NewsMuseums & Heritage
Princeton artist-fellow Mario Moore celebrates African American workers
The university has acquired five portraits of men and women who hold blue-collar jobs on campus
NewsAcquisitions
National Portrait Gallery acquires 20 works from collecting couple
Ian and Annette Cumming set out to commission likenesses of people who would remain renowned
NewsMuseums
Tokyo’s treasure house of Impressionist painting reopens as Artizon Museum
Former Bridgestone Museum of Art will have new focus on creativity through the ages after a three-year renovation
NewsMuseums
Will new €50m Albertina Modern museum revolutionise Vienna’s contemporary art scene?
Satellite venue of historic Albertina is to focus on Austrian and international art made after 1945
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Director is out at Erie Art Museum
Departure follows New York Times article describing objectionable behaviour with female employees
NewsAppointments
Nazi loot expert joins Louvre to investigate its wartime acquisitions
Hire of French art historian Emmanuelle Polack suggests a more proactive stance on Nazi-era provenance research at Paris museum
NewsBritish Museum
Climate activists urge British Museum to reject BP funding, as Arctic exhibition announced
Planned show seeks to raise awareness of climate change, but London museum dogged by controversy over partnership with oil and gas giant
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Five years after Charlie Hebdo attack, France plans centre dedicated to satirical cartoons
In honour of the victims and to promote the medium, the French culture ministry will create "a meeting, training and exhibition place"
NewsHeritage
Trump retracts threats against Iranian culture sites saying: ‘I like to obey the law’
The US president’s reversal comes after widespread condemnation and defense officials’ assurances that military would abide by international law
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Cultural heritage officials condemn Trump’s threats against Iranian sites
Meanwhile, an impromptu tribute to the country’s cultural heritage broke out on Twitter, as users posted images of their favourite places
NewsYemen
Museum restoration offers rare glimmer of hope in war-torn Yemen
Yemeni authorities and World Monuments Fund team up to repair ruined National Museum in Taiz
PreviewThe Year Ahead 2020
New museums and major expansions opening in 2020
From Tutankhamun's new king-sized home in Cairo to Munch's sleek space in Oslo, here is our pick of the big openings this year
NewsMuseums & Heritage
As Nazi objects and fakes enter collectors’ market, should museums show them?
Highly publicised sales and seizures of Nazi memorabilia raise questions about whether such items should be exhibited
NewsExhibitions
Here come the 'angels of anarchy': Surrealist women to steal the shows in 2020
Exhibitions in UK, Europe and US speak to growing public appetite for scholarship on the women of art history
NewsMuseum collections
Rotterdam's Boijmans museum wants to make entire collection accessible to visitors
Vast €85m storage centre will show off thousands of works of art previously hidden from view
NewsRestoration
Ghent Altarpiece: latest phase of restoration unmasks the humanised face of the Lamb of God
Second stage of open-access restoration of Van Eyck brothers’ masterpiece strips away 16th-century overpainting to reveal an abundance of fine details
FeatureVideo, film & new media
Reality check: is VR set to revolutionise museums?
With the Louvre revealing its virtual reality Mona Lisa, museums ponder the power of tech experiences
NewsMuseums
Edinburgh's Fruitmarket Gallery to transform nightclub into new art venue
Karla Black survey will fill both spaces, including former fruit and veg warehouse next door
NewsThe Year in Review 2019
From trafficked treasures to the ravages of climate change: the heritage headlines of 2019
We look back at the biggest stories of the year
NewsOpenings
Swedish photography hub Fotografiska opens long-awaited New York exhibition space
The franchise’s ambitious global expansion will continue in 2020 with launch of London gallery
NewsConservation & Preservation
Tefaf awards conservation grants for a Wright interior and a colonial Bolivian painting
V&A and Lacma plan to stabilise and restore works to their original appearance
NewsOpenings
Revamped, renamed, reopened: Musée Ingres Bourdelle honours Montauban's masters
After €13m expansion, French museum brings together works by painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and sculptor Emile-Antoine Bourdelle
NewsRussia
Russian museums follow Putin’s call for satellites in the regions
The Hermitage has opened a branch in Siberia, the Pushkin is renovating a Constructivist landmark in Samara and more agreements are in the works
NewsThe Year in Review 2019
From the MoMA expansion to ‘artwashing’ ill-gotten wealth: the major museum moments of 2019
We look back at the biggest stories of the year
NewsMuseums & Heritage
KAWS joins board of American Folk Art Museum
The contemporary artist is among four new trustees elected
NewsConservation & Preservation
Science illuminates art in Detroit’s celebration of Bruegel’s The Wedding Dance
Conservators discover that the 1566 painting was once bluer and revisit the exposure of the notorious codpieces
NewsConservation & Preservation
Looted in Germany by Stalin’s brigades, a restored goddess goes on view at the Hermitage
Bronze sculpture gets new wings in a collaboration with Berlin’s Antikensammlung
NewsAccessibility
How to make museums more accessible for disabled people? Ask them
Research groups have designed new technologies and initiatives for the V&A, Kunsthistorisches Museum and Thyssen-Bornemisza
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Brighton Pavilion gets its glitter back as fanciful treasures return on long-term loan from the Queen
More of the startling objects collected by George IV will return from Buckingham Palace in early 2020
NewsArt Basel in Miami Beach 2019
Major Jon Rafman show planned for Hirshhorn Museum
And Mickalene Thomas goes Pop in NYC
NewsConservation & Preservation
Conserving canvas: from tear-mending to 'mist lining’, conservators share their techniques
Hundreds gather as the Getty convenes the first major international conference on the issue in 45 years
NewsMuseums
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston names new director
Hesse McGraw has served at San Francisco and Nebraska art institutions
NewsMuseums
Freer/Sackler rebrands its identity as the National Museum of Asian Art
Museum officials say the decision is unrelated to protests over the Sackler family's ties to Purdue Pharma
NewsMuseums
'Xavier Bray, end low pay!': Wallace Collection staff fight for London Living Wage
Museum is in discussion with trade union after 'final offer' 1.5% salary increase was deemed too low
NewsMusee du Quai Branly–Jacques Chirac
Quai Branly to send fragment of feather belt worn by first King of Tahiti back to Polynesia
Rediscovered maro 'ura will go on show at Museum of Tahiti and the Islands on long-term loan from 2021
NewsObituaries
Stephen Garrett, inaugural director of the Getty and the Hammer, has died, aged 96
“Bon vivant” took over at museum villa and expanded its mission after J. Paul Getty died in 1976
NewsArt Basel in Miami Beach 2019
What will cultural philanthropy look like in the 21st century? A new forum aims to find out
A survey of 500 art world professionals conducted by the Arts Funders Forum could help museums stay relevant to new patrons
AnalysisChina
Why museum partnerships between China and the West are booming
Cultural institutions have embraced mutual benefits of collaboration, despite challenges of communication and censorship
NewsArt Basel in Miami Beach 2019
Cuzco paintings meet colonial Cuban culture in Allapattah
Founders of museum of Latin American art believe they may also have a work by Raphael
NewsArt Basel in Miami Beach 2019
New art space in Basel will offer free shows
The opening exhibition of the Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger, during next year's Art Basel fair, will focus on Caribbean artists
NewsTurkey
Court ruling converting Turkish museum to mosque could set precedent for Hagia Sophia
Decision that Kariye Museum must become a Muslim house of worship again could imperil its Byzantine art and have repercussions for other early Christian monuments
NewsMuseums
Michael Rakowitz wants to pause his video work at MoMA PS1 as a protest against museum's ties to 'toxic philanthropy'
"It's censorship", the artist says of curators' denials to suspend work that is part of show on the artistic legacy of the Gulf War
NewsHungary
Budapest’s green mayor puts brakes on €250m New National Gallery
Local politicians block construction on cultural quarter backed by right-wing government, citing “enormous impact on environment”
NewsConservation & Preservation
Cold War-era mosaic sees light of day again in eastern Germany
Reappearance of a Josep Renau mural hints at a greater acceptance of East German public art
NewsUffizi galleries
Hong Kong plans 2020 Botticelli exhibition in unprecedented deal with Italy's Uffizi
This is the first time the Florentine museum has formed a long-term partnership with a foreign institution
NewsRestitution
Cambridge college returns Benin bronze to Nigeria
Statue of a cockerel was looted by the British in 1897 from the Court of Benin
NewsArtists
Noguchi Museum launches digital archive about the globe-trotting artist’s life and career
Online trove includes 60,000 photographs, manuscripts, records and drawings and an updated catalogue raisonné
NewsHong Kong
Hong Kong Museum of Art to reopen in spite of escalating violence of pro-democracy protests
Launch of revamped government-run museum to go ahead as planned following $119m facelift
NewsConservation & Preservation
Derelict iron flaxmill is brought back to life in Shrewsbury
Building was considered an audacious architectural experiment when it was built in 1797
NewsArt crime
Thieves steal priceless Baroque jewels from Dresden museum
After breaking in through a window at the Green Vault, the intruders grabbed three royal jewellery ensembles containing diamonds and pearls
NewsChina
Guangzhou museum given three days’ notice to evacuate before demolition
Privately funded Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art says its forced closure follows “a long period of disputation” with the local authorities
NewsConservation & Preservation
Conservators to restore Michelangelo’s Florence Pietà in full view of visitors
Restoration will remove centuries of grime and stabilise the sculpture at the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo
NewsParis
Special delivery: Musée de la Poste reopens in Paris—with art to boot
Museum's little known, 6,000-strong Modern and contemporary art collection includes a ball gown made of 2,000 stamps
NewsArtists
Former factory in Iraqi Kurdistan stirs hope for cultural tourism
From studio spaces to museums, a future complex holds the promise of galvanising artists
CommentPrivate Museums
The Marciano masquerade is exposed
The art foundation, which has closed its doors, was never more than the shell of a museum
NewsExhibitions
Terra Foundation plans 2024 sequel to Art Design Chicago
Yearlong 2018 effort drew 2.5 million people and brought attention to overlooked artists
NewsMuseums
German parliament approves institute for photographic legacy based in Dusseldorf
Government says institute is necessary to address “considerable backlog in securing the visual memory of our society”
NewsMuseums & Heritage
New Hampshire museum acquires a rare house by Frank Lloyd Wright
The 1957 home, the Currier Museum of Art's second Wright dwelling, is built in the “Usonian Automatic” style, with rectangular concrete blocks
NewsPolitics
What is art for? Why, to help sell arms, silly!
October saw full deployment of culture in Russian and French political and commercial diplomacy with Saudi Arabia
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
The French general’s advice to Notre Dame's chief architect: ‘Just shut up!’
A public spat between officials erupted this week in Paris over the reconstruction of the fire-ravaged cathedral and whether its historic spire should be restored as it was or a new spire built in its place
AnalysisClimate Change
Three ways museums can face up to the climate crisis
No issue is more relevant—and relevance is the cultural sector’s current leitmotif
NewsMuseums & Heritage
The Huntington Library acquires two collections of US slavery and abolition records
The historic documents highlight the complexities of documenting America’s "peculiar institution"
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Opening new galleries and showcasing its sphinx, Penn Museum rebrands its image
Museum at the University of Pennsylvania will open 10,000 sq. ft of reimagined spaces
NewsAcquisitions
Whitney Museum acquires 88 works by biennial artists
The works, by 40 artists, are among 250 that have entered the collection since the spring
NewsMuseums
Meadows Museum in Dallas teams up with local and Madrid opera companies
Opera sets will evoke the museum’s collection, and soloists will perform at the museum
NewsAcquisitions
Jayne Wrightsman leaves over 375 works of art and $80m to the Met
From European paintings to the decorative arts, the patron and her oil tycoon husband, who both served as trustees for decades, gave the New York museum more than 1,275 works in all
NewsRussia
Moving to the suburbs: vast museum collections centre destined for 'New Moscow'
State Tretyakov Gallery among 23 Russian museums planning to store and show works near former killing field Kommunarka
BlogDiary of an art historian
UK national museums could learn a lot from their regional cousins
When it comes to having a historian rummaging in their stores, smaller institutions tend to be more enthusiastic and accommodating
InterviewFrom the archive
From the archive | Louvre pyramid architect I.M. Pei on the church-like museum he designed for the Goulandris collection
In this 1994 interview, he reveals how he likes art to be displayed, such as natural lighting for Impressionists
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Goulandris collection of Modern masterworks finally revealed in new Athens museum
Dream museum of collectors Basil and Elise Goulandris brought to life almost three decades after original proposal
NewsSmithsonian Institution
Interview | Lonnie Bunch on founding the Smithsonian's African American history museum and drawing inspiration from Lincoln
As his new book is released, the new secretary of the Smithsonian Institution talks of extending its reach beyond Washington
CommentAfrica
Why Africa’s future museums should forget Western models
The time is ripe for artists and curators to reconfigure what can actually be done within the walls of a museum
Clémentine Deliss