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The history of artists’ signatures is a secret history of art

For painters from Jan van Eyck to Philip Guston, the act of signing a finished work is much more than a simple assertion of authorship

22 Sep 2023

Making art behind bars can be its own form of release

Effective rehabilitation requires offenders to imagine themselves differently – and finding a creative outlet can certainly help with that

22 Sep 2023

Demolishing post-war buildings shouldn’t be the default

Despite the creative possibilities and environmental benefits of refurbishment, developers are all too eager to start over

6 Sep 2023

Who should fix the crisis at the British Museum?

The theft of 2,000 items is a scandal that points to wider failures of leadership and oversight. So can the museum right what has gone wrong by itself?

5 Sep 2023

Will art bring life back to the office?

By brightening up corporate spaces, employers are trying to tempt remote workers back to business as usual

1 Sep 2023

The laws regarding Native American remains leave too much up to museums

In the absence of clearer rules, institutions should obey the spirit and not just the letter of the law – and be more careful with material they may have to return

22 Aug 2023

When Giacometti lit up literary London

The sculptor’s chandelier, now export-stopped by the UK government, once hung in the offices of Cyril Connolly’s Horizon magazine

28 Jul 2023

Compton Verney’s new painted ladies are more about vice than virtue

A portrait saved for the nation has been praised for representing racial equality in 17th-century Britain, but it’s mainly a warning to women everywhere

10 Jul 2023
Sculpture of a woman lying down wearing a red dress and hat

When outsider art entered the mainstream

A string of recent exhibitions have done much to raise the profile of so-called outsider artists

6 Jul 2023
UNESCO general assembly

Why is the United States rejoining UNESCO?

When the country renews its membership in July, it will pay back dues of more than $500m – but it does so on its own terms

16 Jun 2023

The Supreme Court has saved the Andy Warhol Foundation from itself

The foundation should never have pursued the copyright case against Lynn Goldsmith and it should be grateful it lost

A newly rehung room in Tate Britain, 2023. Photo © Tate / Seraphina Neville

Don’t blame the culture wars for Tate Britain’s disappointing rehang

The much-debated new displays suffer from weak artworks, tokenism and terrible lighting

30 May 2023
black and white photograph of an artist's studio

Do craft objects need a purpose?

Edward Behrens on the finalists for this year’s Loewe Foundation Craft Prize

30 May 2023
Henry Moore sculpture displayed on a lawn

Hug a Henry Moore!

The Sainsbury Centre’s new director is taking a more touchy-feely approach to displaying the permanent collection

30 May 2023

Is the UK finally getting serious about Eurovision?

For too long, Britain’s lack of regard for the song contest has been rewarded by poor results. It’s time to make more of an effort.

12 May 2023
The Quire, Westminster Abbey.

The crowning glories of Westminster Abbey

With all eyes on the coronation, it’s worth remembering that the scene of the ceremony remains a work in progress

5 May 2023

Are artists getting screwed over by galleries and museums?

A new report shows that most practitioners are still working for love rather than fair pay

27 Apr 2023

Will Edward Bawden’s lost masterpiece ever be found?

The hunt is on for an epic mural depicting ‘Country Life in Britain’ – but chances are it’s a wild goose chase

21 Apr 2023

The loss of the National Glass Centre would be a shattering blow

At once a local treasure and world-class hub, the Sunderland institution will close if funds cannot quickly be found

28 Mar 2023

‘She changed how we encounter sculpture’ – remembering Phyllida Barlow (1944–2023)

The sculptor who was also a much-loved teacher at the Slade treated both students and audiences with the utmost respect

16 Mar 2023
Christopher Kulendran Thomas The Finesse

‘Every generation rewrites the past in its own image’

Hettie Judah revisits the past as it is presented by artists delving into the archives and reusing old footage

27 Feb 2023

What does the loss of Masterpiece mean for London?

The threats to the art fair have been piling up for years. So what’s pushed it over the edge?

2 Feb 2023

Towering folly at Liverpool Street Station

Plans to plonk a massive office block on top of the station’s glass roof are as dreadful as they sound

1 Feb 2023
Painting of the Dancer Alexander Sacharoff

Girls observed: the art of taking young women seriously

Hettie Judah on what artists have got right (and also wrong) when it comes to depictions of girls

27 Jan 2023