NewsConservation
British Library shares conservation experts with Palestinian Museum
New partnership will preserve the Birzeit museum’s most ‘at-risk’ objects on paper
ReviewConservation
Quarries, quarrels and a lesbian affair: the life of sculptor Mary Spencer Watson
The Dorset farmhouse in which she lived with her father, the portrait painter George Spencer Watson, has been recently restored by the Landmark Trust
NewsNational Academy of Design
New York's National Academy of Design has no plans to reopen its museum
After weathering financial and structural crises, the institution is looking for new ways to fulfil its mission
NewsCollectors
Sikh Empire collector hopes to open dedicated museum
The London-based collector Davinder Toor holds one of the most significant collections of Sikh works in the US and the UK
NewsConservation
Conservation project channels thinking of Angkor’s original builders
World Monuments Fund completes restoration of the eastern half of Phnom Bakheng temple
ReviewExhibitions
How Renoir’s nudes helped the Clark get its groove back
An exhibition sheds refreshing new light on the artist’s development
NewsConservation
Ugo Rondinone’s day-glo desert installation Seven Magic Mountains gets a fresh coat of paint
The popular public art work has been restored with the aim of keeping it Instagram-ready through 2021 or longer
NewsPhotography
Hossein Farmani's homecoming sees two photography centres open in Iran
The Lucie Awards organiser plans to open a museum in the city of Kashan next April
NewsJair Bolsonaro
Brazil’s museums dodge Bolsanaro’s cultural funding caps—at least for now
The Rouanet Law, which the Brazilian leader claims enables corruption, was amended in an official announcement
NewsHeritage
Gaudi’s Sagrada Família secures building permit—137 years later
A deal between the city and the church foundation aims to complete construction work on the architect’s quixotic final project
NewsState Russian Museum
State Russian Museum refurbishment cancelled amid protests
The renovation threatened the museum's architecture and collection, plaintiffs argued
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Former Louvre director donates his collection to forthcoming museum devoted to the 'Sun King'
Pierre Rosenberg has pledged his collection of works by Charles Le Brun and other artists to the new museum
NewsMuseum of Norwich
Rotting 17th century wooden sculpture renovated by Norfolk Museums
The former nightclub 'doorman' is now on display at the Museum of Norwich.
NewsAppointments & departures
Diane 'Dede' Wilsey steps down as board chair of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The leader has been both generous and controversial
NewsBarnes Foundation
'Selling everything but the wallpaper'—auction reopens old wounds over Barnes legacy
Barnes Foundation’s sale of founder’s items follows nominal payment for lease of valuable land
NewsBuilding projects
Could a parking garage hold up Lacma’s new Zumthor building?
A local group has sued Los Angeles County over the plan’s environmental impact report
CommentLacma
Lacma’s $650m plan won’t wash
Community lawsuit brings welcome last stand against museum’s alarmingly secretive building project
NewsExhibitions
Exhibition resurrects East Germany's demolished Palast der Republik
Kunsthalle Rostock, the only museum built under the GDR, remembers Berlin's asbestos-riddled parliament building and culture hub
NewsFilms
Victorians in pictures: British Film Institute digitises archive of over 500 early silent films
Conservation experts carefully cleaned the fragile and flammable nitrate film so each frame could be individually scanned
ReviewPetra Museum
Petra's rich heritage goes on show for all to see in new museum
Nearly a decade after the Arab Spring scared off tourists, the Petra Museum is poised to welcome back visitors—and open up access for locals
PreviewMinneapolis Institute of Art
Native American women artists finally get their due in new Minneapolis exhibition
Show at Minneapolis Institute of Art includes previously unknown triptychs by the Dakota Sioux artist Mary Sully
NewsArab Image Foundation
Arab photography archive releases 22,000 historic images online
Arab Image Foundation completes $255,000 digitisation initiative and will reopen its Beirut building this summer
NewsState Hermitage Museum
St Petersburg's State Hermitage ponders Saudi Arabia satellite museum
The Hermitage will also expand its presence in Crimea with a new cultural centre planned in Sevastopol
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Metropolitan Museum of Art invites artists to make new sculptures for Fifth Avenue facade
The New York museum heads into the second half of 2019 with contemporary art takeovers and a balanced budget
NewsMuseums & Heritage
MOCA to offer free general admission after $10m gift from board president
The change has been a long-time wish for some leaders at the Los Angeles museum
NewsConservation
Eileen Gray’s and Le Corbusier’s architectural gems reopen after extensive restoration
A Modernist villa and hut in the south of France feature wall paintings by Le Corbusier
NewsLeonardo da Vinci
Louvre struggles to gain loans for Leonardo show
High-level diplomacy is being used to secure the artist’s most important works for blockbuster anniversary show in Paris
NewsArchitecture
Nazi site in Nuremberg to be preserved but not restored
German city launches €85m plan to prevent further decay of infamous rally grounds
NewsSackler family
The Met says it will stop accepting gifts from Sacklers associated with Purdue Pharma
The museum cites recent lawsuits tied to the US opioid crisis in its decision to decline future donations from the family
NewsOpenings
Monumental art and walks on water: New Orleans Museum of Art opens expanded sculpture garden
Works by Frank Stella and Ursula von Rydingsvard take their place in lagoon landscape of New Orleans City Park
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Rio de Janeiro’s National Museum requests emergency funding for recovery efforts after fire
As pieces of its ancient Egyptian collection are salvaged, the museum’s director says it can no longer afford storage facilities
NewsAcquisitions
From Venice to California: Lisa Reihana’s post-colonial ‘digital scroll’ is acquired by FAMSF and Lacma
The massive work, shown at the 2017 Venice Biennale, re-interprets 19th-century wallpaper depicting native Pacific peoples
NewsIndia
David Adjaye chosen to design 'game-changing' contemporary art museum in India
Planned Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi will open up 6,000-strong collection to the public
NewsConservation
Guggenheim launches conservation fellowship with help from Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin
Initiative aims to boost Russian expertise in rapidly developing field of preserving contemporary art
CommentMuseums in the changing world order
Museums in the changing world order: the rise of authoritarian nationalism
In the third part of a new series, Adrian Ellis looks at the cost of state support in illiberal democracies and the insidious erosion of institutional independence
NewsMuseums & Heritage
The kids are alright: Art Gallery of Ontario offers free admission for visitors 25 and under, and reduced yearly passes for all
The Canadian institution aims to double its membership and expand its audience with one-year pilot programme
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Uzbekistan’s troubled Nukus Museum embroiled in new row
Museum seeks fourth director in as many years amid claims its renowned avant-garde collection is being “mistreated”
NewsDiscoveries
Hidden Cupid resurfaces in one of Vermeer’s best-known works after two and a half centuries
Laboratory tests revealed "sensational" discovery that the figure in Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window was overpainted decades after the artist’s death
NewsMuseums
Carolyn Christov-Barkargiev on the opening of the Cerruti Villa and its $600m, 'near-secret' collection
The house and collection of Turinese collector Francesco Federico Cerruti will go on show this week
NewsRestitution
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection can keep a painting that the Nazis stole, US judge rules
The judge says the work should have raised suspicions, but that he must apply Spanish law
NewsOpenings
Newly restored Hillsborough Castle brims with clues to its past at the heart of Irish politics
Georgian mansion, the Queen’s official residence in Northern Ireland, has reopened to the public
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Culture Pass brings library patrons to New York museums—and now, museums to libraries
Branches across the boroughs are now hosting museums' educational programmes
NewsMuseums
Many Whitney Biennial artists sign letter calling for museum vice chairman's removal
Letter cites Warren B. Kanders's role in company that manufactured tear gas used at US border
NewsRestitution
Italian prosecutor claims Medieval missal in Morgan Library was stolen from parish church
Official argues that its return could help boost tourism in an area that has suffered economically from earthquake damage
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
Notre Dame: experts explain why Macron's five-year restoration deadline is impossible
Complex conservation issues mean it could easily take a decade or more to rebuild the Medieval cathedral
NewsConservation
Nancy Holt’s desert Sun Tunnels will be cleaned and repaired—but the bullet marks are staying
The artist considered the streaks left by gunfire to be part of the Land Art work's evolution
NewsOpenings
Uzbekistan opens new art centre to boost 'undeveloped' local scene
Moscow's Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is offering curatorial expertise as part of growing network of partnerships with post-Soviet countries
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is 'on track, on budget', director Richard Armstrong says
Construction on the long-delayed project is expected to take three to four years
NewsBuilding projects
London’s Warburg Institute launches £14.5m expansion to revive the 'science of culture'
Research centre based on the library of German art historian Aby Warburg plans to open new public spaces in 2022
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Canadian Museums Association launches $1m programme to recognise indigenous culture
The initiative is part of a broader reconciliation effort by the government
NewsMuseums & Heritage
How to future-proof a work of art that will not be completed for 100 years
As Katie Paterson's sand castle project goes on tour, we look at how her Future Library is being made to outlive the artist
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
Nearly €1bn raised for Notre-Dame over two days
Several charitable and crowdfunding campaigns launched since the fire
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Battered London tomb of the great French tightrope walker Blondin restored
The 19th-century daredevil is most famous for crossing Niagara Falls 17 times—once with a stove on which he cooked an omelette
NewsAppointments
Alexandra Suda takes over as director of the National Gallery of Canada
The Ontario native is just the fourth woman to take the post, and the youngest in more than a century
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Fire destroys roof of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris
The spire has collapsed on the medieval landmark
NewsConservation
The Getty Conservation Institute maps out a plan to preserve the Eames House
The Los Angeles Modernist home was designed and lived in by Charles and Ray Eames
AnalysisMuseums & Heritage
Nineteenth-century realists pull in mega-crowds as Russian museum attendance peaks
Exhibitions in Russia of homegrown artists attract proportionally greater numbers than blockbusters in other countries
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Conceptual and Minimalist trove raises bedeviling questions for the Guggenheim
Grappling with questions of authenticity, museum 'decommissions' some works from the Panza Collection
NewsMuseums & Heritage
X-ray of Uffizi's Artemisia Gentileschi reveals a tantalising underpainting
The portrait has striking similarities to a recent acquisition by the National Gallery in London
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approves $650m Lacma building project
The design spans Wilshire Boulevard and replaces four extant buildings
NewsMuseums & Heritage
São Paulo's new millionaire governor João Doria proposes massive cuts to culture budget
Museums and cultural institutions in the Brazilian state prepare for closures and cancelled programmes
CommentMuseums & Heritage
A train wreck in slow motion? Why Lacma’s new building is an impending disaster
County officials prepare to vote on the $650m project this week, but the museum’s next incarnation could come at too high a cost for culture
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Cause of Rio de Janeiro’s National Museum fire revealed
An overheated air conditioning unit was the starting point of the inferno that destroyed the building last year
CommentMuseums in the changing world order
Museums in the changing world order: Restitution to Africa reaches tipping point
In the second part of a new series, Adrian Ellis examines the issue of post-colonial restitution
NewsAttendance
Boom or bust for DC museums: how the US government shutdown affected visitor figures
In January, the 19 Smithsonian institutions had just 13% of the footfall they had experienced the year before
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Weimar—birthplace of Bauhaus—opens new museum dedicated to the influential design school
On the same day, the nearby Neues Museum Weimar will open a new permanent exhibition on early Modernism
AnalysisMuseums & Heritage
Topping a million visitors: how MCA Australia broadened the appeal of contemporary art
With more than a million people through the doors annually since 2015, the museum is a case study in how to expand audiences
NewsPrivate Museums
Software billionaire plans to turn decaying Potsdam restaurant into museum for East German art
Hasso Plattner also plans to put his Impressionist works on permanent display in his Barberini Museum
NewsMuseums & Heritage
A national treasure of Native American art in Los Angeles is looking for a new owner
The historic Southwest Museum, operated by the Autry Museum of the American West, is seeking proposals for reuse
NewsFunding
Art venues have half the budget of science museums for temporary exhibitions, new report finds
Research by UK startup Vastari delves into hidden economics of museums' special shows
CommentLacma
LACMA is building an institution for the 21st century
Museums were never “encyclopaedic”—nor should they be, Michael Conforti says
Michael Conforti