Bayeux Tapestry to return to the U.K. for the first time in 950 years. https://ift.tt/weXFf7x

Bayeux Tapestry , 1070-1080

Art History 101

The Bayeux Tapestry, a monumental medieval embroidery work chronicling William the Conqueror’s invasion of England, will return to the United Kingdom for the first time in approximately 950 years. The tapestry, which is currently housed in a museum in Bayeux, France, will be displayed at the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027.

The agreement was announced during a state visit to the United Kingdom by French president Emmanuel Macron. In return, the British Museum has agreed to lend artifacts from the Sutton Hoo ship burial and a set of 12th-century Lewis chess pieces to museums in Normandy. This deal is the result of a decades-long effort to persuade a hesitant French government to part with the tapestry. The loan was formalized at a ceremony on July 9th.

“[For] decades, I have to confess, we did our best not to be put in this situation to make the loan of the Bayeux tapestry,” Macron said during the ceremony, as reported by The Art Newspaper. “We found the best experts [in] the world to explain in perfect detail why it was totally impossible to make such a loan. And believe me, we found them, and believe me, we could have found them again. But we just decided a few years ago [to approve the Tapestry loan], and I have to pay tribute to your King [Charles III] because it was a discussion together and I saw his attachment, his willingness, towards this project.”

The Bayeux Tapestry is thought to have been produced in England during the 11th century. The 230-foot-long artwork depicts the Norman invasion of England and the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It features 626 people, 762 animals, and a total of 58 inscriptions. The Battle of Hastings concluded with the dethronement of Harold Godwinson by William, who became the first Norman king of England.

The tapestry was likely commissioned by William’s half-brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux. It was regularly presented in the Bayeux Cathedral throughout the 18th century, and once briefly exhibited by Napoleon in Paris in 1803. It has remained in France ever since.

“There is no other single item in British history that is so familiar, so studied in schools, so copied in art as the Bayeux Tapestry. Yet in almost a thousand years, it has never returned to these shores,” George Osborne, chair of the British Museum trustees, said in a statement. “Next year, it will, and many, many thousands of visitors, especially schoolchildren, will see it with their own eyes.”

Macron announced plans to loan the Bayeux Tapestry to the United Kingdom in 2018 as a sign of goodwill following the Brexit referendum. At the time, the tapestry was expected to be loaned in 2022. However, the exchange was postponed when a 2021 study declared the tapestry too fragile to leave the country. It placed the loan on hold until this week. Though delayed, the gesture is intended as another signal of cultural connection between the two countries.

“There is no trade war or tariff against this type of [culture-based] approach…there are no borders by definition,” Macron said.

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An Oral History of Cork Street, London’s Most Influential Gallery Row https://ift.tt/QAlWohG

This July, Cork Street in London’s Mayfair turns 100. A short and modest stretch of pavement just west of Savile Row and north of Piccadilly Circus, it has long been a core part of the British commercial gallery world. Behind its façades, radical art has been shown, movements introduced, reputations made and lost, fortunes gained and squandered.

From Peggy Guggenheim’s short-lived but seismic Guggenheim Jeune gallery in the late 1930s to the post-war influence of Waddington Galleries (now Waddington Custot), the psychedelic provocations of dealer Groovy Bob Fraser in the ’60s, and a wave of contemporary galleries reinvigorating the street today—Cork Street endures as both a mirror and a maker of the British art world. To mark the centenary, gallerists who call the street home today reflect on its eccentric past, its changing fortunes, and what the future might hold.

Alison Jacques has walked the pavements of Cork Street for three decades—from receptionist at Waddington Galleries to gallery owner at number 22. Joining her in reflection is Jacob Twyford, senior director at Waddington Custot, who first came to Cork Street in 1985 and has witnessed its evolution over four decades, Matthew Flowers of the eponymous Flowers Gallery, and Jo Stella-Sawicka, senior director at Goodman Gallery, whose space is among the newest additions to the street’s cultural fabric.

“In 1994, I took a job at Waddington Galleries in Cork Street,” Jacques recalled. "I had just come from working at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, and while I was there, I interviewed Leslie Waddington for an article in [the magazine] Flash Art. He claimed he never read anything journalists wrote about him—but he must have read that one, and even liked it, because soon after it was published, he offered me a job.”

That offer set Jacques on a path that would eventually bring her back to the very street where her career began, now with her name above the door of the gallery space she opened in 2023. “Once ensconced behind the reception desk at Waddingtons, I used to look out onto the spaces opposite and imagine which one I could rent for my own gallery in years to come,” she said.

Cork Street’s status in the British cultural imagination loomed large, shaping Jacques’s early impressions of its legacy and potential. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, it was primarily known for its aristocratic connections. Named after Richard Boyle, the 1st Earl of Cork, the street was laid out around 1685 and initially lined with grand houses for the nobility and upper classes. The traders on the street were mostly tailors, working on the fringes of the better-known Savile Row.

For Jacob Twyford, the street’s renowned identity took hold after the Second World War: “Cork Street really established itself in the post-war period as a place of difference, an alternative to the more traditional galleries south of Piccadilly,” he said. “Sitting as it does directly between the two big auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, it became the place where younger and emerging artists could find a home.”

For Stella-Sawicka, the street’s strength lies in the dual identity it holds in the British art world: “Cork Street has long been a meeting point between tradition and innovation. It’s also a space where commercial success hasn’t always come at the cost of curatorial bravery, which is rare and significant.”

Matthew Flowers, Director of Flowers Gallery, which has been on the street since 2000, agrees: “Like so much else in the art world, it’s the provenance. It’s the street that saw the launches of the careers of major postwar artists at Waddington, Tooth, Mayor, Redfern, Piccadilly, and Peggy Guggenheim, and has continued to be a gateway for emerging talent,” he said, naming a clutch of galleries that are still based on the street or have at some point called it home.

Indeed, Guggenheim’s gallery—though short-lived in the late 1930s, brought to London some of the most resonant names in modernist art. For Jacques, it is “sacred territory”:

“It fascinated me that a space which opened just before the Second World War existed for only 18 months, and yet introduced London to giants like Cocteau, Kandinsky and Tanguy,” she said.

Keith Haring at Robert Fraser Gallery Oct 19- Nov 22 1983, 1983
Keith Haring
Woodward Gallery

But alongside the resonant global names of modernist art, Cork Street was home to that other London specialty—characters and eccentrics. “At number 21, my next-door neighbor was Robert Fraser—Groovy Bob,” said Jacques of a dealer who epitomised a wild and freewheeling era in London’s gallery life. Fraser gained household status as the gallerist who mounted several notable shows of artists, including Ed Ruscha, Keith Haring, and Bridget Riley, and commissioned Peter Blake and Jann Haworth’s artwork for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Also notable was Lillian Browse, widely known as the ‘Duchess of Cork Street,’ an art dealer who came to prominence for her determination, during the Second World War, to continue to curate exhibitions at London’s National Gallery. “If she and Peggy were here now, maybe we’d form the first female art dealers’ association on Cork Street,” Jacques noted.

Flowers remembers the vibrancy of the street’s heyday in the 1990s. “The energy of the huge characters who ran the galleries: Leslie Waddington, Godfrey Pilkington, Bernard Jacobson, Robert Fraser. And Mulligan's Pub with its legendary St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.”

In 2022, Jacques opened her new gallery at 22 Cork Street—just across from where she once worked. “Opening our new space was an incredible moment,” she said. “As we were installing our opening show of Sheila Hicks, the artist Ian Davenport—who I worked with in the early ’90s—was installing his own show at Waddingtons. It felt like closing a long chapter and beginning a new one.”

Twyford remembers his own entry into Cork Street in the mid-1980s: “As a 21-year-old recently graduated music student from Leeds, earning a living on building sites in South London, I honestly took the job to get out of the biting March winds,” he recalled. “I had little idea that 40 years later I would be running the gallery for Stephane Custot!”

Twyford joined the art world at the height of the political febrility that defined much of the 1980s. On 21st May 1985, for example, the windows of numerous art dealers on Cork Street were covered with buckets of grey paint during a night-time attack by a group called Grey Organisation, who claimed they were engaging in anti-establishment protest. In 2022, almost 37 years later, this Cork Street Attack was recreated in an exhibition at The Mayor Gallery.

For Stella-Sawicka, Cork Street had always held a pull. The director began her early gallery years at Stephen Friedman Gallery, then on the adjacent Old Burlington Street. “I knew well the magical properties of this location—a well-trodden route from Sotheby’s through the Royal Academy to Christie’s,” she said.

Flowers adds that he, too, had his eye on the street for a while before setting up. “We were looking to complement our two warehouse-style spaces in Hackney. Our gallery was formerly Robert Fraser’s, and then Victoria Miro’s, so we knew it had a wonderful history, with a brightness of its own to match.”

Jacques’s space is part of the larger regeneration of Cork Street, spearheaded by The Pollen Estate. “The opportunity to build a space exactly as we wanted it, from a concrete shell, was wonderful and scary all at once,” she said. “But now we’re open, our artists love the space, and we’ve welcomed thousands of visitors.”

Goodman Gallery joined this broader revival in 2019. “They were—at the time—the only purpose-built galleries in London with the volume of space to present our programme with ambition,” Stella-Sawicka explained. “The regeneration brings a fresh chapter, one that allows for more diverse and international voices, which is essential to keeping the street and London relevant.”

Today, as the redevelopment nears completion, Cork Street is lined with world-famous contemporary art galleries housed in purpose-built, high-ceilinged spaces that occupy more than 43,000 square feet of revamped streetscape. Some 15 of these galleries are joining forces for a group exhibition, “Fear Gives Wings To Courage,” to mark the occasion of the centenary.

Flowers notes: “The redevelopment was challenging to work through, but very much worth it with expansive public spaces and increased gallery capacity. Cork Street’s west end location is within a prime cultural gravity centre, which became absolutely essential as we came out of the pandemic, when visitors could explore multiple shows in one stroll without public transport or long travel.”

Despite its reputation for high-end art, Cork Street has always had a populist undercurrent—a mix of street-level charm and informal meeting spots. Jacques recalls both the prestige and the community spirit that defined her early days.

“Cork Street at dusk is a curious place to be—a place where art history has been made and a cast of colorful characters have lived and worked,” Jacques said. “If I had a time machine, I’d bring back Queen’s Snack Bar, which sat on the corner for decades. It was the place to go—a sort of democratic canteen where dealers, artists, critics, and art handlers rubbed shoulders.”

Twyford notes: “It is my greatest hope that the old galleries and the new galleries can come together to recreate some of the eccentricity, comradeship, and rivalry that made Cork Street such a vibrant destination in the 1970s and 80s.”

Today, Morris’s café—serving Cork Street for more than 35 years — still fulfils a comparable role. “We still have Morris’s,” Jacques said. “But Queen’s was something else. I miss that kind of casual, social energy. The art world needs more of it.”

“There’s a different kind of energy now,” added Stella-Sawicka. “It’s much more international. Goodman Gallery has always operated with the idea that the gallery itself can be that kind of gathering place.”

She noted the addition of Frieze No. 9 Cork Street—a space opened by the art fair conglomerate in 2021 where up to four galleries host temporary exhibitions year-round—brings a “different cadence of energy.”

Flowers points to the practical benefits of such a concentrated zone of activity: “The consolidation of top international galleries on the street makes it very efficient to get a snapshot of what’s going on in the art world.”

As Cork Street marks its centenary, its reputation as “the spiritual center of avant-garde art in London” still holds. “To have a gallery here is something I never take for granted,” Jacques said. “And to be part of its renaissance has been an honor. It’s amazing to look back and realize it really has come full circle. It’s not just about prestige. It’s about presence—being part of something bigger than yourself. Something with history, energy, and meaning.”

Twyford adds that the regeneration reflects “a re-concentration and focus on art in central Mayfair,” driven by the district’s growing appeal to international visitors.

And if he could revive one moment? “The summer Cork Street party,” he said of the legendary street parties of the 1980s. “It drew together gallerists, artists, collectors, critics, and ancillary workers in a no-holds-barred interaction that summed up the spirit of the 1980s art world.”

Stella-Sawicka picks a moment of wild brilliance: “The 1995 exhibition ‘Afro/Pagan’ that David Bowie held with Bernie Jacobson. It included Goodman Gallery artists like Willie Bester, Kendell Geers and William Kentridge, alongside sketches of Iggy Pop and silver sculptures of Bowie’s wife, Iman. It sounded brilliant—and completely bonkers.”

Flowers has a more personal memory: “Mulligans—our landline’s cordless handset just about worked at the bar. A close second would be the private sleeping area in our space that my mother, Angela Flowers (1932–2023), had installed for a post-lunch snooze.”

To walk Cork Street today is to walk through a century of artistic innovation. “It’s where history meets possibility,” Stella-Sawicka said. “And where the future of art quietly unfolds.”

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New York gallery Venus Over Manhattan to close after 14 years. https://ift.tt/CLPFQX8

Venus Over Manhattan, the New York gallery founded by collector Adam Lindemann in 2012, will close after its current exhibition concludes. The show, a solo presentation of works by painter Susumu Kamijo, is on view through July 18th.

In a personal article published on Artnet News, Lindemann announced the closure and reflected on the gallery’s trajectory. “I surrounded myself with a great young team who did a lot of the heavy lifting,” he wrote. “They have been a great part of the experience. I’ve seen it from both sides, and now it’s time to wave the white flag… veni, vidi, but not vici… I didn’t win. But Venus was never about winning.”

Lindemann, an avid art buyer whose collection included works such as Jeff Koons’s Hanging Heart (1994–2006) and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Devil) (1982), made the decision to open a gallery in 2012 “Everyone told me not to, so of course I did,” he wrote.

Venus Over Manhattan first opened on the third floor of 980 Madison Avenue, just above Gagosian and near to Michael Werner Gallery and White Cube. Lindemann named the gallery after the Wheeler Williams sculpture that hangs on the building’s façade. The gallery opened a second location on Great Jones Street in 2022. The next year, it closed the Upper East Side location in favor of a second storefront on Great Jones Street.

Lindemann explained that his decision to close his gallery was influenced by a variety of factors. “Opening a gallery as a collector really does succeed in alienating both sides,” he wrote. “Dealers distrust you, and most collectors don’t get what you’re up to, so they turn up their noses in disapproval—or even worse, they resent you for switching sides.” In addition to the collector–dealer divide, Lindemann cited disillusionment with art fair politics as a contributing factor. “Do you want to know the truth about fair committees?” he wrote. “They gleefully ask you to get down on your hands and knees, wag your tail, and beg for forgiveness. Then, callously, they waitlist you in permanentia.”

In 2023, a selection of Lindemann’s collection went up for auction at Christie’s, including pieces by Alexander Calder and Andy Warhol. The sale fetched $31.46 million with fees.

Venus’s closure follows other recent announcements about shifts in gallery operations. Last week, Tim Blum announced the closure of the Los Angeles and Tokyo locations of his eponymous gallery after more than 30 years in business. Blum cited a need to move toward “a more flexible model” and described the current art business as unsustainable. In an interview with ArtNews, he called the gallery’s participation in Art Basel last month “a thunderclap.”

Unlike Blum, Lindemann concluded his stepping back from art dealing with finality: “There will be no pivot to consulting nor private dealing.” Instead, he wrote, “I’m going back to air kisses, handshakes, fist bumps, side hugs, head nods, winks, waves, big smiles, thumbs up, and good vibes.”

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What Role Do Galleries Play in the Art World? https://ift.tt/dk2n9zF

If you’ve looked at art outside your home, then you’ve likely done so in a gallery. Understood most simply as spaces that display art, galleries play a crucial and multifaceted role in the art world and broader culture.

Art has been bought and sold for almost as long as it has been created. Alongside the Western art gallery, places to view art, such as royal collections, museums, and salons, have existed for centuries. The type of art gallery more closely aligned with what we imagine today began to take shape in the 19th century.

This article focuses on these commercial galleries, which are private businesses that showcase and sell artworks and work with a roster of artists. Today, these businesses sit at the nexus of a network where artists, collectors, curators, critics, institutions, and markets all play a role in deciding which artists and artworks get noticed and platformed. Galleries also support artists, organize exhibitions, work with collectors, and help move art into public and private collections.

For many, these spaces still carry a reputation for exclusivity—white-walled, hush-toned rooms catering to a select few. However, these spaces also allow any curious visitor to engage with the art on view, usually free of charge. “The art world can feel exclusive or hard to access, but galleries are here precisely to bridge that gap,” said New York gallerist Yve Yang of the eponymous gallery.

Still, knowing what a gallery does, the different types of galleries, and how to engage with them can be hard to pin down. Here, we explain what you need to know about these businesses and the role they play in the art world.

A short history of art galleries

The commercial art gallery, as we understand it today, emerged in 19th-century Paris and London. One of the earliest examples is Goupil & Cie, founded in Paris in 1829 by Jean-Baptiste Adolphe Goupil. It pioneered the idea of selling artworks in a way akin to a storefront. Rather than commissioning work by artists, Goupil displayed finished artworks to the public and offered them for immediate purchase, setting the stage for the gallery as a retail space.

The gallery sold paintings by artists including Jean-Léon Gérôme and Vincent van Gogh to a growing class of international buyers. By the 20th century, galleries had begun to take on a more central role in the art world and, by proxy, cultural life. Many helped shape emerging artistic movements by platforming new artists they believed in and promoting them to the public.

Few galleries were more influential in this regard than Leo Castelli’s, which made the blueprint for the modern dealer-artist relationship, helping to launch the careers of artists including Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol.

Leo Castelli, ca. 1975
Andy Warhol
Hedges Projects

One of the major changes Castelli made was to make the reputations of his artists a priority, etching their stories into the fabric of the then-solidifying international art world. He regularly placed his artists in major institutional shows and museum collections, understanding that critical acclaim and institutional backing drove reputation and market value. Many of the world’s most famous artists today were discovered and platformed by galleries early in their careers.

The core function of commercial galleries—exhibiting and selling work—remains unchanged. But they have since grown to occupy a central role in the art world, with more than 20,000 in operation today. Each is made distinctive by its ‘program’—the term used to describe the exhibitions and artists that they showcase—as well as the brand identities that set them apart.

As the art world has evolved, so have galleries. Today, a physical gallery space is no longer a requirement, with many selling works and mounting shows online. “The rise and rise of the internet and social media have made it much easier for people to connect with art in a variety of ways, often from their phone and their sofa at home,” said director Kenneth Young of Hong Kong–based Karin Weber Gallery. “The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this trend, as many activities (such as art gallery visits) were unable to take place in the format we know.”

What do art galleries do?

Galleries provide a bridge between artists and audiences. On the surface, they mount exhibitions, promote their artists, and sell art to collectors and museums. But much more takes place before this is possible.

Most galleries will run a program of exhibitions throughout the year. To do this, they need artworks. Galleries will commission their rostered or prospective artists for works to present. For deceased artists, they often work closely with their families or estates to curate a cohesive body of work. Before an exhibition, galleries undertake research to help contextualize their artists to their audience. This can involve producing press releases, books, exhibition texts, social media posts, and reaching out directly to collectors and audiences that may be of interest.

Vanessa Addison of Sante Fe’s Addison Rowe Gallery describes the gallery as an “educational tool,” providing not just the art but its value, historical context, and significance. “It’s our job to do shows, and write about the artists, and educate where they fit within the art community at the time,” she said.

Then, galleries are tasked with selling those works. The gallerists will invite collectors to the gallery to show work, host events, and cultivate new relationships with those who drop by the space. Galleries can also sell works at art fairs and online.

Beyond organizing shows, several galleries also function as strongholds for their local arts community. “Art galleries need to be a hub where artists, critics, and most importantly, collectors, gather,” Andrea Mosca, director of Turin, Italy, gallery Gagliardi e Domke, told Artsy. He admits that as the art world becomes more interconnected, particularly due to growing online channels, region is “less relevant compared to the past, instead communication, digital [connection] especially, plays a stronger role in offering information, images, and solutions.”

The different types of commercial art galleries

The commercial gallery landscape is vast and varied, with businesses ranging from multinational enterprises to informal artist-run spaces.

Like in most industries, businesses are most easily categorized in terms of their size. In the art world, the largest galleries are colloquially called mega galleries. These galleries, like Hauser & Wirth and Gagosian, span continents and represent internationally recognized artists. These spaces have grown to resemble institutional spaces: Many of the artists they work with show art at museums, and the businesses themselves branch into different arms such as publishing and video production.

Following mega galleries are mid-tier galleries. These businesses are typically smaller in scale, but they still maintain a strong roster of artists, participate in regional or select international art fairs, and have multiple staff members. Then there are small galleries, small businesses that are the backbone of the art world, helping to cultivate the early careers of artists.

Untitled (Allegorical Drawings), 1976/2001
Mike Kelley
Hauser & Wirth

Beyond a gallery’s size, it can be categorized by different types. Other terms you may hear most often include:

• Blue-chip galleries, which work with art at the most expensive end of the market. Not all blue-chip galleries are big businesses: A small gallery of just a few staff could sell blue-chip works.
• Project spaces are often small, independently run venues that operate outside the commercial pressures of the traditional gallery system. They may be founded by artists, curators, or collectives, and they typically focus on experimentation and short-term exhibitions.
• Artist-run galleries are exactly what the name suggests: venues where the artists themselves are in charge of selling the work.
• Secondary-market galleries specialize in selling artworks that have been previously owned.

How do galleries work with art collectors?

Lapis XVII, 2023
Trine Drivsholm
Soneva Art & Glass

Flourish III, 2024
Clare Belfrage
Soneva Art & Glass

For collectors, galleries are more than just points of sale. They can help art buyers discover new artists, build coherent collections, and sell artworks they own. Retief van Wyk, studio manager of the Maldives’s Soneva Art & Glass, explains that a gallery is “like going into shoe shop and you have to convince the [buyer] that this is a really good pair of shoes and it’s made really well and it’s better than those pair of shoes: ‘It really looks good on you. This is going to fit in with you very well.’”

Many galleries also cultivate relationships with the people they sell art to. “Purchasing artwork from a gallery should never be viewed as the end of a relationship, as collectors and galleries ultimately share the same goal: to see the artwork appreciate in both cultural significance and value,” said Yang. “Acquiring an artwork is an investment in an artist’s career, and nurturing that career—through thoughtful placements with institutions and other informed collectors—is the primary responsibility of the gallery. Collectors should therefore view galleries as long-term collaborators.”

How do galleries work with artists?

Galleries also act as collaborators and advocates for the artists they work with. This can take many forms: financial investment in production, career planning, curatorial support, and exposure through exhibitions, art fairs, and online platforms. Much of this falls under the umbrella of representation, which is a formal business relationship between an artist and a gallery.

Mosca describes the gallery as a long-term partner, deeply involved in how work is developed and displayed. “The gallery has supported artists for a long time and has invested much in their artworks, and their display within the gallery space, and also at art fairs around the world,” he said. This practice was largely pioneered by Castelli and American art dealer Allan Frumkin, both of whom gave their artists stipends to help cover studio costs between shows.

Why you should engage with art galleries

If you want to discover new art, then engaging with galleries is pretty much essential. Most are free to visit, and for art lovers, there are few better ways to spend an afternoon than to explore what they have to offer. If you’re not near many galleries, then there are plenty of online channels, including Artsy, that allow you to connect with these spaces and discover the art that they platform. Many galleries use Artsy to upload artworks and online shows, making them easy and accessible to view.

If you’re considering acquiring your first artwork, galleries are an ideal place to start. Young emphasized that his best piece of advice for someone new to galleries is not to “ hesitate to ask questions and discover what you like and don’t like.”

“Galleries are there to make you feel welcome and enjoy the experience of connecting with art,” said Young. “That’s our job. So whoever sits in a gallery to receive visitors should be there to create a good experience for a guest, regardless of their budget and experience. So you should never hesitate to walk in and ask as many questions as you like, or simply relax, browse, and make your own discoveries…Whether you’re buying or looking, Art should be a wonderful experience that’s a treat and not a chore. And the more you see, the more you learn.”

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Artist Wael Shawky to direct inaugural edition of Art Basel Qatar. https://ift.tt/J1EF0qd

Egyptian-born artist Wael Shawky has been appointed the artistic director of Art Basel’s first edition in Qatar. The 2026 fair will take place from February 5th to 7th, with VIP days on February 3rd and 4th. Art Basel Qatar will unfold across two main venues—M7 and the Doha Design District—with additional activations in public sites throughout Msheireb Downtown Doha.

It is rare for an artist to take on the role of directing an art fair. Art Basel Qatar, however, is planning to break the art fair mold in several other ways. Rather than a mix of group and solo presentations, the fair’s 50 or so galleries will each present a solo booth. For the fair’s inaugural edition, these presentations will be curated by Shawky around the theme “Becoming.” According to Art Basel, works included will examine transformation and the systems that shape belief, identity, and meaning in the Gulf and beyond.

“With Art Basel Qatar, we are pushing the boundaries of the art fair model—placing artistic intention at its core while responding to today’s market,” said Vicenzo de Bellis, Art Basel’s global director of fairs. “This format allows us to support galleries in presenting artists’ work with greater depth and resonance. Doha is an ideal context for this evolution: It is a place where cultural ambition meets a rich and layered history, and where experimentation is both welcomed and supported.”

Based in Doha, Shawky is known for his drawings, paintings, installations, and films to chart and examine the history of the Middle East. The artist represented Egypt at the 2024 Venice Biennale, where he presented Drama 1882, a film focusing on the Urabi nationalist revolt in Egypt. The film was also on view at MOCA Los Angeles earlier this year. The artist is also presenting “I Am Hymns of the New Temples” at LUMA Arles in France, on view through May 3, 2026.

Since October 2024, Shawky has also served as artistic director of the Doha Fire Station, where he launched the Arts Intensive Study Program for 20 emerging Qatari and international artists. That venue will host educational programming tied to the fair. Art Basel describes the format as one designed to support deeper artistic engagement while maintaining strong market relevance.

“The opportunity to explore artistic practices from across the MENA region and beyond, within a framework that values research, narrative, and experimentation, is extremely meaningful to me,” Shawky said in a statement.

A selection committee of gallery representatives will assist in shaping the fair’s roster. Members include Lorenzo Fiaschi, director of Galleria Continua; Shireen Gandhy, director of Chemould Prescott Road; Daniela Gareh, global board director of White Cube; Mohammed Hafiz, founder of ATHRhr Gallery; Sunny Rahbar, co-founder of The Third Line; and Gordon VeneKlasen, a partner at Michael Werner Gallery.

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How Does the Economy Impact the Art Market? https://ift.tt/8MyZhBU

As the all-encompassing term for the production and consumption of goods and services, the economy touches on every aspect of industry and business. Art is no different. The industry both contributes to employment and economic output while being impacted by broader factors such as interest rates, trade policies, and currency fluctuations.

From COVID-19-induced recessions, to inflation and tariffs, recent years have provided no shortage of economic volatility. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecasted that global economic growth will slow to 2.8% this year (compared to 3.2% in 2024) amid trade tensions and political uncertainty.

Many have been quick to project this turbulence onto the art market. A recent upset over a series of high-profile auction flops and disappointing sales have prompted articles suggesting that demand is slower for works at the most expensive end of the market.

But such coverage only shows part of the picture when it comes to the relationship between the art market and the economy at large.

Here, we break down the nuanced connection between global markets and the art industry.

How are the economics of the art market different from other industries?

Por Que Não Mudamos as Coisas Antes? (Why Don't we Change Things Before?), 2022
Eduardo Fonseca
Ricardo Fernandes

In most industries, a product can be reproduced on a mass scale, but many artworks are unique. This makes them “non-fungible”—as the gallerist Ricardo Fernandes explains—“items that cannot be replaced by identical ones.”

This intrinsic quality limits the supply of artworks available to purchase. Artists can only produce so many pieces, and when these are purchased, they can sometimes stay in a collection for generations.

As a result, pricing can be complex, with a number of factors determining how certain artworks are valued.

“Value is largely perception-driven, based on brand, scarcity, and insider networks rather than intrinsic quality or utility,” explained art market economist Magnus Resch.

Another complication is the lack of available data on pricing and transactions. Although transparency is improving, it can be difficult for collectors to understand what is available for purchase. It can also be a challenge to access price information when sellers are sensitive about assigning a fixed, transparent value to a work.

“People play a little cat and mouse with pricing and data,” said Ken Citron, CEO of The Fine Art Group, an art advisory and finance firm. “But you can look at past sales and trends on artists. There are a lot of things you can do to mitigate that with the right expertise.”

What do trends in the art market tell us about the economy?

The art market is heavily influenced by sentiment—how confident consumers feel about their own finances and the economy more broadly.

As a result, it is often viewed as a lagging indicator of broader economic trends. “When interest rates rise or liquidity contracts, discretionary spending drops—and art purchases slow. Conversely, during bull markets or periods of wealth creation like crypto booms, we see speculative buying and price inflation,” said Resch.

How long it takes for wider economic trends to filter into the art market is complicated by the purchasing cycle. Auction houses will often start gathering pieces for major sales six months or more before the auction, creating a lag.

As Drew Watson, art services executive at the Bank of America, explained: “Things could look very rosy in June, but there could be really undesirable conditions in November on the eve of an auction.” By that point, the decisions about what will be sold have already been made.

Some areas of the market are also relatively shielded from turbulence. “The top end of the market—blue-chip art—tends to be more resilient and sometimes even counter-cyclical, as it’s seen as a store of value for the ultra-wealthy,” said Resch.

Still, the art industry as a whole is fairly removed from the stock market. In part, this is because art is an illiquid asset, meaning pieces cannot be sold quickly enough at full value to allow a timely response to market trends.

This can make art appealing to collectors who are looking to diversify their wealth allocation.

How does the art market adapt and shift with the economy?

Dollar Sign (1) (FS II.277), 1982
Andy Warhol
Revolver Gallery

Single Dollar Sign - $ (1) FS II.275, 19852
Andy Warhol
Frank Fluegel Gallery

Recent difficulties at the higher end of the market have illustrated a new price sensitivity among buyers, who are taking a more cautious stance amid economic uncertainty.

Art that is very high quality, in good condition, and fresh to market has still been selling, said Watson, but he cautioned: “In this market especially, the pricing really has to be right. And what is right in this market is more conservative pricing.”

But in times when collectors are pausing acquisitions or looking for deals, there is likely to be a ripple effect on supply. “Sellers are not looking to sell right now, maybe because they’re not getting the value that they could have. But that presents other opportunities,” noted Citron.

One of these opportunities is lending. Art is a non-liquid asset, meaning it doesn’t generate instant cashflow, but collectors can access some of the money hanging on their walls through financing—borrowing money using their art as collateral.

“For some collectors, it’s more advantageous to borrow against their art rather than sell into what may be a down market,” explained Watson.

Auction houses have also adapted to challenging economic circumstances with features such as third-party guarantees. These allow a third party to make an irrevocable bid to buy an artwork at a set price, and if they are outbid, the auction house will pay them for guaranteeing the sale.

Auction houses are also shifting towards more private sales, with Christie’s and Sotheby’s reporting a respective 41% and 17% increase last year. “A lot of that in more of an up market would have gone to auction because you can capture more of that upside through competitive bidding,” Watson explained.

How does the public perception of the art market differ from reality?

“Many people assume that art collecting is purely an investment game, but seasoned collectors emphasize that personal passion plays a huge role,” said Fernandes, whose gallery is based in Paris. Indeed, a Deloitte study found emotional value remained the key driver for 60% of collectors, though 41% said financial value was their second motivation.

“We think about art as a portion of our clients’ overall financial lives,” said Watson. “But we don't really advocate for art as a pure investment because it is a complicated asset.”

Another misconception is that art is prohibitively expensive. In reality, more easily reproducible mediums such as photography or works by less established artists can be accessible entry points, as can mid-season contemporary auctions or satellite art fairs.

It’s an oft-repeated adage that there is not one singular art world, but many different pockets and sub-sectors. Even in down periods for the economy, the situation in the art market is rarely doom and gloom everywhere. This goes for today. “It’s a really good time to start a collection, but I think you have to be discerning,” said Citron. “You can’t go wrong if you buy something you really like.”

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LaToya Ruby Frazier honors the New York Liberty with new public art commission. https://ift.tt/xz5MBUn

Celebrated American photographer LaToya Ruby Frazier’s first outdoor art installation, “The Liberty Portraits: A Monument to the 2024 Champions (2024–25)”, has been mounted in the plaza outside of Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The installation, which was unveiled on July 3rd, features monumental portraits of 10 members of the 2024 roster of New York’s WNBA team, the Liberty. The Liberty prevailed over the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA Finals last year, marking the team’s first championship win in franchise history.

Frazier is best known for work that combines documentary photography, portraiture, and text to tell stories about communities facing environmental and economic devastation. Her collaboration with the Liberty was spurred by Clara Wu Tsai, the team’s co-owner and a prominent art collector. Previously, the foundation Wu Tsai runs with her husband, Joe Tsai, had commissioned a permanent, site-specific installation by Bahamian artist Tavares Strachan for the plaza outside Barclays Center.

“I’ve been a WNBA and Liberty fan since the franchise was founded in 1997 and it’s always been a dream to collaborate,” said Frazier in a press statement. “This collaboration extends beyond fandom and the spectacle of sport; it’s an act of celebrating and bearing witness to the full humanity of these championship players—their struggles, their triumphs, their lives outside the arena.”

The 10 featured players are each represented with two images: one close-up portrait depicting the player in uniform, and another depicting her with family members. Each portrait is accompanied by a first-person account from a loved one highlighting noteworthy moments from the player’s career. Among the players that Frazier photographed are forward Breanna Stewart, pictured with her wife, Marta Xargay Casademont; guard Sabrina Ionescu, pictured with her husband, Hroniss Grasu; and center Jonquel Jones, pictured with members of her family in the Bahamas, where she was born and raised.

The installation will remain on view for the duration of the 2025 season. Wu Tsai has planned additional art commissions for 2026 and beyond, selected by a jury of prominent art world figures including Studio Museum director Thelma Golden, LACMA director Michael Govan, and Serpentine Galleries artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist.

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