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Kirklees council leader David Sheard put forward the idea of selling Francis Bacon's 'Figure Study II' in the council collection late last year

How long can our great civic museums hold out?

Kirklees Council’s proposal to sell off Francis Bacon’s ‘Figure Study II’ is just a taste of things to come

6 Jan 2017
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry, whose history dates back to 1420, is to close its premises in May 2017

What will become of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry?

Britain’s oldest manufacturing company, whose origins date back to 1420, is to close this May. What will happen to its historic home?

Wake up Jonathan Jones! British art is not just about Turner

British modernism is having a ‘moment’ and Jonathan Jones is displeased. Why is he so upset, and what does any of it have to do with Brexit?

21 Dec 2016
Giorgio Vasari's painting 'The Last Supper' was severely damaged during the Florence flood of 1966. A major conservation project to save the work has finally been completed, and the painting was unveiled in November. Photo: Britta New

The 50-year rescue of Vasari’s flood-damaged masterpiece

Giorgio Vasari’s ‘Last Supper’ was severely damaged in the devastating Florence floods of 1966. Fifty years later, it’s back on display after one of the most complex conservation projects ever undertaken

21 Dec 2016
Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap (Detail) c.1529, Jacopo Pontormo. The National Gallery's matching offer to buy the painting has been rejected.

What price for a Pontormo?

The government’s efforts to keep a rare Pontormo in the UK after it was sold unexpectedly by its owner have revealed cracks in the export bar process

19 Dec 2016

What lies behind the failed collaboration between Tehran and Berlin?

Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie has postponed a display of contemporary art from Tehran – what does this mean for cultural exchange in Iran?

15 Dec 2016

The challenge of designing a Holocaust memorial for Britain

Ten design teams have been announced – how will they reflect on the particular site of the memorial’s construction?

8 Dec 2016

The controversial postmodern masterpiece that is now Britain’s youngest listed building

The early listing of James Stirling’s No. 1 Poultry says more about the architect’s stature than it does about postmodernism as a style

7 Dec 2016

‘I cannot bury myself with my own hands.’ The self-censorship of Syrian cartoonist Fares Garabet

In 2015 Garabet left war-torn Syria for Germany. But even from the relative safety of Europe, the cartoonist fears the consequences of his critical work

5 Dec 2016

What’s up with Miami’s art scene?

A decade ago, Miami looked set to become a thriving art city. So why are local artists and galleries still struggling to gain recognition?

2 Dec 2016
Horace Barker as King John (postcard),

‘National costume drama on a grand scale’

This is a great way to relive the ‘pageant-fever’ of earlier, more technologically innocent decades

1 Dec 2016
The Apollo Awards 2016, at the Sunbeam Studios, London, sponsored by Porsche. Photo © Amy Scaife

We should all celebrate the people and projects behind art’s growing popularity

Apollo’s annual awards are a great opportunity to reflect on the achievements of the art world, and the people within it who are driving it forwards

28 Nov 2016

Is the destruction of cultural property a war crime?

The first prosecution for destroying cultural heritage at the ICC has led some critics to ask if war crimes against people should come first

28 Nov 2016

What’s at stake in digitising heritage sites such as the Lascaux cave?

A new facsimile of the Lascaux cave is about to open, but are digital reproductions of cultural sites merely tourist attractions or will they save our fragile heritage?

28 Nov 2016
Study of a Kneeling Man (c.1529), Titian.

The rare Titian drawing that the UK is fighting to keep

Very few drawings by Titian survive. This one is a beautiful and invaluable document that has changed our understanding of his work

19 Nov 2016

The cultural and corporate icon that is Monarch of the Glen

Drinks company Diageo planned to sell the painting, but after public outcry it now seems likely to remain in Scotland after all

18 Nov 2016
People gather around a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude on 18 August, 2016 in San Francisco, United States. Anarchist collective INDECLINE created five statues depicting Donald Trump in the nude and placed them in five U.S. cities: San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Anti-Trump art needs to quit the playground taunts and get serious

Far too much of it actually reinforced Trump’s message that the derisive liberal elite saw him – and by extension, his supporters – as a joke

13 Nov 2016

It’s time to look at graffiti on its own terms

Graffiti is usually seen as art or vandalism, but the distinction is stopping us from seeing it for what it really is

7 Nov 2016

‘It should not be to its past that the ICA is beholden, rather the needs of the present and future’

London’s ICA welcomes its new director this month ahead of its 70th anniversary next year. But what should an ICA look like in the 21st century?

31 Oct 2016

Why has it taken early Chinese photography so long to emerge from the shadows?

Stephan Loewentheil has been on a 35-year-long quest to collect and display historic photographs of China

31 Oct 2016
A pro-AKP rally in Istanbul, Turkey, after the failed coup attempt of 15 July 2016.

Turkey’s art scene was booming. Now, it’s braced for trouble

Turkey’s art scene has been growing for years, but has struggled in the wake of the failed coup attempt of 15 July and subsequent government crackdowns

28 Oct 2016

‘Another manifestation of the barbarism that has overwhelmed this country’

Walsall’s New Art Gallery is one of the best buildings to come out of the UK’s Millennium celebrations. Can it survive the devastating budget cuts it faces?

27 Oct 2016
The Museum of Nonhumanity is the latest iteration of 'The History of Others', an ongoing project by artist Terike Haapoja and writer Laura Gustafsson. Helsinki.

Helsinki’s artists are world class – but recognition has to start at home

Both government and business need to realise how much the art scene here is worth celebrating, and sooner rather than later

25 Oct 2016

Art history benefits us all. Why won’t the government fight for it?

We will never defeat the notion that art is the preserve of the privileged, if we stop people from learning about it

25 Oct 2016