BEST

Show Us the Money – Japanese art collector
Yusaku Maezawa is giving away $9 million to a group of
his Twitter followers in a social experiment to see if money can,
in fact, buy happiness.

Little Women, Big Art – Greta Gerwig’s
film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little
Women draws many of its costumes from paintings by
Impressionist artists.

Social Star – Artnet News spoke to the
woman who runs the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s commanding social media presence.

The Met Gets Political – A joint statement
issued by the Met’s director and president condemned Donald Trump’s aborted
threats to destroy heritage sites in Iran.

Abortion Is Normal – A two-part art show
full of works by star artists is opening in response to increasingly restrictive abortion
laws.

Power to the People – An artist painted grand
portraits of Princeton University’s blue-collar cooks and
cleaners—and now the school is hanging the pictures around
campus.

Artists and Lawyers Team Up – The Center for Art Law is introducing a program to
help foreign artists learn about the US visa process.

WORST

Remembering Baldessari – The pioneering
conceptual artist and beloved educator John Baldessari died at age 88, and in the days since, former students and
colleagues remembered his witty artwork and commitment to
teaching.

Earthquake in Puerto Rico – Puerto Rico is
reeling after multiple earthquakes devastated the island, resulting
in wreckage at historic cultural institutions.

LGBTQ Uproar – A show organized by the
Qatari state and hosted by the Palais de Tokyo in Paris is facing an outcry because of the Middle
Eastern country’s criminalization of gay and lesbian people.

Asset Freeze in Angola – Isabel dos Santos and
Sindika Dokolo, two of the most powerful art collectors in Africa,
have had their assets frozen as part of a
government-wide crackdown on corruption.

Mongoose Mission – The Wildlife Trust of
India is condemning Amazon for selling paintbrushes made
illegally from the hairs of protected mongooses.

The post From the Art of ‘Little Women’ to the Death of
Artist John Baldessari: The Best and Worst of the Art World This
Week appeared first on artnet News.