Story by Katie Marie Davies for The Beet. Edited by Eilish Hart. This story first appeared in The Beet, a weekly email dispatch from Meduza covering Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Sign up here to get the next issue delivered directly to your inbox. If you’ve stepped into an art gallery in the past five years, then you’re probably
The Benin Bronzes restitution saga has taken a new turn after the Nigerian government has officially recognised the Oba of Benin (Oba Ewuare II) as the owner and custodian of the artefacts looted in the late 19th century. The announcement came in the form of a Presidential Declaration, released through the official gazette. The official
Kenya: Kibera Fashion Week Art is a universal language that all peoples of the world understand and speak. Whether poetry, music and even fashion, art creates links and helps to overcome prejudice. Art fosters inclusion, respect, dignity and freedom of expression. Thanks in part to the European Union (EU), there are special places around the
A tiny mahogany slipcase of microscope slides on display at the Yale University Art Gallery raises issues of conquest, colonialism, and empire. The slipcase, created in the workshop of a Dutch diamond merchant and gem setter in the early 19th century, houses a set of 24 microscope slides of flora, fauna, and minerals collected from South
It’s not like all Native stories are sacred. Natives like to spin a good yarn like anybody else, telling jokes, fables, or raucous tales of the trouble their buddies got into. But Native people are, without question, storytellers. That’s part of the heritage. And sacred or not, Native stories are special. They build bonds. They
This unprecedented showcase features the works of outstanding Surrealists from Poland, the former Czechoslovakia, and the former Yugoslavia, tracing the development of the movement from the 1930s to its present-day revival. ADVERTISEMENT The world of Surrealism is often associated with the works of famous male artists such as Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, and Max Ernst. However,
Coming into the Art Institute of Chicago off that great city’s streets (where, as Saul Bellow wrote, everything is “louder, rawer, cruder, noisier, hotter, bigger”) and arriving, more frazzled than fresh, at this Spanish still life, you might feel mesmerized by its quietude. The painting’s rich detail and foursquare frontality all but command attention. Let
Although European leaders have stepped up in many ways to support Ukraine, the war has also laid bare Europe’s profound dependence on the United States. This reality was at the heart of French president Emmanuel Macron’s recent call for more “strategic autonomy”, which stirred a new debate over the transatlantic power imbalance. It was also
Milwaukee Art Museum The Milwaukee Art Museum announced Thursday that it has received a $4.4 million gift from Bader Philanthropies, Inc. and has established the Isabel and Alfred Bader European Art Program Endowment Fund. Honoring the late Drs. Isabel and Alfred Bader, the endowment fund provides permanent support for the museum’s Isabel and Alfred Bader
Now featured on Bloomberg Connects Picasso said, “You can have all the perspectives at once!” What a hero. But tell me, are any of those perspectives a woman’s? Well, then I’m not interested. —Hannah Gadsby Fifty years after his death, Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) remains an artistic and cultural icon. Not only is Picasso a household name,