BEST?

Have You Heard? – artnet News is debuting “Wet Paint,” an art-world gossip column by Nate Freeman that features such juicy tidbits as this past week’s star-studded nuptials between Jennifer Lawrence and Cooke Maroney.

A Rare Rothko Comes to Market – Sotheby’s is offering a $35 million canvas by Mark Rothko, hoping to infuse an otherwise tame looking auction season with a rare surprise.

Yayoi Kusama Soars – The incredibly popular Japanese artist will have a balloon float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year, taking the form of a tentacled sun-face with polka-dot details.

artnet’s Storied History – In a marathon six-part series, artnet News’s editor in chief interviewed company founder Hans Neuendorf about building the business throughoug the wake of 9/11, market crashes, and the emergence of e-commerce.

Virtual Mona Lisa – As part of its Leonardo anniversary exhibition, a new seven-minute immersive virtual reality experience at the Louvre gives museum goers a new taste of the enigmatic Mona Lisa.

A Tale of Two Salvator Mundis – Although the Louvre wasn’t able to secure the $450 million painting of Jesus for its Leonardo blockbuster there is another, lesser-known version of the same portrait on view.

Lalanne Super Sale – The two-day auction of works by the late artist couple Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne was a smashing success, achieving more than four times the total pre-sale estimate.

Looking For a Few Good Soldiers – The US Army is rebooting the Monuments Men initiative from the World War II era to help preserve valuable cultural objects from war-torn areas in the modern world.

BAMPFA Gets a Major Gift – The collector Eli Leon, who died in 2018, bequeathed a trove of African American-made quilts to the Berkeley Museum, transforming its collection.

WORST?

Remembering Ed Clark – The post-war abstract painter died at age 93, at the same time that Hauser & Wirth in Chelsea was showing some of the artist’s dynamic explorations in painting.

Remembering Huang Yong Ping – The Chinese artist, who was based in France, died at age 65, after an impressive career that fused the spirit of Dadaism with historical Chinese traditions.

Feds Seize Looted Painting – The FBI seized a painting from an art museum in upstate New York that is believed to have been looted from the prominent Berlin-based publisher Rudolf Mosse when the Nazi regime came to power.

Cultural Entities Oppose Turkey – In the wake of Turkey’s invasions into Kurdish regions of Syria, hundreds of cultural figures signed a petition against Turkish-sponsored state institutions, including academic and cultural entities.

More Arrested in Golden Throne Heist – More loo-sers have been nabbed for their role in the theft of Maurizio Cattelan’s golden toilet, which had been installed at Blenheim Palace.

Protests Mount at MoMA – Protesters, including New York politician Melissa Mark-Viverito, swarmed the newly redesigned Museum of Modern Art this week to boycott trustee Steven Tananbaum, who they allege made his money at the expense of Puerto Ricans.

Vetting Buyers – As scrutiny of dirty money in the upper echelons of the art world mounts, just how closely should artists and galleries vet their collectors? We investigate.