Law & Politics A Judge Orders Disgraced Art Dealer Douglas Chrismas to Repay $14 Million to Creditors Who Have Been Chasing Him for Years Chrismas also faces up to 15 years in prison on federal charges of embezzlement in a separate, ongoing criminal case. By Taylor Dafoe, May 12, 2022
Politics Russian Forces Have Destroyed Nearly 200 Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Sites, President Zelensky Says The latest site to fall was the historic home of poet-philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda, razed by a recent artillery strike. By Taylor Dafoe, May 10, 2022
Politics After Hiding Its Prized Collection From Russian Troops, Ukraine’s Largest Art Museum Is Reinstalling It in a Show of Resistance The Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery in western Ukraine has already reopened some of its 18 branches. By Taylor Dafoe, May 9, 2022
Art Fairs Don’t Miss These 7 Show-Stopping Works at TEFAF New York, From an Eight-Figure Marc Chagall to a Lusty Anh Duong Painting Highlights include a pricy—and personal—Marc Chagall, a towering Kehinde Wiley, and Anh Duong paintings so new their paint is still wet. By Taylor Dafoe & Sarah Cascone, May 6, 2022
On View An Off-Ramp, a Trauma Specialist, and Preparedness Pamphlets: How the MFA Boston Reworked Its Philip Guston Retrospective The touring show was controversially delayed for a year. By Taylor Dafoe, May 5, 2022
Museums & Institutions Under a New Policy, the Smithsonian Will Consider Ethical, Rather Than Legal, Concerns When Faced With Restitution Claims The policy was recommended by a group of Smithsonian curators and historians who quietly convened over six months last year. By Taylor Dafoe, May 4, 2022
Auctions For the Next Two Weeks, Christie’s Will Project Andy Warhol’s Portrait of Marilyn Monroe Onto the Facade of Rockefeller Center The projection is part of an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink marketing campaign around the auction house’s May 9 sale of the painting. By Taylor Dafoe, Apr 29, 2022
NFTs The Popular SuperRare NFT Marketplace Is Opening Its First Brick-and-Mortar Pop-Up Gallery in SoHo The gallery will host a rotating program of curated exhibitions, including shows inspired by cyberpunk landscapes and Pride month. By Taylor Dafoe, Apr 29, 2022
Politics The Longtime Chief of a Polish Modern Art Museum Has Been Unceremoniously Axed by the Country’s Right-Wing Government His replacement is a local gallerist with no institutional experience who wants to do away with “pro-environmental, gender, and queer art.” By Taylor Dafoe, Apr 28, 2022
Art & Exhibitions David Adjaye, New Red Order, and 26 Other Artists Will Create Work for a Six-Mile Stretch Along a Main Drag in St. Louis Organizers of the Counterpublic triennial have tasked artists—and viewers—with contemplating the nature of historical inheritance. By Taylor Dafoe, Apr 28, 2022
Politics Washington Lawmakers Take a Step Toward Establishing a New D.C. Museum Dedicated to Asian Pacific American History The House of Representatives has passed a bill to study the museum's feasibility. Now, it heads to the Senate. By Taylor Dafoe, Apr 27, 2022
Auctions Christie’s Is Sending a Hologram of a $20 Million Edgar Degas Ballerina on a World Tour to Avoid the Cost and Complexity of Shipping Is this the future of auction-house previews? By Taylor Dafoe, Apr 25, 2022
NFTs David Cronenberg, the Master of Body Horror Films, Is Selling His Passed Kidney Stones as an NFT The project precedes the release of his newest film, about a performance artist who surgically removes his own organs in public. By Taylor Dafoe, Apr 22, 2022
Law & Politics The U.S. Supreme Court Just Sent a Winding International Restitution Case Down to a State Court in California The case will now be sent back to a California appeals court to be readjudicated. By Taylor Dafoe, Apr 21, 2022
On View A New Retrospective Reveals Photographer Imogen Cunningham’s Masterful Range—and How It Hurt Her Career On view now at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the show spans six decades of the artist's career. By Taylor Dafoe, Apr 21, 2022