major exhibition titled "Bernardo Bertolucci. Il Novecento" has opened at the Palazzo del Governatore in Parma, Italy, marking the 50th anniversary of Bertolucci's epic film "Novecento" (1976). The show is structured as a visual experience across 25 rooms and four sections, exploring the film's dialectic between collective history and intimate gaze. It features video, drawings, photographs, production materials, and artworks by artists such as Franco Angeli, Renato Guttuso, Taner Ceylan, and Mario Schifano, all drawn from private collections. The exhibition's first room sets the tone with a video juxtaposing the film's opening credits over Pellizza da Volpedo's painting "Il Quarto Stato" and a close-up of the young Olmo holding a frog, encapsulating the tension between political epic and sensory detail.

A Pavilion of Ruins: Germany Reconsiders Its Past in Venice

The German Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale features a dual presentation exploring the country's layered political history. Artist Sung Tieu has cloaked the pavilion's fascist-era facade with a mosaic reconstruction of a GDR housing estate for Vietnamese contract workers, where she lived as a child. Inside, the late Henrike Naumann's immersive installation 'The Home Front' uses furniture and design to stage a confrontation between East and West German domestic and political ideologies. Naumann died in February 2025 at age 41, but her fully realized concept was completed collaboratively by her partner and curator Kathleen Reinhardt.

BASE cultural center in Milan turns 10: the full program for the big celebrations

Il centro culturale BASE di Milano compie 10 anni: tutto il programma per i grandi festeggiamenti

BASE, the cultural center in Milan's former Ansaldo industrial complex, celebrates its 10th anniversary on May 23, 2025, with a 16-hour event called FIESTAS. The program runs from noon to 5 a.m. and includes performances, workshops, concerts, installations, and shared practices by artists such as MOMBAO, Stalker Teatro, Klaus, Francesca Grilli, Nazario Graziano, Michele Rizzo, and many others. The event also launches BASE's first summer season, keeping the center open throughout the summer months.