Report recommends French museums return looted African artefacts

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Report recommends French museums return looted African artefacts  | Emmanuel Macron has been advised by a report commissioned from the art historian Bénédicte Savoy and the economist and writer Felwine Sarr that looted African artefacts in French museums should be returned to their place of origin. The report recommends a change of law in France to allow the restitution of cultural works if bilateral accords are struck between France and African states. The French president has announced that at least 26 objects taken from Benin by French troops in 1892 and now in the Musée du Quai Branly, will be returned as soon as possible. 

Irene McAra-McWilliam appointed director of Glasgow School of Art | The Glasgow School of Art has appointed Irene McARA-McWilliam as its new director, after the departure of Tom Inns, who stepped down at the beginning of the month. McAra-McWiliam has been the deputy director since 2016. Her appointment comes after a second devastating fire at the art school in June, four years after an earlier blaze.

Recommended Reading | In The New York Times, Nancy Hass interviews artist Kiki Smith about four decades of making fantastical figurative art.  Ahead of the exhibition ‘Fernand Léger: New Times, New Pleasures’ opening at Tate Liverpool, Alastair Smith at The Independent writes about the mechanical abstractions of French artist Fernand Léger, a contemporary of Picasso who has not received the same critical acclaim.