Vasari Art Codex

article news schedule Apr 16, 2026 visibility 57 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

Maurizio Cattelan Opens Up About Sin, Silence, and Stealing: ‘I’m Guilty Too’

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan directed the Renaissance Society’s annual benefit gala, titled "The Silent Party!", held at the Chicago Athletic Club during the week of Expo Chicago. The event subverted traditional gala expectations by requiring guests to remain silent for two hours, communicating only via handwritten notes while navigating a labyrinth of performances. The evening featured contributions from artists including Jacob Ryan Renolds, Davide Balula, and Isabelle Frances McGuire, culminating in a dinner that raised approximately $600,000 for the non-profit institution.

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trending_up market schedule Jan 21, 2026 visibility 16 link 17 artists, 4 galleries

fog fair san francisco komal shah 2600964

At the opening of San Francisco's FOG Design and Art fair, prominent collector Komal Shah navigated the crowded aisles, stopping to chat with a who's who of the Bay Area art scene, including FOG founder Stanlee Gatti, ICA San Francisco director Ali Gass, and SFMOMA director Christopher Bedford. Shah, known for her collection focused on women artists, was scouting works with a handwritten list, considering pieces by Ruth Asawa and Joan Brown, though she passed on a $425,000 Asawa sculpture. The fair's gala serves as a fundraiser for SFMOMA, and Shah's collection is currently on view at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in the exhibition "Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection."

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trending_up market schedule Jun 30, 2025 visibility 4 link 8 artists

ken griffin 13th amendment copy sothebys 1234746499

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.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 5, 2025 visibility 7 link 10 artists, 1 gallery

Wes Anderson Brings Joseph Cornell’s Eccentric Workshop to Life in Paris

Wes Anderson and curator Jasper Sharp are recreating Joseph Cornell's legendary studio at Gagosian in Paris next month. The exhibition will reconstruct the secretive basement workshop where Cornell created his iconic shadow-box assemblages, using surviving photographs, objects from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Joseph Cornell Study Center, and thousands of flea-market finds sourced across Paris and New York. The recreation includes Cornell's work table, unfinished shadow boxes, and even period-accurate details like his cleaning detergent and handwritten labels.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jan 30, 2026 visibility 13 link 9 artists

martial raysse profile galerie templon paris 1234771549

Martial Raysse, the 89-year-old, reclusive giant of postwar French art, has debuted a new exhibition of recent paintings and sculptures at Galerie Templon in Paris. The show features 30 works, selected from over 50, and marks his first collaboration with the gallery, initiated by a handwritten letter from founder Daniel Templon.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Apr 20, 2026 visibility 16 link 6 artists

Rare Books Stolen From Ex-MoMA President’s Home Recovered After Nearly 40 Years

Seventeen rare books, valued at over $2 million and stolen nearly 40 years ago from the Long Island estate of former Museum of Modern Art president John Hay Whitney, have been recovered and will be returned to his descendants. The trove includes a $2 million portfolio of handwritten letters from poet John Keats and first editions of works by James Joyce and Aleister Crowley.

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article news schedule Apr 1, 2026 visibility 21 link 1 artist

List of Failed Business Ideas Found Beneath Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch”

A recent conservation analysis of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" at the Rijksmuseum has revealed a surprising discovery beneath the painting's surface. Using macro X-ray fluorescence, researchers uncovered a handwritten list of alternative business ideas considered by the young Rembrandt, including face-painting at children's parties, an umbrella repair shop, and making luxury combs from fishbones.

newspaper Hyperallergic open_in_new Read original

person people schedule Apr 16, 2026 visibility 6 link 28 artists

literature hans ulrich obrist curator book

Hans Ulrich Obrist, the prolific Swiss curator and artistic director of Serpentine Galleries, discusses his lifelong passion for books in a new interview timed to the U.S. release of his memoir "Life in Progress." Obrist reveals his daily ritual of buying a book, which has amassed an archive of over 40,000 volumes housed at LUMA Arles, and shares current reading recommendations including Kenneth O. Stanley's "Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned." He also reflects on the serendipitous origins of his Instagram Post-it note project, inspired by philosopher Umberto Eco and artist-poet Etel Adnan.

newspaper Cultured open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Apr 19, 2026 visibility 23 link 2 artists

David Hockney | THE DOG SHOW (ca. 1990) | Available for Sale

An authorized David Hockney exhibition poster titled "THE DOG SHOW" (ca. 1990) has been made available for sale through MK Contemporary Ltd via the Artsy platform. The work is an offset lithograph measuring approximately 28 by 19 inches and features Hockney's signature aesthetic, including his distinct handwriting and playful use of shadows and light.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 6, 2025 visibility 10 link 15 artists

Film-maker Wes Anderson to recreate Joseph Cornell’s New York studio in Paris this Christmas

Filmmaker Wes Anderson is recreating Joseph Cornell's New York studio in a window display at Gagosian Gallery's Paris space on Rue de Castiglione, opening next month to coincide with Christmas and Cornell's birthday on December 24. The exhibition will feature around 12 of Cornell's iconic shadow boxes, including "Pharmacy" (1943) and works from his Medici series, alongside hundreds of found objects. Curated by Jasper Sharp, who has worked with Anderson for years, the display is designed as a non-interactive window installation that captures the spirit and atmosphere of Cornell's basement studio in Queens, rather than an exact replica. Anderson and Sharp have spent weeks studying photographs and first-hand accounts, sourcing objects from flea markets and employing Anderson's film crew to replicate Cornell's handwriting and aging techniques.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Nov 24, 2025 visibility 3 link 1 artist

cia kryptos sculpture code auction 2677451

An anonymous bidder has won the solution to the final unsolved puzzle of Kryptos, a famous encrypted sculpture at CIA headquarters in Virginia, for $962,500 in an online auction by R.R. Auction. The artist, Jim Sanborn, offered the handwritten code for the fourth message (K4) along with other unpublished items and a prototype, far exceeding the presale estimate of $300,000–$500,000. The sale came after the solution was accidentally leaked to journalists Jarett Kobek and Richard Byrne, who discovered the plaintext in Sanborn's papers at the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, though they have agreed not to release it.

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trending_up market schedule Apr 17, 2026 visibility 10 link 9 artists

Lost Bob Dylan Lyric Sheet Resurfaces After 60 Years—and Other Rare Finds Heating Up the Market

A rare, typewritten lyric sheet for Bob Dylan’s song “I’m Not There” has resurfaced after being hidden for nearly 60 years inside a first-edition book of poetry by Allen Ginsberg. The document, which was discovered by a book dealer handling the estate of Sally Grossman, is set to be auctioned by Omega Auctions with an estimate of £20,000–£40,000. Other high-profile collectibles hitting the block include Stephen Curry’s game-worn sneakers at Sotheby’s and a signed Albert Einstein etching.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Apr 2, 2026 visibility 7 link 4 artists

One of John Lennon’s Final Autographs Hits the Auction Block

A promotional poster for John Lennon and Yoko Ono's album 'Double Fantasy,' signed by Lennon on the morning of his murder on December 8, 1980, is being auctioned by Propstore in London. The lot, estimated between £60,000 and £120,000, includes the RKO Radio archives from Lennon's final interview.

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trending_up market schedule Feb 13, 2026 visibility 12 link 9 artists

collectibles digest january 2026 2738487

A rare cassette tape containing one of the earliest known recordings of rapper Tupac Shakur, made in 1988 at his friend Ge-ology's home, is being auctioned by the music collecting platform Wax Poetics with an estimate of $120,000–$150,000. The sale includes other personal artifacts like handwritten lyrics and photos from Tupac's pre-fame years in Baltimore, with bidding ending February 11.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Dec 18, 2025 visibility 9 link 5 artists

work of the week basquiat onion gum 2731165

Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1983 painting *Onion Gum*, priced at $21.5 million, was one of the most expensive works for sale at the 23rd edition of Art Basel Miami Beach. The large square canvas, featuring a white head and handwritten text, has a long market history: it sold for $7.36 million at Sotheby's in 2012 to hedge fund manager Daniel Sundheim, then failed to meet its estimate at auction in 2016, fetching $6.6 million. Since 2017, Van de Weghe Gallery has used the work as collateral for bank loans, showing it at multiple Art Basel fairs with prices rising from $16.5 million in 2018 to the current $21.5 million.

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article news schedule Dec 17, 2025 visibility 7 link 4 artists

lewis carroll rare alice in wonderland oxford 2731138

Lewis Carroll's personal copy of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' from the original 1865 run has been acquired by Oxford's Christ Church college and the Bodleian Libraries. The rare volume, donated by American philanthropist and bibliophile Ellen Michelson, contains the author's handwritten notes, sketched plans for a future nursery edition, and 10 original pencil sketches by John Tenniel used for the wood engravings. The book had never before been exhibited in the United Kingdom.

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article local schedule Apr 29, 2026 visibility 10 link 8 artists, 1 gallery

May First Friday 2026: 20+ events, exhibition openings in Lancaster city this Friday

Lancaster city's May First Friday 2026 features over 20 events, including exhibition openings, concerts, and performances. Highlights include a new exhibition 'Hybrids' by artist Jeremy Waak at Curio Gallery & Creative Supply, the Demuth Museum's 'Demuth Invitational: American Reflections' tied to the U.S. 250th anniversary, and the Lancaster Living Poetry Museum II with performers embodying poets at venues like the Lancaster Public Library and Lancaster Art Vault. Other offerings include salsa dancing at Binns Park, works by York County painters at The Framing Concept, and a show inspired by Yayoi Kusama at Friendship Heart Gallery + Market.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 3, 2025 visibility 3 link 2 artists

world war ii documents and artifacts auction 2652068

Boston's RR Auctions is offering a sale of over 170 World War II autographs and artifacts, live through June 11. Highlights include a German Enigma I Cipher Machine (estimated at over $200,000), a Navy ensign flag that flew on D-Day, and a letter of surrender signed by Reich President Karl Dönitz on May 6, 1945 (estimated at over $100,000). The sale also features handwritten drafts of radiotelegrams from Colonel General Alfred Jodl and a mimeograph copy of General Dwight D. Eisenhower's victory announcement, signed by him as a souvenir.

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trending_up market schedule May 22, 2025 visibility 3 link 2 artists

auction abraham lincoln memorabilia 2629104

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.

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article news schedule Sep 9, 2025 visibility 3

leon black leslie wexner jeffrey epstein birthday letters 1234751222

Documents from Jeffrey Epstein's estate, including a birthday book compiled for his 50th birthday by Ghislaine Maxwell, were released in full by the US House Oversight Committee. The book contains contributions from art collectors Leon Black and Leslie Wexner, as well as a lewd drawing by President Donald Trump. The release also includes Epstein's last will, his 2007 non-prosecution deal, and entries from his contact book. Black contributed a handwritten poem calling Epstein a "Dear Friend," while Wexner included a note with a drawing of breasts.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 1, 2026 visibility 3 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

Artist Kasper Eistrup Maps the Human Condition on Canvas

Danish artist Kasper Eistrup (b. 1973) presents his first solo exhibition in Germany, titled "Bridges Over Magma," at Galerie Schimming in Hamburg. The show features a new body of work created during a recent artist-in-residence program in Hamburg, where Eistrup drew inspiration from the city's famous bridges and his ongoing exploration of painting and drawing. The compositions blend meticulously rendered figures with architecture, flora, fauna, handwritten text, and abstract textures, exploring themes of human connection and resilience.

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article culture schedule May 9, 2025 visibility 3 link 4 artists, 2 galleries

The Berlin art legend who found his calling in sneaking into other artists’ shows

Patrick Jambon, a 58-year-old French performance artist living in Berlin, has spent the past 25 years attending gallery openings as a continuous performance piece he calls his 'gallery project.' Dressed in a bright red T-shirt, cartoonish metal-framed glasses, and carrying a yellow bike helmet, he visits dozens of galleries daily, compiling opening lists from websites and social media. His project has become so embedded in the city's art scene that his handwritten lists are now exhibited in spaces like Berlin-Weekly, and artists such as Ae Hee Lee note that 'you aren't a real Berlin artist if you don't know him.'

newspaper The Guardian open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Dec 18, 2025 visibility 3 link 1 artist

the beatles white album art installation lands in liverpool 79072

New York artist Rutherford Chang has brought his installation of over 1,000 copies of The Beatles' 'White Album' to FACT in Liverpool, the band's hometown. The piece, which took eight years to assemble, features copies of the album with handwritten notes, drawings, and other traces left by previous owners, and is on view for the first time in the UK. The exhibition, titled 'We Buy White Albums,' also invites the public to sell their copies to the artist.

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museum exhibitions schedule Apr 8, 2026 visibility 9 link 2 artists

Chiharu Shiota’s New Exhibition Invites Visitors Into a Cocoon of Red Thread

Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota has debuted her first Bay Area solo exhibition, "Two Home Countries," at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The show features Shiota’s signature immersive installations of red thread, most notably the 88-foot-long work "Diary," which suspends handwritten journal pages from World War II soldiers and postwar civilians within a dense crimson web. The exhibition also includes sculptures, video, and performance-based works that explore themes of memory, displacement, and the psychological state of living between cultures.

newspaper My Modern Met open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Sep 15, 2025 visibility 4 link 3 artists

Exhibition at Brown responds to University’s Haffenreffer Museum collection of Navajo objects

Diné (Navajo) artist Eric-Paul Riege has opened a new exhibition, “ojo|-|ólǫ́,” at Brown University’s David Winton Bell Gallery, on view through December 7. The show features large soft sculptures and weavings that engage with Diné mythology, Euro-American trading posts, and the concept of authenticity in Indigenous art. Riege also selected five objects from Brown’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, including a loom with an unfinished textile, which he recontextualized by separating the loom from the textile and adding handwritten notes. The exhibition is co-curated by Thea Quiray Tagle and Nina Bozicnik, and will travel to the Henry Art Gallery in 2026.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 23, 2025 visibility 1 link 2 artists, 1 gallery

dwr helle mardahl glass

Copenhagen-based designer Helle Mardahl has launched a new hand-blown glass collection for Design Within Reach (DWR). The collection includes barware, serving dishes, vases, and lamps in a palette of rhubarb, plum, coconut, and creamy melon, inspired by Scandinavian and American design traditions and Mardahl's heritage as the daughter of an architect.

newspaper Cultured open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 20, 2026 visibility 8 link 1 artist

New exhibition in Torre del Mar explores the art of calligraphy

Calligraphy artist Gema Martínez has opened a new solo exhibition titled 'Evocâre' at the tourist information office in Torre del Mar on Spain's Costa del Sol. The exhibition presents a series of works that use distorted, superimposed, and invented calligraphic signs to explore the mechanisms of memory, transforming personal recollections into visual, often illegible, writing.

newspaper Sur in English open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 7, 2025 visibility 2 link 1 gallery

design parties design within reach panel

CULTURED, Design Within Reach (DWR), and Flos co-hosted a salon-style panel discussion in DWR's Third Avenue showroom in New York, focused on the evolving role of lighting in modern interiors. Panelists included Barber Osgerby design studio co-founder Jay Osgerby, interior designer Clive Lonstein, DWR Senior Director of Merchandising Lizzy Sullivan, and moderator Sarah Harrelson, CULTURED's Editor-in-Chief. The event featured the new Flos Bellhop Lamp Collection and drew designers, collectors, and media figures such as Sarah Solis, Gray Davis, and photographer Frank Frances.

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article local schedule Mar 9, 2026 visibility 6

Is your local dairy in this exhibition?

Artist Harriet Millar is launching a site-specific exhibition featuring a series of paintings dedicated to Christchurch’s local dairies. In a creative turn, Millar has leased the abandoned Cranford St Dairy, which has been closed since 2021, to serve as both the gallery space and her future art studio. The collection includes oil and acrylic works depicting various neighborhood convenience stores, such as the Springfield Discounter and Clyde Road Dairy, captured with bold brushstrokes and geometric focus.

newspaper Otago Daily Times open_in_new Read original