Recap—Here Is Everything You Missed in the Art World This Summer 

Art Basel in June typically signals the start of the art world’s summer break, while Armory Week, held in September, serves as the homecoming. But news continues to unfold between these bookends.

Here’s what you missed in July and August—whether you were island hopping in the Aegean or managing the front desk.

In the U.S., July was marked by shocking political events, including an assassination attempt on Donald Trump. The event produced a remarkable photograph, which all the art critics were forced to analyze. (Sorry, Ben!) Joe Biden stepped out of the presidential race, and many in the art world quickly came out swinging for Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, France grappled with divided election results that left cultural policy in limbo while the U.K. ushered in a new government, which leaves a question mark over the future of cultural funding and the art market, while more widely adding to the political turbulence across the globe.

The Eiffel Tower and the Olympic Rings during the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Paris, France, 2024. Photo: Joel Marklund/PA Images via Getty Images.

This summer’s Olympic Games brought unexpected artistic connections: From its origins as an art competition to the weird and wonderful (and very French) art-filled opening ceremony to the Vatican’s commentary on the ensuing art-related controversy. We unpacked the iconic symbol of the Discobolus (tune into our podcast about it here), the most memorable Olympics posters, and NBC’s special correspondent Snoop Dogg paid a visit to the Louvre (though he was one of few taking up the opportunity).

© 2024 Artnet Worldwide Corporation.

The art market saw further disruption as Christie’s reported a steep drop in first-half earnings, and Munich’s Galerie Thomas filed for bankruptcy Levy Gorvy-Dayan announced it would shutter its Hong Kong space, though Sotheby’s and Photofairs are still betting on the city’s market. Elsewhere, a founder exited from 47 Canal while a new director was named for the Armory Show, and the German quadrennial exhibition documenta announced a new finding committee.

Victoria Siddall by Benjamin McMahon ©️ Benjamin McMahon

In August, Victoria Siddall made history as the first woman to lead London’s National Portrait Gallery. In another groundbreaking move, an all-female collective was appointed to head prestigious Skulptur Projekt Münster, following the death of esteemed German curator Kaspar König. Ever on theme, Katya launched a new capsule of The Art Detective: Shoptalk, in which she interviewed inspiring women art dealers Allegra LaViola, Stefania Bortolami, and Paula Cooper —and she got the scoop that Simone Subal is joining Cooper after shuttering her own eponymous gallery two months ago.

CAN Ibiza art fair sign for its third edition in 2024. Photo: Maria Santos Photography.

We traveled to art fairs in Tokyo, Aspen and Ibiza, and an anonymous a dealer offered some rather blunt advice to collectors. The disturbing vandalism at the home of Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak is being investigated as a hate crime. In other news, the Whitney Biennial named its next curators, Bonhams tapped a luxury expert as its next CEO, and Harvard declined calls to rename its Arthur M. Sackler museum.

Venus Williams recording the podcast “Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape” in May 2024
Photo by Stefano Ceccarelli, courtesy of the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.

This summer, we interviewed some very famous names in art including George Condo, Yoshitomo Nara,  Ugo Rondinone, Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova and Linder. We also heard from architect Annabelle Selldorf, tennis legend Venus Williams, actor Paz de la Huerta, Hey Jude’s Julian Lennon, and Adam Green of the Moldy Peaches. And we welcomed a couple of famous contributors as Grammy-nominated artist Jewel opined on Modigliani, legendary REM frontman Michael Stipe shared his love of Bruce Nauman, and Afrobeats star Mr Eazi his penchant for emerging African art.

Flora Yukhnovich, She is Beauty and She is Grace (2022). Photo courtesy of Hauser and Wirth.

We delved into the complexities in the Matisse market, investigated elitism in the U.K. art world, and defended the often-overlooked summer group show. When we weren’t identifying new trends in painting with these Neo-Rococo and Neo-Bonnard movements, we furnished some lighter summer reading, including top picks for fiction-lovers and non-fiction fans, and revealed what your dorm room art or your art world merch says about you; we also tailed on viral moments to bring you our favorite art historical ladies of the “most mindful,” and “childless cat” varietals.

Now you’re all caught up. Welcome back!

P.S. If you want to be kept up to speed on the art world every week, subscribe to our new micro-podcast, Art Market Minute, where we promise you a crisp, weekly overview of the art market’s top stories. Listen to the first episode, below.