May 28, 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 The 100 Best Artworks About America by The Editors of ARTnews. The list, compiled by editors of ARTnews and Art in America, highlights works across centuries and mediums that explore American identity, history, and cultural tensions through art.
Art in America
Aliza Shvarts, Kinlaw’s Performances Are High Stakes, No Net.
McKenzie Wark, Ren Light Pan Dramatizes the Dilemma of the Trans Artist.
The Art Newspaper
Helen Stoilas, Bad moon rising: AI debate erupts over ‘colourised’ version of a classic Ansel Adams photo
Gareth Harris, Rediscovered Leonora Carrington painting to go on show for the first time at London’s Freud Museum
Dale Berning Sawa, French project uses AI to visualise how climate change will affect heritage sites
Alton Yan, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts gifted collection of nearly 2,000 photographs
Anni Irish, Whitney Museum workers rallied outside fundraising gala amid contract negotiations
Menachem Wecker, Artist-brothers’ Kennedy Center project aims to unite the US in divisive times
Artforum
Alex Jovanovich, Smells Like Fete: The Anticlimactic Glamour of the 2026 Met Gala
From the Editors, Trump Re-Erects Statue of Slave-Owner in Washington, DC
From the Editors, Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian Launch Menorca Residency with Hauser & Wirth
From the Editors, Cheryl Finley Wins 2026 David C. Driskell Prize
Artnet
Jo Lawson-Tancred, Art Basel Paris Releases 2026 Exhibitor List: Who’s In? Who’s Out?
Vittoria Benzine, Lost Leonora Carrington Painting Emerges After More Than 80 Years
Vittoria Benzine, $102 Million Louvre Heist Is Getting the Film Treatment
Min Chen, Giant T. Rex Fossil Could Net a Monster Price at Sotheby’s
Richard Whiddington, Unpublished Beethoven Manuscript Hits the Auction Block
Richard Whiddington, Lalanne’s Playful Frog Fountains Surface at Auction
Cathy Fan, 4 Must-See Shows at Gallery Weekend Beijing
ARTnews
Julie Brener Davich, Heritage Auctions Taps Samantha Anderson for New Position Combining Legal and Business Development Roles
Daniel Cassady, Art Basel Paris Names 206 Exhibitors for This Year’s Edition, the First Under a New Director
EDITOR’S PICK - From the Editors, The 100 Best Artworks About America: These works bear witness to centuries of American history and American change.
Alex Greenberger, How We Complied Our List of the 100 Best Artworks About America
Lilyanna D’Amato, Trump Reinstalls Monument to Founding Father, Slave Owner Removed in 2020
Harrison Jacobs, Christie’s Names Billionaire François-Henri Pinault Chairman, Signaling End of Tenure for Guillaume Cerutti
Daniel Cassady, Donald Newhouse, Publishing Heir and Brother of Si Newhouse, Dies at 96
Daniel Cassady, Heir Says Cézanne Watercolor Shown in Basel Was Lost During Nazi Era
Brian Boucher, ‘Prediction Markets’ Come to Art Auctions: Now You Can Bet on Basquiat and Monet, Courtesy of Kalshi
Daniel Cassady, Brian Boucher and Harrison Jacobs, Five Questions for Five Advisors on the May Marquee Sales
Andy Battaglia, King Arthur Manuscript Hidden in a Private Collection for 700 Years Is Coming to Auction
Alex Greenberger, Collectors Anita and Poju Zabludowicz to Sell $20.1 M. in Art at Christie’s
Alex Greenberger, Paula Kamps, Painter of Tender Works About Memory, Dies at 36
Andy Battaglia, $50,000 Driskell Prize Goes to Cheryl Finley of Spelman College
Howard Halle, Jackson Pollock Transformed American Art—and Was Destroyed by His Own Success
ArtReview
Jenny Wu, Art, Death, Duchamp
From the Editors, Brazilian Police name alleged thief of Matisse works
From the Editors, Lucia Pietroiusti and Filipa Ramos take on Bergen Assembly
Financial Times
Frieze
Tash Aw, The Terrifying Beauty of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s New Performance
The Guardian
Nadia Khomami, Leonora Carrington work painted during psychiatric confinement to go on show for first time
Hyperallergic
Hakim Bishara, Centuries of Endurance Undergird “In Minor Keys”
Aruna D’Souza, Khaled Sabsabi’s Art of Collective Becoming
Lisa Yin Zhang, Paula Kamps, Painter of Rare Sensitivity, Dies at 36
Isa Farfan, Engaging With Art Can Slow Aging, Study Claims
Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, Fixing the Potholes in NYC’s Cultural Infrastructure
Rhea Nayyar, The Louvre Heist Is Coming to a Cinema Near You
The Los Angeles Times
The New York Times
Valeriya Safronova, Florentina Holzinger’s 9-Hour Spectacle Pushes the Limits of Body Art
Ray Mark Rinaldi, For Rent: A One-Bedroom Coyote House
Observer
Christa Terry, The Gordon Parks Foundation’s 20th Anniversary Gala Made the Argument for Art as Activism
Puck
Marion Maneker, Condition Report: Sotheby’s Caroline Seabolt & Ashkan Baghestani
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Taipei Dangdai website and email go dark after 2026 fair cancellation
Adam Schrader, Prosecutors drop Art Basel graffiti case against artist
Adam Schrader, Plea talks underway in case over stolen Courbet painting
Adam Schrader, Death penalty sought in Capital Jewish Museum shooting case
Adam Schrader, Brazilian police make arrests in Matisse library heist probe
Adam Schrader, Copyright Office faces lawsuit over ‘Suryast’ A.I.-assisted artwork
Adam Schrader, Court Documents: Suryast complaint against U.S. Copyright Office
Wallpaper
Nick Levine, Andrew Heard’s provocative post-pop art is ripe for rediscovery
Hannah Silver, Jack White on his first art exhibition: ‘You have to get your ego out of the way’
The Wall Street Journal
Michael J. Lewis, ‘Gothic by Design: The Dawn of Architectural Draftsmanship’ Review: Buildings Born on Parchment
Whitehot
Serena Hanzhi Wang, Fragments of Venus: Lesley Bodzy at Dmincubator Gallery
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.