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Sometimes it takes a book to remind us of how all-encompassing art can be. Our favorite reads this month include a history of Parisian artist hub Montmartre, a colorful monograph by Yankunytjatjara artist Kaylene Whiskey, and more.
8 Art Books to Read This February
The trailblazing sculptural practice of Edmonia Lewis, the birth of modernism in Montmartre, the luminous paintings of Kaylene Whiskey, and Gainsborough’s alluring fashion portraits are among our…
hyperallergic.com
February 9, 2026 at 10:44 PM
Sometimes it takes a book to remind us of how all-encompassing art can be. Our favorite reads this month include a history of Parisian artist hub Montmartre, a colorful monograph by Yankunytjatjara artist Kaylene Whiskey, and more.
The Department of Justice placed a black square over an image of the Mona Lisa in the Epstein files. As the DOJ faces accusations of releasing sensitive victim information, the decision to cover the world’s most famous portrait feels particularly misguided.
Mona Lisa’s Face Redacted in Latest Trove of Epstein Files
The decision to cover the world’s most famous portrait feels particularly misguided as the DOJ faces accusations of releasing sensitive victim information.
hyperallergic.com
February 9, 2026 at 9:37 PM
The Department of Justice placed a black square over an image of the Mona Lisa in the Epstein files. As the DOJ faces accusations of releasing sensitive victim information, the decision to cover the world’s most famous portrait feels particularly misguided.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, acquired Artemisia Gentileschi’s “Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy.” It’s the first work by the Italian Baroque artist to enter the institution’s collection.
National Gallery of Art Acquires Stirring Artemisia Masterpiece
“Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy” (c. 1625) is the first work by the Italian Baroque artist to enter the institution’s collection.
hyperallergic.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:28 PM
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, acquired Artemisia Gentileschi’s “Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy.” It’s the first work by the Italian Baroque artist to enter the institution’s collection.
Passionate about art (and its intersections)? Hyperallergic is hiring for several roles on our Editorial and Publishing teams. If you want to work in independent media, we’d love to meet you. buff.ly/kPh13gC
February 9, 2026 at 7:19 PM
Passionate about art (and its intersections)? Hyperallergic is hiring for several roles on our Editorial and Publishing teams. If you want to work in independent media, we’d love to meet you. buff.ly/kPh13gC
“When we invite visitors into our museums, we must resist the pull to simply commemorate and instead communicate the relevance of our history. We must not smooth over conflicts.” –Ken Weine, Senior Vice President, New York Historical
In 2026, Democracy Needs Museums
As the United States marks its 250th, institutions must resist the pull to simply commemorate and instead communicate the relevance of history.
hyperallergic.com
February 9, 2026 at 5:42 PM
“When we invite visitors into our museums, we must resist the pull to simply commemorate and instead communicate the relevance of our history. We must not smooth over conflicts.” –Ken Weine, Senior Vice President, New York Historical
Why are we so obsessed with the Epstein files? Because they’ve stopped being about just one pedophile and have come to symbolize the depravity of the world’s richest elites. It’s no surprise that the art world is implicated, but another way is possible.
Epstein Files Expose the Depths of the Art World's Rot
How do we empower arts leaders to reject funding from corrupt individuals in favor of donors who have proven themselves to be civic leaders?
hyperallergic.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Why are we so obsessed with the Epstein files? Because they’ve stopped being about just one pedophile and have come to symbolize the depravity of the world’s richest elites. It’s no surprise that the art world is implicated, but another way is possible.
Would a Caravaggio really stand out in a room of lesser-known contemporaries? A visit to the Morgan Library suggests: Yes.
The Moment Caravaggio Became Caravaggio
What can an early painting tell us about an Old Master? We asked the Morgan Library’s curator to find out.
hyperallergic.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Would a Caravaggio really stand out in a room of lesser-known contemporaries? A visit to the Morgan Library suggests: Yes.
How are we to understand Surrealism’s adventures into the unconscious without learning about its origins in André Breton’s work as a doctor treating traumatized World War I veterans?
The Nightmares Beneath the Surface of "Dreamworld"
The traumas of war and genocide and the fascist leanings of Salvador Dalí are among the subjects that this sprawling exhibition leaves out.
hyperallergic.com
February 9, 2026 at 2:32 PM
How are we to understand Surrealism’s adventures into the unconscious without learning about its origins in André Breton’s work as a doctor treating traumatized World War I veterans?
Why did Fra Angelico, a Dominican friar who took a vow of poverty, go to such great lengths to incorporate marble and stone into so much of his art? Understanding the secret mystical meanings that monks ascribed to crystals can change perceptions of several paintings.
Fra Angelico Etched the Divine in Stone
The veiled symbolism of the artist's marble and stones has largely flown under the radar, but these mystical depths are too profound to miss out on.
hyperallergic.com
February 8, 2026 at 9:37 PM
Why did Fra Angelico, a Dominican friar who took a vow of poverty, go to such great lengths to incorporate marble and stone into so much of his art? Understanding the secret mystical meanings that monks ascribed to crystals can change perceptions of several paintings.
David Ross of SVA has resigned from his post following the release of his email exchanges with Jeffrey Epstein. In January 2015, years after Epstein’s conviction, the former museum leader told him that he was “still proud” to call him a friend.
David A. Ross Resigns From School of Visual Arts After Epstein Revelations
In January 2015, years after Epstein’s conviction, the former museum leader told him that he was “still proud” to call him a friend.
hyperallergic.com
February 8, 2026 at 7:19 PM
David Ross of SVA has resigned from his post following the release of his email exchanges with Jeffrey Epstein. In January 2015, years after Epstein’s conviction, the former museum leader told him that he was “still proud” to call him a friend.
Born deaf on an Idaho farm on the eve of the 20th century and isolated from the art world his entire life, James Castle seemed to have arrived independently at some of the most radical tenets of mid-century abstraction.
James Castle Was a World Unto Himself
These works feel almost metaphysically transportive — like a universe bound by a different set of rules that’s a pleasure to explore.
hyperallergic.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Born deaf on an Idaho farm on the eve of the 20th century and isolated from the art world his entire life, James Castle seemed to have arrived independently at some of the most radical tenets of mid-century abstraction.
What do you call the artistic technique that creates contrasts of light and dark? Find out in the Renaissance edition of The Art Crossword!
The Art Crossword: Renaissance Edition
What do you call the artistic technique that creates contrasts of light and dark?
hyperallergic.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:32 PM
What do you call the artistic technique that creates contrasts of light and dark? Find out in the Renaissance edition of The Art Crossword!
Reposted by Hyperallergic
This is a good day to share my 2018 essay on the Obama portraits and the history of African American portraiture.
hyperallergic.com/obama-portra...
hyperallergic.com/obama-portra...
The Obama Portraits and the History of African American Portraiture
Like many African American portraitists, Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley represent the Obamas as themselves, and as more than themselves.
hyperallergic.com
February 7, 2026 at 7:49 PM
This is a good day to share my 2018 essay on the Obama portraits and the history of African American portraiture.
hyperallergic.com/obama-portra...
hyperallergic.com/obama-portra...
If art institutions want to stand with people whose lives have been upended by detention and deportation, their solidarity has to show up as time, protection, and material support that outlasts a social media post.
After the Strike, Will Art Galleries Be Allies?
If deleting the social media post tomorrow would change nothing about how artists are paid or how resources are allocated, the gallery’s allyship is disposable.
hyperallergic.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:37 PM
If art institutions want to stand with people whose lives have been upended by detention and deportation, their solidarity has to show up as time, protection, and material support that outlasts a social media post.
Infinite love abounds in Dyani White Hawk’s solo exhibition at the Walker Art Center, imbuing a space rarely afforded to local creators with a deeply rooted Indigenous perspective.
For Dyani White Hawk, Love Is an Act of Resistance
Her exhibition "Love Language" invites viewers into the vibrant cultural legacies of Native art, and connections to land, lineage, and community.
hyperallergic.com
February 7, 2026 at 7:19 PM
Infinite love abounds in Dyani White Hawk’s solo exhibition at the Walker Art Center, imbuing a space rarely afforded to local creators with a deeply rooted Indigenous perspective.
The attempts to prevent South African artist Gabrielle Goliath’s work from reaching a global platform at the Venice Biennale are not the result of incompetence or poor strategizing. The machinations of neo-imperial states are made malleable for the purposes of silencing dissent.
Gabrielle Goliath Strikes a Tuning Fork of Dissent
The cancellation of the South African artist’s Venice Biennale pavilion reveals the machinations of state censorship — and the ways we can collectively resist it.
hyperallergic.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:42 PM
The attempts to prevent South African artist Gabrielle Goliath’s work from reaching a global platform at the Venice Biennale are not the result of incompetence or poor strategizing. The machinations of neo-imperial states are made malleable for the purposes of silencing dissent.
Refusing to complicate Grandma Moses’s legacy flattens it. More profound truths can be uncovered within her work to debunk harmful mythologies endemic to the US, while still upholding the magnitude of her achievement as one of the most famous and delightful American artists.
What the Smithsonian Won’t Say About Grandma Moses
The benign narrative of the beloved artist must be deconstructed, as she also embodies the US’s detrimental values.
hyperallergic.com
February 7, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Refusing to complicate Grandma Moses’s legacy flattens it. More profound truths can be uncovered within her work to debunk harmful mythologies endemic to the US, while still upholding the magnitude of her achievement as one of the most famous and delightful American artists.
Many assume getting into the Whitney Biennial is an endorsement of quality, which can further an artist’s career. But your art needs to speak to the biennial curators and align with cultural interests. Often, the work selected has a kind of buzz around it that is impossible to engineer.
Art Problems: How Do I Get Into the Whitney Biennial?
Conventional wisdom says there isn’t much you can do, but Paddy Johnson knows that’s not the whole story.
hyperallergic.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:44 PM
Many assume getting into the Whitney Biennial is an endorsement of quality, which can further an artist’s career. But your art needs to speak to the biennial curators and align with cultural interests. Often, the work selected has a kind of buzz around it that is impossible to engineer.
Biographer Sue Roe’s portraits of her subjects — six women who loved Picasso — are not entirely about them. They are, ultimately, about the artist himself: the love-bombing creature of conquest and control.
The Women Who Were More Than Just Picasso’s Loves
Sue Roe explores the agency and victories her subjects experienced as women who, we are repeatedly reminded, ardently loved Picasso.
hyperallergic.com
February 6, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Biographer Sue Roe’s portraits of her subjects — six women who loved Picasso — are not entirely about them. They are, ultimately, about the artist himself: the love-bombing creature of conquest and control.
In Memoriam honors those we recently lost in the art world. This week, we remember the Irish colorist Richard Gorman, Senegalese sculptor Seyni Awa Camara, and Florida Highwaymen Willie “Bill” Reagan and Robert L. Lewis, Jr., among other greats.
Remembering Richard Gorman, Seyni Awa Camara, and Björn Roth
This week, we honor an Irish colorist, a Senegalese sculptor, and the steward of a family art dynasty, as well as two Florida Highwaymen.
hyperallergic.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:28 PM
In Memoriam honors those we recently lost in the art world. This week, we remember the Irish colorist Richard Gorman, Senegalese sculptor Seyni Awa Camara, and Florida Highwaymen Willie “Bill” Reagan and Robert L. Lewis, Jr., among other greats.
Sandra Vásquez de la Horra’s recycled motifs don’t congeal into symbols so much as demonstrate how everything is connected. Hers is an ecofeminism rooted in the porous, reciprocal entanglements of the body and the world that made it.
Mapping a Feminist Cosmos
Without didacticism, Sandra Vásquez de la Horra makes visible the connection between the exploitation of the natural world and the subordination of women.
hyperallergic.com
February 6, 2026 at 7:19 PM
Sandra Vásquez de la Horra’s recycled motifs don’t congeal into symbols so much as demonstrate how everything is connected. Hers is an ecofeminism rooted in the porous, reciprocal entanglements of the body and the world that made it.
The motivating query behind “Plastics,” an art conservation anthology by Anne Gunnison and David Joselit, is simple: What do we learn about plastics when seen through the lens of art? The answers are complex.
Where Would Contemporary Art Be Without Plastic?
A new anthology on plastics in art reveals the philosophical conundrums and contradictions at the heart of a material the world relies on.
hyperallergic.com
February 6, 2026 at 5:42 PM
The motivating query behind “Plastics,” an art conservation anthology by Anne Gunnison and David Joselit, is simple: What do we learn about plastics when seen through the lens of art? The answers are complex.
Photography in the Black Arts Movement at the Getty, Arshile Gorky at Hauser & Wirth West Hollywood, and Steven Arnold at Del Vaz Projects are just some of the shows we’re seeing in Los Angeles this spring.
15 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This Spring
Arshile Gorky’s road trip with Isamu Noguchi, Steve Arnold’s queer baroque aesthetics, Chicano photography, photography in the Black Arts Movement, and more.
hyperallergic.com
February 6, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Photography in the Black Arts Movement at the Getty, Arshile Gorky at Hauser & Wirth West Hollywood, and Steven Arnold at Del Vaz Projects are just some of the shows we’re seeing in Los Angeles this spring.
Artist Julia Fish slows time down by homing in on a manifestation of its presence, transforming the act of looking into an intricate modality that visualizes the interplay of geometry and architecture, prismatic light and musical notes.
Mystery Is Embedded in Julia Fish’s Architectural Art
The artist transforms the act of looking into an intricate modality that visualizes the interplay of geometry and architecture, prismatic light and musical notes.
hyperallergic.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:43 PM
Artist Julia Fish slows time down by homing in on a manifestation of its presence, transforming the act of looking into an intricate modality that visualizes the interplay of geometry and architecture, prismatic light and musical notes.
Ekow Eshun will curate the 13th SITE SANTA FE International Biennial, Mnuchin Gallery is closing, Chelsea Bighorn won the Walker Youngbird Foundation’s 2026 Emerging Native Arts Grant, and more news from the art world in this week’s Art Movements.
Art Movements: Ekow Eshun Heads to Santa Fe
The London curator is tapped to curate SITE SANTA FE, Mnuchin Gallery closes, a buyer spends big money on a tiny Michelangelo foot drawing, and other industry news.
hyperallergic.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Ekow Eshun will curate the 13th SITE SANTA FE International Biennial, Mnuchin Gallery is closing, Chelsea Bighorn won the Walker Youngbird Foundation’s 2026 Emerging Native Arts Grant, and more news from the art world in this week’s Art Movements.