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Eight must-see exhibitions to see during Frieze Los Angeles

From New Mexico's short-lived Transcendental Painting Group to the evolution of America through its quilts

US authorities subpoena auction houses in effort to crack down on violations of Russian sanctions

Prosecutors in New York are seeking auction house sales information going back years in order to track potentially illicit transactions by sanctioned Russian collectors

Authorities in New York return 14 looted artefacts valued at $2.5m to Italy, including a black-figure hydria by the renowned Priam Painter

The repatriated artefacts were looted by an international network of “high-profile antiquities traffickers and smugglers, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office

Defendants seek dismissal of copyright infringement lawsuit brought by collage artist Deborah Roberts

"There is no precedent for copyright protections on an artistic style," says a lawyer for artist Lynthia Edwards and dealer Richard Beavers

Republicans press Hunter Biden’s dealer for information on his art sales

Members of the House of Representatives’ Oversight and Accountability Committee have also asked Georges Bergès for details of his communications with the White House

Crime news

Photography curator accused of attempted child molestation pleads not guilty

Efrem Zelony-Mindell was arrested in December by FBI agents in an undercover sting operation

In dispute over Van Gogh painting, Detroit Institute of Arts is ‘blameless’, judge says

A Brazilian collector had sought to bar the museum from returning the artwork after its blockbuster Van Gogh exhibition closes

‘The value of what was destroyed is incalculable’: Brazilian authorities assess artworks damaged by rioting Bolsonaro supporters

An extensive report chronicles the state of objects in the national collection following the riot in Brasília on 8 January

Public artinterview

‘We’re looking at the past as a gateway to the future’: Hank Willis Thomas on his new Martin Luther King Jr monument

The towering work, which depicts the interlocked arms of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, was unveiled in Boston ahead of the MLK Day holiday

New York's Frick Collection acquires its first-ever Renaissance portrait of a woman

According to the museum, the portrait by Giovanni Battista Moroni is “the most significant Italian Renaissance painting” it has acquired in more than half a century

MoMAnews

Man who stabbed two MoMA employees last year charged with attempted murder and assault

He was arrested in Philadelphia in March 2022 after evading authorities for three days following the violent attack at the Museum of Modern Art in New York

Hudson River School painter’s New York estate to undergo $25m, ecologically-minded revamp

Olana, the estate of Frederic Edwin Church, will receive a new, carbon-neutral visitor centre under a plan unveiled by New York Governor Kathy Hochul

Jane Fonda to sell Outsider art trove at Christie’s, including major works by Thornton Dial

“I couldn’t believe the dynamism, the energy, the courage, the rawness of these works,” the actor and activist said

US officials return antiquities looted from Iraq Museum in 2003

The artefacts, cylinder and stamp seals dating back thousands of years, were seized after a US collector tried to sell one in an online auction

Princeton University Art Museum gifted abstract works by Richter, Frankenthaler, De Kooning and others

The donated works, from Princeton alumnus Preston Haskell, were accompanied by an unspecified sum to support ongoing construction of the museum’s new building, designed by Adjaye Associates

New York’s Museum of Sex will expand to Miami

The Manhattan institution, which has been exploring the erotic and sensual in art and beyond since 2002, will transform a warehouse in Miami’s Allapattah neighbourhood

Carving of man holding his penis and surrounded by leopards is oldest known depiction of a narrative scene, archaeologists say

Neolithic bench discovered in Turkey shows a discernible narrative progression, and dates to around 11,000 BC

Looted antiquities returned to Turkey and Italy were seized from New York home of Met trustee Shelby White

An ongoing investigation into White's collection expects to see more objects repatriated in the future

Forthcoming Smithsonian American Women's History Museum receives $1m donation

The donation is the museum’s first corporate gift, from Zurich-based insurance giant Swiss Re

‘We are asking for people to care’: protestors unfurled banners at SFMOMA in support of Iranian uprising

The anonymous group took inspiration from a similar action last month, organised by a different collective, at the Guggenheim Museum in New York

Portland Museum of Art shortlists four designs for major expansion project

The museum is now soliciting public feedback on the designs—which include proposals from groups including Adjaye Associates and MVRDV—through 11 December

Enticing still life by 17th-century painter Louise Moillon acquired by the Kimbell Art Museum

The museum has put the newly acquired still life, which set an auction record for Moillon’s work in March, on display

Prizesnews

Future of ArtPrize, the biggest contemporary art contest in the US, uncertain after board disbands

The hugely popular contest also awarded major monies, with the winning artist taking home $250,000 most years

Miami Beach’s Bass museum receives $20.1m municipal bond to build new wing

The funds are part of a $159m bond local voters approved in the 8 November US midterm election to benefit local cultural organisations

Collector and museum founder Ronald Lauder spent $11m boosting Republican gubernatorial candidate in New York

Lauder is one of several major collectors who have used their wealth to support right-wing candidates this midterm election cycle

New York's salary transparency law finally goes into effect, bringing some clarity to art industry's opacity around compensation

The municipal law, which was originally due to go into effect in the spring, requires businesses to list salary ranges on job postings, but many feel this should already be standard practice in the art world

Stolen statue linked to antiquities trafficker Doris Wiener repatriated to Cambodia

The sandstone vishnu statue was stolen from a seventh-century temple and smuggled to Manhattan in 1995, when it was sold to a private collector

Faith Ringgold and Barbara Earl Thomas created stained-glass windows at Yale addressing the university’s ties to racist practices

Suites of windows by each artist replace windows that glorified the antebellum South and the life of John C. Calhoun, a US president who supported slavery

Painting damaged in Beirut blast identified as a work by Artemisia Gentileschi

The painting, which is currently being restored at the J. Paul Getty Museum, will ultimately return to the Sursock Palace