The Armory Show launches its first museum acquisition prizes in its 30-year history.
The Armory Show will introduce its first-ever museum acquisition prizes at its upcoming edition, running September 24–27 in New York. The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) and the Bronx Museum will each select a work for their permanent collections—PAMM from the fair’s Focus section, this year dedicated to the Caribbean, and the Bronx Museum from Presents, its section for emerging galleries. The milestone marks a first in the fair’s more than three-decade history. The PAMM Acquisition Prize provides $20,000 to support acquisitions for the museum and its Green Family Foundation Caribbean Cultural Institute, while the Bronx Museum Acquisition Prize establishes a $15,000 fund backed by its Diane Moss Director’s Discretionary Fund.
The Rijksmuseum exhibits a drawing book by an artist closely linked to Rembrandt.
The Rijksmuseum has received an exceptionally well-preserved 17th-century drawing book, donated by the Van Eeghen family after more than three centuries in their safekeeping. The book contains roughly 30 drawings, many depicting biblical scenes, by Rombout van Uylenburgh, a Dutch painter who worked at the Polish royal court under King Sigismund III Vasa before settling in Danzig. The artist’s family ties to Rembrandt add weight to the discovery: his brother Hendrick became Rembrandt’s business partner, and his niece Saskia van Uylenburgh married the painter in 1634. The drawing book itself was only attributed to Rombout when C.P. van Eeghen traced its provenance to the artist’s workshop in 2013. Many drawings appear on blue paper, their colors remarkably preserved due to minimal light exposure over the centuries.
Vancouver approves plans for its tallest building, inspired by sea sponges.
Vancouver has approved plans for a four-tower, mixed-use development that will include the city’s first supertall building and Western Canada’s tallest structure at 1,033 feet. Designed by Henriquez Partners Architects for developer Holborn Group, the project spans three sites connecting downtown Vancouver with the Downtown Eastside, totaling more than three million square feet across housing, hotel, retail, cultural, and conference space. Three towers rising between 774 and 1,033 feet are planned along West Georgia Street, with the tallest featuring a diagrid exoskeleton developed alongside structural engineer Arup to enable column-free interiors and house a 920-room hotel. A fourth, 300-foot residential tower at 388 Abbott Street will be handed over to the City of Vancouver, including a childcare facility and a 5,000-square-foot Indigenous art gallery. The design draws its concept from sea sponge reefs off British Columbia’s coast, shaping the towers’ silhouettes, structural systems, and sculptural balconies while doubling as an environmental metaphor.
Louis Vuitton’s first beauty collaboration brings together Pat McGrath and Nicolas Ghesquière.
Louis Vuitton’s La Beauté has launched its first-ever beauty collaboration, uniting artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière and cosmetics creative director Pat McGrath to mark the Monogram’s 130th anniversary. The result is a two-part capsule collection, Monogram Dune and Monogram Infrarouge, drawing on two of the house’s signature motifs. Each capsule includes a four-pan eyeshadow palette, a satin-finish lipstick, and a glossy topper lip balm. Monogram Dune leans into beige, gold, and dusty pink tones paired with a warm nude lip, while Monogram Infrarouge shifts to charcoal and plum shades alongside a deeper, cooler burgundy.
Bernini painting discovered in storage to be unveiled at Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum this December.
A newly attributed painting by Gian Lorenzo Bernini will be unveiled in December at Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum. Portrait of an Old Man, a nearly life-size depiction of an elderly man with an intense gaze, spent decades in storage after being deemed unattributable in 1989. Bernini, primarily celebrated as a sculptor and architect, never signed his paintings, and fewer than 20 are widely accepted as authentic. The work entered the museum’s collection in 1920 attributed to Philippe de Champaigne, and was reattributed several times over the following century before curator Gudrun Swoboda made the case for Bernini, dating it to around 1670 based on period fashion and stylistic parallels to his bust of Louis XIV. She suggests the finely rendered head is Bernini’s work, while a weaker-handled garment may have been completed by another hand, possibly one of his sons. If confirmed, it would push his painting career two decades later than previously understood.
Attractive Distractions:
Damien Hoar de Galvan dedicated 12 months to a daily reclaimed wood sculptural project.
Bilbao architects Irene Vitorica Donezar and Ane González Lara restored a Spanish apartment’s midcentury spirit.
IKEA has launched a limited-edition, accessibly priced collectible design collection.
MoMA PS1 will open a French African cafe by chef DeVonn Francis this October.
