April 30, 2026
Your morning brew of art world media
Welcome to Art Spell, a daily, comprehensive roundup of art news and reviews for the visual arts community. Today’s Editor’s Pick is Why London’s Whitechapel Gallery Hired an Economist by Margaret Carrigan for Artnet. As institutions struggle with finances, a London gallery has appointed an economist-in-residence to rethink both museum revenue models and the broader social value of cultural institutions.
Art in America
Emily Watlington, 7 Books We’re Looking Forward to in May
The Art Newspaper
Anna Brady, British billionaire’s £200m art collection most expensive ever offered in UK
Rachel Kubrick, Has a new Banksy statue just appeared in central London?
Anny Shaw, Full extent of Stephen Friedman Gallery’s £7.8m debt revealed in filings
Annabel Keenan, Director of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum to depart in October
Gareth Harris, UK’s Brighton & Hove Museums to return 45 artefacts to Botswana
Martin Bailey, Ittai Gradel, gems expert who uncovered British Museum thefts, dies aged 61
Artforum
Harmon Siegel, Hard Feelings: The Whitney Biennial’s Aesthetics of Vulnerability
Olivia Erlanger, Olivia Erlanger on Marie Darrieussecq, Charlie Chaplin, and silence
From the Editors, Ittai Gradel, Whistleblower in British Museum Gem Theft, Dies at 61
From the Editors, Online-Only Art Auctions Overwhelmingly Succeed in 2025
From the Editors, Father Daughter Counterfeiting Duo Face Twenty Years in Prison
From the Editors, Janne Sirén to Depart as Director of Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Artnet
Vittoria Benzine, Klimt, Modigliani, and Freud Lead $200M Lewis Collection at Sotheby’s London
Vittoria Benzine, U.S. Crowdfunds Its Venice Biennale Pavilion
Richard Whiddington, America’s Finest Renaissance Tapestry Set for Major Restoration
Jo Lawson-Tancred, São Paulo Biennial Names Two Rising Brazilian Curators for 2027 Show
Katya Kazakina, King Charles Visits Christie’s in New York, After White House Dinner
Jo Lawson-Tancred, Venice Bound? Here’s All the News You Need to Know About This Year’s Biennale
EDITOR’S PICK - Margaret Carrigan, Why London’s Whitechapel Gallery Hired an Economist: Mariana Mazzucato’s appointment comes as institutions grapple with shrinking budgets, forcing a rethink of how art is funded—and valued.
Richard Whiddington, Duo Who Sold Fake Warhol, Banksy Plead Guilty in $2 Million Fraud
Vittoria Benzine, Rare Roy Lichtenstein Work Could Net $60 Million at Auction
ARTnews
Daniel Cassady and Sarah Douglas, How Will the Venice Biennale Impact Alma Allen’s Market?
Maximilíano Durón, Portland’s Converge 45 Reveals Theme and Artists, Including Trisha Baga, Rose Salane, and Srijon Chowdhury
Tessa Solomon, Ittai Gradel, Danish Gems Expert Who Uncovered British Museum Thefts, Has Died at 61
Leigh Anne Miller, Hermitage Museum Director and Putin Ally Mikhail Piotrovsky Sanctioned by European Union
Tessa Solomon, Zurich’s Galerie Philipp Zollinger Closes After Seven Years
Alex Greenberger, John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence Painting Appears on Trump’s New US Passports
Alex Greenberger, Buffalo AKG Art Museum Director Janne Sirén to Depart After 13 Years
Brian Boucher, Whistleblower Complaint Alleges Misconduct at Palm Springs Art Museum, Where an Ex-Trustee Describes a ‘Shattered Moral Compass’
ArtReview
From the Editors, The 11 Exhibitions to See in May 2026
Chris Fite-Wassilak, Beverly Buchanan’s Anti-Monuments
From the Editors, Katherine El-Salahi, anti-apartheid activist, anthropologist and publisher, 1945–2026
Financial Times
Chloe Stead, Can performance art still shock?
The Guardian
Nadia Khomami, Masterpieces by Klimt, Matisse and Freud set for London’s most valuable auction
Helena Horton, Statue with Banksy signature of man blinded by flag appears in London
Eddy Frankel, Nancy Holt review – cosmic thrills as the universe’s hidden power is unleashed
Karin Andreasson, ‘Sensitive, sexy and surreal’: Japan’s Kyotographie festival
Hyperallergic
Isa Farfan, Trump Adds His Face to the US Passport
John Yau, Édouard Glissant’s Museum-as-Archipelago
Matt Stromberg, George Herms, Titan of West Coast Assemblage, Dies at 90
Mia Anzalone, Sotheby’s Auction Raises Funds for Yale MFA Scholarships
Lisa Yin Zhang, Remembering Raghu Rai, Jack Thornell, and Jarvis Rockwell
The New York Times
Walker Mimms, The Prince of Italian Pop Art Smiles Again
Jason Horowitzs, 36 Hour Barcelona
Michael Snyder, Nine Artists on the Gardens They’ll Never Forget
Elisabetta Povoledo, U.S. and Italy Honor Alliance to Curb Art Looting, Amid Broader Tensions
Observer
Christa Terry, Two Venues, One Unforgettable Evening: Inside Ballet Hispánico’s 56th Anniversary Gala
Christa Terry, Observer’s 2026 May Art Fair Calendar (Updated)
Elisa Carollo, How Andrea Alvarez’s Long-Overdue Survey on Contemporary Latinx Art at Buffalo AKG Art Museum Came to Be
Elisa Carollo, Leah Ke Yi Zheng On Painting as a Relational Phenomenon
Sculpture
Chris Sharratt, Ilana Halperin
Penny Florence, Tentacular Thinking: A Conversation with Nicola Turner
T Magazine
Amanda Fortini, Is Yoko Ono the Most Radical Artist of the Trump Era?
Puck
Marion Maneker, Condition Report: Emma Webster
Vogue
Grace Edquist, How Detroit’s Art Scene Is Ushering in a New Chapter for the City
Wallpaper
Anna Solomon, Frictionless: How the pursuit of optimisation reshaped art, aesthetics and us
Hannah Silver, Artists’ skewing of the financial crisis takes a satirical turn at London’s ICA
Carole Dixon, Los Angeles art exhibitions: the best shows to see in May 2026
Tianna Williams, New York art exhibitions to see in May
The Wall Street Journal
Lance Esplund, ‘Celtic Art Across the Ages’ Review: A Visceral Visual Language
Whitehot
Margherita Artoni, GaHee Park: The Exhaustion of Distance
Yezi Lou, Language, Space, and Survival in Greater New York 2026
Byron Armstrong, Keya Tama: Tied by Time at The Tampa EDITION
Myles Fucci, Staging The In-Between with Sarah Ringrave
Soojung Hyun, Beyond the Monument: Jean Shin’s Living Memorial at Green-Wood
Noah Becker, Between Jewelry and Sculpture: The Practice of Yuan Zhou (Elara Chow)
Art Spell is a subscription-based daily roundup of art news and reviews to help you stay current with what’s being reported on in the visual arts community. The profits from Art Spell are donated to organizations supporting art journalists and writers.