Apollo

Exhibition of the Year

‘Charles I: King and Collector’

Artist of the Year

John Akomfrah.

John Akomfrah

Report recommends French museums return looted African artefacts

Royal statues from the kingdom of Dahomey (Benin), dating from 1890–92, currently at the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, photo: Gerald Julien/AFP/Getty Images

Art news daily: 26 November

Book of the Year

‘The History of Venetian Renaissance Sculpture, ca. 1400–1530’ by Anne Markham Schulz

The precocious potters of ancient Japan

Vessel with flame-like ornamentation, Middle Jomon period (3,000–2,000 BC), from Sasayama site, Tokamachi-shi. Tokamachi City Museum, Niigata

During the Jomon period the Japanese archipelago was home to one of the prehistoric world’s most innovative societies

Historic tiara stolen from the Welbeck Estate

The Portland Tiara

Art news daily: 23 November

Variety and virtuosity – the objets d’art of Luigi Valadier

Installation view of ‘Luigi Valadier: Splendor in Eighteenth-Century Rome’ at the Frick Collection, New York, 2018. Pictured are the statues of the six saints from the High Altar of the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Nuova, Monreale, from c. 1773.

The 18th-century Roman polymath was commissioned to create luxury goods by popes, royalty and tourists alike

Michael Jackson’s moony marginalia

A copy of a self-help book once owned by Michael Jackson is up for auction – personalised by the King of Pop himself

A Boris blunder for the Museum of London

Plus: Picasso at Annabel’s and Donald Trump rides across a golden burger

The Benin Bronzes are not just virtuoso works of art – they record the kingdom’s history

Mounted ruler (16th century), Edo peoples, Benin kingdom, Nigeria.

Benin City will soon have a permanent display of its court bronzes for the first time in over a century. What makes these artworks so extraordinary?

The shock value of Sarah Lucas still hasn’t worn off

Installation view of ‘Sarah Lucas: Au Naturel’ at the New Museum, New York, 2018.

Lucas made her name as one of the more provocative YBAs. Two decades later, her work continues to surprise

Portrait of Charles Dickens rediscovered in South Africa

Art news daily: 22 November

Digital Innovation of the Year

HENI Talks

Eleven Ben Uri advisory board members resign over collection sale

Ben Uri Gallery, St. John's Wood

Art news daily: 21 November

Mary Swanzy – a modern Irish master?

Portrait of Gertrude Jekyll (detail; 1910–11), Mary Swanzy. Private collection

The work of this accomplished painter has long been hiding in plain sight

Remembering Ara Güler, the eye of Istanbul

Ara Güler (1928–2018). Courtesy Ara Güler Museum

The much-loved Armenian-Turkish photographer spent decades recording a disappearing city

Fresco of Leda and the Swan discovered in Pompeii

Leda and the Swan, discovered in Pompeii.

Art news daily: 20 November

How Liotard’s Chocolate Girl charmed the city of Dresden

The Chocolate Girl (c. 1744), Jean-Étienne Liotard

The Venetian pastellist Rosalba Carriera once described the work as ‘the most beautiful pastel ever seen’

A multimillion dollar overhaul for the Met’s Rockefeller Wing

Art news daily: 19 November

Artist of the Year

John Akomfrah New works by the artist in the last year include Purple (2017), first shown at the Barbican Art…

Museum Opening of the Year

Louvre Abu Dhabi Opened November 2017 Jean Nouvel’s spectacular building has been widely acclaimed, with critics lauding its fusion of…

Exhibition of the Year

‘Berthe Morisot: Woman Impressionist’ Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec 21 June–23 September Placing Morisot in the centre of the…

Book of the Year

Dark Side of the Boom: The Excesses of the Art Market in the 21st Century Georgina Adam Lund Humphries Adam goes…

Digital Innovation of the Year

Acute Art The London-based production company realises projects for artists using digital technologies such as VR, AR and 360° videos.…