The Smithsonian Institution came in for renewed criticism from the Trump administration this week. On Tuesday (21 Aug) President Trump complained on the Truth Social network about the Smithsonian’s emphasis on ‘how bad Slavery was’ and its lack of positive messages: ‘Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.’ Two days later, the White House website published an unsigned list of specific exhibitions, artworks and descriptions it finds fault with. These include, at the American History Museum ‘a depiction of the Statue of Liberty holding a tomato in her right hand instead of a torch, and a basket of tomatoes in her left hand instead of a tablet’; and, at the National Portrait Gallery, ‘a stop-motion drawing animation’ of former chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci. The latest attacks come after the White House ordered a comprehensive review of all activity at eight of the Smithsonian Museums (with a review of the rest to follow).
Brian Ferriso will be the new director of the Dallas Museum of Art. Since 2006 he has led the Portland Art Museum in Oregon. During his tenure he has increased the museum’s endowment by $40m, made admission free for people under the age of 18 and overseen a two-year $111m renovation project. He takes over at the Dallas Museum of Art from Tamara Wootton Forsyth, the deputy director who has served as interim director since Agustín Arteaga stepped down last year. Ferriso takes up his post on 1 December, a little more than a week after the renovation of Portland Art Museum is due to be completed.
Sotheby’s Insitute of Art (SIA) has been under financial monitoring by the US Department of Education for nearly two years, reports Art News. Since 2005, the graduate institution, which operates in New York and London, has been owned by Cambridge Information Group (CIG). The Department of Education applies ‘Heightened Cash Monitoring Status 2’ to organisations whose finances are cause for concern and the designation cuts off advance federal funding to affected bodies. In SIA’s most recent financial statement, for 2024, it declared a profit of £255,000 and consolidated losses of £4.4m. Larisa Trainor, a lawyer for its parent company, CIG, told Art News that only ten per cent of students receive federal financial, adding that ‘We have no concerns about the viabilitity of our graduate programs.’ UK auditors have also expressed concerns about the London branch in its 2024 annual report, while acknowledging that it ‘adequate resources’ to allow it to trade for the foreseeable future.
A petition to stop the Bayeux Tapestry from leaving France to come to the UK has reached 52,000 signatures and counting. The petition was started in July by the French art historian and heritage campaigner Didier Rykner, who has raised fears that the embroidery could be damaged if it is transported from its current home at the Bayeaux Museum in Normandy. President Macron confirmed the loan of the embroidery while he was in the UK last month and it is to go on display at the British Museum in September 2026 – marking the first time in almost 1,000 years that it has been on British soil.
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery is closing its outpost in Los Angeles. The gallery has decided not to renew its lease on the site, saying that the end of the lease ‘offered a natural pause to assess’. Bonakdar said she launched the Los Angeles outpost because many of the artists she represented ‘expressed interest in having a presence on the West Coast’. Since then, Charles Long, Laura Lima and Susan Philipsz have had shows at the gallery. The gallery said in a statement that it ‘remains deeply committed to Los Angeles and its vibrant community of artists, collectors and institutions’.
