COURTESY NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
It feels like just yesterday that we were here together, recapping 2017 with you. Perhaps that’s because, as the cellist Yo-Yo Ma has so nicely put it, “As we get older, something changes about how we feel time”—it seems to speed up as we age. Or perhaps it’s because this year has been a whirlwind one in art, with auction records being shattered, beloved luminaries being lost, and all sorts of news breaking around the world. Below, a look at the 20 most-read stories on ARTnews.com. Thank you for reading.
– Betty Woodman, Maker of Audacious Ceramics, Dies at 87, by Alex Greenberger, January 3
– Jack Whitten, Beloved Painter of Abstract Cosmologies, Dies at 78, by Alex Greenberger, January 21
– Nancy Spector Offered Maurizio Cattelan Golden Toilet to White House, by the Editors, January 25
– Behold the Official Portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama, by Alex Greenberger, February 12
– Basquiat Tour Painfully Exemplifies Problems of the Present Moment, by Andrew Russeth, March 6
– Art World Vexed by Imbroglio at MOCA L.A., by Andy Battaglia and Maximilíano Durón, March 19
– Prior to Firing, Helen Molesworth Criticized Museum Practices, MOCA, by Sarah Douglas, March 21
– How a Video by Arthur Jafa Became a Worldwide Sensation, by Nate Freeman, March 27
– Collector Sues Gagosian Gallery, Jeff Koons Studio for ‘Non-Delivery,’ by Judd Tully, April 19
– Laura Aguilar, Compassionate Photographer, Dies at 58, by Maximilíano Durón, April 25
– Per Kirkeby, Pioneering Neo-Expressionist Painter, Dies at 79, by Alex Greenberger, May 9
– Rose Period Picasso Sells for $115.1 M. in White Glove Rockefeller Sale, by Judd Tully, May 9
– A Guide to the Art in Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s New Music Video at the Louvre, by Andrew Russeth, June 17
– Christo’s 600-Ton ‘London Mastaba’ Is Unveiled in London, by Carey Lovelace, June 28
– Michael Stipe’s New Photo Book Bares All (or at Least Some), by Andy Battaglia, July 3
– Chicago to Get First-Ever Yayoi Kusama ‘Infinity Mirror Room,’ by Claire Selvin, July 17
– The 2018 ARTnews Top 200 Collectors, by the Editors, September 12
– Jenny Saville Painting Sells for $12.4 M. at Sotheby’s London, by Judd Tully, October 5
– Kerry James Marshall Criticizes Chicago’s Proposed Painting Sale, by Sarah Douglas, October 3
– David Hockney’s Famed Pool Scene Sells for $90.3 M. at Christie’s, by Judd Tully, November 15