Arts news

• Momentum Builds at Abu Dhabi Art Ahead of the Frieze Takeover, but Sales Still Lag Behind the Buzz

  24-11-2025 23:37 via artnews.com
  For years, the narrative of Abu Dhabi’s cultural rise has been dominated by institution-building, primarily on Saadiyat Island: Louvre Abu Dhabi opened there in 2017, the Natural History Museum followed this year, with the Zayed National Museum soon to come and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi scheduled for 2026. These projects symbolized the city’s identity as a government-led museum capital, impressive in scale yet often perceived as detached from the day-to-day life of artists and galleries.
  
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• ‘Queen of Versailles’ to Close as New Broadway Musicals Struggle

  24-11-2025 23:31 via nytimes.com
  The show, starring Kristin Chenoweth, will remain open through the holidays. The announcement comes just two weeks after the musical opened.
  
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• A Drawing Said to Be by Michelangelo Will Go to Auction

  24-11-2025 23:29 via artnews.com
  A five-inch-tall red chalk drawing of a foot, said to be by Michelangelo (1475–1564), will be offered for sale at Christie’s auction house in New York in February. Christie’s estimates the work to sell between $1.5 million and $2 million.The piece came to light when Giada Damen, a specialist in Old Master drawings at Christie’s, noticed it among a batch of online inquiries from members of the public. The client had noted that the artist was Michelangelo on the form; howev
  
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• Rijksmuseum to Partner with Researchers into the Health Benefits of Art

  24-11-2025 23:24 via artnews.com
  Since the 1970s physicians have known that some people with the progressive movement disorder Parkinson’s Disease felt more creative following the onset of the disease. A few years ago, this curious fact spurred a research team in the Netherlands to carry out a long-term study—one that now includes a partnership with Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum—of the relationship between creativity and better health outcomes for Parkinson’s patients.Between March 2021 and March 2022, B
  
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• GoFundMe Created Donation Pages for Hundreds of Museums. The Only Problem: They Didn’t Tell the Museums.

  24-11-2025 23:17 via artnews.com
  Art museums and other nonprofits have whole departments devoted to fundraising that employ seasoned experts and deploy time-tested strategies to fill their coffers, and museum directors often spend a great deal of their time cultivating the kinds of major donors whose names grace institutions’ walls. So these organizations could be forgiven for being surprised when it emerged this fall that crowdfunding platform GoFundMe, better known for helping individuals and families raise money for me
  
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• Gold Pocket Watch Recovered From the Titanic Sets New Auction Record at $2.3 M.

  24-11-2025 22:59 via artnews.com
  A gold pocket watch recovered from the ship-wrecked Titanic fetched a record £1.78 million ($2.33 million) at auction this weekend.The 18-carat Jules Jurgensen gold watch belonged to Isidor Straus, who perished on board the Titanic with his wife Ida, when the ship hit an iceberg and sank in 1912. Straus received the engraved watch as a gift on his 43rd birthday in 1888. The object remains frozen in time having stopped at 02:20, when it was submerged in the ocean water.Straus’s body w
  
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• Antica Terra Winemaker Maggie Harrison Collaborates With Artists for Limited-Edition ‘Museum in a Box’ Set

  24-11-2025 21:45 via artnews.com
  Editor’s Note: This story is part of Newsmakers, an ARTnews series where we interview the movers and shakers who are making change in the art world.Maggie Harrison is the head of winemaking at Antica Terra in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where she has garnered a reputation as one of the most celebrated practitioners of the craft. With a group of artists—Julie Mehretu, Paul Pfeiffer, and Jessica Rankin—she recently unveiled a limited-edition box set of wines
  
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• Vanity Fair‘s Soon-To-Be-Published Hollywood Issue Includes an Intimate, Abstract Portrait Olivia Nuzzi

  24-11-2025 21:41 via artnews.com
  In a media cycle already saturated with journalist Olivia Nuzzi’s increasingly personal controversies, Vanity Fair’s decision to publish a stunning abstract nude portrait of its newest West Coast editor may be the most interesting development yet.The painting, titled How to Disappear is by the artist Isabelle Brourman and is set to appear in the magazine’s Dec. 2 Hollywood Issue, according to industry newsletter Status, though until now, no image has circulated p
  
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• Vanity Fair‘s Soon-To-Be-Published Hollywood Issue Includes an Intimate, Abstract Portrait of Olivia Nuzzi

  24-11-2025 21:41 via artnews.com
  In a media cycle already saturated with journalist Olivia Nuzzi’s increasingly personal controversies, Vanity Fair’s decision to publish a stunning abstract nude portrait of its newest West Coast editor may be the most interesting development yet.The painting, titled How to Disappear is by the artist Isabelle Brourman and is set to appear in the magazine’s Dec. 2 Hollywood Issue, according to industry newsletter Status, though until now, no image has circulated public
  
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• Vanity Fair‘s Soon-To-Be-Published Hollywood Issue Includes Abstract Olivia Nuzzi Portrait

  24-11-2025 21:41 via artnews.com
  In a media cycle already saturated with journalist Olivia Nuzzi’s increasingly outlandish personal controversies, Vanity Fair’s decision to publish an abstract nude portrait of its newest West Coast editor may be the most surreal development yet. The painting, titled How to Disappear by artist Isabelle Brourman, is set to appear in the magazine’s Dec. 2 Hollywood Issue, according to industry newsletter Status, though until now, no image has circulated publicly or
  
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• Vanity Fair Reportedly Commissioned An ‘Abstract Nude Portrait’ of Olivia Nuzzi by Well-Known Sketch Artist

  24-11-2025 21:41 via artnews.com
  In a media cycle already saturated with journalist Olivia Nuzzi’s increasingly outlandish personal controversies, Vanity Fair’s decision to publish an abstract nude portrait of its newest West Coast editor may be the most surreal development yet. The drawing, by artist Isabelle Brourman, is set to appear in the magazine’s Dec. 2 Hollywood Issue, according to industry newsletter Status, though no image has circulated publicly or even widely inside Condé Nas
  
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• Vanity Fair Faces Backlash Over Soon-To-Be-Published Olivia Nuzzi Portrait

  24-11-2025 21:41 via artnews.com
  In a media cycle already saturated with journalist Olivia Nuzzi’s increasingly outlandish personal controversies, Vanity Fair’s decision to publish an abstract nude portrait of its newest West Coast editor may be the most surreal development yet. The drawing, by artist Isabelle Brourman, is set to appear in the magazine’s Dec. 2 Hollywood Issue, according to industry newsletter Status, though no image has circulated publicly or even widely inside Condé Nas
  
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• Last-Minute Art Basel Miami Lineup Change: Ross + Kramer Is Out and Ross + Co. Is In

  24-11-2025 21:07 via artnews.com
  In late October, with Art Basel Miami Beach just over a month out, ARTnews reported some last-minute changes to the fair’s lineup since it had been announced in July, which saw eight exhibitors falling off the roster for various reasons. The changes came along with sources telling ARTnews that the organizer was having trouble filling the giant Miami Beach Convention Center.With just over a week left before the fair opens to VIPs next Wednesday, ARTnews can reveal another switch-up: Ross +
  
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• MSK Ghent Declines to Return Nazi-Looted Painting, Citing Past Compensation

  24-11-2025 21:06 via artnews.com
  The Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) in Ghent has declined to restitute Gaspar de Craye’s Nazi-looted Portrait of Bishop Triest, saying that the painting’s original owner and heirs were previously compensated. Jewish groups in Belgium, however, continue to demand further compensation, fueling controversy. According to the Dutch-language press, Ghent appointed an independent commission a year ago to investigate the origins of the Portrait of Bishop Triest. The commission ultimately conc
  
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• Jimmy Cliff Brought Reggae to the Masses with ‘The Harder They Come’

  24-11-2025 20:45 via nytimes.com
  The 1972 film “The Harder They Come” and its accompanying soundtrack brought the genre out of Jamaica and helped pave the way for future stars.
  
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• Sylvia Snowden’s ‘M Street’ Paintings Command Space at White Cube New York

  24-11-2025 20:43 via artnews.com
  Walk into “‘On the Verge,” Sylvia Snowden’s new show at White Cube, and the first thing you feel is that the paintings have been waiting for you—not patiently, not politely, but with the pent-up charge of someone about to tell you something you probably won’t want to hear. This is especially true of the “M Street” figures. The muscular, whiplashed bodies are feel carved out of paint that’s thick enough to bruise if you get too close. The
  
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• Japanese Museum Refunded for Wolfgang Beltracchi Forgery

  24-11-2025 20:30 via artnews.com
  A painting determined to be the work of “genius forger” Wolfgang Beltracchi in Japan’s Tokushima Modern Art Museum, it was returned and refunded for 67.2 million yen ($426,000) by an Osaka-based company on Wednesday, November 19, reported the Mainichi. The museum had announced that it would withdraw the canvas from an upcoming exhibition, following suspicions that it was a Beltracchi fake.The painting in question, At the Cycle-Race Track 55, originally believed to have been mad
  
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• Egyptian Politician Calls for End of Quota System After Grand Egyptian Museum Ticketing Snafu

  24-11-2025 20:25 via artnews.com
  Earlier this month, Egyptian Member of Parliament Freddy Elbaiady criticized the Grand Egyptian Museum’s ticketing system, which sets quotas for the total number of tickets sold to foreign tourists and Egyptian nationals separately.Elbaiady’s demand came days after the museum came under fire for overcrowding. Images surfaced on social media in early November showing thousands of frustrated visitors spilling onto the nearby Giza Plateau after being denied entry. As ARTnews’s Tes
  
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• At the NY Phil, Considering the American Character in 2 Violin Concertos

  24-11-2025 19:39 via nytimes.com
  At the New York Philharmonic, concertos by Samuel Barber and Wynton Marsalis offered contrasting musical ideas: lyrical cohesion and vibrant pluralism.
  
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• Five Essential Books About Anti-Fascist Art History

  24-11-2025 18:56 via artnews.com
  Just as there was no single incarnation of fascist politics between the World Wars, anti-fascism emerged under various guises, ranging from underground resistance to activism-in-exile to expressions of international solidarity to targeted propaganda. These five books trace some of these different histories.
  
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• Stephen Friedman’s Exit From Tribeca Appears to Be Another Case of ‘Art Market Dysphoria’

  24-11-2025 18:23 via artnews.com
  Stephen Friedman Gallery will close its New York space at the end of February 2026, drawing a firm line under a two-year experiment that—depending on whom you ask—either represents prudent consolidation or yet another sign that the mid-to-upper gallery sector is buckling under its own contradictions.There were rumors of Friedman’s decision to leave New York floating around for weeks, but it wasn’t certain until New York critic Jerry Saltz broke the news on Instagram.
  
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• Stephen Friedman’s Exit From Tribeca Appears to Be Another Case of ‘Art Market Dysmorphia’

  24-11-2025 18:23 via artnews.com
  Stephen Friedman Gallery will close its New York space at the end of February 2026, drawing a firm line under a two-year experiment that—depending on whom you ask—either represents prudent consolidation or yet another sign that the mid-to-upper gallery sector is buckling under its own contradictions.There were rumors of Friedman’s decision to leave New York floating around for weeks, but it wasn’t certain until New York critic Jerry Saltz broke the news on Instagram.
  
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• Wen Hui Was Making Feminist Art Before She Even Knew the Term

  24-11-2025 18:12 via nytimes.com
  The Chinese dancer, choreographer and filmmaker “didn’t think in those terms” when she was young. Now, she said, “I’m more relaxed, more clear on what I want to do.”
  
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• Jimmy Cliff: 8 Essential Songs

  24-11-2025 18:12 via nytimes.com
  A giant of Jamaican music, he gained international renown through the 1972 film “The Harder They Come,” and helped establish reggae’s themes of struggle, resistance and uplift.
  
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• Craig Boagey’s Nests of Internet References Thread the Line Between Desire and Horror

  24-11-2025 18:00 via artnews.com
  Girl with pitbull, bands of cash. The radiance of heaven. Being a teen. Gummy, chewy, delicious. Pink. Meme. Foucault and the way Foucault writes. Absurd extinction! Pagan root. Western civilization and liking it. Not like a boy likes it, but like a boy who is always posting pictures of the girls he wants to be likes it. Esoteric Pinterest. Diagram of slave tech, bedazzled snapback. Not afraid, not not afraid.We can’t speak of “internet aesthetics” exactly, but we can speak of
  
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• In a New Show, Nairy Baghramian Rewrites the History of Sculpture as a History of Statelessness

  24-11-2025 17:29 via artnews.com
  When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, they commandeered Katarzyna Kobro’s Łódź apartment as the artist and her family fled. To make space, they discarded or destroyed many of her sculptures. By 1945, the war had ended, but Kobro was forced to burn the remaining wooden works simply to keep warm through the winter.Today, fewer than 20 works from her oeuvre survive. Still, Kobro is remembered for the way her work anticipated postwar concerns, and for how she set out to make
  
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• Jimmy Cliff, Singer Who Helped Bring Reggae to Global Audience, Dies at 81

  24-11-2025 17:10 via nytimes.com
  His Grammy-winning records as well as his starring role in the cult movie “The Harder They Come” in 1972 boosted a career spanning seven decades.
  
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• At 95, David Amram Still Makes Music. And Nobody Can Put Him in a Box.

  24-11-2025 17:00 via nytimes.com
  Jazz, classical, folk, world music — for this composer, categories were never confining.
  
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• Arthouse Legend Udo Kier Dead at 81, Sotheby’s Hong Kong’s White Glove Sale, and More: Morning Links for November 24, 2025

  24-11-2025 16:29 via artnews.com
  Good Morning!One hundred twenty-five works from the Okada Museum sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on Saturday, bringing in $88 million.Canada’s government has passed a landmark bill granting artists resale rights.The Economist examines “grab lists” compiled by museums to determine what to save in the event of a disaster.. The Headlines THE GREAT WAVE… OF CASH. A total of 125 major works from Japan’s Okada Museum of Art hit the auction
  
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• Alma Allen’s Pick as America’s Venice Biennale Representative Is Deeply Dispiriting

  24-11-2025 16:23 via artnews.com
  A dispiriting selection process for the United States Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale has reached its appropriately dispiriting conclusion: Alma Allen, a sculptor known for his sleek, abstract sculptures, will represent America on the country’s 250th anniversary, as previously reported by ARTnews and confirmed today. This is disappointing, not because Allen’s work is bad (there are plenty of worse choices), but because the work has nothing to say about the state of our country a
  
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• State Department Confirms Alma Allen as US Pavilion Artist for 2026 Venice Biennale

  24-11-2025 16:20 via artnews.com
  The US Department of State on Monday morning confirmed that Mexico-based artist Alma Allen will represent the United States at the 2026 Venice Biennale, which will open to the public next May. The news was first reported by ARTnews and the Baer Faxt newsletter earlier this month.In a brief posting, the State Department confirmed that Jeffrey Uslip would serve as curator and that the commissioning institution is the American Arts Conservancy, with its executive director and founder Jenni Par
  
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• Alma Allen, American Sculptor, Is Selected for Venice Biennale

  24-11-2025 15:52 via nytimes.com
  The choice of a relatively unknown artist based in Mexico City ends a chaotic, much-delayed selection process led by the State Department.
  
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• His Right Foot: One Tiny Drawing for Sale, Said to Be by Michelangelo

  24-11-2025 15:12 via nytimes.com
  The Renaissance artist painted more than 100 figures in the Sistine Chapel ceiling, yet studies for only a handful remain. Could this five-inch drawing at Christie’s be one?
  
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• This ‘All My Sons’ Is Tragedy Done Right

  24-11-2025 14:42 via nytimes.com
  Arthur Miller and Ivo van Hove are a perfect match again, in a new production starring Bryan Cranston and Paapa Essiedu.
  
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• Jimmy Cliff, Reggae Icon, Dies at 81

  24-11-2025 13:16 via nytimes.com
  The Grammy Award-winning singer and star of the movie “The Harder They Come” died of pneumonia, his wife said.
  
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• In a $2.2 Billion Week, the Art Market Finds Its Footing

  24-11-2025 13:00 via nytimes.com
  After years of declining sales, records set from major collections (Klimt, Kahlo) primed the auction houses for a rebound at the top.
  
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• ‘Jazz Island’ at Ailey Will Revive an Old-School Theatrical Style

  24-11-2025 11:03 via nytimes.com
  Maija García’s “Jazz Island” is a full-company narrative of a kind that Ailey hasn’t done in a while. And it features an Afro-Caribbean score by Etienne Charles.
  
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• His Right Foot: One Tiny Drawing for Sale, Maybe by Michelangelo

  24-11-2025 11:03 via nytimes.com
  The Renaissance artist painted more than 100 figures in the Sistine Chapel ceiling, yet studies for only a handful remain. Could this five-inch drawing at Christie’s be one?
  
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• What Historical Feuds and Onscreen Squabbles Can Teach Us About Our Obsession With Revenge

  24-11-2025 11:02 via nytimes.com
  From Washington to Hollywood, American culture is now defined by score settling. But what do centuries of feuding have to teach us about getting even?
  
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• Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen Star in a Love Story, Onscreen and Off

  24-11-2025 11:02 via nytimes.com
  Married for three decades, the actors get together as characters in the second season of “A Man on the Inside.”
  
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• The Tender Moments of Ghost of Yotei Transcend Its Violence

  24-11-2025 11:01 via nytimes.com
  Ghost of Yotei is a revenge story at its core, but most stunning are the quiet family connections and treks across beautiful terrain.
  
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• Living, Breathing, Seeing and Teaching Theater

  24-11-2025 11:01 via nytimes.com
  James Bundy leads the theater program at Yale while directing his own revival of “Hedda Gabler.” He told us about a week in his cultural life.
  
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• How ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ Brought My Mother and Me Closer

  24-11-2025 11:01 via nytimes.com
  The show wasn’t an obvious draw for a Bengali immigrant and her teenage son. But the characters’ needs were things we needed, too.
  
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• 5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Musicals

  24-11-2025 11:01 via nytimes.com
  Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sara Bareilles, Joshua Henry, Jeanine Tesori, Jason Robert Brown and New York Times writers and editors pick 13 songs to seal the deal.
  
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• Holiday Romance Books That Capture the Cozy Magic of the Season

  24-11-2025 11:00 via nytimes.com
  The best-selling author B.K. Borison recommends sweet and sexy reads that capture the cozy magic of the season.
  
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• Sotheby’s Sells 125 Works from Japan’s Okada Museum for $88 M. so Founder Can Pay $50 M. Legal Bill

  24-11-2025 10:51 via artnews.com
  A total of 125 major works from Japan’s Okada Museum of Art hit the auction block at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on Saturday, achieving white-glove status (meaning all works sold). The sale netted the equivalent of $88 million (plus fees) and set two auction records for Japanese artists Kitagawa Utamaro and Hokusai. Sotheby’s told ARTnews that the collection was “estimated in excess of $50 million.”The result should satisfy Kazuo Okada, the museum’s founder, who sold
  
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• ‘The Beatles Anthology,’ Plus 9 Things to Watch on TV This Week

  24-11-2025 07:00 via nytimes.com
  The remastered documentary series will be released, and we watch some reader recommendations, including “The Gone” and “Dark.”
  
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• ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Season 1, Episode 5 Recap: Search and Destroy

  24-11-2025 04:00 via nytimes.com
  Gen. Shaw sends troops into the sewage tunnels under Derry. The children send themselves there, too. Bad idea in both cases.
  
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