Comment

Christie’s in South Kensington in 2005.

Something has gone very wrong at Christie’s

The auction house’s decision to close its South Kensington saleroom and scale back operations in Amsterdam smacks of corporate short-termism

9 Mar 2017
TEFAF Maastricht: now coming to you in June. Photo: Loraine Bodewes, courtesy of TEFAF 2015

We can all learn from the Dutch art world

TEFAF Maastricht turns 30 this year, and Dutch museums are going from strength to strength. What’s behind their extraordinary success?

27 Feb 2017

Is the Bilbao effect over?

How has the Guggenheim Bilbao changed the city in the 20 years since it opened – and should other cities still try to copy its example?

27 Feb 2017
Stonehenge and the A303. Pam Brophy

Why are England’s heritage bodies supporting the Stonehenge Bypass?

Historic England, English Heritage and the National Trust have so far failed to address the flaws in Highways England’s plan to tunnel under the ancient site

24 Feb 2017
The surface of the diorama being removed from Grant Park for its transfer to the Atlanta History Center. Photo: © Atlanta History Center

The battle to save ‘The Battle of Atlanta’

The Battle of Atlanta belongs to an extinct genre, but the historical questions it raises are still relevant today

23 Feb 2017
The Peak Project, Hong Kong, China, , (1991), Zaha Hadid. © Zaha Hadid

New York’s leading museums are insisting on their internationalism

MoMA and the Met are making strong statements about their values in response to the US travel ban

21 Feb 2017
Installation view of ‘BRUT(E)’ at the Monnaie de Paris, 2016. Courtesy Monnaie de Paris; photo: Manolis Baboussis; © Jannis Kounellis

Jannis Kounellis’s unique blend of aesthetics, poetry, and alchemy

The transformative art of the Arte Povera pioneer will continue to beguile and challenge us

20 Feb 2017
Rendering of the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which will be located in LA’s Exposition Park

What exactly is a museum of narrative art, George Lucas?

What will the Star Wars-creator’s new museum in LA add to what the city’s collecting institutions already offer?

13 Feb 2017
Three soldiers (from the Flagellation of Christ; 1360), Master of Agrafen, or a follower.

We can preserve elephants AND conserve art

This week’s parliamentary debate on the UK domestic ivory trade revealed some serious misconceptions about antique ivory and those who study and sell it

7 Feb 2017
Europol announced 75 arrests and the recovery of over 3,500 stolen works of art and cultural goods as part of 'Operation Pandora'.

European countries are working together to tackle cultural property crime

The success of Europol’s Operation Pandora, which recovered thousands of stolen artefacts, demonstrates the importance of international cooperation

2 Feb 2017
Manchester's Factory arts centre, designed by Rem Koolhaas's OMA practice, was granted planning permission in January and has received significant funding from the UK government. © OMA. Image Courtesy Factory Manchester

Will Manchester’s cultural boom benefit the whole of the North?

Manchester has received the lion’s share of recent arts funding in northern England, to the irritation of other leading cities. Can its success benefit everyone?

1 Feb 2017

The battle to save America’s arts endowment from Trump’s cuts

Fears are growing that Donald Trump’s administration means to abolish the National Endowment for the Arts. What would it mean for US culture if they did?

30 Jan 2017
Eva and Thomas Neurath, London, 1982. Photo: Michael Woods

‘Watching Eva Neurath at work made me understand visual intelligence’

Remembering Eva Neurath, who founded Thames & Hudson with her husband Walter

30 Jan 2017

Why US museums and the antiquities trade should work together

Are pragmatic reforms needed to revive an important field of collecting for US museums?

30 Jan 2017
Kirklees council closed the Red House Museum in December 2016 due to budget constraints.

Regional museums are opportunities, not burdens – but only if we think creatively

Funding is difficult, but local councils must wake up to the potential of the art and museums in their care, and fight to secure their future

30 Jan 2017
Image: Will Martin

How to stop the creative industries running out of steam

The Cultural Learning Alliance has released a report which makes a reasoned case for adding the arts to the STEM subjects. Will the government take note?

27 Jan 2017
Portrait of John Berger by his longstanding collaborator, the Swiss photographer Jean Mohr. © Jean Mohr

John Berger: a pathfinder who was alive to the present

It was Berger’s ability to listen that made him such an important storyteller

25 Jan 2017
The west rose window of Saint-Gervais-et-Saint-Protais of Soissons on 13 January, 2017 after it was shattered by an overnight storm in northern France. François Nascimbeni/AFP/Getty Images

Why acts of god hardly ever harm gothic cathedrals

Gothic cathedrals were designed to withstand enormous wind pressures, so Soissons has been exceptionally unlucky

24 Jan 2017
Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, in Brussels.

The museum director, the culture minister, and more trouble in Brussels

A long-running institutional feud seems to have moved into more a personal phase

23 Jan 2017

Scottish arts funding is precarious, but at least people are engaged enough to get cross about it

There was much controversy over cultural spending last year, and as cuts start to bite in 2017, there may well be again

19 Jan 2017

The Art Strike against Trump reminds us why art really matters

The Art Strike brings art back to the real world and those values we need to cherish

18 Jan 2017

Tristram Hunt: Why the British Ceramics Biennial belongs in Stoke

The Staffordshire Potteries continue to play a leading role in developing the UK’s ceramics industry

13 Jan 2017
Tristram Hunt,

The V&A springs a surprise with Tristram Hunt

His appointment as V&A director is surprising but could prove inspired

13 Jan 2017

It’s art school, but not as we know it

Tate and Central Saint Martins have taken it upon themselves to ‘playfully reinvent’ things

10 Jan 2017