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 Promises Auction Houses Make to Secure Major Consignments by Phin Jennings for OCULA. Auction houses compete for major consignments through financial guarantees and legacy-building opportunities, potentially diverting art from museums.
The Art Newspaper
Gareth Harris, Huge bronze book cover by Salvador Dalí stolen in latest French museum theft
Ben Luke, David Clack and Aimee Dawson, A brush with… Cecilia Vicuña—podcast
Melissa Gronlund, Louvre Abu Dhabi appoints Souraya Noujaim as new director
Sophia Kishkovsky, Ukraine rebuilds museum devoted to controversial national figure
Annabel Keenan, Brooklyn Museum’s $48m energy-efficiency retrofit is latest in New York City’s effort to cut emissions
Mark Asch, A documentary about and largely filmed by blind girls offers a casually radical perspective
Hadani Ditmars, Toronto biennial brings monument to resilience and spiritual liberation to a Sikh community centre
Artforum
Jörg Heiser, The Kyiv Biennial in Berlin
Aria Dean, Experience Machine
From the Editors, Foster + Partners Completes Addition to Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
From the Editors, Detroit Design District Launches Whitney ISP–Style Program
From the Editors, New Museum Announces Artists, Theme for 2027 Triennial
From the Editors, Phoenix Art Museum Receives a $5 Million Gift For Its Asian Art Wing
Artnet
Margaret Carrigan, Souraya Noujaim Returns to Louvre Abu Dhabi as Its New Director
Caroline Goldstein, Stanley Kubrick’s Curio-Filled Archive Hits the Auction Block
Kenny Schachter, A Taste for Toxins: Kenny Schachter on Sigmar Polke’s Poison Paradise and the Pathology of Normalcy
Richard Whiddington, Loot Alors! Dalí Book Cover Stolen from French Museum
Richard Whiddington, Philip Tinari Gets Top Tai Kwun Arts Job
Richard Whiddington, The New Museum Triennial Is Back—and It’s More International Than Ever
ARTnews
Daniel Cassady, How Printmaking Changed the Way Jean-Michel Basquiat Painted
Maximilíano Durón, Ten Out of Ten: Top 200 Collector Joop van Caldenborgh Reflects on His Museum Voorlinden’s First Decade
Hikmat Mohammed, The Zaha Hadid Foundation Is Reopening the Late Architect’s Former HQ as a Public Arts Space
Devorah Lauter, Zurich-Based Dealer Eva Presenhuber to Close ‘Sentimental’ Vienna Gallery Space
Leigh Anne Miller, ‘Jodi,’ Sotheby’s Newly-Minted Nanotyrannus, Hits the Auction Block With $9 M. Estimate
Tessa Solomon, Martha Jungwirth’s Abstractions Animate AKRIS’s Spring 2026 Collection
Francesca Aton, Phoenix Art Museum Receives $5 M. Donation to Expand Sri Lankan and South Asian Art Galleries
Hikmat Mohammed, The State Russian Museum Has Restored Ivan Aivazovsky Seascape Painting Ahead of Major Retrospective
Maximilíano Durón, New Museum Announces 36 Artists and Collectives for Upcoming Triennial, Including Virginia Chihota, Mandy El-Sayegh, Josi, Jota Mombaça, and Agnes Questionmark
Francesca Aton, Art Collector Beth Rudin DeWoody Lists Upper East Side Co-Op for $12 M.
Devorah Lauter, Dalí-Designed Bronze ‘Livre de l’Apocalypse’ Book Cover Stolen from French Museum
ArtReview
Patrick Langley, Tarek Atoui’s Echo Chamber
Qingyuan Deng, Caguiat Delacruz’s Modern Tramp
From the Editors, Souraya Noujaim appointed director of Louvre Abu Dhabi
Suraj Yengde, How Stephen Batchelor Pictures Ethics
From the Editors, Philip Tinari named director of Tai Kwun Arts
From the Editors, Artists announced for 2026 Asian Art Biennial
From the Editors, Details announced for 2027 New Museum Triennial
The Brooklyn Rail
Neil Balfour, The End of (Art) History
Alfredo Cramerotti and Auronda Scalera, On Machines Without a Canon
Matthew Lawson Garrett, Richard Tuttle and Jun Aoki: Almost Sky
Terry R. Meyers, John Baldessari: Sculptures
Patrick Hill, David Reed: Terrible Idea
Financial Times
Kitty Grady, Eva Langret’s guide to London’s best museums — and the perfect gift shop
Maria Shollenbarger, Fumagalli & Dossi’s empire of plaster casts
From the Editors, San Francisco’s newest exhibition curator? K-pop superstar RM
Lucy Davies, Cindy Sherman: ‘My photographs make me come to terms with my body changing’
Frieze
From the Editors, Meet the Committee: Freddie Powell of Ginny on Frederick
From the Editors, Announcing the 2026 Frieze x ICA Artists’ Film Programme
From the Editors, Carolina Aguirre on Identity and Holding onto Memories of Home
Galerie
Rima Suqi, Meet the Maker Using Knots to Draw in Space
Rena Gross, Rétromobile Stops at CART Department on the Way to Javits Center
The Guardian
Hannah Kay, ‘Curious and circumspect creatures’: the artist making sculptures for the rats of New York City
Alice Fisher, ‘My first photographs coincided with me falling in love’: why children have always adored taking pictures
Sosina Mengistu, Women behind the lens: ‘I felt suspended between hope and giving up’
From the Editors, Why this Sidney Nolan painting was a breakthrough moment for Australian modern art – video
Helena Smith, Greek prime minister vows to ‘ramp up’ efforts to regain Parthenon marbles
Hyperallergic
From the Editors, Leon Black, You Can’t Hide
Lakshmi Rivera Amin, Art Reads for Banned Books Week
Anna Lee, MoMA Helping “Sanitize” Leon Black’s Reputation, Protesters Say
Jasmine Weber, “Thinking From Black” Is a Glossary of Possibility
Rhea Nayyar, On Taking Care of Each Other
From the Editors, A Hyperallergic Halloween
Natalie Weis, Ayé A. Aton Returns to His Earthly Roots
Rhea Nayyar, These Are the Artists in the 2027 New Museum Triennial
Gabrielle Vazquez, A Triumphant Tribute to Latine Visual Culture
Rhea Nayyar, Independent Art Fair Purchased by British Conglomerate
The Los Angeles Times
Sam Lubell, ‘Home of the Future’ at LACMA explores dark side of American dream
The New York Times
Frank Rose, Are You Prepared for MoMA’s New Swamp?
Rebecca Chao, Bought for $30, Gertrude Abercrombie Painting Set Off $1.35 Million Bidding War
Observer
Elisa Carollo, At David Zwirner New York, Scott Kahn’s Landscapes Open Windows Onto Other Worlds
Nadja Sayej, Inside the Vanity Museum That Star Wars Built
Elisa Carollo, The Toronto Biennial Sets Ancient Wisdom Against Modern Collapse
Naima Morelli, How Oslo’s Museums Are Confronting the Contradictions in Their Collections
OCULA
EDITOR’S PICK - Phin Jennings, The Promises Auction Houses Make to Secure Major Consignments: Blockbuster estate sales have invigorated the art market. But can auction houses maintain the momentum and keep acquiring these mega‑consignments, and what does this pattern mean for the rest of the art world? Phin Jennings investigates.
Jack Parlett, A Stitch in Time
Puck
Marion Maneker, Gallery Report: The Rest of the Best
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Trump’s A.I. chatbot rewrites arts agencies’ words and omits Smithsonian pressure
Adam Schrader, Judge sets conditions for lawyer defending collector in Eden Fine Art lawsuit
Adam Schrader, Deputies say Sinema’s ex-bodyguard sank $123,015 in paintings in her pool
Whitehot
J. Scott Orr, How Graffiti Artist GIZ Got From a Train Yard in Queens to a Gallery in Miami
Margherita Artoni, Rita Ackermann: The Letter as Condition at Hauser & Wirth
From the Editors, Four Ruben Natal-San Miguel photographs were acquired by the Rhode Island School of Design Museum
Raphy Sarkissian, The Prereflective at Harper’s Gallery
Margherita Artoni, Dhewadi Hadjab in conversation with Margherita Artoni. Painting, perception, and the unstable image.
Margherita Artoni, Kerry James Marshall: The Right to Appear in History - at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris
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