Articles

People living on the ‘Swahili coast’ - the Indian Ocean coast of eastern Africa - have African and Asian ancestry according to new research on ancient DNA.

Innovative methods have revealed new information, including previously unrecorded markings and further evidence of the Stone’s provenance .Cutting-edge digital technologies and scientific analysis have revealed more of the story of the Stone of Destiny, the ancient symbol of Scotland’s monarchy which has long held fascination and intrigue due to the mystery of its earliest origins.

“Gerhard Richter. 100 Works for Berlin” shows for the first time the long-term loan of the Gerhard Richter Kunststiftung to the Nationalgalerie. The central work in the exhibition, held in the Grafisches Kabinett of the Neue Nationalgalerie, is the series “Birkenau” (2014), consisting of four large-format, abstract paintings. “Birkenau” is the result of Richter’s long and in-depth engagement with the Holocaust and the possibilities of representing it. Alongside the “Birkenau” series, other works from various phases of Richter’s career will be exhibited, among them “Squatters’ House” (1989), “4900 Colours” (2007), and “Strip” (2013/2016). There is also another large group of works from Richter’s striking series of overpainted photographs, in which he addresses the tension between photography and painting. The exhibition has been realised in close collaboration with the artist.

Today, the National Portrait Gallery announces its acquisition of John Barry, O Kelly, Sonny and Richard Moore (2022), a tapestry by leading artist, Michael Armitage, that depicts four refuse collectors at work during the UK’s first national lockdown in 2020. The tapestry was made after Armitage’s painting of the same name, created as part of a public commission in 2020 by the Southbank Centre to recognise the efforts of key workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, the work will be displayed in its tapestry form for the first time when its building reopens on 22 June 2023, hanging in the newly created The National Lottery Heritage Fund Gallery.

Since the late 1970s, Ann Veronica Janssens (Folkestone, UK, 1956; lives and works in Brussels) has developed her research around light and its relationship to what surrounds it, often creating site-specific works that challenge the immutable nature of sculpture and installation.

The Australian Government will secure the future of Australia’s most cherished cultural and historical institutions in this year’s Federal Budget – restoring them as a source of national pride and reversing a decade of decline under the Liberals and Nationals.

The planned Renovation of Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, has been put temporarily on hold due to the exceeding Costs.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay carried out a two-day mission to Ukraine, with visits to Kyiv, Chernihiv and Odesa, to reaffirm the Organization's support to the population and to advance the reconstruction of the country’s cultural sector. President Zelensky welcomed the “concrete results” of the emergency measures taken by UNESCO since the beginning of the war.

The Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Osaka Eriko) will launch the National Center for Art Research (Director: Kataoka Mami) within the Institution as a new comprehensive hub, the nation’s first of its kind, to sustainably and internationally develop the promotion of art in Japan at a time when contemporary society is undergoing great change.

The 14th Gwangju Biennale, titled soft and weak like water hosted by the Gwangju Biennale Foundation (President, Yang-woo Park) and the Gwangju Metropolitan City, opens to the public on April 7, running through to July 9, 2023.

In 2018, the Fondation Louis Vuitton featured the Basquiat x Warhol, Painting Four Hands exhibition, a huge success that drew an estimated 700,000 visitors. In 2023, from April 5 to August 28, the Fondation will continue its exploration of the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, revealing, this time, his collaboration with Andy Warhol.

The Finding Committee of documenta 16 consists of six renowned international experts in contemporary art: Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger, Gong Yan, Ranjit Hoskoté, Simon Njami, Kathrin Rhomberg, and María Inés Rodríguez. The Supervisory Board at documenta gGmbH today appointed the Finding Committee for the exhibition, which will be held in Kassel from June 12 to September 19, 2027.

The National Portrait Gallery and Getty today announced plans to jointly acquire and share ownership of Sir Joshua Reynolds’ masterpiece, Portrait of Mai (Omai), in a new model of international collaboration that will maximize public access to this supremely important work.

Hugo van der Goes (c. 1440–1482/83) was the most important Netherlandish artist of the second half of the 15th century. His works impress with their monumentality and intense colours as well as with their astonishing closeness to life and emotional expressivity. In March 2023, 540 years after the artist’s death, Berlin’s Gemälde- galerie will celebrate a premiere: for the first time, almost all of the artist’s surviving paintings and drawings will be presented in one exhibition.

A team of archaeologists have discovered the remains of a lost palace of the kings of Girsu, in modern day Tello, Southern Iraq. Dating back at least 4,500 years to the third millennium BCE, this significant discovery is a result of the Girsu Project, a joint initiative and new holistic approach to saving endangered heritage sites between the British Museum, the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) of Iraq, and Getty.

An Egyptian-German research team has uncovered yet another series of colorful ceiling paintings at the Temple of Esna in Upper Egypt. The researchers reported that the Egyptian restoration team, led by Ahmed Emam, succeeded in completely restoring and re-coloring a representation of the heavens.

Julien’s Auctions and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) announced today an exclusive collection featuring over 1,400 iconic items from over 100 years of pop culture history to be presented in “Hollywood: Classic & Contemporary”, taking place live Saturday, April 22nd and Sunday, April 23rd

The National Portrait Gallery and Getty today announced plans to jointly acquire and share ownership of Sir Joshua Reynolds’ masterpiece, Portrait of Mai (Omai), in a new model of international collaboration that will maximize public access to this supremely important work.

From April 4 to June 11, 2023, the Galleria Borghese brings to fruition its research on landscape painting and the relationship between Art and Nature with Dosso Dossi. The Aeneas Frieze, a never-before-seen exhibition – the first dedicated to the great Ferrarese master’s pictorial cycle-curated by Marina Minozzi.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that it will transfer 15 sculptures for return to the government of India, after having learned that the works were illegally removed from India.