Art objects inspire many reactions, perhaps most crucially acts of preservation or destruction. From 1979 to late 2001, destruction had the upper hand in Afghanistan. The Soviet-Afghan war, the ensuing civil war and finally the pernicious rule of the Taliban inflicted incalculable losses on active archaeological sites and ancient monuments and artworks.
In March 2001 the [...]

At first glance it seems a straightforward if animated photograph of Israeli soldiers in a mess hall: uniformed young men chatting, pouring, laughing, smoking at a set of utilitarian tables bearing metal bowls and nondescript food. But it doesn’t take long to sense that the scene is spiritually and sexually charged. The men are a [...]

In the art world, geography is destiny. The words “10th Street” are synonymous with gestural abstraction, just as the East Village is shorthand for ’80s neo-Expressionism. Eventually rents rise, neighborhoods are rezoned, artists migrate — and as they do, new styles and movements take shape.
The Grey Art Gallery at New York University underscored this point [...]

In the 1970s the African-American artist Adrian Piper donned an Afro wig and a fake mustache and prowled the streets in the guise of the Mythic Being, a performance-art version of a stereotype of the black male as a threatening mugger.She was turning fear into farce, punching a hole into such stereotypes while acknowledging their [...]

In today’s sale of Japanese and Korean Art, a newly discovered wood sculpture of Dainichi Nyorai, the supreme Buddha, attributed to the sculptor Unkei achieved $14,377,000, exceeding its presale estimate of $1,500,000-2,500,000. It set new world auction records including record for Japanese art, and any Asian work of art sold in New York. This price [...]

The V&A’s survey of modern Chinese design is a thrilling panorama of visual ideas that rival the best in Europe and America.
Hear the words “Made in China” and the image that springs inescapably to mind is one of brightly coloured plastic goods, piled high on the shelves at Poundstretcher. Is there a place for such [...]

The human race has been making art for thousands of years. Here, in chronological order, critic Martin Gayford chooses his 50 artistic wonders of the world.
1. Sculpture of Khafre (Chephren) (c2800 BC) Cairo Museum
The painter Francis Bacon concluded that the ancient Egyptians were the greatest artists of all. No work supports that judgment better than [...]