The New York art scene was bustling with events this week. The New York Botanical Garden held its annual Orchid Dinner at the Plaza Hotel, featuring elaborate floral designs and guests like Martha Stewart and Sigourney Weaver. Meanwhile, Sotheby's hosted the Art for Water benefit auction for the Waterkeeper Alliance, with works by Jeff Koons and Ed Ruscha, and the New Museum celebrated the opening of a major Raymond Pettibon exhibition.
This week's art industry moves include François Ghebaly now representing Paris-based painter Xie Lei, a finalist for the 2025 Prix Marcel Duchamp, whose work is on view at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris. Gray gallery in Chicago and New York has taken on pioneering abstractionist Candida Alvarez, with a solo exhibition planned for Fall 2027, while she continues to be represented by Monique Meloche Gallery. The Seattle Art Museum elected five new trustees: Joanna Beitel, Martha Draves, Margaret Morris, Jordon Voss, and returning former trustee Lyn Grinstein. The Khadhok—Tibetan Artists' Collective won the 2025 Rubin Museum Himalayan Art Prize, a $30,000 unrestricted award. Additionally, Canadian collector François Odermatt paid $19 million for Peter Doig's 1994 painting *Ski Jacket* at Christie's London, far exceeding its presale estimate.
Marian Goodman Gallery has taken on representation of artist Edith Dekyndt, whose multidisciplinary practice spans video, sculpture, installation, and performance, with plans to debut her work at Art Basel Paris in October. In other industry moves, Salon 94 now represents Raven Halfmoon, Timothy Taylor Gallery represents Martha Tuttle, Templon adds Martial Raysse, Acquavella Galleries represents Harumi Klossowska de Rola, and Gagosian has hired Aaron Baldinger as a director. Additionally, Jennie Goldstein has been named the inaugural Kippy Stroud Curator at the Whitney Museum, and Sotheby's will sell a tranche of artworks from the collection of the late Leonard Lauder, including Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, estimated at over $150 million.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla made a surprise visit to Christie’s headquarters in New York on April 29, 2026, following a White House dinner and address to Congress. They attended a gala for the King’s Trust, a charity supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, rather than bidding on auction lots like a $100 million Jackson Pollock or a $60 million Roy Lichtenstein. The event, co-chaired by Lionel Richie, drew guests including Martha Stewart and Anna Wintour, and featured a dinner in the James Christie Room. Christie’s CEO Bonnie Brennan curtsied to the king, and the royals viewed the new rostrum designed by Jony Ive, set to debut in New York during Christie’s May marquee week.
Thaddaeus Ropac has announced global representation of the Martha Diamond Trust in collaboration with David Kordansky Gallery. The late New York painter, who passed away in 2023, is known for her expressive, gestural cityscapes of Manhattan that balance abstraction and figuration. The partnership aims to elevate Diamond’s international profile, beginning with her first European museum survey at the Sara Hildén Art Museum in Finland in 2026, followed by a solo exhibition at Ropac’s Paris gallery in 2027.
Art critic Martha Schwendener has released a new book titled 'The Society of the Screen: Vilém Flusser’s Radical Prescience,' exploring the prophetic theories of the late philosopher Vilém Flusser. Flusser, a Prague-born thinker who lived in Brazil and Europe, argued in the 1980s that society was transitioning from a text-based culture to one dominated by 'technical images,' a shift he believed would fundamentally alter human consciousness and the function of the 'apparatus' in daily life.
Shanghai's West Bund Art & Design fair and Art021 opened last week with unexpectedly strong sales, despite economic headwinds and regional competition. Many galleries reported brisk first-day sales, with Thaddaeus Ropac placing five works including a Martha Jungwirth painting for €500,000, and Hauser & Worth selling two works for over $1 million. However, major blue-chip galleries like Gagosian and Pace opted out entirely, while others like Almine Rech, White Cube, and David Zwirner scaled back their participation. The fairs took place against a backdrop of China's ongoing property slump and the overlapping Art Collaboration Kyoto, which siphoned attention from international collectors.
Phillips’s Frieze Week evening sale in London totaled £10.33 million ($13.88 million) across 22 lots, a 32% decline from last year’s £15.1 million on 31 lots. The sale was 82% sold by lot and 84% by value. Highlights included a new world auction record for Emma McIntyre, whose painting *Seven Types of Ambiguity* (2021) sold for £167,700, and strong results for Martha Jungwirth and Flora Yukhnovich. However, major lots by Banksy, Andy Warhol, and Jean-Michel Basquiat underperformed or failed to sell, and four lots went unsold, including works by Andreas Gursky and Sigmar Polke.
During the pandemic, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., used advanced imaging techniques to analyze four paintings attributed to Johannes Vermeer. Beneath the surface of *Girl with the Red Hat* (ca. 1669), conservators discovered an underpainting of a man in a wide-brimmed hat and tasseled collar, dated to 1650–55. Initially thought to be by an unidentified artist, further study suggests the underpainting may be Vermeer’s own work, making it his earliest known painting and his only known male portrait. However, specialists caution that the theory has not been proven or denied, and the hidden portrait could alternatively be by Carel Fabritius, with Vermeer painting over it.
The Martha Graham Dance Company, the oldest professional dance troupe in the United States, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a worldwide centennial tour. The company is marking the milestone by performing Graham's classic works, like the 1946 ballet *Cave of the Heart*, alongside newer commissions that continue her innovative legacy.
The Friends Fair in Austin has announced its second edition, scheduled for May 7–9, 2026, at the Loren Hotel Austin. Following a successful debut that drew over 2,000 visitors, the boutique fair is expanding its roster from 10 to 17 exhibitors, occupying an entire floor of the hotel. The lineup features a mix of returning local staples like Martha’s and McLennon Pen Co. alongside new additions from major art hubs including Los Angeles, Miami, and New York, plus non-commercial presentations by Co-Lab Projects and UT Austin MFA students.
Mary Boone, the influential New York art dealer, has reemerged in the art world five years after her release from prison. She collaborated with Lévy Gorvy Dayan on the exhibition “Downtown/Uptown: New York in the Eighties,” featuring artists she championed like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ross Bleckner, Keith Haring, and Julian Schnabel. In a recent interview with New York magazine, Boone described her time at Danbury Correctional as “very relaxing,” noting she went to the gym daily and read a book a day. She also revealed that Martha Stewart advised her to get a criminal lawyer early in her tax evasion case, though Boone initially ignored the suggestion. Boone served 13 months of a 30-month sentence after securing early release during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The New York Gallery History Project has launched its first installment: an online archive of Jay Gorney Modern Art, which operated from 1985 to 1998. The archive documents over 90 exhibitions held at the gallery, featuring artists such as Catherine Opie, Jessica Stockholder, Gillian Wearing, Haim Steinbach, and Martha Rosler. The material includes installation views, artwork images, and original invitations, all digitized from analog transparencies and slides. The project is an initiative of the Independent art fair and the Contemporary Art Library, a Los Angeles nonprofit.
The article profiles Lucia Wilcox, a nearly forgotten Surrealist painter born in 1899 who lived an extraordinary life—raised in Beirut, partying with Surrealists in Paris, fleeing to New York in 1938, and becoming a doyenne among expatriate artists in the Hamptons. She painted joyful, mythical women and was shown by major dealers Sidney Janis and Leo Castelli, but after her death in 1974 she faded into obscurity. Now, a tightly curated exhibition titled "Lucia Wilcox: LUCIA" at Berry Campbell in New York (through June 28) reintroduces her work, focusing on over 20 paintings from the 1940s, including the vibrant "Untitled (Jungle)" (1944).
The Armory Show, New York's premier art fair, is dedicating its 2025 Focus section to artists and galleries from the American South, running September 4-7. Curated by Jessica Bell Brown, executive director of the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, the section features 13 galleries, including Martha's from Austin and Wolfgang Gallery from Atlanta, with works exploring themes of queer identity, Black communities, and Southern cuisine. The fair, now under director Kyla McMillan and owned by Frieze, aims to amplify the region as a nexus for diasporas and challenge preconceived notions about the South.
The High Museum of Art in Atlanta has launched a major retrospective titled “Isamu Noguchi: ‘I am not a designer,’” exploring the prolific career of the Japanese-American artist. Curated by Monica Obniski, the exhibition features over 200 objects including sculptures, stage sets, furniture, and architectural models. A central highlight is the connection to Atlanta’s own Piedmont Park, which houses "Playscapes," the only artist-designed playground Noguchi completed in the United States, currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.
A new public art installation titled "Sail Through This to That" by conceptual artist indira allegra will debut on May 28 at Philadelphia's Spruce Street Harbor as part of the new ArtPhilly festival. The work features a trio of neon-colored schooner sails mounted on the historic vessel North Wind, commemorating the 1796 escape from enslavement of Ona Judge, who fled the household of George and Martha Washington.
A group of artists led by Elise Engler, Joyce Kozloff, and Martha Rosler has circulated a letter urging the Jewish Museum in New York to intervene and save New Deal-era murals and sculptural reliefs from the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building in Washington, D.C. The artworks, created by Jewish artists including Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, and Seymour Fogel, are threatened with demolition after the U.S. government listed the building for accelerated disposal in November 2025 and began soliciting demolition bids in December. The letter, addressed to Jewish Museum board chair Shari Aronson, has been signed by hundreds of artists and art-world figures, including Joan Semmel, Rochelle Feinstein, Joan Snyder, Lucy Lippard, and Kay WalkingStick.
"Fata Morgana," an exhibition organized by the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi at Palazzo Morando in Milan, presents works by 78 artists past and present who embody Marcel Duchamp's idea of the artist as a "mediumistic being." The show includes nuns, mediums, psychiatric patients, and contemporary stars like Marianna Simnett and Rosemarie Trockel, alongside avant-garde icons such as Man Ray and Duchamp himself. Curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Daniel Birnbaum, and Martha Papini, the exhibition explores creativity as compulsion, featuring drawings by James Tilly Matthews, séance photographs by Stanisława Popielska, and works by Madge Gill and Emma Jung, among others.
The estate of American painter Martha Diamond, who died in 2023, has been signed for representation by the international gallery Thaddaeus Ropac. The gallery will collaborate with the Martha Diamond Trust and David Kordansky Gallery to manage and promote her artistic legacy.
The High Museum of Art in Atlanta has launched a major retrospective titled “Isamu Noguchi: ‘I am not a designer,’” featuring nearly 200 objects that span the artist's prolific career. The exhibition showcases Noguchi’s diverse output, including his iconic Akari paper lanterns, furniture for Herman Miller, the Radio Nurse baby monitor, and his extensive stage set collaborations with choreographers like Martha Graham and Ruth Page.
A roundup of major U.S. museum openings and expansions scheduled for 2026 highlights several high-profile projects across the country. These include the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, the Hip Hop Museum in New York City, and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. Additionally, the Edward W. Kane & Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History opens in Newport, Rhode Island, in June; the San Mateo County History Museum in Redwood City, California, completes a $23.5 million expansion in the fall; and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland finishes a $175 million expansion adding 50,000 square feet.
New research using advanced imaging techniques suggests that the hidden male portrait beneath Johannes Vermeer's 'Girl with the Red Hat' (c. 1664-69) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., may have been painted by Vermeer himself, rather than an unidentified artist as previously thought. Earlier studies had dismissed the underpainting as the work of another hand due to its loose brushwork, but recent analysis indicates Vermeer's initial paintwork was typically looser and quicker. The male figure's costume dates the composition to 1650-55, which would make it Vermeer's only known male portrait and predate his earliest known work, 'Christ in the House of Mary and Martha' (1654-55).
The Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá (Mambo) is in a leadership crisis after its director, Martha Ortiz, resigned amid accusations of harassment and creating a toxic work environment. Her departure follows the dismissal of artistic director Eugenio Viola in February, which sparked an open letter signed by over 140 cultural figures demanding transparency. The museum's board chair, Ángela Royo, and financial manager Francy Hernández are temporarily overseeing operations while searches for both director and artistic director are underway.
This article is a roundup of New York City gallery exhibitions in June 2025, featuring reviews by critics Yinka Elujoba, Jillian Steinhauer, Will Heinrich, and Martha Schwendener. It highlights Kati Heck's show "Dear Cobalt Monsters" at Bortolami Gallery in Tribeca, which includes surrealist paintings and installations such as the centerpiece "Classic V" (2025). The article also mentions works by Kyoko Idetsu and John Brock Lear, though only Heck's exhibition is detailed.
Laredo College has opened submissions for its 'Out of the Box' juried art exhibit, inviting local artists to submit unconventional, experimental, and bold works across all mediums. The submission period runs from December 29 to January 16, with artist notifications on January 20, and an opening reception scheduled for February 6 at the Martha Fenstermaker Memorial Visual Arts Gallery. Up to 30 artworks will be selected for the final show.
The Marfa Untitled Studio Tour (MarfaMUST) has announced an arts weekend on May 29-30, featuring a tour of local artist studios, the return of the Martha Invitational at Rule Gallery, and a pop-up group exhibition titled "Homecoming" at New Star Marfa. The Martha Invitational, a spoof of the larger Marfa Invitational, will showcase works by co-founders Martha Hughes, Leslie Wilkes, and Diana Simard, along with Bettina Landgrebe. The weekend also includes tintype portraits by Carolyn Macartney and other Marfa artists.
The Martha Invitational and MarfaMUST are collaborating on a two-day arts weekend in Marfa, Texas, from May 29-30, 2026. The event, themed 'Home Coming,' features a pop-up opening at Rule Gallery for the Martha Invitational, a closing event for MarfaMUST, and open studios throughout the town, all free to the public. It reunites the founding organizers of the Martha Invitational and incorporates new participants, celebrating the local artist community across generations.
Tanya Augoustinos has opened A Gallery as a pop-up on Edgartown's Main Street, in the former location of a women's boutique. The gallery features works by Martha's Vineyard artists, including the late Rez Williams and Richard Lee, as well as Kara Taylor, Carol Brown Goldberg, Kate Feiffer, and others. Augoustinos is running the space with artist Chandler Biggs, and the gallery will operate through September while property owner Sarah Levine seeks a permanent tenant.
The Mitchell Art Museum at St. John’s College has announced its spring programming lineup, headlined by the exhibition "In the VIDEODROME: Abjection and Alienation." Opening March 26, the show features seminal video works by Martha Rosler and Pipilotti Rist that critique systemic injustice and the societal treatment of women's bodies. The museum is also continuing its survey of Fluxus artist Ken Friedman, which encourages community participation through instructional art scores.