April 6, 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 Biennials and the Environmental Cost of Global Art by Manuela Moscoso for Artforum. A defense of biennials that calls for reframing ecological criticism to focus on reciprocity and stewardship rather than mobility alone.
Airmail
Peter Saenger, Noguchi at Play
Art in America
John P. Murphy, How the New Deal Treated Art as Essential to Democracy
The Art Newspaper
Daniel Grant, Irreconcilable differences: Canadian cultural tourism to the US experiences a steep decline
Annabel Keenan, Monumental 37ft-long Indian scroll goes on public view for the first time at Yale Center for British Art
Artforum
Theo Belci, Schlock Jock: Joshua Citarella at the Whitney Biennial
Katherine Rochester, Obsessive Geometries: Bettina, the Chelsea Hotel’s Recluse Artist
EDITOR’S PICK - Manuela Moscoso, Biennials and the Environmental Cost of Global Art: CIRCULATION IS THE CONDITION of the biennial as a form. Artworks move, artists move, audiences move.
Daniel Birnbaum, The Biennial as Art Form in an Age of Global Fatigue
Artnet
Eileen Kinsella, The Business of KAWS: What Data and a Museum Show Reveal About His Market
Sonia Manalili and Kate Brown, How Raphael Made—and Unmade—the Renaissance
Karl Kusserow, At 250, America Must Reframe Its Founding Icons
Katya Kazakina, Were the Popes Art History’s Ultimate Collectors?
Jo Lawson-Tancred, How Elsa Schiaparelli Turned Surrealism Into High Fashion
Vittoria Benzine, How Dalí’s Amber Varnish May Have Caused This Painting to Decay
Richard Whiddington, Archaeologists Discover 19th-Century Shipwreck in Copenhagen Harbor
Vittoria Benzine, Rare Zaha Hadid Pavilion Comes to Auction
Sonia Manalili and Margaret Carrigan, The Art Market’s Uneven Recovery, Explained
Vittoria Benzine, Two of Keith Haring’s Painted Cars Roll Into New York for the First Time
Holly Black, How an Overlooked Printmaker Became a Hero of Mexican Cultural Identity
ARTnews
Tessa Solomon, 11-Year Restitution Dispute Over Prized Modigliani Ends With Loss for Nahmad Family
Daniel Cassady, Gisela Colón on Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny, and the Power Beneath the Island
Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle, Why Filmmaker Ming Wong Is the Ultimate Shape-Shifter
Maximilíano Durón, Record-Breaking $110.5 M. Basquiat Painting, Now Owned by Ken Griffin, to Go on View in Miami This Summer
Alex Greenberger and Harrison Jacobs, Patron Gallery Adds Miao Wang to Its Roster, and More: Industry Moves for April 1, 2026
Tessa Solomon, Human Rights Foundation Petitions UN on Behalf of Jailed Chinese Dissident Artist Gao Zhen
Maximilíano Durón, Local Resort Reportedly Pays $45 M. for Rauschenberg’s Famed Captiva Island Property
Daniel Cassady, Raja Ravi Varma Painting Sells for $17.9 M., New Auction Record for Indian Art
Leigh Anne Miller, Uffizi Museum in Florence Denies Severity of Security Breaches Resulting From February Cyber Attack
Daniel Cassady, Max Levai Bets on Scale—and Himself—with New Chelsea Gallery
Alex Greenberger, Bic Family Heirs File Lawsuit for Return of Fra Angelico Painting ‘Stolen’ by Chauffeur
Harrison Jacobs, German Provocateur Artist Sentenced to 8.5 Years in Prison in Russia After Mocking Putin
Emi Eleode, A New Exhibition at the British Museum Dismantles the Popular Understanding of Samurai
The Guardian
Alice Fisher, What can 160-million-year-old clay tell us about AI and ethics? Inside Es Devlin’s tech and pottery summit
Kim Wilsher, Warsaw’s Neon Museum sparks revival of interest in cold war signs and aesthetic
Oliver Basciano, ‘It was a way of processing violences I’ve survived’: how iconoclastic musician Arca beat burnout with frenzied painting
Nadia Khomami, ‘The original triple threat’: two exhibitions celebrate Marilyn Monroe as creative pioneer
Alex Needham, ‘Barbara Windsor smacked our bottoms!’ Pet Shop Boys on showstopping visuals, horrified bosses – and snubbing the queen
Edwina Preston, ‘Relentless’: National Gallery of Victoria exhibition celebrates motherhood
Hyperallergic
Ed Simon, Salvador Dalí’s Frustrating Vision of the Divine
John Yau, Leah Ke Yi Zheng’s Personal I Ching
Isa Farfan, Lebanese Artist Accuses Israel of War Crime for Strike That Killed His Parents
Rhea Nayyar, POC Arts Nonprofits Face Severe Staffing Challenges, Survey Finds
Taliesin Thomas, 10 Exhibitions to See in Upstate New York This April
Lakshmi Rivera Amin, A View From the Easel
Observer
Xintian Wang, At the Met, “Infinite Artistry” Reframes Japanese Ceramics as a Living Philosophy
Elisa Carollo, At Perrotin, Gelitin Creates Space for Collective Ludic Experiences
Aisling O’Leary, As Venice Nears, Arch Hades Traces Her Shift from Verse to Visuals
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Turkey secures return of manuscripts from Canada after court ruling
Adam Schrader, Judge orders return of Modigliani painting seized during Nazi era
Adam Schrader, Court Documents: Modigliani Restitution Case Against Nahmad
Adam Schrader, Planet Labs’ Iran satellite blackout leaves cultural heritage in the dark
Adam Schrader, White House ballroom plans get National Capital Planning Commission approval
The Wall Street Journal
Brian P. Kelly, ‘Keith Haring’ Review: Pop Art’s Brand Ambassador at the Brant Foundation
Judith H. Dobrzynski, ‘A World in the Making: The Shakers’ Review: The Art of Simplicity
The Washington Post
From the Editors, Museum and gallery exhibits in the D.C. area this week
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.