News

The week in art news – Unesco voices concern for Ukrainian heritage sites

Unesco has said that it is ‘gravely concerned’ about the security of Ukrainian heritage sites from damage caused during the…

6 Mar 2022

The week in art news – Ukrainian museums try to protect their collections

Plus: a Neolithic site has been discovered in Jordan and the Weltmuseum’s audioguide was hacked by activitists

27 Feb 2022
Roundel (c. 1500) attributed to Gian Marco Cavalli. Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Met acquires much-coveted Renaissance roundel for $23m

The second most expensive purchase the Met has ever made is a stunning Italian bronze – and efforts to keep it in the UK have come to nothing

23 Feb 2022
The Africa Museum in Tervuren, outside Brussels.

Belgium hands over full inventory of objects to DRC

Plus: Carmen Herrera (1915–2022) and David Zwirner becomes latest gallery to announce a branch in Los Angeles

20 Feb 2022
The new SFMOMA, view from Yerba Buena Gardens.

The week in art news – SFMOMA appoints Christopher Bedford as director

Plus: Fine Arts Paris and La Biennale to merge and Jonathan Watkins to step down as director of Ikon

13 Feb 2022
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The week in art news – UK government announces ‘levelling-up’ plans

On Tuesday, the UK government published widely awaited proposals for its ‘levelling up’ programme to increase economic activity across the…

6 Feb 2022
Grand Palais Paris

The week in art news – Art Basel owner bumps FIAC from its slot with a new Paris fair

Plus: Art Basel Hong Kong postponed to May and France to restitute 15 works looted by the Nazis

30 Jan 2022
TEFAF Maastricht: now coming to you in June. Photo: Loraine Bodewes, courtesy of TEFAF 2015

The week in art news – TEFAF Maastricht moves to June, now jam-packed with fairs

Plus: The Courtauld Institute and Kings College London have announced a 10-year ‘strategic partnership’

21 Jan 2022
The ‘Colston Four’ – Rhian Graham, Milo Ponsford, Jake Skuse and Sage Willoughby, speak outside Bristol Crown Court after being found not guilty of criminal damage.

The week in art news – Colston Four cleared of criminal damage

Plus: Iwona Blazwick to step down as director of Whitechapel Gallery, and more of the week’s top stories

6 Jan 2022
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen. Photo: Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The week in art news – Danish and Dutch museums close in lockdowns

Plus: TEFAF and Salon du Dessin have been postponed, bell hooks (1952–2021), and more of the week’s top stories

19 Dec 2021
The Sackler Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on March 28, 2019.

The week in art news – Metropolitan Museum of Art to remove Sackler name from its galleries

Plus: Billionaire collector Michael Steinhardt surrenders 180 looted artefacts

12 Dec 2021

The week in art news – Lawrence Weiner (1942–2021)

The pioneering conceptual artist, Lawrence Weiner, has died at the age of 79. Born in the Bronx in 1942, Weiner…

3 Dec 2021
The Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

The week in art news – Austrian museums close in national lockdown

Plus: The new German culture minister is Claudia Roth of the Greens, and a Roman villa complex has been uncovered in Rutland

26 Nov 2021
Jimmie Durham at the 58th International Art Biennale in May 2019 in Venice. Photo: Simone Padovani/Awakening/Getty Images

The week in art news – Jimmie Durham (1940–2021)

Plus: Etel Adnan (1925–2021); and more art news

19 Nov 2021
Aerial view of the Tulip.

The week in art news – UK government rejects ‘Tulip’ skyscraper

Plus: Sylvère Lotringer (1938–2021); and more news

12 Nov 2021
Detail of a mid 16th- to 17th-century plaque depicting two members of the Benin Court. National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, D.C.

The week in art news – Smithsonian Museum of African Art commits to restituting Benin Bronzes

Plus: Humboldt Forum to remove medallion honouring donor with far-right views, and more stories

6 Nov 2021

The week in art news – US returns some 250 stolen antiquities to India

Plus: Dutch court rules for return of Crimean artefacts to Ukraine, and more stories

29 Oct 2021
The Glasgow School of Art, after it was damaged by fire in June 2018.

The week in art news – Glasgow School of Art to be faithfully rebuilt after all

Centre Pompidou postpones renovations until after Paris Olympics, and the Ahmanson Foundation partners with the Huntington Library

22 Oct 2021

The week in art news – Germany and Nigeria sign draft agreement for return of Benin Bronzes

Plus: Atta Kwami (1956–2001) and Biden restores federal protections for Utah national monuments

17 Oct 2021
Guildhall in the City of London, photographed in 2014.

The week in art news – City of London to keep statues with slavery links

Plus: Biden nominates chairs of the NEA and NEH and Mark Roglán, director of the Meadows Museum, has died

10 Oct 2021
The Prado in Madrid.

The week in art news – Spanish government finally approves funds for Prado expansion

Plus: Danish museum and artist in dispute over two blank canvases; and more stories

2 Oct 2021
Firstsite in Colchester.

The week in art news – Firstsite wins Artfund Museum of the Year award

Plus: John Booth appointed chair of the National Gallery in London and more stories

24 Sep 2021
Nadine Dorries at Downing Street on 15 September 2021.

The week in art news – Nadine Dorries appointed UK culture secretary

Plus: Christophe Leribault appointed director of the Musée d’Orsay; and more stories

18 Sep 2021
Photo: Stefania D’Alessandro/Getty Images for Fondazione Prada

The week in art news – Klaus Biesenbach appointed director of Neue Nationalgalerie

Plus: Maqdala objects privately restituted to Ethiopia | Cao Fei wins Deutsche Börse photography prize

10 Sep 2021