Benjamin Sutton

Benjamin Sutton is the Editor, Americas of The Art Newspaper.

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Metropolitan Museum returns ancient Sumerian statue to Iraq

The museum’s latest repatriation comes as it ramps up efforts to audit the provenance of objects in its collection

Major Leonora Carrington painting poised to smash Surrealist’s auction record

The artist’s dazzling, Boschian composition “Les Distractions de Dagobert” is expected to fetch as much as $18m at Sotheby’s in New York next month

Thomas Heatherwick’s controversial Vessel public art piece in New York to reopen

The 150ft-tall, $200m outdoor installation at Manhattan’s Hudson Yards development has been closed since 2021 following a series of suicides

Awardsnews

Artists including Nicholas Galanin, Lorraine O’Grady and Park McArthur win Guggenheim Fellowships

The 28 visual artists who are now Guggenheim Fellows will receive between $30,000 and $60,000 to realise specific projects

Basquiat stretcher-bar painting could reach $30m during New York spring auctions

“The Italian Version of Popeye has no Pork in his Diet”, last publicly displayed in 2007, will be offered by Christie’s during its May sales

Leaders of Expo Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art on the Chicago art scene's unique vitality

Tony Karman and Madeleine Grynsztejn discuss the local ecosystem for artists, the importance of collector education and how they support dealers

Alumni’s $10m gift to Carnegie Mellon University will support public art and revamped ICA Pittsburgh

The donors, Tod and Cindy Johnson, met and got married during their time at CMU; they will have a gallery named in their honour

Five museum shows to see in Chicago this spring

From a retrospective of Chicago Imagist Christina Ramberg to a group show of Native American photography and video

Nora Turato projects the art of self-improvement in Chicago

The artist will project a new commission onto the exterior of what was once the world’s biggest building as part of Art on the Mart

US federal judge halts demolition of Land art environment

A temporary restraining order against the Des Moines Art Center after artist Mary Miss sued to block the dismantling of her outdoor work

Cost of Québec City museum’s Jean Paul Riopelle pavilion nearly doubles

The original budget for the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec’s Espace Riopelle addition was $42.5m, but now as construction begins it has ballooned to $84m

Auction of 1,400 African art pieces halted by last-minute bankruptcy filing

The court-ordered sale of objects that had been stored for years at the expense of taxpayers in Houston was called off the night before

Artist Mary Miss sues US art centre to block demolition of her Land art environment

Municipal officials recently approved the Des Moines Art Center’s plans to demolish “Greenwood Pond: Double Site”

Art forger who duped collectors with fake Renaissance woodblock prints sentenced to more than four years in prison

Earl Marshawn Washington had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud this past summer

Portland Art Museum’s $111m expansion will open in late 2025

The institution is more than 86% of the way towards its capital campaign’s fundraising goal

Prizesnews

$500,000 Getty Prize grant goes to juvenile justice non-profit the Arts for Healing and Justice Network

Artist Mark Bradford said he picked AHJN for the grant because of its work to "transform young people’s lives through the power of arts education”

Florida museum receives gift of nearly 700 prints, from Rembrandt to Henry Moore

The Norton Museum of Art’s holdings of prints have increased by almost 40% thanks to a massive gift from the real-estate developer Jonathan “Jack” Frost

Donald Judd’s foundation sues Kim Kardashian for trademark and copyright infringement

The lawsuit centres on minimalist tables and chairs in Kardashian's company's offices

The Broad museum in Los Angeles reveals $100m expansion plans

The institution has re-enlisted the architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro to create a new wing that will expand its gallery space by 70%

Prizesnews

Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama wins inaugural Sam Gilliam Award

The prize, established by Dia Art Foundation and the Sam Gilliam Foundation, comes with a $75,000 gift and public programme at Dia

Crime news

Inigo Philbrick, art dealer who went to prison for fraud, is free

In 2022, Philbrick was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to an $86m fraud

New York museum's former chief financial officer claims in lawsuit she was fired for raising concerns about director’s expenses

Denise Lewis claims she was fired “without cause or warning” after she complained about the Museum of Arts and Design's director's alleged use of the institution’s funds for personal expenses during a vacation in Mexico

‘Met Museum, you’re complicit’: artists and activists take over museum’s front steps with giant pro-Palestine quilt

A two-hour rally at the New York museum drew many supportive cheers and honks, plus a handful of antagonistic shouts

Crime news

Ex-husband of murdered gallerist Brent Sikkema arrested in New York

Daniel Sikkema has been accused of planning and paying for his ex-husband’s murder in Rio de Janeiro

The 2024 Whitney Biennial in five key themes

The Whitney Museum’s flagship contemporary art showcase turns on questions of identity, authenticity and mutability, which play out across more than a handful of interrelated topics

Neon work in Whitney Biennial features unexpected ‘free Palestine’ message

The biennial’s curators were unaware of the statement in a work by Demian DinéYazhi’ prior to the exhibition preview

Developer’s $325m gift will help create new museum in Seattle

Richard Hedreen is donating a collection valued at $300m and $25m cash to create an art museum at Seattle University

New York Times art critic Roberta Smith retiring after 32 years at the newspaper

The publication’s co-chief art critic, Smith has penned more than 4,500 essays and reviews for the Times

Two climate activists charged for pouring red powder on National Archives display of the US Constitution

The Valentine’s Day protest was carried out by members of the environmental group Declare Emergency