Artnews

Werner Merzbacher. ©Salvatore Vinci An important collection of modern art amassed by Werner Merzbacher, a Swiss collector who died in 2024, is currently the subject of a legal battle centered around the late businessman’s will and who really gets the right to control the paintings he owned. Merzbacher, who generated his fortune through a fur …

Late Swiss Businessman’s Treasure-Filled Modern Art Collection Faces Bitter Legal Battle Read More »

The American Museum of Natural History. Getty Images The American Museum of Natural History, home to a famous model whale and gem collection as well as a gleaming planetarium on the Upper West Side of New York, has made plans to repatriate hair samples taken from Native Americans in the 19th century as part of …

American Museum of Natural History to Repatriate 2,700 Native American Hair Samples Under NAGPRA Read More »

Lonnie G. Bunch III. Getty Images On Saturday, July 4, the Trump Administration released a scathing 162-page report accusing the Smithsonian‘s National Museum of American History of “institutional capture by a radical, activist ideology.” On Tuesday, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III finally responded. In an email to staff obtained by the Washington Post and …

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch Slams White House Report As ‘Not a Fair Characterization’ of Museum’s Scholarship Read More »

Felt collages by Jody Paulsen of South Africa presented at Cape Town gallery SMAC’s booth at Untitled Miami Beach art fair in 2017. Sean Drakes/Getty Images South African artist Kate Gottgens recently took to social media to accuse Cape Town gallery SMAC of failing to either pay her for works the gallery had sold or …

Artists and Former Staffers Accuse Cape Town Gallery SMAC of Nonpayment and Withholding Artworks Read More »

One of Jonathan Allen’s “Interruptions” at the Whitney Museum. Courtesy the artist Last week, Whitney Museum displays that advertised the current Whitney Biennial briefly bore unsanctioned messages in support of Palestine, courtesy the artist Jonathan Allen. According to the Forward, on July 3, Allen placed translucent vinyl stickers on certain displays at the New York …

Artist ‘Interrupted’ Whitney Museum’s Displays with Pro-Palestine Messages Read More »

Hauser & Wirth London. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth Todd-White Art Photography/Ben F Swiss-based megagallery Hauser & Wirth was cleared on Thursday of charges of violating Russia sanctions by selling an artwork by George Condo to Alexander Popov, a person connected with Russia. Judge Tony Baumgardner dismissed the criminal charges, saying prosecutors had not proven that …

Hauser & Wirth Cleared by UK Judge of Breaching Russia Sanctions with Sale of a George Condo Artwork Read More »

People viewing the Bayeux Tapestry, which is making a rare journey back to England in 2026. Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images Escorted in secret by police under the cover of darkness, the millennium-old Bayeux Tapestry finally arrived to London’s British Museum on Friday. The long-awaited but controversial loan from France was welcomed at 2:48 am …

Bayeux Tapestry Makes Historic Arrival at London’s British Museum in the Dead of Night Read More »

An icon was among the artifacts seized. HMRC British national Jonathan Hornby is the first from his country to be convicted of violating the UK’s sanctions on exports of luxury goods to Russia, imposed in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was launched on February 24, 2022. Hornby, managing director of a logistics …

An English National Is the First to Be Convicted of Violating Sanctions Against Russia Read More »

The Belgian satellite of Paris’s Centre Pompidou, KANAL, is sure to have a major impact on the Brussels scene when it opens in 2025. Photo Bart Grietens/Fondation KANAL Stichting To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter. Good Morning A fire broke out near the roof of the forthcoming Kanal–Centre Pompidou museum in …

Fire at Kanal-Centre Pompidou, American Museum of Natural History Repatriation, and More: Morning Links for July 8, 2026 Read More »

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Photo by Sebastien ST-JEAN / AFP The leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) has criticized Heritage Minister Marc Miller for suggesting the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg should alter the language of its exhibition on Palestinian displacement. The backlash against Miller—who had …

Facing Protests and Political Pressure, Canadian Humans Rights Opens Palestine Exhibition  Read More »