Weekly Newsletter
Your remedy against toxic people, Trump’s war against the Smithsonian, and saying goodbye to two giants of the arts.
Ever wondered how many days have been spoiled by someone else’s delicate ego? Or how often “friends” have unapologetically taken your ideas? In this month’s Art Problems column, Paddy Johnson delves into the difficult topic of why the art world is plagued with toxic individuals. Discover her advice on safeguarding yourself from insecure colleagues and those with bad intentions. Hopefully, it proves helpful.
In related news, President Trump has mandated the placement of content warning signs outside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, cautioning the public about the museum’s supposed leftist leanings.
Ed Simon writes in a compelling opinion piece that “no other president has dared to deface taxpayer-funded museums with signage advising people not to enter, while steering them toward more politically ‘acceptable’ — essentially far-right — versions of historical events.”
This week, we also bid farewell to two towering figures in the arts: assemblage artist Betye Saar, who passed away just four days shy of her 100th birthday, and performance artist Simone Forti, who left us at 91. We honor their memories while celebrating the profound legacies they have left behind.
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
Madrid Museum Puts Picasso in Dialogue With “African Guernica”
Spanning over 25-feet wide and 11-feet high, Pablo Picasso’s painting “Guernica” (1937) is as monumental in size as it is in cultural significance. Its startling depiction of state brutality against civilians has made it an emblem of post-war Spanish identity, and its cry against violence has resonated with besieged people worldwide — from Vietnam to Gaza — throughout the past nine decades.
A new annual exhibition series at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, which has served as the canonical work’s permanent home since 1992, places “Guernica” in dialogue with other artworks. The new program, titled History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It Does Rhyme, partly aims to revisit the universal political impulses behind the anti-war painting — but its first iteration also exposes race as an urgent issue for contemporary art institutions in Spain. | Agnish Ray
Read More
Support Independent Art Reporting
Independent, critical reporting is increasingly hard to come by. But you can ensure it doesn’t disappear.
By becoming a paid member of the Hyperallergic community, you not only help keep our lights on, but ensure our hands (and pens) remain untied.
Hyperallergic isn’t beholden to large corporations or billionaires. Instead, our journalism is funded by readers like you: individuals who fight for integrity and justice during increasingly unjust times.
With your support (as little as $6.67/month!), you are joining a community of people who value and advocate for independent journalism and greater transparency in the arts. The perks aren’t bad either…
We hope you’ll join us.
Learn more
News
- A recent psychological study on so-called “cancel culture” and artistic impact found that its respondents reacted more punitively toward an artist accused of sexual assault (SA) compared to an artist accused of murder.
- Art Movements: Todd Caissie is named the new executive director of the Montclair Art Museum. Plus, curators are named for the Aichi Triennale and Biennale of Sydney in our weekly roundup of industry news.
- Trump has ordered federal officials to install content warning labels outside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History after his administration accused the institution of “anti-white” practices.
- Japan’s historic Kumamoto Castle is damaged after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hits the country.
- The European Central Bank reveals 10 shortlisted design proposals for euro banknotes centered on either the theme of “European culture” or “rivers and birds” — and Leonardo da Vinci is in one of the designs.
- The German publishing giant Steidl Verlag is facing an uncertain future after coming close to bankruptcy.
- Trump spends $5 million in public funds on the regilding of two of the DC equestrian statues, “Arts of War” and “Arts of Peace.”
Trump Administration
From Our Critics
Why Did Rembrandt Die Poor?
Rembrandt pioneered the saleable self, but unlike his rival, Gerard Van Honthorst, failed to reconcile his personal vision with the market. | Natasha Seaman
Read More
Widline Cadet’s Doubled Diaspora
The Haitian-born photographer explores how various media, from dusty analog photo albums to cell phone videos, store and shape personal histories of migration. | Debra Brehmer
Read More
Features
Obituaries
Art Problems: Why Are There So Many Toxic People in the Art World?
Every industry has toxic people, but desperation gives the art-world toxicity its particular flavor. The field is full of people making and supporting art, but the money available from collectors, grants and philanthropy combined can’t sustain most of them. We fight over the scraps.
Some of us handle scarcity better than others, but nobody is their best self. | Paddy Johnson
Read More
A View From the Easel
Shahryar Nashat sculpts along to the sounds of Kelis’s “Milkshake” and experiments with “a nautical glue the color of honey.”
Read More
Required Reading
Remembering Betye Saar on her 100th birthday, saving a women’s sculpture garden, Emily Wilson breaks the internet, climate scientists on OnlyFans, and more.
Read More
In Memoriam
We honor explorer of diasporic consciousness, a revolutionary assemblage artist, and the first Black dean of art in the US.
Read More
.
