The National Gallery acquires its first Angelica Kauffmann painting since 1835.
The National Gallery in London is significantly expanding its holdings of 18th- and 19th-century Swiss art, thanks to a major bequest from Dallas-based collectors Richard and Luba Barrett. The gift includes three works: a painting by Angelica Kauffmann, Ferdinand Hodler’s first portrait to enter the museum, and a landscape by Alexandre Calame, all going on public view starting July 2. The standout is Kauffmann’s Achilles Discovered Among the Daughters of Lycomedes, the first historical painting by the artist to enter a U.K. national collection and the first Kauffmann work in the National Gallery’s current holdings. The museum previously owned a Kauffmann painting acquired in 1835, but it was later transferred to what became Tate Britain and is believed to have been destroyed during the 1941 Blitz while on loan to Plymouth Guildhall. This new acquisition marks Kauffmann’s first return to the National Gallery’s collection since that loss. The Barretts have spent years building one of the most significant private collections of Swiss art spanning the 15th to early 20th centuries.
Poltrona Frau and Jean Nouvel design 120 seats for the New Fondation Cartier.
Poltrona Frau has added another cultural landmark to its résumé, developing 120 bespoke seats for the auditorium of the new Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain in Paris, working closely with the foundation’s architect, Jean Nouvel. CEO Nicola Coropulis said the goal was to honor both the function and identity of the space, calling it a place where art, architecture, and public experience intersect. The velvet seats, rendered in Cartier’s signature red, are designed to fold onto themselves or disappear into the back wall entirely, letting the room reconfigure as needed. The foundation, founded in 1984 by former Cartier president Alain Dominique Perrin, moved into its new home on Place du Palais-Royal this past October, following a decade at its original Jouy-en-Josas site and three decades on Boulevard Raspail. The project adds to Poltrona Frau’s history of custom seating for major cultural institutions, including past collaborations with Frank Gehry on the Walt Disney Concert Hall and Fondation Louis Vuitton.
Maurizio Cattelan’s first German museum show opens in Berlin this fall.
Italian visual artist Maurizio Cattelan will present his first major solo museum exhibition in Germany this fall, opening at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie during Berlin Art Week. “Maurizio Cattelan. NIGHT” opens September 10 and runs through March 7, 2027, coinciding with Cattelan’s win of the 2026 Preis der Nationalgalerie, one of Germany’s top contemporary art prizes. The show spans more than three decades of the artist’s career, bringing together landmark works like Him, Novecento, La Rivoluzione Siamo Noi, and Untitled alongside new site-specific commissions designed for Mies van der Rohe’s modernist glass-and-steel building. Known for provocations like the duct-taped banana Comedian and sculptures depicting Pope John Paul II and Adolf Hitler, Cattelan has spent decades interrogating authority, memory, and religion.
Seattle Art Museum taps Frank Feltens as Chief Curator.
The Seattle Art Museum has named Frank Feltens its new chief curator, effective August 17. Feltens joins from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, where he most recently served as associate director for curatorial affairs and curator of Japanese art, a role he’d held since July 2025 after joining the institution in 2016. His curatorial work there included group shows such as “Imagined Neighbors: Japanese Visions of China, 1680–1980” and “Mind Over Matter: Zen in Medieval Japan,” as well as a 2021 Hokusai solo exhibition. He also organized “From Kiyochika to Hasui: Modern Japan in Prints and Photographs” for Tokyo’s Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum earlier this year. Feltens succeeds José Carlos Diaz, who departed last fall to take a chief curator role at the Pérez Art Museum Miami. At SAM, Feltens will oversee curatorial vision and programming across the museum, the Seattle Asian Art Museum, and the Olympic Sculpture Park. SAM director and CEO Scott Stulen praised Feltens’ scholarship and collaborative approach, noting his enthusiasm for Seattle throughout the search process.
Tallinn Art Hall’s restored home reopens this November with new spaces.
Tallinn Art Hall, one of Estonia’s oldest and most prestigious contemporary art institutions, will reopen to the public on November 13 after a five-year, €13 million restoration. Led by Juhan Rohtla of KUU Architects, the project reworks the building’s galleries while preserving Edgar Johan Kuusik’s 1934 façade. The renovation, funded by the Estonian government, adds two new spaces: an underground venue called Black Box and KuKu Club, a revival of a nightclub and salon that originally opened in the building’s basement in 1935. The reopening will coincide with a new long-term commission by Hungarian-Estonian artist Dénes Farkas, Soup Kitchen ‘Art’, selected through a public art competition; the work will periodically offer free food while inviting reflection on the social dimensions of art.
Today’s attractive distractions:
Fiber artist Susan Maddux’s vibrant folded canvases form garment-like sculptures.
Bad Bunny’s custom Schiaparelli cowboy boots steal the show at Paris Couture Week.
Anoma’s new A1 watch was inspired by a Brâncuși exhibition and prehistoric tools.
Loro Piana’s Fall 2026 campaign celebrates Houston’s Menil Collection and Rothko Chapel.
