Features
Acquisitions of the month: June 2018
A major giveaway from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and a Queen Victoria bust are among this month’s top acquisitions
‘Doing justice to an artist no one knows is quite an undertaking’
The first exhibition devoted to the Flemish painter Michaelina Wautier has been a 25-year-long labour of love for its curator
The site of the earliest known temple on earth continues to keep its secrets
The new museum at Göbekli Tepe in southern Turkey is a welcome addition, but it can’t explain everything
The local museum with a world-class collection of Old Masters
The Centraal Museum is raising its profile with a show devoted to the Utrecht Caravaggisti – but it remains firmly grounded in the city
Ferdinand Hodler’s symbolic hold on the Swiss imagination
Geneva’s museums are using the centenary of the artist’s death as an opportunity to rethink how they display their collections
Remembering Irving Sandler, the ‘sweeper-up after artists’
The critic, who has died at the age of 92, will be remembered as someone who wanted to be in the thick of it
How the city of Kyiv is reckoning with its Soviet past
This year’s Kyiv Art Week celebrated a creative renaissance in the Ukrainian capital, but difficult questions about the city’s architectural heritage remain
French porcelain meets 3D printing at Waddesdon
Michael Eden’s brightly coloured creations offer a modern update on the manor’s historic collection
Acquisitions of the month: May 2018
Two Attic vases once owned by Lucien Bonaparte enter the Louvre, while the Getty acquires its first Rodin bronze
A set of original drawings by Owen Jones have returned to the museum that inspired them
The designer’s interpretations of Chinese decorative art can now be found in the V&A
The paintings that turned Persian art on its head in the 19th century
The arts in Qajar Iran acknowledged previous traditions while reflecting a rapidly changing world
How conservators are fighting the battle against built-in obsolescence
It’s never too early to begin preserving time-based media art
Rodin’s complicated relationship with classical art
Rodin’s relationship with the Parthenon sculptures – and classical art in general – was far from straightforward
Seats of power through the centuries
Throne chairs have acted as seats of power for centuries – but their form and meaning has evolved
‘The Royal Academy remains a great asset that must never be squandered’
Norman Rosenthal, Rebecca Salter, Nick Goss and Sarah Turner share their views on what sets the RA apart
The making of the new Royal Academy – an insider’s view
The RA’s Secretary and Chief Executive traces the history of the institution’s redevelopment
A tribute to Per Kirkeby (1938–2018)
The Danish artist and former geologist has died at the age of 79
Patronage, prizes and Mad King Ludwig pens
The luxury brand Montblanc recently launched the 27th edition of its cultural patronage awards
Acquisitions of the month: April 2018
Chris Ofili’s notorious ‘The Holy Virgin Mary’ goes to MoMA and the Baltimore Museum of Art updates its contemporary art collection
The British artists going back to the land
How artists over the past century have tried to preserve, renew and reinvent the English countryside
The kingdom built on frankincense and myrrh
A $20 billion project to transform Saudi Arabia’s al-Ula region has brought attention to a little-known ancient site
‘In the age of print, art became European’
What Renaissance ceramics tell us about the European print culture of the time
Celebrating Romani art and culture at the first Roma Biennale
The first Roma Biennale offered a riot of contemporary Romani art and performance
A tribute to Gillian Ayres (1930–2018)
Ayres has died at the age of 88 after a long, vibrant career as one of Britain’s leading abstract painters
Are the art market’s problems being blown out of proportion?