Tefaf New York wishlist: a Tiffany window and an Egyptian goddess with a nose job

The article highlights three standout artworks being offered at Tefaf New York. A Tiffany Studios stained-glass window, "Birches and Irises" (around 1915), designed by Agnes Northrop, is priced at $1.25 million through Macklowe Gallery. An Egyptian goddess bust from 570-526 BC, rediscovered at a regional auction in England and later authenticated after scientific study, is offered for £1.5 million by David Aaron. A painting by Cecily Brown, "Functor Hideaway" (2008), is listed at $3.9 million by Berggruen Gallery, coinciding with her current exhibition at London's Serpentine Gallery.

Ten years on, Tefaf New York still stands out from the crowd

Tefaf New York returns to the Park Avenue Armory from 15 to 19 May, bringing together 88 exhibitors from 14 countries. The fair, which launched in 2016 as a two-part event and consolidated into a single annual edition in 2022, spans Greco-Roman antiquities, jewellery, 20th-century design, and contemporary art. This year’s edition includes nine new exhibitors such as David Lévy, Larkin Erdmann, Piano Nobile, Macklowe Gallery, and ML Fine Art, and sees the return of John Berggruen after a three-year absence. Fair leadership, including director Leanne Jagtiani and head of fairs Will Korner, emphasize the fair’s distinctive focus on Modern art, which they say differentiates it from other spring fairs in New York that are more heavily weighted toward contemporary work.

At the Centre Pompidou-Metz, 100 Works to Understand the Double Face of François Morellet

Au Centre Pompidou-Metz, 100 œuvres pour comprendre le double visage de François Morellet

The Centre Pompidou-Metz presents a centenary retrospective of French artist François Morellet (1926–2016), featuring 100 works that explore the dual nature of his practice. Curator Michel Gauthier has divided the exhibition into two mirrored halves—one dedicated to reason and geometric rigor ("the Mondrian side"), the other to disorder and irrationality ("the Picabia side")—reflecting Morellet's own description of himself as the "monstrous son of Mondrian and Picabia." The show traces his evolution from early figurative works and self-taught experiments to his embrace of concrete art, Islamic decorative systems, and systematic absurdity.

Michelle Blade Transforms Everyday California Scenes Into Luminous Reveries

Los Angeles-based painter Michelle Blade is presenting her first solo show with Night Gallery in Los Angeles, titled "It's About Time." The exhibition features a new body of work focused on still lifes and landscapes from around her home, captured at different hours of the day. Using acrylic and ink on cotton poplin with a wet-on-wet technique, Blade creates luminous, shimmering compositions that blend memory, perception, and projections of the future. The show follows her recent solo exhibition at the Powerlong Museum in Shanghai and her inclusion in the group show "Superbloom" at Night Gallery.

Authorship Dispute Erupts Over ‘Hair Dress’ at the Met’s Costume Institute

British artist Anouska Samms has publicly claimed that the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute exhibition "Costume Art" includes a dress, Corpus Nervina 0.0 (2023-24), that was based on her collaborative work with Israeli fashion designer Yoav Hadari. Samms alleges that she co-created the original "Hair Dress" with Hadari in 2023 while both were residents at the Sarabande Foundation, and that the Met initially sought to acquire that piece. After negotiations fell through, Hadari instead provided a similar garment attributed solely to him, prompting Samms to demand proper credit via Instagram posts and through her lawyer.

New Museum unveils Sarah Lucas's bawdy Bowery commission

The New Museum unveiled Sarah Lucas's sculpture "VENUS VICTORIA" (2026) on May 12 as the inaugural commission for its new public plaza on the Bowery in New York. The work features a pink-hued figure in yellow high heels straddling a giant cast-concrete washing machine, riffing on the classic reclining nude. Lucas's proposal was selected by an all-artist jury including Teresita Fernández, Joan Jonas, Julie Mehretu, Cindy Sherman, and Kiki Smith. The sculpture will remain on view for two years, after which another commission by a woman artist will take its place.

Was in den Museen läuft

Munich's art festival "Various Others" kicks off this week with major city museums participating. The Pinakothek der Moderne presents "Reflexion," a group show of 100 works across fine art, architecture, graphic design, and design by artists including Isa Genzken, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Piet Zwart, and Ettore Sottsass. The Alexander-Tutsek-Stiftung celebrates its 25th anniversary with a glass-focused exhibition featuring Monica Bonvicini, Tony Cragg, and Laure Prouvost. The Villa Stuck reopens after renovation with four shows: Philipp Messner's sculptures, Ilit Azoulay's macro-film installation, a returning Franz von Stuck painting, and Delschad Numan Khorschid and Jan-Hendrik Pelz's migration-themed "Zehn Leben." The Lenbachhaus presents "Ein Ferngespräch. Szenen aus der Weimarer Republik" with works by Jeanne Mammen, Gabriele Münter, and Christian Schad. Museum Brandhorst's "Carrying" addresses the history of the Maxvorstadt art district, once site of a military barracks built by Ottoman prisoners. The Eres Stiftung continues "Seeing the Unseen" on quantum physics. The Flux meeting space, designed by Morag Myerscough, moves indoors at the Pinakothek der Moderne.

Photographs of Victorine Meurent who posed for 'Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe' discovered by chance in Grenoble

Les photos de Victorine Meurent qui ont servi de modèle au « Déjeuner sur l’herbe » retrouvées par hasard à Grenoble

A chance discovery at the Musée de Grenoble has unearthed two previously unknown photographs of Victorine Meurent, the favorite model of Édouard Manet, taken by Gaudenzio Marconi in 1863. Art historian Laure Boyer, while researching a different subject, recognized Meurent in the images and realized they directly served as studies for Manet's iconic paintings *Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe* and *Olympia*. The photographs show Meurent in poses nearly identical to the figures in both works, with only the orientation reversed in one case and facial expressions swapped between the two paintings.

Playinghouse Presented the Téte-a-Téte Exhibition at MDW 2026

Playinghouse, an emergent New York art and design platform, presented the group exhibition "téte-a-téte" at two locations during Milan Design Week 2026: Villa Pestarini and Certosa District. Curated by Margherita Dosi Delfini, assistant curator at the Design Museum, the show featured site-responsive works by independent talents including Anna Dawson, Romain Basile Petrot, Caleb Engstrom, Liyang Zhang, Atelier Fomenta, Maha Alavi, and Francesco Rosati. The exhibition emphasized contextualized domestic settings over sterile white cubes, with pieces in eggshell, glass, rubber, and metals that responded to each venue's architectural history.

Frieze New York will Open With 68 Galleries from 26 Countries, and Other News.

Frieze New York will open on May 13, 2026, at The Shed with 68 galleries from 26 countries, marking its 15th edition. The fair emphasizes Central and South American galleries, supported by new committee members Fátima González and Omayra Alvarado, alongside blue-chip exhibitors like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, and Pace. In other news, Phillips set a watch auction record with its $96.3 million Geneva sale, the Met Gala generated $1.56 billion in media value, and ICFF announced a November 2027 edition. Tiffany & Co. and the CFDA launched a new jewelry design scholarship.

Multi-Museum Exhibition Spotlights Legacy of Betsy James Wyeth

A major multi-museum exhibition titled *By Design: The Worlds of Betsy James Wyeth* will open across three U.S. institutions in 2026, re-examining the life and legacy of Betsy James Wyeth. The collaborative project—organized by the Farnsworth Art Museum, Colby College Museum of Art, and Brandywine Museum of Art—is the first to fully explore her role as an innovative designer of immersive spaces and key creative collaborator to her husband, Andrew Wyeth. Each venue highlights a different aspect of her work: the Farnsworth focuses on her built environments in Maine; Colby examines Allen and Benner Islands with new commissions by contemporary artists; and Brandywine centers on Brinton’s Mill and the Wyeths’ creative partnership, drawing from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.

Flesh and Bones: The Exhibition Turning the Art of Anatomy Into a Cultural Conversation

The exhibition "Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy" at Singapore's ArtScience Museum explores the history of anatomical representation as a cultural construct rather than a universal scientific truth. It juxtaposes Western anatomical atlases from the Renaissance with Chinese meridian (jingluo) systems, featuring works by artist Chiharu Shiota and other historical pieces that reveal how different cultures have visualized the human body through both scientific and spiritual lenses.

WeWork (oralmoral)

The article reviews "WeWork (oralmoral)," a temporary exhibition at The Gallery in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, curated by artist-turned-curator Florian Meisenberg. The show transforms a former office space into a free-form, non-hierarchical environment where works by over a dozen artists are placed unpredictably—in trash bins, closets, ventilation shafts, and on whiteboards left by the previous tenant. Artists span three generations, from Post-Minimal figures like B. Wurtz and David Humphrey to younger digital-savvy artists such as Lucas Blalock and Anna K.E., whose sound piece "Tamada" greets visitors. The exhibition runs from April 10 to May 18, 2026.

Maine art galleries showcase dozens of artists in summer shows

A roundup of summer art exhibitions across Maine highlights dozens of artists showing at galleries and pop-up spaces from Rockport to Portland. Notable shows include Alexandre Gallery's pop-up featuring charcoal works by the late Cooper Union-trained artist Emily Nelligan, who spent decades depicting Cranberry Island; Karma's annual summer pop-up at artist Ann Craven's deconsecrated church in Thomaston; and solo exhibitions at Caldbeck Gallery, Courthouse Gallery, and Cove Street Arts. Other venues such as Carver Hill Gallery, Corey Daniels Gallery, Dowling Walsh, and Moss Galleries present group and solo shows spanning landscape painting, mythical imagery, and works addressing social resistance.

A Rare Presentation of Leonora Carrington’s Surrealist Sculptures Have Landed in New York

A new exhibition at New York's L'Espace Gallery, titled "Shape of Dreams," presents a rare collection of Leonora Carrington's surrealist bronze sculptures, intricate jewelry, and an interactive tarot booth. Carrington, best known as a painter and novelist, created these sculptures late in life, often with the help of her sons, as her eyesight and arthritis made painting difficult. The show highlights works like "The Palmist" (2011) and other hybrid, mythological figures that extend her imaginative universe into three dimensions.

Keeping It Simple

On Valentine's Day, the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art in Manhattan, Kansas, opened the inaugural "Kansas Triennial 25/26" exhibition, featuring works by four Kansas-based visual artists: Mona Cliff, Mark Cowardin, Poppy DeltaDawn, and Ann Resnick. The museum engaged young visitors by handing out paper hearts and inviting them to place their heart in front of the artwork they loved best, creating a reflective and participatory experience.

‘It takes an entire museum to do it justice’: the Smithsonian celebrates America in 250 objects

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington DC is marking the 250th anniversary of US independence with a major exhibition titled "In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness," opening on 14 May. The show displays 250 objects spanning all three floors of the museum, ranging from a Revolutionary War-era gunboat (the Philadelphia) to a Donald Trump "Make America great again" hat. Seventy-six rarely seen objects are concentrated in entry hall cases, while the rest are embedded throughout existing galleries, connected by a "ribbon" design. Director Anthea Hartig frames the exhibition as a commemoration of moments where individuals and communities fought for recognition and identity, pairing each object with an action verb to emphasize democracy as participatory.

Tiny art gallery attracts miniature art in downtown Hammond

A tiny art gallery in downtown Hammond is drawing attention by showcasing miniature artworks, attracting both local artists and visitors. The gallery, which operates on a small scale, has become a hub for tiny art pieces, including paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media works, all created to fit the compact space. The initiative aims to make art accessible and engaging in a unique, intimate setting.

Dataland AI museum unveils olfactory art experience

Dataland, the world's first museum of AI arts, has partnered with L'Oréal Luxe to create an olfactory art experience for its inaugural exhibition, *Machine Dreams: Rainforest*. Co-founded by Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkılıç, the museum opens on 20 June in downtown Los Angeles. L'Oréal Luxe has developed 12 unique 'olfactive imprints' that will be diffused through smart devices, responding to artworks and visitor presence. The scents, including 'Scent of Rain' and 'Scent of Data', are drawn from Anadol's Large Nature Model, an open-source AI system based on data from 16 rainforests worldwide. The exhibition runs through 31 January 2027.

A giugno 2026 a Pietrasanta apre il Museo Igor Mitoraj. Opere dell’artista ma anche mostre

The article announces the opening of the Museo Igor Mitoraj in Pietrasanta, Italy, scheduled for June 6, 2026, after several years of delays. The museum is the first space entirely dedicated to the Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj, who died in 2014 and was known for transforming Tuscan marble into works blending classical forms with fragmented, contemporary themes. Designed by OBR, Politecnica, and Studio Lumine, the museum results from collaboration between the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Pietrasanta, and the artist's heirs, united in the Fondazione Museo Igor Mitoraj. Frank Boehm, director of the foundation, envisions the space as a research-oriented center that will engage with different artistic languages and contemporary issues, not limited to Mitoraj's work alone.

Mafalda meets Pimpa. In Rome, the dialogue between two authentic comic icons: interview with the curators

Mafalda incontra Pimpa. A Roma il dialogo tra due autentiche icone del fumetto: intervista ai curatori

A new exhibition in Rome titled "Mafalda & La Pimpa" brings together two iconic comic strip characters for the first time. Created by Quino (1964) and Altan (1975) respectively, Mafalda and Pimpa represent different approaches to childhood: Mafalda critically questions adult society, while Pimpa explores a gentle, wonder-filled world. The show runs from May 14 to July 11 at the Instituto Cervantes, featuring over 120 original strips and plates, and is organized in collaboration with ARF! Festival and other partners. Curators Stefano Piccoli and Daniele Bonomo designed the exhibition to highlight both the contrasts and surprising analogies between the two beloved figures.

Artistree Gallery hosts Unbound Vol. XIV exhibition

Artistree Gallery in South Pomfret, Vermont, is hosting "Unbound Vol. XIV," an annual exhibition of book art coinciding with the Bookstock literary festival. The show features works by artists including Andre Lee Bassuet, Carole McNamee, Larry Clifford, and Dorsey Hogg, who transform discarded books into sculptures, quilts, and wearable pieces. Notable works include Bassuet's "A Thin Veil," a shawl made from pages of Soviet writer Ilia Ehrenburg's collected works, and "Women in the Field," a cyanotype cloak honoring pioneering women naturalists.

Turtle Wing Foundation celebrates 15 years with “Jack’s Art Gallery” exhibition opening

The Turtle Wing Foundation is celebrating its 15th anniversary with the opening of “Jack’s Art Gallery” exhibition on May 16 at 10 a.m. The event, which also honors Jack’s birthday, features a self-guided tour of artwork, stories, and milestones that highlight the foundation’s impact on individuals with learning challenges.