Artists in the Soviet satellite states often adopted the forms and techniques of mass surveillance to mordant effect
Trade and cultural exchange meant that the iconographical traditions of East Africa and Byzantium had much in common
While the appointment or dismissal of directors makes headlines, chronic understaffing is a much more fundamental problem
The artist amassed one of the finest private collections of Indian court paintings, an activity that preoccupied him as much as making art
Herve Guibert’s ‘photographic novel’ of 1980 about his great aunts, Suzanne and Louise, is a masterpiece of love and obsession
Two hundred years after the painter’s death, his work still has the power to shock and his life remains shrouded in mystery
After the demolition of some of Chicago’s best architecture, what lies in store for postmodernist landmark the James R. Thompson Center now that Google owns it?
When it comes to Belgian Surrealism, Magritte still leads the pack – but collectors’ tastes are begin to broaden
What did Agnes Martin, Ellsworth Kelly and Lenore Tawney have in common? They all lived cheek by jowl in a wharfside district of Manhattan
This year’s edition of the Brussels fair is full of dreamlike offerings from new exhibitors and stalwarts of the event alike
What constitutes a delicacy has changed over the centuries, but dining on camel is still a rare luxury
William Theiss takes a close look at the pocket-sized sculptures that 15th-century pilgrims thought perfect for private reverie
After a mid-century dip in enthusiasm, the demand for exceptional pieces of design seems irrepressible
The painter is in no need of rediscovery at home, but her painstaking depictions of everyday life deserve to be better known abroad
The painter’s final months in the care of Dr Paul-Ferdinand Gachet, a physician as interested in art as he was in medicine, were an extraordinarily productive period
Stephanie Barczewski’s book considers how stately homes have evolved according to the needs of their owners and wider changes in society
Diane Wolfthal discusses the dizzying visions of heaven and hell to be found in a medieval prayer book at the Morgan Library
Jan Christian Sepp’s guide to the visual and geological properties of marble will whet the appetite of the modern readers too
A briny, brawny late work by Maine’s favourite modernist finds strength in stoic silence
William Burges’s transformation of the chapel of Worcester College in Oxford doubles as an all-out assault on the senses and a scathing critique of the previous architect
Henning Hoesch is a winemaker with a habit of making distinctions that extends to his collection of Old Master drawings
The westward spread of modernist design between the wars was shaped by the migrant experience
An exhibition at the Cinémathèque française doesn’t shy away from the film-maker’s political side
Work by the artist who painted herself as a sex goddess sits uneasily within the category of feminist art – and is all the better for being discomforting
