News

The Art Fund calls for overhaul of UK export regulations

Public collections have missed out on the chance to permanently acquire a work by Rembrandt after license application is withdrawn

London mayor calls for new artists’ studios and cultural spaces

Plea comes as Boris Johnson publishes guidance for councils, planners and developers on protecting arts venues

Sotheby’s holds first online-only auction in partnership with Artsy

Most works, by emerging and established artists, are valued at less than $50,000

First museum exhibition in Greece for Italian Arte Povera artist Mario Merz

Show comes as publication date for his catalogue raisonné is announced for next autumn

Brick by brick: Ai Weiwei crowdsources Lego for new political work

Toy maker has refused to supply materials for artist’s installation in Melbourne

Polish Op artist Wojciech Fangor dies at 92

Best known for circular abstract works, he lived for many years in the West and had a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim, New York

Rembrandt painting to remain in the UK—but for how long?

The anonymous buyer of the Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet has withdrawn their export licence application, derailing plans for a public collection to match the price

Power to the people: Black Panthers’ illustrator Emory Douglas back on view

The graphic artist also served as the party’s culture minister in the 1960s and 70s

Flood of restitutions deepens as museums investigate objects bought through Subhash Kapoor

More and more institutions are returning antiquities with unclear provenances to India

UK museums on heightened alert against attacks

Arts Council England and the Scottish Council on Archives warn of increased theft danger

Picasso Museum reborn—again

After a troubled renovation, Paris museum unveils rehang and new exhibition programme with a contemporary twist

How to document heritage sites under threat

Project aims to create virtual archives using 3D scanning technology

Cultural co-operation a cornerstone of Chinese presidential visit

But a visit to Ai Weiwei Royal Academy show is not on the agenda

Three years late but with the entire human story in its sights

Revamp of Musée de l’Homme will chart humanity’s story from prehistory to the present—and future

Alberto Burri’s Grande Cretto finally completed after 30 years

The massive Land Art project is a memorial to the Sicilian town of Gibellina, ruined by a 1968 earthquake

Polly wants a Rembrandt

UK culture minister defers export licence for portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet

The Art Newspaper gets papal blessing

Vatican latest venue to host our 25th anniversary celebration

Frank Stella's synagogue series re-united at Frieze

Marianne Boesky Gallery is showing key works he made as a young artist

German photographer Hilla Becher dies at 81

The artist worked with her husband for nearly 50 years

Art is a weapon as Russia and US fight cultural war

Relations worse than ever after federal US judge imposes $43.7m fine over Jewish Orthodox library

V&A’s Indian textiles have stories to tell

Shirt inscribed with Koranic verses was kept in storage for 80 years, while appliquéd wall hanging was found dumped in a New York street

What Hockney thinks of Van Gogh

A Post-Impressionist perspective makes our world a more exciting place

Private fortunes drive Beirut’s museum boom

Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano and David Adjaye get involved as donors step in to fill the funding gap

Southern barbarians rise to fight again

Rediscovered Japanese panels on show after two years of painstaking restoration in specialist studio