Art news daily

Plus: Italy extends lockdown until 12 April | Metropolitan Museum of Art to pay staff until 2 May | and Suellen Rocca (1943–2020)

Plus: US stimulus package of $2tn including funding for arts bodies | Creative Scotland announces £11m in arts funding | and director of Museum of the Bible to return 11,500 antiquities to Iraq and Egypt

Plus: Kunstmuseum Basel reaches settlement with heirs of Curt Glaser | IMMA concerned about storage of Irish state’s modern art collections | UK independent museums warn of insolvency threat | and recommended reading

Plus: Further cases of Covid-19 at TEFAF emerge | Cleveland and Hammer among US museums to furlough staff | and Bristol Museum responds to restitution claim over Benin Bronze

Plus: Hong Kong museums close again after second wave of coronavirus | Arts Council England announces £160m emergency funding boost | MOCA LA lays off all part-time staff | and thieves arrested for stealing stones from Notre-Dame

Plus: Major earthquake damages spire of Zagreb Cathedral | Alberto Uderzo (1927–2020) | and San Francisco Art Institute may close

Plus: Arts Council England’s Export Licensing Unit closes until further notice | Francis Alÿs wins the Rolf Schock Prize for visual arts | Arts Council England commissions new guidelines for restitution | Merry Norris (1940–2020)

Plus: TEFAF New York Spring postponed to replace Fall edition | Kahlil Joseph named 6th winner of Eye Art & Film Prize | Derek Fordjour asks court to dismiss lawsuit from former dealer | and recommended reading

Plus: Opening of François Pinault’s private museum postponed as director steps down | Frieze New York cancelled | and Alan Caiger-Smith (1930–2020)

Plus: Online auction house Paddle8 files for bankruptcy | Art Basel launches online viewing rooms | Thieves fleeing Christ Church Picture Gallery may have escaped by boat | and reconstruction of Notre-Dame paused due to coronavirus

Plus: Leading UK arts figures call on government to support creative industries | Sotheby’s closes most locations, Christie’s closes last of locations and more fairs postponed | and ancient fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls at Museum of the Bible confirmed by study to be fakes

Plus: National Gallery postpones Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition indefinitely | Arts Council England announces plans to compensate artists and freelancers | Genesis P-Orridge (1950–2020) | and Anicka Yi receives Tate Modern’s Hyundai Commission for Turbine Hall

Plus: National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian among US museums closing to contain coronavirus | Art Cologne postponed from April to November | and museums start reopening in China, Japan and South Korea

Art news daily: 12 March

Plus: Cleveland Museum of Art receives major works valued at over $100m | Exhibition of Liechtenstein collection cancelled by four museums over report of forced labour during WWII | Los Angeles man pleads guilty to selling fake works by blue chip artists | Nicola Lees named director of Aspen Art Museum | and Emma Talbot wins Max Mara Art Prize 2020

Plus: French culture minister tests positive for Covid-19 | Shell ends relationship with Southbank Centre | Security guards investigated over jewellery theft at Dresden’s Royal Palace | and Pam Masi named interim executive director of Erie Art Museum

Plus: UK arts organisations express dismay at withdrawal from Creative Europe | Alan Turner (1943–2020) | Scientific tests suggest bones in Kent church belong to Anglo Saxon princess | and Armory Show announces prize winners

Plus: Easter Island mayor calls for traffic restrictions after truck hits sacred statue | Italy rejects arrest warrant for prime suspect in Old Master forgery scandal | Henry Cobb (1926–2020) | and US museums restrict staff travel to countries deemed high-risk for coronavirus

Plus: Venice architecture biennale postponed due to spread of coronavirus | British Museum acquires Bronze Age pendant found in Shropshire | and Mophradat announces artists for Consortium Commissions 2020

Plus: More than 2,000 arts professionals endorse Elizabeth Warren | Google launches VR site for Chauvet caves | Kurdish artist Fatos Irwen released from prison in Turkey | and Louvre reopens after closure over coronavirus

Plus: Emilia Beatriz wins 2020/21 Margaret Tait Award | Italy rejects arrest warrant for Old Master forger | Proposal to turn Sydney’s Cockatoo Island into art attraction rejected by officials | Peter Dreher (1932–2020) | and MOCA Tucson appoints Laura Copelin its executive director and chief curator

Plus: Louvre closes amid concerns over coronavirus | Cooper-Hewitt donor rescinds $5m bequest over removal of director | and Bonhams appoints Patrick Masson as managing director for UK and Europe 

Plus: Brazilian collector Bernardo Paz cleared of money laundering charges | Italian collector Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo drops plans for new Madrid space | Eric Crosby announced as director of Carnegie Museum of Art | Brooklyn Public Library and Brooklyn Historical Society to combine | and recommended reading

Plus: Sharon Corwin appointed president and CEO of Terra Foundation | François Tajan (1962–2020) | and provenance of Met painting updated to acknowledge ownership by Nazi-persecuted dealer