Cecilie Hollberg to return as director of Galleria dell’Accademia
Plus: Smithsonian will no longer have permanent gallery at V&A East | Adam M. Levine to direct Toledo Museum of Art | CAFAM Techne Triennial 2020 postponed due to outbreak of coronavirus | and Asheville Art Museum receives grant to digitise Black Mountain College Collection
Roberto Cicutto named president of Venice Biennale
Plus: | School of Architecture at Taliesin will close after 88 years | Philadelphia Museum of Art to open anonymous hotline for reports of sexual harassment | and Santu Mofokeng (1956–2020)
Hong Kong shuts public museums as a result of the coronavirus
Plus: Hester Diamond (1928–2020) | Minister for Indigenous Australians announces plans to protect Aboriginal artists | Devil head once attributed to Gauguin is declared fake by Getty | and Gordon Smith (1919–2020)
Cesspit containing medieval artefacts discovered beneath the Courtauld Institute
Plus: Arts Council England publishes 10-year strategy | Museum of Chinese in America seriously damaged in a fire | Architecture tutor dismissed from Glasgow School of Art | and Solent Flour Mills in Southampton to be demolished
China closes Forbidden City and part of Great Wall to contain coronavirus outbreak
Plus: German museums postpone two exhibitions on Iran | Oswald Oberhuber (1931–2020) | and recommended reading
Housing secretary announces inquiry into Whitechapel Bell Foundry redevelopment
Plus: Russian culture minister replaced in cabinet reshuffle | Historic England report values heritage sector at £31bn | and Portland Art Museum receives donation of $10m
Art Fund launches appeal to save Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage
Plus: Thieves confess to stealing and returning Klimt painting | Norman Foster calls for competition to design new House of Lords | and Japan dismisses South Korean protests over national territory museum
Patrick van Maris to resign as head of TEFAF
Plus: Painting from the Alana Collection seized by French officials | Enniskillen Workhouse awarded £2m in lottery funding | and popularity of art history at UK universities falls by 28.5 per cent in past decade
Tony Hall appointed chair of the National Gallery’s Board of Trustees
Plus: James Mollison (1931–2020) | Painting found inside gallery wall confirmed as long-lost Klimt | Brazilian culture minister fired for speech echoing Goebbels | National Archives in Washington, D.C., issues apology for doctored image | Sculpture looted from Afghanistan to be returned
Jaime Botin receives prison sentence and €52m fine for trying to smuggle a Picasso out of Spain
Plus: Zoe Whitley appointed new director of Chisenhale Gallery | Censored Aichi Triennale show to be restaged in Taiwan | New work from 100 women artists commissioned to mark centenary of 19th amendment | and recommended reading
Putin appoints cultural leaders to rewrite constitution
Plus: Lucas Museum acquires major archive of African-American cinema | Paisley Museum receives £3.8m lottery funding boost | François Pinault appoints Bruno Racine as director of Venice museums | and Cristina Iglesias wins Royal Academy Architecture Prize
Artists exhibiting at MoMA PS1 call on museum to drop board members
Plus: Stan Douglas to represent Canada at 2021 Venice Biennale | former media tycoon appointed first Frieze CEO | and Betty Pat Gatliff (1930–2020)
Director of Erie Art Museum departs following allegations of misconduct
Plus: Architectural plans for new £337m Museum of London revealed | and Amanda Heng wins Benesse Prize at Singapore Biennale
Drawing believed to be by Dürer discovered in Vienna
Plus: Roger Scruton (1944–2020) | Nazi-looted works restituted to Jewish owners to be auctioned | Winners of the 2020 Jorge M. Pérez Award announced | and recommended reading
Cecilia Alemani appointed artistic director of the 59th Venice Biennale
Plus: China blocks return of missing Kiefer works found by German museum director | Workers at New York’s Shed seek to unionise | Florian Hufnagl (1948–2019) | and recommended reading
Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall given to National Heritage Collection
Plus: Earthquakes in Puerto Rico force museums to close | and Palais de Tokyo faces criticism over partnership with Qatari state museum
Trump backs away from military confrontation with Iran
Plus: Saudi Ministry of Culture launches first artist residency | and Joyce Foundation announces 2020 recipients of $50,000 award
Activists in Berlin attack controversial Holocaust memorial
Plus: Foundation for Contemporary Arts announces inaugural Helen Frankenthaler Award for Painting | and cemetery of high-status Romans discovered in Somerset
International organisations condemn Trump’s threat to target Iranian cultural sites
Plus: John Baldessari (1931–2020) | National Gallery of Australia closes due to bushfire smoke | British Museum acquires export-barred Pahari painting | and recommended reading
Lawrence Abu Hamdan receives 2022 Future Fields Commission
Plus: Russian collectors in Belgium arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering | Cheung Yee (1936–2019)
Alasdair Gray (1934–2019)
Plus: Art-world figures recognised in New Year’s Honours list | Picasso painting of Dora Maar defaced at Tate Modern | and authenticity of dozens of Goya paintings called into question
Syd’s coffee stall heads to the Museum of London after 100 years on the street
Plus: Artgenève to expand with two new Moscow fairs | and Thomas Hart Benton heirs sue Kansas City bank for estate mismanagement
Ulster Museum is first in Northern Ireland to acquire works by Rembrandt
Plus: Eric Shiner to direct Pioneer Works in Brooklyn | and Mellon Foundation cancels $1.5m grant to North Carolina university over plans for Confederate monument
National Gallery reaches £22m target to buy Orazio Gentileschi painting
Plus: archaeologists discover two 3,500-year-old ancient Greek tombs | Aliph announces $10m in grants for 20 heritage conservation projects | and Art Basel Hong Kong offers discounts and flexibility to participating dealers as the city’s protests continue
Remembering Christopher Monkhouse (1947–2021), a renowned curator for whom collecting was a way of life