Art · Society · Society Pages

Disputes over the Russian pavilion and the jury's resignation at the 61st Venice Biennale

The 61st Venice Biennale is due to open on 9 May, this time wreathed in scandal, protest and cancellation. Allow me to recall a brief chronology of unprecedented contradictions and squabbles. 💀In February 2026 the Biennale's curator, Koyo Kouoh, dies at the age of 57, without having brought

Art · Monarchies · New York · Pop Culture · Society Pages

King Charles III and Camilla attend King's Trust gala dinner at Christie's in New York

Yesterday King Charles III and Camilla dropped in at Christie's in New York. Not for the sale, it must be said, but for a gala dinner in aid of the King's Trust, which turns 50 this year. At the preview of lots for the forthcoming sales,

Listings · Moscow · Coming Up · Art · Museums

Five exhibitions of coins and medals in museums this week

Small-scale plastic art is seldom the star of a museum display. Yet for how much these works can tell us about the history and culture of a country, few things can compare. This week's recommendations are devoted to exhibitions of coins and medals that deserve particular attention,

Archive · Art · Monarchies · Humour

The future Louis XI isolated Charles VII from the court, and the king feared poisoning

The Parlement of Paris, or the Supreme Royal Court of France, in solemn session in the presence of King Charles VII. Miniature by Jean Fouquet from the Hours of Étienne Chevalier, 1450s. From about the summer of 1461, the future King Louis XI effectively isolated his father, Charles VII, in

Archaeology · The East · Art

Marble statue of Athena from the Augustan era found in Laodicea theatre ruins, Turkey

In the ancient city of Laodicea in south-western Turkey, a marble statue of Athena almost two metres tall has been found in the ruins of the western theatre. The statue lay face down in a collapse of rubble by the outer wall of an administrative building. The head and

NB! · Art · Museums · Society

The Venice Biennale jury "will not award artists from countries whose leaders have been accused of war crimes"

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Museums · Paris

The Sun King's collection of unique diamonds, lost in the nineteenth century, recreated as full-size models for an exhibition at L'Ecole Van Cleef in Paris in 2018

The Sun King's collection of unique diamonds, lost in the nineteenth century, recreated as full-size models for an exhibition at L'Ecole Van Cleef in Paris in 2018. The blue stone is called the Hope

Architecture · Faith · Art · Heritage · Society · Paris

Will Claire Tabouret's Ugly Botch Still Replace Viollet-le-Duc's Historic Windows, Which Survived the Burning of Notre-Dame?

So, let us take matters in order. In December 2023 Macron announced that in the six chapels of the south nave of Notre-Dame, which came through the fire of 2019 undamaged, Viollet-le-Duc's stained glass would be replaced with contemporary windows by the French artist Claire

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Art · Heritage

The Crucifix in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, painted before 1288 by the Italian painter Cimabue, was severely damaged in the Arno flood of 1966 and has been only partially restored

Art · Books · London · Society · People

Ai Weiwei in “On Censorship” on censorship under authoritarianism and in democracies

Ai Weiwei, one of the best-known and most politically inconvenient artists of our time, has published a book about censorship. His father, the poet Ai Qing, cleaned latrines in a labour camp. Ai Weiwei himself was detained in 2011 for 81 days without charge. His studio was demolished, his

Art · Cinema · People · Pop Culture

Keaton’s Annie Hall script, art collection and personal items go up for auction

Bonhams announces the sale of 550 lots from the personal effects of Diane Keaton, who died six months ago. Among the lots are the original script of "Annie Hall" with no title on the cover (estimate $2,000-3,000), a Ralph Lauren Purple Label houndstooth jacket ($200-

Listings · Moscow · Coming Up · Art · Museums

My last remaining nerve cell, in the form of a falling column from the Colonnade grove at Versailles, reminds us of our regular feature, where for the third year running we have been planning the week's leisure in Moscow and other cultured cities

🌆On 21 April the Art Moscow fair opens, in case anyone still has money left for art. 🧱From 21 April the Shchusev Museum of Architecture is showing the paintings of Nadezhda Krestinina 👑From 21 April to 5 July the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts continues its 25-year tradition