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"
NewsLos Angeles
Affordability is the number one concern for artists in Los Angeles, report finds
A survey conducted by the non-profit Arts for LA warns that the city could lose its culture cache if it becomes too expensive for its creative class
NewsMonuments
Orlando chooses its memorial to Pulse shooting victims
More than three years after the massacre, a winning design has been selected for a $45m museum and memorial campus, but some survivors and victims’ families would rather it stay unbuilt.
NewsMuseum of Modern Art New York
Seven arrested at protest during MoMA’s public opening
Demonstrators blocked the museum’s entrance and sat in the street as they demanded the removal of Steven Tananbaum — a financier whose company owns $2.5bn in Puerto Rican debt — from its board of trustees
NewsPolitics
Nearly 500 protesters stage Anti-Columbus Day history tour at New York museums
After being blocked from entering the American Museum of Natural History, decolonisation demonstrators took to the streets, ending at the Metropolitan Museum’s steps
NewsOpenings
Ruby City: collector Linda Pace's dream museum becomes reality in Texas
Wizard of Oz vision inspires new $15m contemporary art centre in San Antonio designed by David Adjaye
NewsLGBTQ
Designs for the National Pulse Memorial & Museum are unveiled amid debate
While early reactions have been mostly positive, a group of activists and victims’ families would rather see a support centre on the site
NewsUSA
Chicago project is growing a community for artist mothers
Extended Practice organises discussions, child-friendly performances and events with babysitters
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Minneapolis Institute of Art names Katherine Crawford Luber as president and director
She comes to Minnesota from the San Antonio Museum of Art, where she grew the collections of African American and Aboriginal artists, and expanded programmes for underserved youth
NewsConservation
Josef Albers's Manhattan returns to its rightful place in the MetLife building
The colossal mural, recently recreated, has returned to its home near Grand Central Station
NewsLaw
Art history professor Gary Xu Gang accused of sexual assault and rape by two former students
Plaintiffs' lawyer says sexual harassment of university students remains an 'epidemic' despite the progress of the #MeToo movement
CommentMuseums & Heritage
Making the Art Institute of Chicago a more inclusive place is about more than just architecture
The museum’s director James Rondeau on why the institution is bringing Barcelona architects Barozzi Veiga on board to rethink the whole campus
FeatureArt & Design 2019
Chicago Architecture Biennial reckons with displacement, privation and segregation
Artists’ works address a history of colonialisation and marginalisation and its impact on contemporary urban realities
NewsEducation
Free arts education programme started in Harlem expands to major US cities
ProjectArt fills a void in the American public school system, adding initiatives in New Orleans and San Francisco this autumn
NewsUSA
Sackler family agrees to give up 'entire value' of Purdue Pharma in bid to settle opioid cases
But state attorneys general predict an imminent bankruptcy filing as settlement talks break down
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Survivors and victims’ families oppose plans for a $40m museum at site of Pulse shooting
The group says fundraising efforts to turn the Orlando nightclub into a tourist destination would be better spent on survivors’ care
PreviewExhibitions
Winslow Homer beach paintings—cut in half after a bad review—reunited for Cape Ann Museum show
Exhibition of marine paintings will be joined later this month by a survey of the artist's Civil War illustrations at Harvard Art Museums
NewsMuseums
Dutch government gives money for new centre on Netherlandish art at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts
Prime minister takes the unusual step of pledging $200,000 to the US museum
NewsWhitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum vice chairman Warren Kanders steps down after months of protests
His company Safariland has been criticised for manufacturing tear gas canisters that have been used on asylum seekers along the US-Mexico border
NewsCensorship
New US visa policy could stifle outspoken artists on social media
Several high-profile artists including Ai Weiwei have spoken out against the policy
NewsNazi loot
Berlin museums appeal to US Supreme Court in dispute over €200m Guelph Treasure
The case 'shouldn't be heard in a US court', argues the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
NewsAmy Sherald
Amy Sherald, Michelle Obama's portraitist, unveils massive mural in Philadelphia
The six-storey 2,400 sq ft painting depicts an empowered black teenager
NewsConservation & Preservation
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
PreviewBiennials & festivals
Whitney Biennial aims to focus on artists but—as protests mount—it cannot escape politics
The Whitney Museum has turned to two in-house curators to put together a show that celebrates diversity in American art—but as in 2017, the biennial is already mired in controversy
NewsLaw
Art vs porn: Iowa prisoners mount legal challenge to nude image ban
A new statute means inmates cannot access art, literature and even medical journals that contain nudity
NewsAttribution
Does a Minnesota college own a portrait by Edvard Munch?
Scientific evidence points to St Olaf College’s Portrait of Eva Mudocci being the real deal, but scholars of the artist’s work are reserving judgement
NewsPublic art
Touch the sky: Doug Aitken’s hot air balloon work to lift off in Massachusetts
The multi-media artist is taking to the clouds with a new roaming project starting in Martha’s Vineyard
PreviewArt Basel in Hong Kong 2019
US-China tension creates buyer’s market in Hong Kong
Despite a burgeoning arts scene in the city, worries persist that the trade war and economic uncertainty could affect business at Art Basel in Hong Kong
NewsMuseums & Heritage
National Museum of African American History and Culture to unveil rediscovered Harriet Tubman photo
She is “relaxed and very stylish” in the portrait
NewsAppointments & departures
Terra Foundation’s transformational leader Elizabeth Glassman to step down
During her two-decade tenure, the Terra closed its Chicago museum and turned its attention to grant-making and collaborations
NewsLoans
Hermitage and MoMA heads seek end to US-Russian loans freeze
Diplomats hint at future cooperation between the countries at Texas conference
News
Is an art Cold War thaw coming? US and Russian museum leaders and diplomats to discuss loan freeze
Public conversation to be held in February will address long impasse on museum loans
NewsPerformance art
A global network for Indigenous performers launches in New York
Partner organisations will be “indigenised” by presenting a certain number of works by First Nations artists per year and build connections with local communities
Comment
The recent protests at the Whitney show museum trustees’ dealings cannot be ignored
The same old arguments in favour of ignoring the business dealings of trustees, of pretending museum programming can function independently of those funding it, cannot stand for long
NewsUSA
Reviving the "small town USA"
Artist aims to rebuild community in Nebraska town
News
The new director of America’s oldest university museum has big plans for its future
Stephanie Wiles, who took up the reins at the Yale University Art Gallery six months ago, wants to expand the institution's engagement with New Haven and the international art world
NewsArt Basel in Miami Beach
The tax man cometh: new laws on sales tax pose problems for US art dealers
US Supreme Court decision is causing anxiety among dealers
NewsArt Basel in Miami Beach
We are all America: first Faena Festival aims to unify, not divide
There is continuity across the two continents, says curator of Miami Beach event
NewsIvory
$1.3m worth of ivory seized in California—the largest haul since a ban was adopted in the state
The Carlton Gallery of San Diego and a nearby warehouse had hundreds of pieces
NewsLos Angeles
Artists’ homes and work destroyed in California wildfires
It was not just Malibu’s celebrities who lost their property in the Woolsey Fire that ravaged the beachside community
CommentPolitics
The mid-term elections brought many gains for progressive causes—but there is still work to be done
The artist Martha Rosler, whose politically focussed work is on view at New York’s Jewish Museum, explains what we can take away from this week’s Democratic wins
NewsAuction record
Holy grail of folk ceramics made by 19th-century snake handler breaks auction record
The “snake jug” shattered the previous record for Anna Pottery, a niche favourite of Americana collectors
PreviewExhibitions
When the avant-garde met E=mc2: the story behind Dimensionism
Supported by prominent figures in its day, the little known movement is at last being rescued from obscurity
News
US museums are too white, and this paid internship programme hopes to change that
Ten museums across America will participate in an inaugural project launched by the Association of Art Museum Directors
NewsConservation & Preservation
Warhol's newly restored 102-canvas work Shadows goes on show in New York
Dia's presentation coincides with the Whitney Museum of American Art’s retrospective on the artist
PreviewExhibitions
Highlights from Duke of Orléans collection brought together for 300th birthday of New Orleans
Exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art will include works by Veronese, Reni and Rubens
ReviewBiennials & festivals
Pittsburgh’s Carnegie International is a DIY (Do Interpret Yourself) exhibition
The show’s curator Ingrid Schaffner has avoided an ill-fitting theme and allowed the art to speak for itself—sometimes this works and sometimes it does not
NewsConservation & Preservation
Family reunited: US exhibition brings together the pieces of cut-up 17th-century Frans Hals portrait
Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio shows three paintings confirmed as one original work by recent conservation
News
High Museum of Art’s new galleries honour their public
Non-white visitors have jumped from 15% to half of the museum’s attendance in just three years
NewsPolitics
Artists join forces in bid to swing US midterm elections
Artist-run organisation For Freedoms’ country-wide initiative is a rallying point—even in right-leaning states
PreviewExhibitions
Metropolitan Museum of Art reclassifies status of Native American art for new exhibition
Donor of artefacts asked New York museum to present them as "American art rather than tribal art"
PreviewArt market
US fairs help bring new blood to Tefaf Maastricht
The success of Tefaf New York Spring this year marked a sea-change
BlogIn the frame
Can’t get tickets for Hamilton: the Musical? See the exhibition instead
A new exhibition about the Broadway show opens in April 2019
AnalysisExpo Chicago
Expo Chicago grows but local dealers drop out
While international exhibitor numbers are up again, the Midwest collectors base proves elusive
PreviewExhibitions
Hairy who? The group that put a spell on the 1960s Chicago art scene
Art Institute of Chicago hosts first major survey of the loose artist collective
NewsPrivate Museums
Glenstone’s giant $200m expansion is ready, but will visitors come?
Collectors’ private museum, scrutinised by US Senate for limited access, could draw 100,000 people a year
PreviewExhibitions
San Francisco show celebrates diversity of Muslim fashion
As debates on the burqa rage worldwide, De Young Museum exhibition explores complexities and range of Islamic dress
PreviewExhibitions
From assassinations to CIA mind control: new show investigates how artists tackle conspiracy theories
Met Breuer exhibition, of works made over the past 50 years, feels timely in the age of fake news
PreviewExhibitions
Rembrandt the master printmaker—and shrewd market manipulator
Denver Art Museum's exhibition of the Old Master's prints looks at how he “intentionally made rarities” for his collectors
PreviewExhibitions
Dia turns the spotlight on female Land Art pioneer Nancy Holt
New York show recreates 1970s installations that inspired her best known work
News
Culture Pass has New Yorkers reaching for their library cards—but demand is exceeding supply
New scheme offering free tickets to some of the city’s most popular museums had thousands of responses
NewsArtists
Is this the future of catalogues raisonnés?
A new online database of Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings offers a template for a more up-to-date—and richer—resource
NewsSocial history
Canada struggles with monuments tied to colonialism
Echoing a conflict in the US, the nation contends with calls to remove controversial memorials
CommentSocial history
Statues are part of history, but do a poor job of recording it
Matthew Sears is professor of classics and ancient history, University of New Brunswick
Interview
‘A critical juncture’: Richard Koshalek on MOCA’s future under Klaus Biesenbach
The Los Angeles museum’s longest-serving director shares his recommendations for its newly appointed leader
NewsUSA
Naked 'clown Trump' statue installed on Los Angeles billboard
In their latest project, the guerrilla group Indecline compares the US president to serial killer John Wayne Gacy
CommentPolitics
Why arts journalism matters: because art matters
Even in arts journalism, one can see the effects of President Trump's inflammatory rhetoric against the press
NewsVenice Biennale
Martin Puryear to represent US at Venice Biennale
The Madison Square Park Conservancy will organise the installation for the US pavilion
NewsSocial issues
US Planned Parenthood campaign includes artists Shirin Neshat and Carrie Mae Weems
The Unstoppable initiative includes an online exhibition of works by ten female artists and writers
NewsArt fairs
As big fairs flock to the West Coast, can Seattle Art Fair keep its quirk and still compete?
As new tech wealth pulls in established names, some fear this eclectic market will become homogenised
ReviewBooks
Very much an acquired taste: how did so many Italian baroque paintings end up in US museums?
Book provides a sampling of personalities, acquisition strategies and collections that many Europeans may not know
PreviewExhibitions
Playtime: how artists have been unleashing their inner child this summer
From superhero action figures to Chianti-infused treasure hunts and poolside art, exhibitions are exploring the importance of play
CommentMuseums & Heritage
A victory for righteousness or just a performance of it?
We need to acknowledge the complexity of our time and not hide in simple political polarities, says the director of the Art Gallery of Ontario
Stephan Jost