Crime Stolen Ancient Tomb Carvings Sat in Storage at the Met Museum for Decades. Now, They’ve Been Returned to China The objects are among 89 antiquities seized by the D.A. as part of a years-long criminal investigation into Shelby White’s collection. By Taylor Dafoe, May 10, 2023
Crime An International Effort to Tackle Antiquities Trafficking Seized More Than 11,000 Stolen Artifacts Across Europe Last Year Operation Pandora took into custody ancient coins, religious artifacts, and a Roman marble bust. By Richard Whiddington, May 10, 2023
Politics Hong Kong Police’s Seizure and Suppression of a Tiananmen Monument Has Only Made It ‘Bigger,’ Its Sculptor Says A replica of 'The Pillar of Shame,' which can no longer be seen in Hong Kong, will be unveiled in Berlin on May 22. By Vivienne Chow, May 9, 2023
Crime An Elderly Man Spray-Painted a Miriam Cahn Painting at a Paris Museum After Right-Wing Attempts to Censor It Failed The Palais de Tokyo will keep the defaced painting on view until the end of the show next week. By Taylor Dafoe, May 8, 2023
Crime A BBC True Crime Podcast Is Asking Museums for Help Locating a Murder Victim’s Remains to Solve a Cold Case If the skeleton is recovered it may reveal the woman's origins or even her surviving relatives. By Jo Lawson-Tancred, May 4, 2023
Crime A U.K. Court Has Found Two Collectors Guilty of an Illegal Scheme to Sell a $960,000 Hoard of Anglo-Saxon Coins The coins belong to the Heresfordshire hoard and were never reported, violating the U.K.'s Treasure Act. By Richard Whiddington, Apr 28, 2023
Opinion Is Crafting ‘Super Prompts’ for A.I. Generators the Art of the Future? Probably Not A.I. Clement Greenberg would like to have a word. By Ben Davis, Apr 27, 2023
Op-Ed Philanthropy in Almost Every Sector Is Moving Toward Unrestricted Funding—Except in the Arts. Why Is It So Hard to Trust Artists? The arts strategy director of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation argues why we must move toward trust-based philanthropy. By Ted Russell, Apr 27, 2023
Crime A Dealer Who Fled the U.S. After Being Convicted of Selling Fake Art by Franz Kline and Milton Avery Has Just Been Extradited Angela Catherine Hamblin was convicted of selling $400,000 of fake paintings in 2009. By Taylor Dafoe, Apr 25, 2023
Crime 55 Hindu Relics Stolen From Temples Across India Have Been Located in the Home of an Art Collector The Chennai-based collector was also found to possess illegally smuggled antiquities last year. By Jo Lawson-Tancred, Apr 25, 2023
Op-Ed Guns and Virons: Artist Mel Chin on Why His 1993 Performance at Dia Continues to Resonate Today Thirty years after Mel Chin pointed a rifle at the heads of an audience, the artist re-examines this eerily prescient work. By Mel Chin, Apr 23, 2023
Crime Spanish Police Have Seized Five Fake Goya and Velázquez Paintings Supposedly Worth a Collective $84 Million The works will go on view in an exhibition of seized forgeries curated in conjunction with Spanish police. By Sarah Cascone, Apr 14, 2023
Crime A Man Tried to Climb One of Canada’s Most Famous Public Artworks and Got Trapped Inside It Until Rescuers Found Him It took the fire department an hour and a half to free the man. By Sarah Cascone, Apr 12, 2023
Crime An Auctioneer Has Confessed to Playing a Major Role in Producing Fake Basquiats Displayed at the Orlando Museum of Art Los Angeles auctioneer Michael Barzman pled guilty to lying to the FBI about creating the works. By Sarah Cascone, Apr 12, 2023
Politics Lima’s Far-Right Mayor Shuttered a Memorial Museum in an Effort to ‘Control the Narrative’ of Peru’s History Critics fear the move is part of a broader political effort to whitewash history. By Taylor Dafoe, Apr 10, 2023