Arts news

• Does Diversity Really Improve Creativity?

  07-07-2017 00:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  "Most studies assume that the relationship between diversity and creativity is linear, but recent evidence suggests that a moderate degree of diversity is more beneficial than a higher dose. This finding is consistent with the too-much-of-a-good-thing paradigm in management science, which provides compelling evidence for the idea that even the most desirable qualities have a dark side if taken to the extreme. In other words, all things are good in moderation (except moderation)."
  
  Read more

• Matthew Bogdanos, Head of New York DA’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit, Wins $100 K. Prize in Art History

  05-02-2026 22:44 via artnews.com
  The Vilcek Foundation, a nonprofit that raises awareness of the contributions of immigrant to American history and culture, announced the recipients of its 20th annual prizes for excellence in the arts and sciences. Among this year’s honorees was Matthew Bogdanos, a former classics scholar, US Marine colonel, and current assistant district attorney in New York.Bogdanos is a familiar figure in the art world. In 2017, he launched the Antiquities Trafficking Unit, a division of the New York D
  
  Read more

• Pulitzer-Winning ‘Washington Post’ Art Critic Sebastian Smee Laid Off in Cutbacks, But Philip Kennicott Remains

  05-02-2026 22:41 via artnews.com
  Billionaire Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post laid off some thirty percent of its employees on Wednesday, according to sources quoted in the New York Times, slashing the paper’s sports, local news, and international coverage. More than 300 of the approximately 800 journalists in the newsroom were reportedly let go.Among the casualties was Pulitzer Prize for Criticism honoree Sebastian Smee, who was on staff since 2018. “I had eight wonderful years at the Post, which paid for me to t
  
  Read more

• Tickets to Auschwitz Museum Must Now Be Booked Online Due to ‘Unethical Practices’ of Private Travel Companies

  05-02-2026 22:18 via artnews.com
  The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial announced on Wednesday that, beginning March 1, all tickets must be booked through its online reservation system. Previously, individual visitors could obtain entry cards on site.In a post on the museum’s website, officials said the change was “primarily a response to the unethical practices of certain tour operators.”“They sold museum tours that included transportation from Kraków. At the last minute, customers were
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• The Best Booths at Zona Maco 2026, Where Sculptures Using Natural Materials Shine

  05-02-2026 22:15 via artnews.com
  By Wednesday morning, when Zona Maco opened its 22nd edition to VIPs, Mexico City Art Week was in full swing. Monday and Tuesday had seen a slew of gallery openings across the capital city, with museum exhibitions also opening this week. The energy during opening day was vibrant, with many dealers telling ARTnews that last year was great, and this year is seemingly even stronger. How that will translate into sales still remains to be seen.But what is certain is that there is a strong showing of
  
  Read more

• What to See at Milan’s Best Museums and Galleries During the 2026 Winter Olympics

  05-02-2026 19:52 via artnews.com
  The 2026 Winter Olympics are upon us, with the opening ceremony—featuring a performance by Mariah Carey!— taking place at Milan’s San Siro Stadium at 8 PM local time on Friday, February 6.Events will take place throughout northern Italy, with indoor ice events in Milan and outdoor events in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Livigno, Bormio, Predazzo, and Tesero.While the Dolomites and Italian Alps are lovely this time of year, winter sports fans who hope to slip in some art viewing whil
  
  Read more

• Buffalo AKG Director Hasn’t Repaid $710 K. Museum Loan Used to Buy Home, State Report Finds

  05-02-2026 19:33 via artnews.com
  Janne Sirén, director of Buffalo’s Albright-Knox Art Gallery since 2013, used a museum loan to help finance a $710,000 home—more than half of which remains unpaid, including accrued interest, according to a state review.Buffalo News, citing data from the Erie County Comptroller’s Office, reported that prevailing interest rates at the time of the loan ranged between 4 and 4.5 percent. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery—now known as the Buffalo AKG Art Museum–a
  
  Read more

• Buffalo AKG Director Hasn’t Repaid $335K Museum Loan Used to Buy Home, State Report Finds

  05-02-2026 19:33 via artnews.com
  Janne Sirén, director of Buffalo’s Albright-Knox Art Gallery since 2013, used a museum loan to help finance a $710,000 home—more than half of which remains unpaid, including accrued interest, according to a state review.Buffalo News, citing data from the Erie County Comptroller’s Office, reported that prevailing interest rates at the time of the loan ranged between 4 and 4.5 percent. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery—now known as the Buffalo AKG Art Museum–a
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• New Exhibition Space Opens in Gaudí-Designed Building in Barcelona

  05-02-2026 18:53 via artnews.com
  Casa Batlló, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Barcelona designed by the Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí, recently opened a new exhibition space designated for shows of contemporary art. The program opened last week with an exhibition of work by United Visual Artists (Matt Clark) and will continue with two annual shows in a space now known as Casa Batlló Contemporary.The new initiative expands on Casa Batlló’s “Mapping,” a series involving commissions
  
  Read more

• Ropac to Open New York Project Space, ADAA New Members, And More: Industry Moves for February 5, 2026

  05-02-2026 17:54 via artnews.com
  Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday.Happy Thursday! Here’s a round-up of who’s moving and shaking in the art trade this week.Thaddaeus Ropac to Open New York Project Space: The gallery also hired Emilio Steinberger as a senior director in the US. Steinberger was previously a senior partner at Lévy Gorvy Dayan.Hauser &am
  
  Read more

• Toledo Museum of Art Director Adam M. Levine on Six of the Museum’s Most Important 2025 Acquisitions

  05-02-2026 17:45 via artnews.com
  The Toledo Museum of Art has a somewhat atypical history, in terms of encyclopedic museums of its ilk. “The museum,” director Adam M. Levine explains, “was founded in 1901 with money and not a collection. The most interesting feature of our acquisitions is that they are almost all funded from the endowment rather than as gifts.” This, Levine feels, enables curators to drive the acquisitions process.“Because the resources are owned by the museum, there is greater sta
  
  Read more

• Is Martin Puryear the Most Influential American Artist Working Today?

  05-02-2026 17:00 via artnews.com
  Self-portraiture is commonly thought to be one of the most revealing genres of artmaking: In presenting an image of yourself to the world, you are baring it all, or so the thinking goes. What, then, is one to make of Martin Puryear’s 1978 sculpture Self? Composed of a large piece of carved mahogany topped off with a hunk of cedar, this work does not represent much. Its sinuous wooden surface stained a shade of black returns its viewer’s gaze with a whole lot of darkness.Self is a joy
  
  Read more

• Fast-Rising Sculptor Yuko Mohri Wins $50,000 Calder Prize

  05-02-2026 17:00 via artnews.com
  Yuko Mohri, a Japanese sculptor whose assemblages of fruit and found objects are in high demand on the international art circuit, has won yet another accolade: the Calder Prize, which is awarded by the namesake artist’s foundation and comes with $50,000.Mohri had already built a long CV in her native Japan before she represented the country at the 2024 Venice Biennale. Building on installations that appeared in biennials held in Gwangju and Sydney, her Japanese Pavilion typified her maxima
  
  Read more

• Empress Eugénie’s Crown to be Restored After Louvre Heist, Rembrandt Drawing Breaks Auction Record: Morning Links for February 5, 2026

  05-02-2026 15:33 via artnews.com
  To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter. THE HEADLINES FALLEN CROWN. For the first time since the brazen theft of French crown jewels, the Louvre has publicly shared images of Empress Eugénie’s crown, which was badly crushed by thieves who tried but failed to make off with it. Investigators determined that the robbers jammed the crown through a narrow opening they had cut in the jewel
  
  Read more

• Philippines-Based Ayala Foundation Names Reuben Keehan as Artistic Director for Kontempo Arts Center

  05-02-2026 15:14 via artnews.com
  The Ayala Foundation, the social development arm of the Phillippines largest conglomerate, announced Wednesday that it has named Reuben Keehan as the incoming artistic director for Kontempo, a new contemporary art space scheduled to open in Manila.Designed by Kulapat Yantrasat, founder of WHY Architecture and architect of the new Rockefeller Wing at the Met, Kontempo will consist of over 26,000 square feet of exhibition space across three galleries. There will also be nearly four acres of open g
  
  Read more

• Empress Eugénie’s Damaged Crown to Be Restored After Louvre Heist

  05-02-2026 12:50 via artnews.com
  When thieves broke into Paris’s Louvre on October 19 last year, they ran off with an estimated $102 million in jewels. In their scramble to escape, however, they left behind what may have been top of their loot list: the crown of Empress Eugénie. Dropped and badly damaged during the heist, the diamond- and emerald-encrusted crown is now slated for a painstaking restoration before it returns to public view in the museum’s Galerie d’Apollon.Judicial police initially seized
  
  Read more

• New Details Revealed for Planned Saudi Museum in AlUla

  04-02-2026 23:24 via artnews.com
  Further details about a new museum to open in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, were revealed by Arts AlUla, a project of the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU). Plans for the Lina Ghotmeh–designed institution, a partnership between the RCU and the Centre Pompidou, were first announced in 2023. The new information was reported by the Art Newspaper, among other outlets.Set in the AlUla Oasis, the planned museum is part of RCU’s development of the historic region of Al-Ula (now officially AlUla), hom
  
  Read more

• Philadelphia Art Museum Reverses Controversial Rebrand, Becomes Philadelphia Museum of Art Again

  04-02-2026 22:50 via artnews.com
  Four months after announcing a snazzy rebrand from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the Philadelphia Art Museum, the institution announced that it is reversing course. As of Wednesday afternoon, the museum will again be known by its longtime moniker.In a press release, the museum said that it would retain its new griffin logo and brand identity unveiled in October while also returning to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The decision, it said, reflects “the recommendations of an interdiscip
  
  Read more

• Collector Ronald Lauder Repeatedly Named in Newly Released Jeffrey Epstein Files

  04-02-2026 22:00 via artnews.com
  Ronald Lauder, a powerful art collector who has patronized institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Getty Trust, and the World Monuments Funds, appears more than 900 times in the set of Jeffrey Epstein–related files that were released by the Department of Justice at the end of January.Lauder, the heir to the Estée Lauder Company, appears to have met with Epstein multiple times in 2017. While there is no direct communication between Lauder an
  
  Read more

• 7 Shows to See in Mexico City Art Week

  04-02-2026 21:05 via artnews.com
  Throughout the year, the museums and galleries across Mexico City (renamed from the DF to CDMX in 2016) mount an expansive set of exhibitions. But during Mexico City Art Week each February, alongside fairs like Zona Maco and Material, they often open some of their most important exhibitions or host closing receptions for their fall/winter exhibitions. This year offers an interesting mix of exhibitions with an emphasis on historical shows for 20th-century artists as well as shows for some of toda
  
  Read more

• See Frank Lloyd Wright’s Circular Sun House on the Market for $8.8 M.

  04-02-2026 21:00 via artnews.com
  Frank Lloyd Wright’s so-called Circular Sun House—the last design completed by the famed architect before his death in 1959—is up for sale for $8.8 million. The look is sleek and futuristic, with consummate rhythm and flow. The setting is a hilltop in Phoenix that offers breathtaking views of Palm Canyon and the sun-streaked city below.The listing from Realty ONE Group notes that the house was designed shortly before the opening of Wright’s iconic Guggenheim Museum buildi
  
  Read more

• London’s Stephen Friedman Gallery Abruptly Closes, Enters Insolvency Proceedings

  04-02-2026 19:45 via artnews.com
  Rumors have been swirling about London’s Stephen Friedman Gallery, especially after ARTnews reported on Tuesday that the gallery had pulled out at the last minute from a coveted spot at the inaugural Art Basel Qatar, which kicked off Tuesday in Doha. Now, ARTnews can confirm that the gallery has entered administration—the UK equivalent to bankrupcy proceedings—and is closed to the public. The gallery was founded in London’s Mayfair neighborhood in 1995. “S
  
  Read more

• Rise of Olympus Extreme Slot – Seasonal Content

  04-02-2026 19:00 via zouchmagazine.com
  Στο σημερινό το περιβάλλον των virtual casino, απογειώνεται μια πρόταση που συνδυάζει προηγμένα features. Το Rise of Olympus
  
  Read more

• Πλήρης Οδηγός για το Rise of Olympus Extreme

  04-02-2026 18:57 via zouchmagazine.com
  Το Rise of Olympus Extreme Demo αντιπροσωπεύει την κορύφωση χρόνων έρευνας και ανάπτυξης στον τομέα των video slots. Δεν πρόκε&iota
  
  Read more

• The Best Booths at Art Basel Qatar from the Quietly Sensual to the Colorfully Quirky

  04-02-2026 18:51 via artnews.com
  Art Basel Qatar’s first edition doesn’t unfold in a convention center or a sealed-off fairground. Instead, it is embedded directly into the newly built Msheireb Downtown Doha. The fair spans two venues—the M7 building and the Doha Design District—set roughly two blocks apart, close enough that walking between the two doesn’t feel like a chore.M7 is framed as a working hub rather than a neutral exhibition shell. It is designed to support designers from concept to mar
  
  Read more

• Mnuchin Gallery to Close After Death of Founder in December

  04-02-2026 18:33 via artnews.com
  Mnuchin Gallery, the long-running Upper East Side establishment founded by Wall Street pioneer Robert Mnuchin, will close at the end of February.“For more than three decades, Mnuchin Gallery had the privilege of presenting exhibitions that fostered rare and sustained dialogue among scholars and audiences around some of the most significant art of our time,” the gallery said in a press release Wednesday. “In the wake of Robert Mnuchin’s passing on December 20, 2025, it is
  
  Read more

• Jeffrey Epstein Apparently Got Private Access to the Musée d’Orsay with Woody Allen

  04-02-2026 17:51 via artnews.com
  Jeffrey Epstein bragged to his friends about having gotten private access to visit the Musée d’Orsay in Paris with the filmmaker Woody Allen in emails released by the Department of Justice in January.On March 18, 2012, Epstein wrote to a recipient billed only as “junkermann,” “are you in paris„ the govt is going to open the musee dorsay for me and woody alien at 4.. youa re welcome.” The recipient was German entrepreneur Nicole Junkermann, who repeatedl
  
  Read more

• National Gallery of Art Acquires Artemisia Gentileschi Masterpiece

  04-02-2026 17:00 via artnews.com
  An Artemisia Gentileschi painting entered the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., marking the first work by the artist to join the museum’s holdings.The painting, titled Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy (ca. 1625), was thought to be lost until it resurfaced in 2011 in a French private collection. In 2014, it headed to auction at Sotheby’s, where it sold for $1.1 million, at the time notching a new auction record for Gentileschi.In the 12-year-long interval between
  
  Read more

• Restorer Admits Painting Likeness of Italian PM On Ancient Fresco, and More: Morning Links for February 4, 2026

  04-02-2026 16:06 via artnews.com
  Good Morning!Restorer admits to painting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome basilica and complies with Vatican orders to erase it.   Open letter demands curatorial independence at the Art Gallery of Ontario following decision not to acquire Nan Goldin artwork.Trump has plans to erect a controversial statue of Christopher Columbus on the White House grounds.The Headlines IT WAS HER. After repeatedly denying he had painted the likeness of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Me
  
  Read more

• Walters Art Museum Appoints New Chief Collections and Curatorial Affairs Officer

  04-02-2026 16:00 via artnews.com
  The Walters Art Museum has named Katherine Larson as its chief collections and curatorial affairs officer, a newly created position, and senior curator of Ancient Art. She will oversee curatorial operations, collections, conservation and research at the Baltimore institution and will take up her new role March 30, managing the exhibition calendar and fundraising for the museum, among other duties.“We are thrilled to welcome Katherine Larson into this role,” said museum executive dire
  
  Read more

Follow @ArtsUKnews on Twitter!