Arts news

• An Artist Who Sees the Beauty in Dust

  08-05-2026 23:41 via nytimes.com
  Reggie Burrows Hodges discusses Malta, Caravaggio and a painting inspired by the winds of the Sahara.
  
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• Edith Eva Eger, Psychologist Who Barely Survived Auschwitz, Dies at 98

  08-05-2026 23:38 via nytimes.com
  Her time in concentration camps brought her an understanding of humanity that helped her treat her patients.
  
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• Federal Panel Considers Plan to Paint Granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building White

  08-05-2026 23:20 via artnews.com
  Donald Trump wants to paint the granite exterior of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., white. Yesterday, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) met to review the administration’s proposal. The plans were also submitted on April 16 to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which approved the idea on the condition of successful “testing of the proposed exterior paint.”Originally known as the State, War, and Navy Building, the massive edifice was bui
  
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• Federal Panel Considers Plan to Paint Granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building in D.C. White

  08-05-2026 23:20 via artnews.com
  Donald Trump wants to paint the exterior of the granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., white. Yesterday, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) met to review the administration’s proposal. The plans were also submitted on April 16 to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which approved the idea on the condition of successful “testing of the proposed exterior paint.”Originally known as the State, War, and Navy Building, the massive granite edifice
  
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• J.H. Prynne, Erudite and Elusive British Poet, Dies at 89

  08-05-2026 21:57 via nytimes.com
  Even admirers admitted his densely intellectual work could be “punishing.” Still, some considered him one of England’s most important poets.
  
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• Numerous Venice Biennale Pavilions and Artists Go on Strike in Protest over Israel’s Participation

  08-05-2026 19:37 via artnews.com
  Thousands of demonstrators marched in the streets of Venice on the eve of the public opening of the Venice Biennale on Saturday in protest of Israel’s presence in the show. The protest was organized by Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA), an international group of artists, curators, writers, and cultural workers.By the afternoon, the organizers had secured a lengthy list of national pavilions that would be shut down completely or in part for a 24-hour strike, including Austria, Belgium, Cypru
  
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• Rare Unlooted Grave Among 44 Roman Graves Uncovered in Eastern Croatia

  08-05-2026 19:25 via artnews.com
  Archaeologists excavating the site of a future farmers’ market in the eastern Croatian city of Vinkovci have discovered a rare intact grave amid the ancient Roman necropolis. The news was first reported by Croatia Week.When the initial discovery of the necropolis was announced in March, Josip Romić, the mayor of Vinkovci, said the graves are believed to be from the 2nd or 3rd centuries CE. Vinkovci was known as Colonia Aurelia Cibalae when it was part of the Roman Empire, and the area
  
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• DOGE Cuts to National Endowment for the Humanities Were Unconstitutional, Court Rules

  08-05-2026 18:49 via artnews.com
  A federal judge ruled that cancellations to more than 1,400 grants approved by the National Endowment for the Humanities by the Elon Musk-led Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) were unconstitutional.Judge Colleen McMahon of Federal District Court in Manhattan ordered DOGE to rescind the cancellations in a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in two lawsuits contending that the cuts “violated the First Amendment and, by singling out work relating to particular groups, the equal prote
  
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• David Attenborough, a Voice of Nature, Turns 100

  08-05-2026 18:35 via nytimes.com
  Pictures and striking scenes from the making of perhaps the world’s most celebrated naturalist.
  
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• Who Owns the Megayachts Docked Outside the Venice Biennale?

  08-05-2026 18:34 via artnews.com
  Earlier this week, the Venice Biennale opened for previews that were hardly limited to journalists and curators, as is perhaps only to be expected—judging by the numerous megayachts moored nearby, at least. (Not to mention all the well-dressed collectors sipping Aperol spritzes on palazzo balconies visible from the Grand Canal.)If you, like me this week, were stuck hoofing it down the long walk along the Riva of the Seven Martyrs to the Giardini, the yachts were hard to miss. Most were doc
  
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• Former Korean Prosecutor Convicted in Alleged Lee Ufan Painting Bribery Scheme

  08-05-2026 18:33 via artnews.com
  A former South Korean prosecutor who allegedly tried to buy political influence with a painting by Lee Ufan has now been convicted on appeal, in a case that adds disputed authenticity claims surrounding a $95,000 artwork to a conventional bribery scandal involving the former first lady of Korea.The Seoul High Court this week overturned an earlier acquittal of former senior prosecutor Kim Sang-min, finding him guilty of violating South Korea’s anti-corruption law after prosecutors
  
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• Review: At City Ballet, Tiler Peck Shows Shimmering Restraint

  08-05-2026 18:10 via nytimes.com
  The star ballerina is also an accomplished choreographer. Her sophomore work for City Ballet is bigger and better than her first.
  
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• How Florentina Holzinger Made Austria’s Pavilion the Venice Biennale’s Big Hit

  08-05-2026 18:08 via nytimes.com
  Undoubtedly the biggest talker at this year’s Venice Biennale is the Austrian pavilion, where visitors can make their own contributions to the work on show.
  
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• In Venice, Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince Ask: What Is Appropriate to Appropriate?

  08-05-2026 17:58 via artnews.com
  What is appropriate to appropriate? That question is the one that animates practices of Richard Prince and Arthur Jafa, who are currently showing their work together at the Fondazione Prada in Venice.  At first glance, the pairing might seem like an unconventional one, even though both artists are well known for appropriating others’ images. “I’m surprised that people are surprised,” Jafa told me in a video interview ahead of the exhibition. “I think it’s
  
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• On the Hunt for a Memphis Group-Style Lamp

  08-05-2026 17:32 via nytimes.com
  On the hunt for a light that only looked like it came from the Memphis Group.
  
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• Artist Kader Attia Will Organize 2027 Edition of India’s Top Biennial

  08-05-2026 16:42 via artnews.com
  Kader Attia, an acclaimed artist whose work is currently included in Koyo Kouoh’s main exhibition of the Venice Biennale, has been selected to curate the 2027 edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India’s top biennial.Attia, a winner of France’s Prix Marcel Duchamp, may be best known for his sculptures and installations that seek to rectify the violence of colonialism in North Africa, but the Berlin- and Paris-based artist has curated at least one notable biennial previously.
  
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• Was Jeffrey Epstein’s Copy of a Modernist Painting Available for Sale on eBay?

  08-05-2026 16:16 via artnews.com
  An eBay seller claimed to have Jeffrey Epstein’s reproduction of a painting by Kees van Dongen, a Dutch painter who became a part of the Fauvist movement in France during the early 20th century.The work in question, it should be noted, was not a bona fide van Dongen. It was a print based on a ca. 1905 painting called Femme Fatale, which sold at Christie’s in 2004 for $5.94 million.At the time, Christie’s touted the work for demonstrating “in uncompromising fashion the art
  
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• As Her Venice Biennale Opens, Koyo Kouoh Foundation Launches in Memory of Late Curator

  08-05-2026 16:06 via artnews.com
  With the 2026 Venice Biennale wrapping up its professional previews and officially opening to the public on Saturday, a new foundation dedicated to Koyo Kouoh—the curator of the Biennale’s main exhibition who passed away a year ago—has been announced.Based in Basel, Switzerland, where Kouoh lived for part of her life, the Koyo Kouoh Foundation “continues and structures the work initiated by Koyo Kouoh” with the goal of keeping “a tradition alive, rather than t
  
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• Paul Klee’s ‘Angelus Novus’ Joins Show at Jewish Museum in New York

  08-05-2026 15:42 via nytimes.com
  “Angelus Novus,” an artwork with a fascinating back story, including most recently a wartime delay, is a late addition to an already impressive Klee survey at the Jewish Museum.
  
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• Controversial Painter Georg Baselitz Knew His Venice Show Would Be His Last. He Went Out Quietly.

  08-05-2026 15:29 via artnews.com
  Six days after the death of Georg Baselitz, his longtime dealer Thaddeaus Ropac opened an exhibition in Venice this week that the artist had already accepted would be his last. At the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, “Eroi d’Oro” (“Heroes of Gold”) brings together the final paintings Baselitz made in his lifetime. He died in April at 88, and in a prerecorded film made for the show, he refers to the works wi
  
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• France Passes Historic Law for Restituting Colonial-Era Art, American Folk Art Museum Workers Protest, and More: Morning Links for May 8, 2026

  08-05-2026 14:46 via artnews.com
  The HeadlinesIN THE DOGEHOUSE. A federal judge slammed the US DOGE Service, ruling on Thursday that the Elon Musk–led department made unconstitutional and discriminatory cuts to National Endowment for the Humanities grants worth over $100 million, according to the Washington Post. US District Judge Colleen McMahon said DOGE violated the First and Fifth Amendments when it used ChatGPT to determine which grants to cancel based on whether they mentioned
  
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• 8 Pavilions That Have the Venice Biennale Buzzing

  08-05-2026 12:54 via nytimes.com
  A doll-focused show, a contemplative garden, a sizzling hothouse: It’s all to see at the world’s top contemporary art event.
  
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• Artists’ Strike Closes Pavilions at Venice Biennale, Adding to Upheaval

  08-05-2026 11:38 via nytimes.com
  The hottest exhibitions at the world’s major art exhibition were shuttered on Friday as part of a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
  
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• Video: Natasha Tontey Unveils New Immersive Installation Exploring Indigenous Resistance During Venice Biennale

  08-05-2026 11:30 via artnews.com
  Fresh off her first institutional exhibition, artist Natasha Toney is set to unveil an ambitious immersive installation during the Venice Biennale at the Ateneo Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, a 16th-century building in San Marco.Jointly commissioned by Berlin’s LAS Art Foundation and Helsinki’s Amos Rex contemporary art museum, The Phantom Combatants and the Metabolism of Disobedient Organs, as the installation is called, combines video, sound, light, and sculptural elements to
  
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• Without Its Expert Jury, Venice Biennale Lets the Public Choose Its Prize Winners

  08-05-2026 11:05 via nytimes.com
  The jury resigned last week, so the international art event is letting viewers pick the best artist from the main exhibition and the national pavilions.
  
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• ‘Amadeus’ Review: Mozart vs. Salieri, Round 3

  08-05-2026 11:04 via nytimes.com
  The story of genius and jealousy, a major award winner onstage and on film, returns as a TV series starring Will Sharpe and Paul Bettany.
  
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• How ‘The Sheep Detectives’ Brought its Ovine Sleuths to Life

  08-05-2026 11:03 via nytimes.com
  The filmmakers behind this adaptation of a best-selling novel were adamant that their ovine sleuths not seem like humans in, well, sheep’s clothing.
  
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• A Very American Controversy at the Venicle Biennale

  08-05-2026 11:03 via nytimes.com
  Trump has taken an active role in the arts in his second term, which may be evident in the work on display at the Venice Biennale — depending on how you look at it.
  
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• The Hopelessness of ‘The Audacity’

  08-05-2026 11:02 via nytimes.com
  In AMC’s merciless satire, the tech lords are extracting all they can from the business (and us) before everything goes to hell.
  
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• After a Fire, a Director Finds a Lifeline in ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’

  08-05-2026 11:02 via nytimes.com
  Olivia Newman lost her home in the 2025 California wildfires. Telling the story of a woman who connects with an octopus after a major loss proved a balm.
  
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• Why Is Everyone Obsessed With Bogs?

  08-05-2026 11:01 via nytimes.com
  From fashion to art, an explainer on our love of wetlands.
  
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• ‘The Python Hunt’ Review: A Real Contest as Riveting as Fiction

  08-05-2026 11:01 via nytimes.com
  The Florida Python Challenge brings out a fascinating cast of characters, all captured by the director Xander Robin’s camera.
  
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• Matthew Wong’s Grieving Mother Protects His Artistic Legacy

  08-05-2026 11:01 via nytimes.com
  The troubled painter Matthew Wong’s star was on the rise when he died at 35. His mother, Monita Wong, is making sure his work can still be seen.
  
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• 5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Ron Carter

  08-05-2026 11:01 via nytimes.com
  Christian McBride, Endea Owens, Large Professor and more writers and musicians share favorite tracks from the bass maestro, who turned 89 this week.
  
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• Historical Fiction Books That Illustrate the Bonds Between Mother and Child

  08-05-2026 11:00 via nytimes.com
  The best-selling author Stephanie Dray recommends books that explore the bonds between mothers and their children across centuries.
  
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• Billie Eilish and James Cameron on ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour’

  08-05-2026 11:00 via nytimes.com
  The musician and director teamed up to bring Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour — with poignant moments onstage and off — to theaters.
  
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• After 43 Years, an Unproduced Larry David Script Surfaces Online

  08-05-2026 11:00 via nytimes.com
  “Prognosis: Negative” was too dark for its time, but its title became a running “Seinfeld” joke and its premise set the table for “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
  
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• Late Night Recaps Rubio’s Peacemaking Visit to Pope Leo

  08-05-2026 08:34 via nytimes.com
  Jimmy Fallon joked that President Trump and Pope Leo are putting Marco Rubio, who is Catholic, “in the middle and seeing which parent he goes to.”
  
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• Philip Caputo, Who Wrote Blistering Vietnam War Memoir, Dies at 84

  08-05-2026 08:01 via nytimes.com
  “A Rumor of War,” about his service as a Marine Corps infantry officer and published in 1977, relentlessly detailed “the things men do in war and the things war does to them.”
  
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• Dian Suci Wins the 2025–27 Max Mara Art Prize for Women

  08-05-2026 02:05 via artnews.com
  Indonesian-born artist Dian Suci has been awarded the 2025–27 Max Mara Art Prize for Women. Cecilia Alemani, curator of the prize and chair of the jury, along with representatives from the Museum MACAN, the Collezione Maramotti, and the family that founded the fashion brand Max Mara made the announcement today at the opening of the Venice Biennale.The award, established in 2005 to support mid-career women artists, gives Suci a six-month traveling residency in Italy customized to her winnin
  
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• Drained, Drowning, and Decay: The Best National Pavilions at the Venice Biennale

  08-05-2026 01:56 via artnews.com
  A sense of ruin permeates this Venice Biennale, though we already knew that it would going in. And pointedly, several standout national pavilions in the show are steeped in decay—bodily, infrastructural, archaeological. They’re about the broken, bloody political machines pumping the present full of its own reek.Rubble and stone line the Slovenian Pavilion, where the Nonument Group repurposes materials from previous Biennales into a ruin of a mosque built for Bosnian Muslim soldiers d
  
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• DOGE’s Termination of Humanities Grants Is Ruled Unconstitutional

  08-05-2026 01:49 via nytimes.com
  A lawsuit against the National Endowment for the Humanities drew wide attention for revealing how DOGE had used ChatGPT to cancel grants.
  
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• ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ Review: Their Octopus Teacher

  08-05-2026 01:00 via nytimes.com
  Sally Field and Lewis Pullman get help from an eight-tentacled friend in this bland adaptation of a hit novel.
  
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• A Stroll Through the Mansions of New York’s Gilded Age

  08-05-2026 00:30 via nytimes.com
  Yes, some memorable mansions were lost to the vagaries of expenses and development, but many remain — and some are even open to the public. A walking guide.
  
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• Dealers Face a Choice: Show Solo Artists? Or Groups?

  08-05-2026 00:28 via nytimes.com
  The decision can vary from fair to fair but sometimes solo booths can help visitors focus their attention on a single artist, rather than being overwhelmed by the art of many.
  
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• From France to the U.S., an Exhibition on the Luxury Ties That Bind

  08-05-2026 00:26 via nytimes.com
  Dozens of French luxury houses and institutions will converge on Manhattan for the cross-cultural exhibition “Hidden Treasures: 250 Years of Franco-American Luxury Stories.”
  
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