Ben Lewis
@theuniversalben.bsky.social
Telling stories about art within the bigger picture of soc, econ and pol. Last Leonardo, Art Bust, Art Safari – Books. Podcasts. Documentaries www.benlewisprojects.com #arthistory
If net migration is lower because more Brits are *leaving* the country, then it logically can have nothing to do with any measures to reduce immigration. It’s nothing to do with fewer people coming in. @thetimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:11 PM
If net migration is lower because more Brits are *leaving* the country, then it logically can have nothing to do with any measures to reduce immigration. It’s nothing to do with fewer people coming in. @thetimes.com
Reposted by Ben Lewis
'Aeroplane Crash, North London, May 1940' by Rudolf Haybrook
(Imperial War Museums)
(Imperial War Museums)
November 14, 2025 at 9:16 PM
'Aeroplane Crash, North London, May 1940' by Rudolf Haybrook
(Imperial War Museums)
(Imperial War Museums)
Reposted by Ben Lewis
Denver Post confirms what we’ve been hearing: nearly all federal HSI agents with expertise on cultural property crimes have been reassigned to immigration duties in recent months.
Major loss of law enforcement capabilities in the world’s largest art market.
www.denverpost.com/2025/11/06/u...
Major loss of law enforcement capabilities in the world’s largest art market.
www.denverpost.com/2025/11/06/u...
The U.S. was a leader in cultural heritage investigations. Now those agents are working immigration enforcement.
Homeland Security Investigations, the department’s investigative arm, once had as many as eight agents in its New York office investigating cultural property cases.
www.denverpost.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Denver Post confirms what we’ve been hearing: nearly all federal HSI agents with expertise on cultural property crimes have been reassigned to immigration duties in recent months.
Major loss of law enforcement capabilities in the world’s largest art market.
www.denverpost.com/2025/11/06/u...
Major loss of law enforcement capabilities in the world’s largest art market.
www.denverpost.com/2025/11/06/u...
Reposted by Ben Lewis
What impact did this handful of specialized HSI agents have in recent years?
Working with Manhattan DA's ATU, they helped convict 18 antiquities traffickers, recovered approximately 6,100 antiquities valued at $480 million, and returned approximately 5,770 of them to 32 countries, with more daily.
Working with Manhattan DA's ATU, they helped convict 18 antiquities traffickers, recovered approximately 6,100 antiquities valued at $480 million, and returned approximately 5,770 of them to 32 countries, with more daily.
November 7, 2025 at 12:50 AM
What impact did this handful of specialized HSI agents have in recent years?
Working with Manhattan DA's ATU, they helped convict 18 antiquities traffickers, recovered approximately 6,100 antiquities valued at $480 million, and returned approximately 5,770 of them to 32 countries, with more daily.
Working with Manhattan DA's ATU, they helped convict 18 antiquities traffickers, recovered approximately 6,100 antiquities valued at $480 million, and returned approximately 5,770 of them to 32 countries, with more daily.
"Is Artes Mundi just telling the truth about art now – that it has lost touch with a mainstream audience?"
I don't think art was ever, by and large, 'in touch with a mainstream audience.' That has only rarely been the point of art or the market for it
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
I don't think art was ever, by and large, 'in touch with a mainstream audience.' That has only rarely been the point of art or the market for it
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Artes Mundi 11 review – smug, stagey, up-itself nonsense for art world wazzocks
Six international artists vie for the prize – and none of them seem interested in engaging visitors. I had more fun on Llandudno pier’s ghost train
www.theguardian.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:49 PM
"Is Artes Mundi just telling the truth about art now – that it has lost touch with a mainstream audience?"
I don't think art was ever, by and large, 'in touch with a mainstream audience.' That has only rarely been the point of art or the market for it
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
I don't think art was ever, by and large, 'in touch with a mainstream audience.' That has only rarely been the point of art or the market for it
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Why does everyone complain about AI slop, when humans are already making endless slop?
I watched the Netflix documentary about the orgasm cult. Every doc they have is made in exactly the same way
I watched the Netflix documentary about the orgasm cult. Every doc they have is made in exactly the same way
October 26, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Why does everyone complain about AI slop, when humans are already making endless slop?
I watched the Netflix documentary about the orgasm cult. Every doc they have is made in exactly the same way
I watched the Netflix documentary about the orgasm cult. Every doc they have is made in exactly the same way
Reposted by Ben Lewis
Public housing posters, 1930s
October 25, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Public housing posters, 1930s
Electric Ballroom Camden Town circa 1981. Jay Strongman on the decks. Rockabilly nights
I mean, I had to
October 24, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Electric Ballroom Camden Town circa 1981. Jay Strongman on the decks. Rockabilly nights
Petridis gives Soft Cell the hard sell. Oh how I loved them aged 14! Bring back the glory days of art school synth pop! Say hello wave goodbye is true art
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...
Dave Ball was not some bloke in the background of Soft Cell – he drove their startling, subversive sound
Far more than a mute foil to Marc Almond, Ball brought his love of northern soul and strange electronics to bear on some of Britain’s most uncompromising pop
www.theguardian.com
October 24, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Petridis gives Soft Cell the hard sell. Oh how I loved them aged 14! Bring back the glory days of art school synth pop! Say hello wave goodbye is true art
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...
Palazzo Reale Napoli. Who can resist a bit of porcelain?
October 23, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Palazzo Reale Napoli. Who can resist a bit of porcelain?
Reposted by Ben Lewis
Roy Lichtenstein, Large Jewels, 1963 www.lichtensteincatalogue.org/catalogue/en...
October 20, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Roy Lichtenstein, Large Jewels, 1963 www.lichtensteincatalogue.org/catalogue/en...
Reposted by Ben Lewis
Stockport motorways, painting by Helen Clapcott (b.1952). #WomensArt #NorthernArt
October 20, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Stockport motorways, painting by Helen Clapcott (b.1952). #WomensArt #NorthernArt
Really good idea for an exhibition here that other museums could learn from. Artists created a set of VR interventions on existing works in a museum so anyone with the VR headset got the 'new' exhibition.
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/13/i...
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/13/i...
Indigenous artists transform works at Metropolitan Museum in unsanctioned augmented reality project
The digital interventions by 17 Native artists, launched on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, put pointed twists on works in the museum’s American Wing
www.theartnewspaper.com
October 20, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Really good idea for an exhibition here that other museums could learn from. Artists created a set of VR interventions on existing works in a museum so anyone with the VR headset got the 'new' exhibition.
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/13/i...
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/13/i...
Reposted by Ben Lewis
The Surete's elite Flaneur squad is now on the case.
This photo accompanying a news story about the heist at the Louvre is perfection.
October 20, 2025 at 6:09 AM
The Surete's elite Flaneur squad is now on the case.
Reposted by Ben Lewis
'The Bedroom Window.' (c1930) Gilbert Spencer's first one-man exhibition was held at the Goupil Gallery, London in January 1923, four years before his brother Stanley's first one-man exhibition at the same venue, on other occasions he exhibited with John Nash and Mark Gertler.
October 18, 2025 at 7:44 PM
'The Bedroom Window.' (c1930) Gilbert Spencer's first one-man exhibition was held at the Goupil Gallery, London in January 1923, four years before his brother Stanley's first one-man exhibition at the same venue, on other occasions he exhibited with John Nash and Mark Gertler.
Always read the small print in art news reporting
“The gallery also announced a long-term partnership with the Reuben Foundation, through which the organization will assist in staging exhibitions at the Courtauld thru the Reuben brothers’ extensive art collection.”
www.artforum.com/news/courtau...
“The gallery also announced a long-term partnership with the Reuben Foundation, through which the organization will assist in staging exhibitions at the Courtauld thru the Reuben brothers’ extensive art collection.”
www.artforum.com/news/courtau...
London’s Courtauld Gallery Receives Historic $40 Million Donation
The Courtauld Gallery and Institute has received a £30 million ($40 million) donation from the Reuben Foundation—the largest in its 93 year history.
www.artforum.com
October 17, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Always read the small print in art news reporting
“The gallery also announced a long-term partnership with the Reuben Foundation, through which the organization will assist in staging exhibitions at the Courtauld thru the Reuben brothers’ extensive art collection.”
www.artforum.com/news/courtau...
“The gallery also announced a long-term partnership with the Reuben Foundation, through which the organization will assist in staging exhibitions at the Courtauld thru the Reuben brothers’ extensive art collection.”
www.artforum.com/news/courtau...
Kate Moss and Lucian Freud — the supermodel reveals her side of the story. Hilarious piece by Waldemar
www.thetimes.com/article/0893...
www.thetimes.com/article/0893...
Kate Moss and Lucian Freud — the supermodel reveals her side of the story
An intimate portrait and their unlikely friendship made them the talk of the town — two decades on, the supermodel is the executive producer of a new film, Moss & Freud
www.thetimes.com
October 10, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Kate Moss and Lucian Freud — the supermodel reveals her side of the story. Hilarious piece by Waldemar
www.thetimes.com/article/0893...
www.thetimes.com/article/0893...
Reposted by Ben Lewis
Marsden Hartley
Landscape, New Mexico (1920)
Landscape, New Mexico (1920)
January 14, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Marsden Hartley
Landscape, New Mexico (1920)
Landscape, New Mexico (1920)
My entire wardrobe is suddenly out of date
“Ready-to-wear?” I am ready to wear this, but I don’t know if the world is ready for me to do so
October 6, 2025 at 8:45 PM
My entire wardrobe is suddenly out of date
Reposted by Ben Lewis
Jean Angladon,
Portrait de Paulettte Martin,
Musée Angladon, Avignon/France
Portrait de Paulettte Martin,
Musée Angladon, Avignon/France
September 30, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Jean Angladon,
Portrait de Paulettte Martin,
Musée Angladon, Avignon/France
Portrait de Paulettte Martin,
Musée Angladon, Avignon/France
Yes! At last - Ai slop might finally bring us the return of value judgement in art
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
In an era of AI slop and mid TV, is it time for cultural snobbery to make a comeback?
The lowbrow dominates culture and anyone who questions the status quo is dismissed as an elitist killjoy. But with bland algorithmic content on the rise, perhaps we consumers should start taking our a...
www.theguardian.com
September 28, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Yes! At last - Ai slop might finally bring us the return of value judgement in art
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Reposted by Ben Lewis
Intermission (also known as Intermedio), 1963 #hopper #newrealism
September 27, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Intermission (also known as Intermedio), 1963 #hopper #newrealism