The Week in Art

This week, in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, we talk about the history of black resistance in the US and how the art world can respond to this latest tragedy. As protests grow throughout the country, Margaret Carrigan, one of The Art Newspaper’s senior editors in New York, speaks to Spencer Crew, the interim director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, about the museum’s Talking About Race online portal. Also this week, we pay tribute to Christo, who died earlier this week. With his collaborator and wife Jeanne-Claude, Christo most famously wrapped the Pont Neuf in Paris and the Reichstag in Berlin in coloured fabric. And in the latest in our series of Lonely Works behind the doors of closed museums, Caro Howell, the director of the Foundling Museum in London, explores William Hogarth’s portrait of Thomas Coram, the painting that is the cornerstone of the Foundling’s collection—which she now hasn’t seen for months because of the coronavirus lockdown. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As cultural institutions across the world are faced with deciding if and when to re-open, we look at two extremes: we hear from Brandon Zech, the publisher of the Texas-based art publication Glasstire, about a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, one of the first museums in the US to re-open. And we discuss the Southbank Centre in London’s announcement that it’s at risk of closure until April 2021, with Ralph Rugoff, the director of the Hayward Gallery, one of the centre’s venues. And in the latest in our series Lonely Works—about objects in museums that are closed due to the virus—the artist Michael Rakowitz tells us about some ancient Sumerian figurines in the Oriental Institute in Chicago. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode begins by celebrating good news: that the once-in-a-lifetime exhibition of works by Raphael at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome—which only opened for three days before being closed due to Covid-19 in March—will re-open on 2 June and run for three months until 30 August. The show, which begins with Raphael’s death and moves back in time, is the jewel in the crown of the celebrations across Europe and the US marking the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death. Hugo Chapman, the Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum and a Raphael specialist, heralds the genius of an artist whose fame has somewhat unfairly been eclipsed by Leonardo and by his great rival Michelangelo.Also this week: the renaissance of mail art. Margaret Carrigan looks at the radical history of art in the post with Mariam Kienle, assistant professor of art history at the University of Kentucky, and about its revival as the US postal service is under threat from the Trump administration.And in the latest in the series Lonely Works, the artist Mark Dion discusses the American Museum of Natural History and its profound effect on his work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week would have been so-called "gigaweek", with the major auctions of Impressionist, Modern and contemporary art in New York. The events have, of course, been postponed. But are collectors buying art online instead? An explosion of digital initiatives and online galleries or viewing rooms followed the cancellation of fairs and the closure of auction houses and galleries over recent months due to the coronavirus. So this week, we’re looking at the implications of going digital for the art market.We talk to Scott Reyburn, who writes on the art market for The New York Times as well as The Art Newspaper, and our art market editors Anna Brady and Margaret Carrigan take us through some of the initiatives including their experience of the viewing room for Frieze New York. Also this week, in the latest in our Lonely Work series, exploring art behind closed doors in museums… Rebecca Salter, the president of the Royal Academy in London, tells us about Cemetery (1900-02) by the Belgian artist Léon Spilliaert, and gives us an update on the RAs exhibition programme.UPDATE: A new version of this episode was uploaded on 21 May to rectify an incorrect statement made by Scott Reyburn that the Frieze Viewing Rooms were only accessible to VIPs. After the initial VIP days, the Viewing Rooms were in fact open to all from 8-15 May.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we have an exclusive interview with Marina Abramovic: what's the future of performance in the post-pandemic art world? Also, as the lockdown steadily eases in Germany, we ask Catherine Hickley, The Art Newspaper's correspondent in Berlin, how it feels to step foot in a museum again. And in the latest in our Lonely Works series, the painter Ian Davenport tells us why he’s made a new body of work inspired by Pierre Bonnard’s Nude in the Bath (1936). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we look at how technologies like digital scanning and artificial intelligence (AI) are being used to create facsimiles of historic paintings. We talk to Adam Lowe of the Factum Foundation, leaders in the field of digital heritage preservation, ahead of three live discussions about technology and heritage on The Art Newspaper's YouTube channel on 1,2 and 3 May.Also this week, we talk to Sophie Matisse, the great-granddaughter of Henri, about following in his—and her great-grandmother Amélie’s—footsteps for a new BBC film. And in a slight twist on our Lonely Works series, the painter Lisa Yuskavage tells us about missing the great Van Eyck exhibition in Ghent because of the coronavirus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we look at museums in different parts of the globe: what’s their future in a world changed by the coronavirus?The doors of museums have slammed shut over recent weeks as Covid-19 has locked down countries across the world. So this week, we’re asking key figures in museums in the UK, the US and China: what happens next? We speak to Frances Morris, the director of Tate Modern, to Dan Weiss, the president and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and to Philip Tinari, the director of the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing—leaders within different museum cultures, with different challenges ahead. We also have the latest in our Lonely Works series, in which the Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger explores Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), in the Met. You can see an image of Autumn Rhythm as we discuss it at theartnewspaper.com/podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A veritable Juddaganza: we focus on an artist who, before the coronavirus (Covid-19) forced museums and galleries to close, was set to be the subject of three exhibitions in New York this spring, Donald Judd. We talk to Ann Temkin, curator of the big survey at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the online version of which opens at moma.org on 23 April. We meet Flavin Judd, the artist’s son, to discuss the exhibition of his dad’s work at David Zwirner, which Flavin curated, and Judd’s artistic legacy. And in a special contribution, Roberta Smith, co-chief art critic at the New York Times reads the eulogy she gave at Judd’s memorial service in 1994 for the first time since that day. Meanwhile, in the latest of our series exploring lonely works in museums that have closed due to the coronavirus, Donna De Salvo senior adjunct curator of special projects at the Dia Foundation, chooses Marcel Duchamp’s Étant Donnés, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We explore how safe museums are from theft now that they are closed and cities are under lockdown due to the coronavirus. We talk to Martin Bailey about the recent theft of a Van Gogh in the Netherlands, the history of stolen Van Goghs and who steals art and why. We also talk to Vernon Rapley, the director of cultural heritage protection & security at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, about how safe the museum is as London’s streets remain deserted. Plus, Laura Cumming picks the latest Lonely Work behind closed doors in a museum: Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels. And we have a special contribution from the artist—and cartoonist for The Art Newspaper—Pablo Helguera. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We discuss the present and future of the art market, first with Rachel Pownall, a Professor of Finance at Maastricht University School of Business and Economics, in the Netherlands, who specialises in the art market, and then with our market editors, Anna Brady and Margaret Carrigan. And in the latest in our series of lonely works, focusing on artworks behind the doors of museums that have closed due to the coronavirus, we talk to the artist Sean Scully about Matisse's 1915-16 painting The Moroccans, in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we explore the devastating effects of the coronavirus (Covid-19) on art communities, and particularly the wealth of self-employed workers in the art world. We hear about the support packages for people working in the visual arts in Germany, we discuss the precarious position of artists in the UK and we hear about a petition highlighting the fact that galleries in New York and their teams of workers may not benefit from the relief initiatives for small businesses recently announced by the New York mayor Bill de Blasio. Plus, we have the latest in our new series in which focus on works behind the doors of museums that have closed due to the coronavirus, this week with Zoe Whitley, the new director of the Chisenhale Gallery in London. Whitley discusses a springtime gem from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Alma Thomas's Wind and Crepe Myrtle Concerto (1973). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We speak to our journalists in the two epicentres of the Covid-19 pandemic thus far: Anna Somers Cocks in Italy and Lisa Movius in China. We hear about their experiences of lockdown, the response of museums and galleries and the effect on the art community, as the two countries enter contrasting moments in the coronavirus crisis. And we begin a new feature, turning the spotlight on works of art normally enjoyed by millions of visitors in museums across the world that are suddenly hanging unseen in empty galleries closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. In the first of the series, we asked the art historian and broadcaster Bendor Grosvenor to choose his "lonely work": Anthony van Dyck’s masterpiece Martin Ryckaert (about 1631), in the Prado Museum in Madrid, which closed indefinitely last week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the National Gallery opens its show dedicated to Titian's great mythological paintings made for Philip II of Spain, we talk to the gallery's director, Gabriele Finaldi, about making a once impossible curatorial dream a reality, and we take an in-depth tour of the seven paintings in the exhibition with its curator, Matthias Wivel. As museums around the world close, Finaldi also discusses the latest advice from the UK government on COVID-19: business as usual. Plus, the latest art-world news. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We pay tribute to the performance art trailblazer Ulay, who died on 2 March—and discuss his years of collaboration with Marina Abramović— with Catherine Wood, Tate Modern’s senior curator of performance art. And we talk to Marc Spiegler, Art Basel’s global director, about the decision to cancel the Hong Kong fair due to the coronavirus outbreak, and the implications of the cancellation. Plus, this week’s top art world stories. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Plus, Independent Art Fair's director on the New York's changing gallery landscape Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is the dispute between Greece and the British Museum about the Parthenon Marbles about to escalate? A leaked draft of the EU mandate for talks with the UK about the post-Brexit relationship suggests it might. We look at the history of the marbles and what this new development means. Plus, we talk to Shirin Neshat as she unveils her new work at Goodman Gallery in London, and update you on the top art stories of the week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Frieze Los Angeles opens, we look at the LA art scene, its artist-run galleries and grassroots spaces and ask: does the city need the art-market juggernaut? We also pay tribute to the late LA-based artist John Baldessari. We look at Frieze Projects and its unique Hollywood film-set location. And we explore the latest show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We visit the Whitechapel Gallery in London to explore their show Radical Figures: Painting in the New Millennium, with the curator Lydia Yee, and talk to one of the ten artists, Tschabalala Self. And we look at the Foundling Museum’s exhibition Portraying Pregnancy: From Holbein to Social Media with the curator Karen Hearn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We look at the story behind the front-page article in our February issue: the discovery that a multi-million dollar Gauguin sculpture purchased by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles is actually not by the artist at all. Plus, we talk to the Canadian First Nations artist Kent Monkman about his monumental paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; and we look at an exhibition about art and food at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, UK. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We look at the year ahead for galleries, art fairs and auctions, and seek out the big shows in the UK, Europe and the US. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2019: the Year in Review by The Art Newspaper Podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We take an in-depth look at Maurizio Cattelan, the creator of the banana-and-duct-tape work which caused a sensation at Art Basel in Miami Beach last week, with the critic and broadcaster Ben Lewis. And we talk to three UK comedians—Rob Auton, Jenny Eclair and Annie McGrath—about their contributions to the exhibition Art is the Best Medicine at Fiumano Clase in London, featuring works by a wealth of the UK's top comedy talent. The works are on sale and will raise money for the charity Mental Health UK. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The art world has been up in arms this week as Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock, Oscar Murillo and Tai Shani were all announced as the winner of the Turner Prize. We talk to Louisa Buck about the decision and how it might change the award in the future. Plus, we talk to the Miami-born artist Teresita Fernández about her homecoming show at Pérez Art Museum Miami. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk to Lesley Fitton, the co-curator of the British Museum's blockbuster show on the myth and reality of Troy. And we talk to Jess Worth of Culture Unstained about ongoing protests relating to fossil-fuel companies' sponsorship of arts organisations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a huge exhibition of Dora Maar's work opens at Tate Modern, we take a tour of the show with the curator, Emma Lewis. Finally, Maar is escaping the shadow of her lover between 1936 and 1945, Pablo Picasso. We also talk to Jann Haworth, the US-born artist who was a key figure in the 1960s pop art scene in Swinging London and was, with Peter Blake and Michael Cooper, the creator of the cover for The Beatles' Sgt Pepper album—though she is often ignored when that seminal image is discussed. Haworth has a retrospective show at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, UK. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As he opens a new show at London's White Cube gallery, we talk to the German artist about the themes of the exhibition in the context of his art over several decades. And we explore the results of the New York auctions with Scott Reyburn of the New York Times: why is the market treading water? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we review Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh, which has just opened at the Saatchi Gallery in London. The show includes 150 objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb, 100 more than the British Museum’s show in 1972, which attracted almost 1.7m visitors. Sixty of the objects in the new show have never left Egypt before. We also look at Marcel Duchamp: the Barbara and Aaron Levine Collection, a new show at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC, and at the homecoming of perhaps the greatest collection of Duchamp's work, which is at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, following a three-venue tour of museums in Asia and the South Pacific. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark Bonfire Night in the UK, this bonus episode of The Art Newspaper takes a look at the history of pyrotechnics in art and wider visual culture. We talk to Simon Werrett, the author of the book Fireworks: Pyrotechnic Arts and Sciences in European History, and he talks about the variety of uses of fireworks over the centuries and the differing ways that artists have depicted them. You can see some of the art discussed in the podcast by visiting theartnewspaper.com/podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk to the artist Dread Scott about his extraordinarily ambitious two-day performance in Louisiana where he and 500 Louisianans in 19th-century dress will reenact a slave rebellion from 1811. And we visit an exhibition of the women connected to the Pre-Raphaelites at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the exhibition of the year opens at the Louvre, we talk to Ben Lewis about the latest developments in the Salvator Mundi saga. Vincent Delieuvin, the co-curator, tells us about the 13 years he has been working on the show and explains its key themes and ideas. And we explore the Mona Lisa in virtual reality with Dominique de Font-Réaulx, Director of the Interpretation and Cultural Programming Department at the Louvre. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a $450m expansion overseen by the architects Diller, Scofidio and Renfro, the Museum of Modern Art in New York reopens its doors on 21 October with 47,000 sq ft of additional gallery space and a more expansive story to tell about the history of modern art. Nancy Kenney, our senior editor in New York met this week with Sarah Suzuki, the drawings and prints curator who’s in charge of the reopening, and Rajendra Roy, the museum’s chief curator of film, to talk about these major changes in the museum. Then, three editors from The Art Newspaper's New York office—Helen Stoilas, Margaret Carrigan and Nancy Kenney—and our Insider correspondent, Linda Yablonsky, sat down to compare notes.MoMA reopens on 21 October. And you can read a wealth of reporting on the building and the displays on our website theartnewpsaper.com, on our app for iOS which you can find in the App Store, and in the November print edition of The Art Newspaper, which is out at the end of the month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk to Agnes Denes, best known for her extraordinary Wheatfield, a two-acre field of wheat that she planted, tended and harvested in 1982 on landfill in Lower Manhattan, as the Shed opens a retrospective of her work. And we visit two new shows in the Netherlands: Rembrandt-Velázquez at the Rijksmuseum and Pieter De Hooch in Delft at the Museum Prinsenhof. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bumper edition of the podcast we interview three of the world's leading artists, all of whom have shows timed to coincide with the Frieze art fairs: Ai Weiwei at Lisson Gallery, Mark Bradford at Hauser & Wirth and Peter Doig at Michael Werner Gallery. We also get all the latest news of sales and trends at the Frieze fairs from Melanie Gerlis, as another Brexit deadline approaches. And Hettie Judah tells us about her new book, Art London, billed as "a guide to places, artists and events" across the city. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As art schools start their new term in the UK, this week’s episode is an education special. We talk to the artist Patrick Brill, or Bob and Roberta Smith, about his campaign for art’s place at the centre of the curriculum, often expressed directly in his art. We look at the National Art and Design Saturday Club, an initiative offering a free Saturday learning programme, founded by the designers Frances and John Sorrell. We talk to two professors at Goldsmiths College about the pressures and realities of art schools today. In the US, we talk to the co-author of a study on the benefits of art education in schools. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We discuss the dilemmas facing museums as the focus intensifies on ethical sponsorship and governance in the UK and US. And we hear about the latest edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, which addresses, among other things, the erasure of the history of indigenous settlements in Chicago and its region. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We take an in-depth tour of the huge new William Blake exhibition at Tate Britain and explore the life and art of this brilliant yet complex visionary. And in New York, we talk to Marc Glimcher about Pace's eight-floor gallery in Chelsea and what this and the glut of other expanding galleries tell us about the market in New York. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New season! In this first episode, we talk to Timothy Spall about the new film Mrs Lowry and Son and to Jacqueline Riding who worked closely with Spall as an art consultant on Mike Leigh's Mr Turner. Plus, Chris Ofili and Jasmine Thomas-Girvan give an exclusive interview about their show at David Zwirner in London and their lives and work in Trinidad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the last of our summer series of podcasts looking back over 200 interviews, we talk to David Hockney about a record-breaking auction sale, printmaking and Van Gogh. Plus, Martin Gayford sets Hockney in the London scene, along with Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and others. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest podcast featuring highlights from our first 200 interviews on The Art Newspaper podcast, we feature three conversations about May You Live in Interesting Times, the main event at this year's Venice Biennale, curated by Ralph Rugoff. Jane Morris and Ben Luke review the exhibition, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster discusses her virtual reality work for the show, and Rugoff describes the thinking behind the show, its major themes, and the playful nature of much of the work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We look back at three interviews about the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. In a short clip from a November 2017 chat, Judd Tully tells us about the atmosphere at Christie's as the Salvator Mundi sold. The Leonardo scholar Martin Kemp explains his view that the painting is a true Leonardo, in an interview from March 2018. And in a wide-ranging conversation from April 2019, Ben Lewis explores the painting's history and the continuing debates about its provenance, attribution and present whereabouts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode looking back at the 200 interviews we've done over the past two years, we bring together discussions with three masters of video art: Ragnar Kjartansson, John Akomfrah and Chris Marclay. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our latest look back at the 200 interviews we've done over the past two years, we focus on Artemisia Gentileschi with Letizia Treves from the National Gallery in London and Lavinia Fontana and Sofonisba Anguissola, among others, with Jordana Pomeroy, the director of the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University in Miami. We also discuss women composers of the Baroque period, who like those painters were written out of history, with the contemporary artist Helen Cammock—her current Whitechapel Gallery exhibition is in part a response to those composers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special podcast, we publish an archive interview with the London-based dealer and publisher Karsten Schubert, who died this week after a long illness. The artist Michael Landy spoke to Karsten in September 2018 about his life as a collector. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As many parts of the world record their highest ever temperatures, and the art world begins to take more urgent action on the climate emergency, we look back on three interviews, from 2018 and earlier this year, focusing on climate change and the anthropocene. Olafur Eliasson, whose retrospective at Tate Modern has just opened, talks about his project Ice Watch and his climate activism, and another artist, Justin Brice Guariglia, argues that responding to the climate crisis is the moral imperative of our age. Finally, Anna Somers Cocks, the founder of The Art Newspaper, discusses the grave threat posed by rising sea levels to heritage in Europe and particularly around the Mediterranean. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second episode of our summer season of curated podcasts, it's all about Andy. With the major retrospective of the Pop artist on at the San Francisco Museum of Modern art, we bring together two interviews: one with the British artist Jeremy Deller on meeting Warhol, his life-changing trip to the Factory, and Warhol’s legacy, and the second with the curator Donna De Salvo, who takes us through all the key Warhol landmarks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While we're on our summer break, we're looking back over the 200 interviews we've done for the podcast and putting together highlights in a weekly themed episode. First up are two conversations about Van Gogh, from September 2018 and earlier this year, with Martin Bailey of The Art Newspaper and Martin Gayford, critic and writer of books on Michelangelo, Freud and Hockney, among others. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We speak to the leading Ghanaian artist as he unveils a major new commission about the forgotten history of his homeland, on show at the Whitworth as part of the Manchester International Festival. Plus, we find out about the Picasso blockbuster at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We hear about how a painting of Cupid in one of Vermeer's greatest masterpieces, in Dresden, was long thought to have overpainted by the master himself, but was in fact covered by a later artist. It's now in the process of being revealed, as Vermeer intended. We also learn about the Prado's show where Vermeer appears alongside Velázquez and Rembrandt, among many others. And we talk to Helen Cammock about her Whitechapel show and her nomination for this year's Turner Prize. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The great American sculptor's work comes to Yorkshire Sculpture Park as part of the Yorkshire Sculpture International festival, and we talk to Clare Lilley, the park's director, and to Smith's daughters Rebecca and Candida. And Jori Finkel tells us about her new book, in which she has interviewed 50 artists about works of art in their home-town museums that inspired them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As his show opens at the Kunstmuseum Basel to coincide with the Art Basel fair, we talk to the South African artist about his latest works, his complex methods and his extraordinary family history. We also look at the 50th edition of the fair with Melanie Gerlis, an editor-at-large at The Art Newspaper. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.