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- Acclaimed art historian and former director of the Stedelijk Museum, Rudi Fuchs has died at 84.
- The Victoria and Albert Museum is planning to downsize its adult-learning program, the V&A Academy, amid broader threats of staff cuts.
- A recently attributed 16th-century painting by Giorgio Vasari, Transport of Christ to the Tomb,will be put up for sale tomorrow in Milan.
The Headlines
IN MEMORIAM. Rudi Fuchs, an acclaimed art historian and former director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, has died at age 84, reports The Art Newspaper, France. Fuchs passed away in Amsterdam on October 25. He is considered one of the Netherlands’ most influential art critics and museum leaders, who ran the Stedelijk from 1993 to 2004, Documenta 7 in 1982, and the Castello di Rivoli, where he was artistic director from 1984 to 1990, to name but a few of his top positions at art institutions. “Throughout his working life, he devoted himself to the visual arts,” his family told the local media Het Parool.
FORCED VACANCIES AT V&A. The Victoria and Albert Museum is planning to downsize its adult-learning program, the V&A Academy, amid broader threats of staff cuts, The Art Newspaper reports. Management at the institution told staff the education program, which has offered expert-led courses for decades, did not generate enough income. However, TAN notes it recorded an increase in sales in 2024-25 by over 22 percent from the previous year, which helped raise its contribution to the museum by over 60 percent to £365,000 ($486,600). Now, the V&A plans to shut down much of the in-person program by the end of the year, possibly laying off 50 percent of the Academy’s staff, according to staff. Other museum departments have reportedly been asked to plan for cuts as well, following strikes over working conditions that are currently suspended. “Nobody had any inkling this was going to happen,” said one staff member. In a statement, the institution said: “We are currently reviewing the V&A Academy offer and the way in which this is delivered as part of wider efforts to streamline activity and identify efficiencies across our operations to ensure they are financially sustainable and deliver maximum impact.” They added that they “are still in the consultation phase.”
The Digest
Transport of Christ to the Tomb, a recently attributed painting by Italian late-Renaissance Mannerist artist, architect, and art historian Giorgio Vasari will be put up for sale tomorrow at the Il Ponte auction house in Milan, estimated at €200,000 to €250,000 (about $223,000 to $279,000). [Finestre sull’Arte]
Hillary Clinton visited Naoshima, one of Japan’s best-known art islands, posed with two of Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin sculptures, and observed that “in a sometimes dark and chaotic world, art is an antidote to numbness and incuriosity that reminds us the work of creation is an act of resistance.” [ARTnews]
The Israeli government has intervened to stop the auction in Norway of a looted Torah scroll fragment believed to have been used by Nazi officers. [JTA]
Art Basel Qatar is returning for its second edition, from January 28 to 30 in Doha, with 82 galleries from 37 countries, with the aim to “deepen collector relationship, support galleries, and sustain momentum between editions.” [ARTnews]
Three institutions in Turin, Italy (Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, the Fondazione Merz, and the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea) are celebrating 100 years since the birth of Marisa Merz (1926-2019), the only woman artist in the Art Povera movement. [The Art Newspaper]
The Kicker
FIRST WE TAKE PARIS, THEN… After social unrest disrupted Art Basel Paris, cutting it short by two days and forcing museums to close, some are seeing a pattern in escalating tensions around the world that increasingly comprise older art fair structures, reports the Financial Times. While the conflict in the Middle East is on a different scale than what is happening in France, as youth-led protests against economic inequality and poor school conditions continue, doubts are already circulating about the next art-world event: Frieze Abu Dhabi, opening November 19. One art collector said he would be “astonished” if the fair goes ahead “in any meaningful way.” Dyala Nusseibeh, the fair’s director, said organizers are “liaising with the appropriate authorities” on security. With President Trump expected to attack Iran again following the November 3 midterm elections, the outlook is grim. Meanwhile, Art Basel Qatar is slated to open January 28, 2027.