John Phelan, a prominent figure on ARTnews's Top 200 Collectors list, has been fired from his position as Secretary of the Navy. His departure follows reported disagreements with senior Pentagon officials over a shipbuilding initiative, including a proposal for a "Trump-class" of battleships. Undersecretary Hung Cao will serve as acting secretary.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., has returned 17 rare books, collectively valued at nearly $3 million, to the heirs of John Hay and Betsey Cushing Whitney. The books were stolen from the couple's Long Island estate in the 1980s and include a bound collection of John Keats's love letters, a signed James Joyce volume, and an illustrated Brothers Grimm book. The recovery followed a tip from Manhattan book dealers in 2015, leading to search warrants executed in 2025 and 2026.
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The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego is hosting "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys," an exhibition featuring over 130 works by 37 Black American and diasporic artists. The show, which began at the Brooklyn Museum in 2024, includes pieces by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gordon Parks, Mickalene Thomas, and Derrick Adams, and was celebrated with a preview party attended by the collectors and their creative community.
Milwaukee's Third Ward now hosts The Catacombs of Neto Art Museum, a bilingual museum-gallery hybrid founded by artist-couple Ernesto Atkinson and Jenny Urbanek. Housed in the Marshall building's basement tunnels, the one-and-a-half-year-old space serves as a permanent home for Atkinson's work, which he previously stored in his basement. The couple, inspired by visits to sites like Els Quatre Gats in Barcelona and the Milwaukee Art Museum, conceived the museum as a "sacred resting place" where art comes alive through viewer interaction. Atkinson, a licensed art therapist, integrates psychological and wellness elements into the museum, which also functions as a gallery, educational space, community hub, and introduction to art therapy.
Penny Cooper and Rena Rosenwasser, a Berkeley-based couple, are debuting their private collection of women artists at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA). Titled "Rhapsody: Works from the Cooper Rosenwasser Collection," the exhibition features highlights from a half-century of collecting, including works by Marlene Dumas, Nicole Eisenman, and Jacqueline Humphries. The show coincides with the couple's significant donation of nearly 150 artworks to the museum, marking the first time these pieces have been displayed outside their home.
A unique set of fifteen mirrors custom-made for fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé sold at Sotheby’s for $33.5 million, setting a new auction record for the artist Claude Lalanne. The gilt bronze, copper, and mirrored glass mirrors, created between 1974 and 1985, were originally displayed in the couple’s Paris apartment and were purchased from the collection of Jean and Terry de Gunzburg.
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) has launched "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys," a major traveling exhibition showcasing the couple's extensive collection of Black diasporic art. The show features monumental works from 37 artists, including a 164-foot painting by Meleko Mokgosi and an 8,000-pound sculpture by Arthur Jafa that required structural reinforcement of the museum floor. To create a more inclusive atmosphere, the exhibition replaces traditional white gallery walls with bold colors and includes a curated musical playlist by Swizz Beatz.
Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz have opened a major exhibition of their personal art collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD). Titled "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys," the show features over 100 works by prominent Black artists, including Kehinde Wiley, Amy Sherald, Barkley L. Hendricks, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
John Middleton, the majority owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, and his wife Leigh have publicly debuted their private collection of blue-chip American art. The couple has lent a significant selection of works for a dual-venue exhibition in Philadelphia, coinciding with the city's preparations for the 250th anniversary of the United States.
Artists Emily and George Thompson are set to debut a joint exhibition titled “Double Feature: A Two-Person Show” at the historic Stover Mill Gallery in Erwinna, Pennsylvania. The exhibition juxtaposes Emily’s contemporary urban landscapes and architectural forms with George’s traditional landscape paintings, showcasing the creative dialogue between the couple who share a studio.
Springfield artists and married couple Randy Bacon and Heidi Herrman are opening a new collaborative exhibition titled "Two Voices, One Road" at their C-Art Gallery on Historic Commercial Street, running from April 29 to July 4. The show was inspired by a restorative road trip along Route 66 they took in 2021 after Herrman's mother died and as the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. Bacon contributes landscape photographs taken as far back as 1992, while Herrman presents new mixed-media works combining her own photographs with vintage handkerchiefs inherited from her mother, printed on mulberry paper and fused with encaustic materials.
Artists Adam Russell and Kelly Lever, the duo behind Key West Pottery, are reuniting for a joint exhibition titled 'Coastline' at JAG Gallery in Key West. Opening April 8, the show features a collection of paintings that explore the intersection of land and sea, drawing inspiration from the couple's global travels. While the two maintain distinct individual styles, the works reflect a creative collision born from their shared studio practice and personal partnership.