Arts news

• Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.27.16

  28-10-2016 10:58 via feedproxy.google.com
  Viewpoint diversity
  In a guest blog at Scientific American, social psychologist Clay Routledge asks whether American (and presumably this applies to other countries) universities allot an excessive amount of attention to racial, gender, and cultural diversity, but insufficient attention to viewpoint diversity. … read more
  AJBlog: For What it’s Worth Published 2016-10-27Moving Architecture
  American Ballet Theatre presents ballets by Tharp, Lang, and Millepied. … read more
  AJBl
  
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• MFA Boston Says Layoffs Did Not ‘Disproportionately Impact’ People of Color

  06-02-2026 15:40 via artnews.com
  On Thursday night, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston issued a lengthy explanation about a recent round of layoffs that drew controversy, in part because many claimed the cuts unfairly targeted curators of color.The museum denied that this was the case. “All along, we took steps to ensure that cuts would not disproportionately impact any groups based on their background or identity,” wrote director Pierre Terjanian in a statement on the museum’s website. “One third of our ent
  
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• Basel’s House of Electronic Arts and Tezos Foundation Partner to Preserve Digital Art

  06-02-2026 15:37 via artnews.com
  Blockchain may still feel like a buzzword to some, but for the House of Electronic Arts (HEK)—a museum in Basel dedicated to digital culture, media art, and technology—and the Tezos Foundation, it’s a vital tool for expanding the museum experience and helping artists connect with audiences. The two institutions recently announced a year-long partnership bringing together virtual and physical exhibitions, workshops, and long-term initiatives focused on the preservation of digita
  
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• LACMA Will Open Peter Zumthor–Designed Building on April 19 to Members, May 4 to Public

  06-02-2026 15:01 via artnews.com
  The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced that it will open its long-awaited new building, officially called the David Geffen Galleries, on April 19 to members, who will have access to the building ahead of the public for two weeks.On Sunday, May 3, LACMA will offer access to members of its NexGenLA program, which offers free membership to LA County residents 17 and younger. Then on May 4, the expansion will officially open its doors to the public. (Members can now book reservations for the
  
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• 20 Essential Objects to See at the British Museum

  06-02-2026 15:00 via artnews.com
  Updated February 6, 2026The British Museum, the world’s first free-to-the-public national museum, opened its doors in 1759. Founded in 1753 by an act of Parliament, after the physician and collector Hans Sloane bequeathed his collection to the nation, the museum immediately had a base of 71,000 items to oversee.From its beginnings as Sloane’s “cabinet of curiosities,” the British Museum has grown in size, scope, and reputation over the past 266 years. It is now steward of
  
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• Thomas Kaplan’s Rembrandt Lion Drawing Sells for $17.8 M. at Sotheby’s

  06-02-2026 13:33 via artnews.com
  After a world tour that saw Rembrandt van Rijn’s Young Lion Resting (ca. 1638–42) travel to Paris, Abu Dhabi, Tokyo, and New York, the drawing finally sold for a record $17.9 million on Wednesday (all quoted prices include fees). That’s the highest price ever paid for a drawing by the Dutch master.While the result fell short of the overall work-on-paper auction record—$48 million for Raphael’s Head of an Apostle (ca. 1519)—it far surpassed the previous Rembran
  
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• Thomas Kaplan’s Rembrandt Lion Drawing Sells for $17.8 M. at Sotheby’s, with Proceeds Going to His Wild Cat Charity

  06-02-2026 13:33 via artnews.com
  After a world tour that saw Rembrandt van Rijn’s Young Lion Resting (circa 1638-42) travel to Paris, Abu Dhabi, Tokyo, and New York, it finally sold for a record $17.86 million on Wednesday (all quoted prices include fees). That’s the highest price ever paid for a drawing by the Dutch master.While the result fell short of the overall work-on-paper auction record—$48 million for Raphael’s Head of an Apostle (circa 1519)—it far surpassed the previous Rembrandt drawing
  
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• How Shaker Design Crafts Visions of Heaven on Earth

  06-02-2026 11:00 via artnews.com
  Just as the new movie The Testament of Ann Lee brings the Shakers back into the public eye, an exhibition at Philadelphia’s Institute of Contemporary Art celebrates the movement’s lasting contributions to art and design. “The Shakers: A World in the Making” is a collaboration between the ICA, Vitra Design Museum, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Shaker Museum that brings historic Shaker objects into dialogue with contemporary art, including works newly commissioned for t
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• Boosterism? Why, It Made America What It Is Today!

  05-02-2026 21:02 via editor.ne16.com
  “Boosters don’t describe real things so much as what they hope will become real things, often presenting growth as inevitable and betting on optimism as a viable economic strategy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, boosterism has played a major role in American history. … The harsh truth is, boosterism sometimes works.” – Quartz
  
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• Crypto Investors Pay $300K To Create Gold Trump Statue

  05-02-2026 20:31 via nytimes.com
  At 15 feet tall, the statue of President Trump, mounted on its 7,000-pound pedestal, is about the height of a two-story building — a giant effigy cast in bronze and finished with a thick layer of gold leaf. – The New York Times
  
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• The Difference Between Human Hierarchies And Other Primate Hierarchies

  05-02-2026 20:05 via theconversation.com
  Evolutionary anthropologist Thomas Morgan: “People can be coercive, but unlike other species, we also create hierarchies of prestige – voluntary arrangements that allocate labor and decision-making power according to expertise.” – The Conversation
  
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• 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
  
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• Critics Hate Proposed Plans For British Museum Spruce-Up

  05-02-2026 19:44 via bbc.com
  New security buildings in the grounds of the British Museum would look “too flashy” and resemble “a shop and wine bar”, opponents to the plans have said. – BBC
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• Netflix CEO Goes To Testify Before Congress; A Culture War Ensues

  05-02-2026 19:31 via nbcnews.com
  He ended up spending much of his time before the Judiciary subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights pushing back against accusations from Republican senators that the streamer is politically biased. – NBC
  
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• Michelangelo And Titian: A Contemporary Odd Couple

  05-02-2026 19:15 via wsj.com
  The two men couldn’t have been more different. Titian was a painter while Michelangelo, though renowned both as a painter and a sculptor, saw himself exclusively as the latter. They lived hundreds of miles apart—the former in Venice, the latter in Florence and Rome—and inhabited vastly different aesthetic universes. – The Wall Street Journal
  
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• A.O. Scott Annotates The Court Order Freeing The Five-Year-Old Held By ICE

  05-02-2026 19:03 via nytimes.com
  “Judge Biery’s decision … is much more than dry judicial reasoning. It’s a passionate, erudite, at times mischievous piece of prose. … In fewer than 500 words, Judge Biery marshals literature, history, folk wisdom and Scripture to challenge the theory of executive power that has defined Trump’s second presidency.” – The New York Times
  
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• 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
  
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• Bruce Springsteen’s Protest Song In The Age Of Digital Spread

  05-02-2026 18:44 via theconversation.com
  What distinguishes Streets of Minneapolis is not just its fidelity to the tradition of the protest song, but its mode of circulation as a rapid response in the digital age. – The Conversation
  
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• Amazon Pulls “Melania” From Movie Theatre After Cheeky Marquee Promotion

  05-02-2026 18:31 via seattletimes.com
  It all started with a joke on a movie marquee: “To defeat your enemy, you must know them. ‘Melania’ starts Friday.” – Seattle Times
  
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• Testing Trumps Claims About Closing The Kennedy Center

  05-02-2026 18:15 via theconversation.com
  One is that the center needs major upgrades. That is true. The other is that those upgrades require full closure of the entire campus for multiple years. That is suspect. – The Conversation
  
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• The Blazing Avant-Garde Theater Actress Who Up And Disappeared

  05-02-2026 18:01 via artsjournal.com
  Libby Howes came to New York in 1975 and fell in with The Wooster Group. Her work there thrilled viewers, and Helen Shaw was blown away just by old film of Howes performing. But in 1981, after a psychotic break, she disappeared. Shaw investigated what became of her. – The New York Times
  
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• 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
  
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• Why Boys Are Worse At Reading At Every Grade

  05-02-2026 17:45 via nytimes.com
  Test score data presents averages. Many girls struggle to read, and many boys excel at it. But overall, boys are about three-quarters of a year behind girls in reading in fourth grade, and roughly a year behind in 12th grade. – The New York Times
  
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• 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
  
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