Zachary Small

Their Last Love Token: A Dinosaur Rebuilt From Its Excavated Bones

When his wife died, the paleontologist Barry James poured his grief into the reconstruction of a $25M triceratops skeleton that they had started together.

Surrounded by the bones, an unconventional way for him to honor April started to form ...

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/a...

Museums Lobby Against Strengthening a Holocaust Art Recovery Law

An effort to extend a 2016 law helping Holocaust victims and their heirs retrieve artworks stolen by the Nazis is pitting Jewish organizations that want to strengthen the law against major museums that have been quietly lobbying to keep it as it is.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/a...

Politics Looms Over the World’s Biggest Contemporary Art Fair

Today’s Editor’s Pick is 'Politics Looms Over the World’s Biggest Contemporary Art Fair' by @zacharyhsmall.bsky.social for @nytimes.com. With all eyes on Art Basel, art world leaders provide insight as global conflict and economic uncertainty cast a shadow over the fair.

Smithsonian’s Reaction to Trump’s Firing of Its Museum Director: Silence

Four days after the president said he was dismissing the head of the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian has yet to accept or challenge his authority.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/a...

New York’s Spring Auctions Aimed for Trophies. They Got Troubles.

The auction houses performed lower than their low estimates this season, but still cleared the $1B sales mark. Fear is growing that the industry might be shrinking.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/a...

With Guarantees Galore, Christie’s Has a Rocky Start to Auction Week

A painting by Lucio Fontana that had sold for nearly $14 million at Christie’s in 2017 (or $17.4 million with inflation) returned to the auction house on Monday evening. It sold for just $7.5 million, including fees.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/a...

Trump Nominates Former N.E.A. Chair to Head Embattled Arts Agency

NEW: Trump nominates Mary Anne Carter as head of NEA. She had previously served as the agency's chair during the first admin.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/a...

Frieze, Premiere Art Fair Company, Sold on Eve of New York’s Art Week The deal would bring seven art fairs under a new private company founded by the entertainment mogul Ari Emanuel, former chief executive of Frieze’s owner, Endeavor.

NEW: Frieze art fair has finally announced a buyer.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/a...

Painting From Memory, Salman Toor Conjures Passion and Freedom As Salman Toor’s work has become more politically conflicted and emotionally raw, he finds himself wondering, “What am I doing here in America?”

A darkness that once simmered below the surface of his paintings was now starting to seep through the canvas.

On Salman Toor's new paintings — his largest exhibition to date.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/a...

How Hauser & Wirth Took Over N.Y.C.’s Museums This Spring Hauser & Wirth artists have major exhibitions everywhere you look, spotlighting the rising influence of powerful art galleries on the city’s top museums, a Times report found.

We analyzed the relationship between museums and mega-galleries. Of 350 exhibitions since 2019, nearly 25 percent went to artists represented by just 11 of the biggest galleries in the world.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/a...

Nintendo Switch 2 Will Release in June and Emphasize Streaming The company said Mario Kart World would be part of the new console’s initial game lineup, also sharing details on its technical upgrades.

NEW: Nintendo announces Switch 2 will release June 5 with a Mario Kart launch title allowing you to drive anywhere. Updates to come.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/b...

Taking Aim at Smithsonian, Trump Wades Into Race and Biology His executive order faulted an exhibit which “promotes the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct,” a widely held position in the scientific community.

Trump's executive order faulted a Smithsonian show for promoting "the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct,” a position widely held by scientists.

We looked at the history behind that position and the actual show.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/a...

MoMA’s New Director Will Be Christophe Cherix The Museum of Modern Art in New York is promoting Christophe Cherix, who currently leads its drawings and prints department.

SCOOP: MoMA has announced internally that its next director is Christophe Cherix, currently chief curator of drawings and prints.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/a...

Guggenheim Lays Off 20 Employees as Financial Challenges Persist The museum has suffered from rising costs and lower attendance. The cuts followed those at the Brooklyn Museum, which trimmed 10 percent of its staff this month.

NOW: The Guggenheim cut 20 employees today. The union has filed a grievance because they were not given advanced notice. Senior leaders won't be taking any pay cuts.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/a...

For a Mother and Son, Life Above a Brooklyn Library When Miguelina Minier heard that her local library was being renovated with affordable housing added on top, she applied. It was about the 40th time she had tried a housing lottery.

Love this story —

“When the library was about to open, we had the opportunity to have a tour in the library for the tenants. When he saw that, I explained to him, ‘We are the first ones seeing the library because we live on top of it.’ He was like, ‘Oh, mommy. Oh my God, oh my God!’”

Barnes & Noble Widow to Auction $250 Million Art Collection Louise Riggio is downsizing her Manhattan apartment, which means selling more than 30 works by artists including Mondrian, Magritte and Picasso.

The first big test of the art market this year has been announced: Christie's will offer the $250M Riggio collection, from the family that brought you Barnes & Noble.

Read on for the art — and the dog named Cookie.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/a...

Art Adviser. Friend. Thief. Lisa Schiff became the country’s leading art consultant, and drew her clients close. Then she stole millions from them. Now facing up to 20 years in prison, is she ready to repent?

Ms. Schiff helped advance the field of advising from the vanity project of bored socialites into a respected profession, more akin to an asset management firm.

Then her clients realized she stole millions. Our @nytimes.com story on her difficult path to repentance.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/a...

Husband of Prominent Gallerist Is Charged With Hiring His Killer Federal officials said that Daniel Sikkema was part of a murder-for-hire conspiracy that resulted in the stabbing death of the art dealer Brent Sikkema in Brazil.

BREAKING: Daniel Sikkema is charged by US officials in murder-for-hire plot that led to husband's death.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/a...

Brooklyn Museum Will Lay Off Employees and Scale Back Exhibitions The museum, which faces a projected $10 million deficit, said it planned to cut more than a tenth of its employees and mount fewer exhibitions.

Cuts at the Brooklyn Museum are larger than first rumored — staff layoffs of +10%, reduced exhibitions and events — to help offset a $10M deficit. Our @nytimes story

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/a...

The Sims Turned Players Into Gods. And Farmers. And Vampires. And Landlords. As the virtual dollhouse turns 25, the game designer Will Wright explains how The Sims was a sandbox for the American dream.

For the 25th anniversary of The Sims, I spoke to the game's creator Will Wright about gods and ants.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/a...

Japan Once Dominated the Art Market. Is the Country Ready for a Comeback? Japanese collectors spent billions on European paintings during the bubble economy of the 1980s. Officials today hope to inspire a new generation of art lovers.

Yuko Mohri thought she knew what the Japanese government wanted from its artists: something conservative and quiet. It certainly wasn’t a renegade punk rocker with a penchant for moldy fruits. And yet…!

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/a...

Trump Executive Order Prompts National Gallery to End Diversity Programs The National Gallery of Art said it had closed its office of belonging and inclusion to comply with a presidential order.

BREAKING: National Gallery ends its diversity programming, reassigning employees from its inclusion and belonging department, following a Trump executive order calling such initiatives "illegal and immoral."

Other museums are weighing their options.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/a...