The National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, photographed in 2012.

The week in art news – fears grow for the safety of cultural workers in Afghanistan

Plus: Amsterdam is to return a Kandinsky to the heirs of its former owner

27 Aug 2021
The Marble Arch Mound, photographed on 28 July 2021.

The week in art news – deputy leader of Westminster Council resigns over Marble Arch Mound fiasco

Plus: new directors of the Southbank Centre in London and ICP in New York, and other stories

13 Aug 2021

The week in art news – Stonehenge road tunnel ruled unlawful, but plans still going ahead

Plus: More than 17,000 looted artefacts returned to Iraq

6 Aug 2021
Activists from Extinction Rebellion chained to an exhibit at the Science Museum’s 'Our Future Planet' exhibition, sponsored by Shell, in May 2021.

The week in art news – Science Museum signed gagging clause in sponsorship agreement with Shell

Plus: Phillip King (1934–2021) and Xavier Rey appointed director of the Centre Pompidou in Paris

31 Jul 2021
The Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building (known as The Three Graces), situated on Liverpool's Pier Head.

Liverpool loses Unesco World Heritage status

Plus: France requires vaccine passports for cultural venues and more than 1,000 Polish cultural figures criticise dismissal of museum director

23 Jul 2021
Christian Boltanski in his studio in Paris in March 2018, photo: © Elizabeth Young

The week in art news – Christian Boltanski (1944–2021)

Plus: Kunsthaus Zürich appoints Ann Demeester as its new director and Charlottesville takes down statue of Robert E. Lee

16 Jul 2021
Hunter Biden and Joe Biden at an award ceremony in Washinton, D.C. in April 2016.

The week in art news – White House sets terms for sales of Hunter Biden’s paintings

Plus: South Korea is to build a new museum for the Samsung art collection and the co-directors of Artangel are stepping down after 30 years

9 Jul 2021
A toppled statue of Queen Victoria on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislature on 2 July, 2021 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The statue was pulled down by indigenous protestors following a march to honour survivors and victims of Canada’s residential school system.

The week in art news – In Canada, protestors topple statues of Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II

Plus: Berlin Museums may return Benin Bronzes as early as next year and a construction worker has admitted stealing a Picasso and a Mondrian from the National Gallery in Athens

3 Jul 2021
Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images

The week in art news – George Osborne to chair the board of the British Museum

Plus: Teddy Roosevelt’s statue will lose its spot outside the American Museum of Natural History, and more stories

25 Jun 2021
The National Museum Cardiff.

The week in art news – Artes Mundi Prize awarded to all six shortlisted artists

Plus: MacKenzie Scott donates $2.7bn to a host of charities, including more than 60 cultural organisations

18 Jun 2021
The Barbican Centre in London.

The week in art news – staff accuse Barbican Centre of being institutionally racist

Plus: the Met returns two Benin Bronzes, Donald Judd’s office in Marfa severely damaged in fire, and more stories

11 Jun 2021

The week in art news – frustrated Belgian experts issue their own restitution guidelines

Plus: The Whitney has voluntarily recognised a union and Hobby Lobby is suing Dirk Obbink over alleged papyrus theft

4 Jun 2021
Laurence des Cars at the Musée d’Orsay in May 2021.

The week in art news – Laurence des Cars becomes first woman to lead Louvre

Plus: chairs of the National Gallery and the National Trust resign; and more stories

28 May 2021
The statue of Cecil Rhodes outside Oriel College in Oxford, photographed in June 2020.

The week in art news – in Oxford, Rhodes won’t fall after all

Oriel College, Oxford has decided not to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes – the imperialist businessman, politician and philanthropist…

21 May 2021
Interior of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, London, photographed in 2014.

The week in art news – UK government approves Whitechapel Bell Foundry becoming a boutique hotel

Plus: NGA Washington appoints E. Carmen Ramos chief curator and more stories

14 May 2021
Tate Britain in London.

Five artist collectives – and no individuals – shortlisted for Turner Prize

Plus: the Istanbul Biennial has been postponed to 2022, and more stories

7 May 2021

Germany to return Benin Bronzes from 2022

Plus: Samsung heirs to donate 23,000 artworks to South Korean museums to settle tax bill, and more stories

30 Apr 2021
The statue of a Confederate soldier was removed from what was then Hemming Park, now James Weldon Johnson Park in Jacksonville, Florida, in June 2020.

The week in art news – Florida makes toppling statues a felony

Plus: museums across Germany to close again this weekend, and more stories

23 Apr 2021

The week in art news – Jean-Luc Martinez appointed ‘interim’ president of the Louvre

Plus: French court rules that commercial galleries must remain closed, and more stories

16 Apr 2021
A detail of the possible Cavaraggio

The week in art news – Spain stops a suspected Caravaggio from leaving the country

Plus: French galleries are suing the government to reopen, Egypt moves its royal mummies in a a televised extravaganza, and more stories

9 Apr 2021
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, with the restored balcony.

The week in art news – V&A revises plan to restructure departments

Plus: Mali and Unesco receive symbolic reparations for Timbuktu destruction, France pledges €500,000 for Sursock Museum repairs, and more stories

1 Apr 2021
German culture minister Monika Grütters at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin.

The week in art news – German culture minister calls for national strategy on Benin Bronzes

The German culture minister, Monika Grütters, has called a meeting next month of museums and states to form ‘a national…

26 Mar 2021
The Met Museum is considering a policy change that would mirror the AAMD’s temporary relaxation of guidelines, allowing it to use deaccessioning funds for collection care.

The week in art news – US museums vote against permanent easing of deaccessioning guidelines

Plus: V&A pauses plans to make National Art Library staff redundant | Lacaton & Vassal win Pritzker Architecture Prize | and David Alan Harvey resigns from Magnum

19 Mar 2021
Everydays: The First 5,000 Days (detail; 2021), Beeple. Courtesy Christie’s

The week in art news – Christie’s sells jpeg by digital artist for a record $69m

On Thursday a digital artwork sold for $69.3m at Christie’s in New York. The work, titled Everydays: The First 5,000…

12 Mar 2021