Comment

Are artists getting screwed over by galleries and museums?

A new report shows that most practitioners are still working for love rather than fair pay

27 Apr 2023

Will Edward Bawden’s lost masterpiece ever be found?

The hunt is on for an epic mural depicting ‘Country Life in Britain’ – but chances are it’s a wild goose chase

21 Apr 2023

The loss of the National Glass Centre would be a shattering blow

At once a local treasure and world-class hub, the Sunderland institution will close if funds cannot quickly be found

28 Mar 2023

‘She changed how we encounter sculpture’ – remembering Phyllida Barlow (1944–2023)

The sculptor who was also a much-loved teacher at the Slade treated both students and audiences with the utmost respect

16 Mar 2023
Christopher Kulendran Thomas The Finesse

‘Every generation rewrites the past in its own image’

Hettie Judah revisits the past as it is presented by artists delving into the archives and reusing old footage

27 Feb 2023

What does the loss of Masterpiece mean for London?

The threats to the art fair have been piling up for years. So what’s pushed it over the edge?

2 Feb 2023

Towering folly at Liverpool Street Station

Plans to plonk a massive office block on top of the station’s glass roof are as dreadful as they sound

1 Feb 2023
Painting of the Dancer Alexander Sacharoff

Girls observed: the art of taking young women seriously

Hettie Judah on what artists have got right (and also wrong) when it comes to depictions of girls

27 Jan 2023

Why Germany has the Prussian blues

The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation is one of Germany’s most important cultural institutions, but why is its name such a relic from the past?

20 Jan 2023

The vampire who created the modern world

Ever since F.W. Murnau adapted Bram Stoker’s Dracula for his seminal film Nosferatu, the vampire has haunted the modern imagination

15 Jan 2023

The algorithms that are giving art curators a run for their money

A show at J/M Gallery compares art curating with the shadowy ways in which AI now shapes our online experience

15 Jan 2023
Flux Gourmet

The film-makers who deserve a fair hearing

While Peter Strickland’s most recent feature sends up sound artists, Georgina Starr’s short makes for a more challenging listen

3 Jan 2023
Fitzwilliam Museum

Arts Council England has made a serious mistake – and its effects will be felt nationwide

The Arts Council’s decision to move money out of London ignores the fact that arts institutions rely upon each other to nurture talent

2 Dec 2022
Video still from No Tomorrow (2022)

Can contemporary art really make us laugh?

Funny peculiar or funny haha? Perhaps some of the artists who seem a bit obscure are actually trying to make us laugh

28 Nov 2022

Can stones unlock the secrets of our existence?

Contemporary artists are looking to geological forms less for aesthetic cues than for perspective on time, place and human agency

28 Nov 2022

What’s the point of old postcards?

Unused postcards may seem like a blast from the past, but they can still send a powerful message

27 Nov 2022
Armcuff Digital Benin

Digital Benin opens a new chapter in the restitution saga

The project that launched this week is not the first to attempt cataloguing the Benin Bronzes, but it’s by far the most comprehensive

11 Nov 2022

For the arts in England, levelling up feels a lot like levelling down

The Arts Council’s latest funding announcement has moved money out of London, but the entire sector has a lot to worry about

6 Nov 2022
Cézanne The Three Skulls

Body politics – how physical illness affects an artist’s work

We are well used to art expressing mental anguish, yet when we are presented with work that responds to physical pain, our urge is to look away

24 Oct 2022
Whitechapel foundry Alan Hughes

It’s time for the Whitechapel Bell Foundry to get back to business

Plans to transform London’s oldest working factory into a hotel have, happily, fallen through – but with the site back up for sale, its future is still uncertain

Fixed assets? The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Museums beware: permanent collections are not piggy banks

The Association of Art Museum Directors’ new guidelines for deaccessioning are welcome, but they still leave its members open to monetary temptation

5 Oct 2022
Gareth Cadwallader

Is slow painting gathering steam?

Slow painters, who only finish a few works each year, may be less visible in the art world, but their work is no less valuable

26 Sep 2022
Aswan High Dam

Who is UNESCO really for?

As UNESCO marks the 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention this November, questions of what – and who – the convention is meant to protect are still up in the air

26 Sep 2022
The heart of M74, otherwise known as the Phantom Galaxy, recorded by the James Webb Telescope.

With the James Webb Telescope, star-gazing has become even more sublime

As data from NASA’s telescope is translated into images we can understand, the wonders it reveals are still out of this world

11 Sep 2022