July 9, 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 Can’t Art Biennials Be Small? by Jenny Wu for ArtReview. New exhibitions highlight the tension between art-world ambitions and authentic local identity, asking what it means for artists and institutions to belong to a community.
The Art Newspaper
Helen Stoilas, White, patriarchal and Christian: White House’s vision for the National Museum of American History
Garry Shaw, Hundreds of ancient coins and inscribed pottery fragments discovered at Byzantine site in Egypt
Gareth Harris, Icom adopts new code of ethics for museums in bid to address a ‘rapidly changing world’
Simon Bainbridge, Flamenco, fashion and freedom: three photography shows to see at Les Rencontres d’Arles
Gabriella Angeleti, New Museum names Massimiliano Gioni as new director
Maev Kennedy, Buckingham Palace doubles number of paintings on display in rehung picture gallery
Artforum
Linda Yablonsky, Northern Soul: Camaraderie and Cool During Upstate Art Weekend
From the Editors, American Museum Of Natural History To Repatriate Native American Hair Clippings
From the Editors, Busan Biennale Names Artists for 2026 Edition
From the Editors, New Prize from Fundación Kahlo Will Support Emerging Mexican Artists
From the Editors, U.K. Businessman Fined for Attempting to Ship Four Artworks to Russia, Violating Sanctions
Artnet
Katya Kazakina, After Championing Other Artists for Decades, Tony Bechara Finally Lands in the Spotlight
Min Chen, Rarely Seen Botero Works Spotlight His Overlooked New York Years
ARTnews
Daniel Cassady, George Condo Returns to Hauser & Wirth Less Than One Year After Leaving the Gallery
Devorah Lauter, Curator Ingrid Schaffner Talks Hauser & Wirth’s Henry Taylor—James Jarvaise Show
Alex Greenberger, Photographer Accuses Mickalene Thomas of Copyright Infringement in New Lawsuit
Anne Doran, Italy Advances Legislation on Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art
Leigh Anne Miller, Artissima Announces 180 International Exhibitors Participating in Fall Art Fair in Turin
George Nelson, Sotheby’s Is Adapting to a Softer Wine Market by Selling Access and Experiences—Not Just Bottles
Maximilíano Durón, Lari Pittman Responds to Marc Spiegler’s Op-Ed, Leonard Feinstein Consigned $35 M. Picasso to Hauser & Wirth: Industry Moves for July 8, 2026
Maximilíano Durón, High Line Art Wants the Public’s Opinion on 62 Artist Proposals for Its Plinth Commission
Leigh Anne Miller, The Netherlands and Germany Agree to Return 2,000 Artifacts to Ghana
Daniel Cassady, Belgium’s Magritte-Inspired World Cup Jersey Is Having a Moment After Win Over US
Tessa Solomon, Artist Files Copyright Lawsuit Against David Salle Over Painting Removed from Gallery Show
Andy Battaglia, American Museum of Natural History to Repatriate 2,700 Native American Hair Samples Under NAGPRA
Alex Greenberger, Artist ‘Interrupted’ Whitney Museum’s Displays with Pro-Palestine Messages
ArtReview
EDITOR’S PICK - Jenny Wu, Why Can’t Art Biennials Be Small?: Largescale international fests have dominated the artworld in recent decades. A series of new exhibitions attempt something more local, but what, Jenny Wu asks, does it mean to be a local in the first place?
From the Editors, Busan Biennale announces artists for 2026 edition
The Brooklyn Rail
Jessica Holmes, Mark di Suvero: Avanti!
Saul Ostrow, Fairfield Porter: What Everyone Knows
Ekin Erkan, Marcel Duchamp
Alfred Mac Adam, Agnes Martin: Works on Paper from the 1960s
Pujan Karambeigi, Marcel Duchamp
The Guardian
Nick Buckley, Bed rot, doomscrolling and a single goldfish: the Melbourne art show blowing loneliness open
Hyperallergic
Lisa Yin Zhang, Remembering Yervant Gianikian, Valerie Brathwaite, and Jerry Moriarty
Rhea Nayyar, Artist Sells $25 Trash Souvenirs Found Outside Taylor Swift’s Wedding
Debra Brehmer, Gertrude Abercrombie’s Band of Midwest Magic Realists
Eileen G’Sell, The Hidden History of Stock Photography
Isa Farfan, Whitney Museum Screens Taken Over With Gaza Protest Messages
The Los Angeles Times
Lisa Boone, After her son’s death, she found a new purpose. ‘He’s whispering, ‘Mom, this is your path’
Todd Martens, A meal with an animated Mona Lisa? Immersive dining goes high tech — but will L.A. eat it up?
The New York Times
Arthur Lubow, Paul Thek’s Art Legacy: A Shriek and a Giggle
Carolina A. Miranda, She Became a Private Eye for Her Art. Investigators Had Questions.
Observer
Dan Duray, Marilyn Minter Reflects On Four Decades of Beauty, Grit and Banishing Shame
Dan Duray, One Fine Show: “Pierre Huyghe” at Fondation Beyeler
Elisa Carollo, Phillips’s CEO Martin Wilson On What the House’s $507 Million Spring Reveals About the Market
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Hauser & Wirth wins George Condo back as other artists drop off its roster
Adam Schrader, Muscarelle director’s family ties to September 11 shape anniversary architecture show
Adam Schrader, After her father’s death, Diane Briones Williams says grief reshaped her practice
Adam Schrader, NASA recommended sending over 95% of Goddard’s library to GSA before 60-day review
Adam Schrader, FOIA Documents: NASA’s Goddard library assessment and disposition records
The Wall Street Journal
Lance Esplund, ‘Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds’ Review: The Jewish Museum’s Narrow Take on an Artist
The Washington Post
Elahe Ezadi, Who is the museum director attacked by the White House?
Whitehot
Manuela Annamaria Accinno, Interview: The Time of flesh, The flash of myth: The archeology of the present in the art of Mimmo Paladino
Isabella Ada Bergmann, Mark Whalen & Salomon Huerta: LUMBRE at Ruttkowski;68 Paris
J. Scott Orr, The Strange Geometry of Cake: Andreas Schulze at Sprüth Magers
Gary Brewer, Dynaton: Convocation of Radiant Beings at Château Shatto
Grace Palmer, Investigating the Elsewhere: Freya Tewelde at Gallery 1957
Luman Jiang, 1974/2026: Kishio Suga and the Slash Date
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