I wondered what it meant if the Greek water jar I had been so moved by, depicting a woman who may have been Sappho bent over a scroll, had in fact been a worthless copy. Did that make the experience any less real? - The Guardian
The shift in tone may seem stark, but the Bayeux Museum said it had carried out tests – including a dress rehearsal with a model – that persuaded its experts that the tapestry could be sent to the UK without excessive damage. - The Guardian
According to the museum, officers told staff that they were there in an attempt to assess places where undocumented immigrants might enter and leave the museum at upcoming events. - Artnet
“Billed as a ‘financial trust fall,’ the project” — a sculpture of an infant, built to be taken apart and divided, which the collective MSCHF has titled King Solomon’s Baby — “invites collectors to take the plunge (and buy a piece), hoping others will follow suit in a reverse pyramid scheme that’s artfully self-aware.” - ARTnews
These decades-old guidelines determine the temperature and relative humidity at which museums maintain their collections, but implementing them comes with high energy costs and carbon footprints. - The Art Newspaper
The surge comes as many young adults grapple with fears about the impacts of artificial intelligence, a sense of internet overload and a desire to reconnect with the physical world. - Gothamist
“The former prime minister Liz Truss and a hard-right lobby group have been accused of stoking culture wars after reportedly writing a letter claiming they would take legal action over alleged ‘covert’ plans to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece.” - The Guardian
“Some have wondered if the group show is fated to die out altogether. But in talking to dealers and advisers, it seems less like the once-ubiquitous summer group show is not quite disappearing. Instead, galleries have simply become more clear-eyed about the true purpose of these shows.” - ARTnews
Arriving at art museums after four or five hours on these roads, day after day, is reliably uplifting. Everything is reversed. You’re in a huge building, with high ceilings and no predetermined path. You meander through different centuries and cultures, encountering different ideas of beauty, different understandings of power and mortality, different ways of living. - Washington Post
Art historian Linda Neagley has argued that pre-Renaissance people interacted with art visually, kinaesthetically (sensory perception through bodily movement) and physically. The Bayeux tapestry would have been hung at eye level to enable this. - The Conversation
The world’s oldest natural pearl and an 1,100-year-old Qur’an will be among the star exhibits at Zayed National Museum, in a new building, designed by Norman Foster’s firm, in the cultural district on the emirate’s Saadiyat Island. Director Peter Magee says the museum’s aim is to be a “research powerhouse.” - The Art Newspaper
Amid the geopolitical mayhem of a second Donald Trump presidency, 2025 looks likely to be the third year in a row that sales in the global art market have contracted. “The anticipated ‘Trump bump’ has ultimately given way to a ‘Trump slump’,” says Christine Bourron, the chief executive of Pi-eX. - The Art Newspaper
“Hidden high in the chapter house of San Domenico (convent) in Fiesole, the quietly majestic Crucifixion — possibly the artist’s earliest known work — has been painstakingly revived by conservators, offering visitors a rare glimpse into the spiritual and artistic beginnings of one of Italy’s most revered painters.” - Artnet
The enormous cloth, which depicts the Norman Conquest of England, has spent almost all of its existence in France. Next year it will be the centerpiece of a blockbuster exhibition at the British Museum in London. In exchange, the UK will lend to France Anglo-Saxon treasures from the Sutton Hoo ship burial. - AP