Sheena Wagstaff to leave Met’s modern and contemporary department
Plus: the Smithsonian adopts new ethical returns policy and 2,000 works of art reported to have been looted from Mariupol
Deborah Swallow to retire as director of the Courtauld Institute
Plus: Ukraine demolishes statue symbolising friendship with Russia | Winners of competition to renew the Barbican Centre announced | Painting by Diego Rivera among assets seized from Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska
The week in art news – Getty Trust appoints Katherine Fleming as president
Plus: Charles Darwin’s stolen notebooks returned to Cambridge University | Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego reopens | Finland seizes art shipments from Russia worth €42m
The week in art news – Mariupol art school bombed with civilians sheltering inside
Plus: Bonhams acquires Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen | Budi Tek (1957–2022) | Planning permission granted for Madison Square Garden Sphere in east London
The week in art news – France launches emergency fund for Ukrainian artists
Plus: Museums review security protocols after recent MoMA stabbings | Francis Kéré wins Pritzker Architecture Prize | Frida Escobedo to design Met’s Modern and Contemporary wing | and parliamentary report calls UK’s £120 ‘Festival of Brexit’ a waste of public money
The week in art news – Ukrainians try to safeguard cultural heritage
Plus: Raphael from the Hermitage no longer to travel to National Gallery | Smithsonian in talks to return Benin Bronzes | and Dayanita Singh wins Hasselblad Prize
The week in art news – Unesco voices concern for Ukrainian heritage sites
Plus: Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam cuts ties with St Petersburg | Shirley Hughes (1927–2022) | Museum ethics committee condemns proposed removal of Whitworth director
The week in art news – Ukrainian museums try to protect their collections
Ukraine’s museums try to protect their collections | director of the Whitworth Art Gallery said to have been asked to resign | Neolithic site uncovered in Jordan | Weltmuseum’s audio guide hacked by activists
Met acquires much-coveted Renaissance roundel for $23m
The second most expensive purchase the Met has ever made is a stunning Italian bronze – and efforts to keep it in the UK have come to nothing
Belgium hands over full inventory of objects to DRC
Plus: Carmen Herrera (1915–2022) | Mona Saudi (1945–2022) | David Zwirner is latest gallery to announce Los Angeles branch | and National Gallery of Canada creates department for Indigenous ways and decolonisation
The week in art news – SFMOMA appoints Christopher Bedford as director
Christopher Bedford to leave Baltimore Museum of Art to direct SFMOMA | Fine Arts Paris and La Biennale to merge | Jorge Zamanillo appointed director of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino | Jonathan Watkins leaves Ikon after nearly 25 years | Bamber Gascoigne (1935–2022) | and Russian guard doodles on $1million painting
The week in art news – UK government announces ‘levelling-up’ plans
Plus: New York gallery faces lawsuit for refusing to divulge a Rothko’s provenance | Biden reverses Trump’s restrictions on art displayed in federal buildings | Ancient Greek artefacts and ruins unearthed in southern Italy
The week in art news – Art Basel owner bumps FIAC from its slot with a new Paris fair
Plus: Art Basel Hong Kong postponed to May and France to restitute 15 works looted by the Nazis
The week in art news – TEFAF Maastricht moves to June, now jam-packed with fairs
Plus: The Courtauld Institute and Kings College London announce 10-year ‘strategic partnership’ | Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover (1927–2022) | and a round-up of recent museum appointments
The week in art news – Ricardo Bofill (1939–2022)
Plus: Man attacks Eric Gill sculpture outside the BBC | Victoria Siddall steps down as global director of Frieze Fairs | and Stoke-on-Trent Museums plan to slash jobs and opening hours
The week in art news – Colston Four cleared of criminal damage
Plus: Iwona Blazwick to step down as director of Whitechapel Gallery | Annick Lemoine appointed new director of Petit Palais | and Bengi Ünsal appointed new director of ICA
The week in art news – Danish and Dutch museums close in lockdowns
Plus: TEFAF and Salon du Dessin have been postponed | bell hooks (1952–2021) | and Sally Mann wins Prix Pictet
The week in art news – Metropolitan Museum of Art to remove Sackler name from its galleries
Plus: Billionaire collector Michael Steinhardt surrenders 180 looted artefacts | Polish government ends contract of Museum of Lodz’s director | and New York City to give $50m to 1,000 cultural organisations
The week in art news – Austrian museums close in national lockdown
Plus: New German culture minister is Claudia Roth of the Greens | Roman villa complex uncovered in Rutland | and Jasmina Cibic wins 2021 Film London Award
The week in art news – Jimmie Durham (1940–2021)
Plus: Etel Adnan (1925–2021) | Former art dealer Inigo Philbrick pleads guilty to fraud | Oxford University lists 145 looted Benin objects in its collections | and UK government says Parthenon marbles’ return a matter for the British Museum
The week in art news – UK government rejects ‘Tulip’ skyscraper
Plus: Sylvère Lotringer (1938–2021) | Tudor wall paintings discovered in Yorkshire manor | and National Gallery publishes research on slavery links
The week in art news – Smithsonian Museum of African Art commits to restituting Benin Bronzes
Plus: Humboldt Forum to remove medallion honouring donor with far-right views | Achim Borchardt-Hume (1965–2021) | Vancouver Art Gallery gets $100m for new building
The week in art news – US returns some 250 stolen antiquities to India
Plus: Dutch court rules for return of Crimean artefacts to Ukraine | UK institutions return Benin Bronzes to Nigeria | and UK budget includes £850m for cultural sector
All photographs are products of their time – and they should be treated that way