‘Nothing is deemed unworthy of accumulating these days, and HD – hoarding disorder – has become a recognised medical condition’ – Susan Moore reviews James Delbourgo’s book about fanatical collectors, both real and fictional

From Humphrey Bogart tracking down a priceless statuette to the St Trinian’s gang trying to nab a Vermeer from the National Gallery, here’s Apollo’s list of the greatest art-heist films of all time

Sèvres porcelain was intimately entangled with state power, but if its associations with wealth and power are undeniable, so is the appeal of many of its best examples

In his pulling apart of a key scene from the racist epic, ‘Birth of a Nation’ (1915), Stan Douglas shows us what D.W. Griffiths does not, to reveal ‘the manias and delusions undergirding Jim Crow’. Robert Rubsam visits a survey of the Canadian artist’s work at Bard College

Victorian ‘ghost’ photographs are easily dismissed as camera trickery, but they tell us much about science, belief and mortality in the period, writes Stephen Patience

In Evan Walters’ painting of a Communist addressing a meeting of Welsh workers in the 1930s, Patrick McGuinness sees echoes of a Renaissance crucifixion scene

An experimental play about the Knoedler forgery scandal is a brilliant technical feat. Does it have anything illuminating to say about the art world?

The Rauschenberg Foundation, started by the artist in 1990, has grown into one of the most successful and forward-thinking artist-endowed foundations. Its director, Courtney J. Martin, talks to Apollo about how Rauschenberg’s philanthropy continues to motivate her

A new biography sheds light on the formidable Josefa de Óbidos, who won fame and fortune in Portugal for her intricate still lifes and religious scenes

‘The use of silk and sand in her work, and softer colours such as neon pink in her abstract compositions, led contemporary critics to consider her a more “feminine” artist and place her in the shadow of her male peers’ – Juliet Jacques on the modernist painter Marthe Donas

Jenny Linford boils down the history of the humble potato and considers why the tuber appealed to Millet and Van Gogh

When the Fondation Cartier first opened in 1984, it was the first French luxury brand to put its money into contemporary art. Catherine Bennett considers the rise of private foundations in France and the struggle of public institutions to keep up

Examples of 19th-century spirit photographs include Abraham Lincoln’s widow, Mary, ‘apparently receiving a shoulder massage from a translucent Honest Abe’. Stephen Patience is startled by the ghostly apparitions of yesteryear

‘Nothing is deemed unworthy of accumulating these days, and HD – hoarding disorder – has become a recognised medical condition’ – Susan Moore reviews James Delbourgo’s book about fanatical collectors, both real and fictional

‘The set splits and spins and tessellates, its segments pushed around by an army of technicians, while the actors drift elegantly from room to room’ – Tristram Fane Saunders on a dazzling play about the Knoedler forgery scandal

Robert Rauschenberg was born 100 years ago today. To mark the centenary, Apollo spoke to the director of the foundation the artist started himself in 1990 – and a selection of pieces about Rauschenberg from our archive follow in this thread.

‘By insisting that we see this porcelain as sculpture, the exhibition’s curators dispute the second-class status often assigned to decorative art’ – Rachel Hunter-Himes reviews an extraordinary show of Sèvres in New York

‘The female artist was not an unknown phenomenon in the 17th century. Josefa, however, was much more than that’ – David Gelber on Josefa de Óbidos, the baroque artist who became a star in Portugal

Examples of 19th-century spirit photographs include Abraham Lincoln’s widow, Mary, ‘apparently receiving a shoulder massage from a translucent Honest Abe’. Stephen Patience is startled by the ghostly apparitions of yesteryear

Marthe Donas’s time at the heart of European modernism was brief, but she followed her own path and influenced the male artists with whom she often exhibited, writes Juliet Jacques

‘These are the 1930s: this is one of the most politically educated crowds in Europe, thanks to the Miners’ Institutes, with their libraries, lectures and evening classes, organised by the workers and paid for their wages’ @padrig.bsky.social on a painting by Evan Walters buff.ly/5xUCtrA

‘Nothing is deemed unworthy of accumulating these days, and HD – hoarding disorder – has become a recognised medical condition’ – Susan Moore reviews James Delbourgo’s book about fanatical collectors, both real and fictional

An experimental play about the Knoedler forgery scandal is a brilliant technical feat. Does it have anything illuminating to say about the art world?

As an exhibition devoted to the potato opens in the Netherlands @jennylinford.bsky.social considers the earthier side of 19th-century art

The Rauschenberg Foundation, started by the artist himself in 1990, has grown into one of the most successful and forward-thinking artist-endowed foundations. Its director, Courtney J. Martin, talks to Apollo about how Rauschenberg’s philanthropy continues to motivate her buff.ly/1dWensv

The opening of the Fondation Cartier in 1984 changed the French art world, ushering in a new era of powerful private institutions. As it opens in a new space, a stone’s throw from the Louvre, has the balance of Paris’s cultural landscape shifted even further?

‘Thirty Grosvenor Square was the most extravagant project of the United States’s post-war diplomatic construction extravaganza, at a moment when American self–confidence and spending power was at its peak.’ Will Wiles on Eero Saarinen’s former US embassy building in London buff.ly/npRdxdb

‘By insisting that we see this porcelain as sculpture, the exhibition’s curators dispute the second-class status often assigned to decorative art’ – Rachel Hunter-Himes reviews an extraordinary show of Sèvres in New York

‘Leaving aside the circumstances of their creation, today spirit photographs have something of the appeal of outsider art.’ Stephen Patience on the Victorian photographers who claimed to catch ghosts on camera buff.ly/jYnQSm6

While exiled in Rome, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun – Marie Antoinette’s favourite artist – struck up a close friendship with her own idol, Angelica Kauffman. Her art was forever changed as a result, writes Lucy Davies

The films of the Canadian artist Stan Douglas ‘prompts us to question the veracity of what we’re seeing, often by revealing what we do not’, writes Robert Rubsam

‘He was doing just as much philanthropy as he was art, because he didn’t see them as being unrelated’ – Courtney J. Martin, director of the Rauschenberg Foundation, talks to Apollo about celebrating the artist’s centenary

A new biography sheds light on the formidable Josefa de Óbidos, who won fame and fortune in Portugal for her intricate still lifes and religious scenes

Is collecting things, as James Delbourgo asserts in his book ‘A Noble Madness’, really a sign of insanity? Susan Moore investigates buff.ly/Ad2C1mX

‘Like other Black American artists of the 20th century, including Romare Bearden and, later, Robert Colescott, Faith Ringgold and Kerry James Marshall, Bob Thompson dug into the history of European art with abandon,’ writes Ben Street

Examples of 19th-century spirit photographs include Abraham Lincoln’s widow, Mary, ‘apparently receiving a shoulder massage from a translucent Honest Abe’. Stephen Patience is startled by the ghostly apparitions of yesteryear

The London Underground has, over the past 25 years, hosted works by some of Britain’s leading contemporary artists. Eleanor Pinfield, director of Art on the Underground, talks to Apollo about why preserving public art is becoming an ever more urgent task

The move of the Fondation Cartier to the heart of Paris mirrors the rise of powerful private foundations. As museums struggle to keep up, Catherine Bennett considers the changing balance between public and private interests in France

‘The use of silk and sand in her work, and softer colours such as neon pink in her abstract compositions, led contemporary critics to consider her a more “feminine” artist and place her in the shadow of her male peers’ – Juliet Jacques on the art of Marthe Donas apollo-magazine.com/marthe-donas...

‘Nothing is deemed unworthy of accumulating these days, and HD – hoarding disorder – has become a recognised medical condition’ – Susan Moore reviews James Delbourgo’s book about fanatical collectors, both real and fictional

On the centenary of Robert Rauschenberg’s birth, Courtney J. Martin, director of the Rauschenberg Foundation, talks to Apollo about looking after his legacy buff.ly/1dWensv

The story of the humble potato - an ingredient we now take for granted - is a fascinating one. A pleasure to write about the history, art and culture of the potato for @apollo-magazine.com. apollo-magazine.com/potatoes-art...

‘If Keats’s existence was dominated by uncertainty, the same is true of the house he lived in’ – Michael Delgado on the unlikely survival of Keats House in Hampstead, which this year celebrates its centenary as a museum

The monumental religious paintings William Hogarth made for St Bartholomew’s Hospital can be seen by the public again. Kirsten Tambling considers the more caring side of the satirical genius

With parents who were notable collectors, the émigré art historian Hans Hess knew the work of many of his subjects intimately – and played a major role in promoting German Expressionism in Britain

A generosity of spirit shines through Ruth Asawa’s richly varied life and career, writes Jonathan Griffin — and can be seen at every turn in the retrospective opening at MoMA today

Anne Rothenstein talks to Apollo about her studio routine, which involves blasting country music at full volume, thumbing through a Nan Goldin catalogue and, in the winter, having a nap at 3pm

Stan Douglas’s first US museum survey points to his longstanding interest in the gap ‘between the past and the present, the seen and and the unseen, the world as it is described in official reports and public narratives, and as we experience it,’ writes Robert Rubsam

Citizens’ assemblies have a long history, stretching back to ancient Athens – but ‘whether they are consultative or autonomous remains a matter of debate’. Conrad Landin on the museums that are trying to give some power to the people

The twists and turns in the career of the Nigerian sculptor and painter Ben Enwonwu follow those of his native country as it left British colonialism behind, writes Samuel Reilly