Terrific news! artreview.com/john-tain-ap...

“Love wins” is a nice sentiment, but it hides the hard work that resulted in SCOTUS’s refusal to hear Kim Davis’s case. It also obscures the danger cases like this present.

The people showed up in the streets for "No Kings." They did their part. The people showed up at the polls on Tuesday. They did their part. 8 Democrats in the Senate surrendered last night. They did not do their part.

@jessicavalenti.bsky.social on the @nytimes.com "Woman Problem." open.substack.com/pub/jessica/...

Happening this Wednesday at Bates College. My lecture, tilted “The Underground Railroad, Quilts, and the Power of Desire,” will take place at 4:30 in the Benjamin Mays Center. If you’re in the area, please come!

It was wonderful to have taken part in the gathering “The Education of the Eyes: 150 Years of Art History at Harvard,” this past weekend. Seeing old and new friends, mentors, colleagues, and students was exhilarating. Photo by Sarah Lewis. #arthistory #closelooking

The sandwich guy has been acquitted. When the jury did not return a quick verdict, it looked like he might be toast. Turns out they needed to chew on it some more. www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

The utter stupidity of pursuing a criminal trial against someone for throwing a sandwich that bounced off a bullet proof vest pissing away hundreds of thousands of dollars for this joke is the perfect encapsulation of this Administration.

California voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50 in a race called by the Associated Press before a single ballot was counted—a reflection of decisive support in a victory that significantly boosts Democratic chances of retaking the House of Representatives next year.

Does anyone know Cuomo’s move date?

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 5: Vito Marcantonio There are many who dismiss our vision for New York as impossible. To them, I say we need look only to our past for proof of how we can shape the future. Tomorrow is Election Day. And this is the final Until It's Done of our campaign.

The Philadelphia Art Museum has dismissed director Sasha Suda. www.inquirer.com/arts/sasha-s...

I don't resent poor people who use food stamps to buy another soft drink. I resent rich people who take away the funds for food stamps to buy another yacht.

“Amy Sherald: American Sublime” has opened at the Baltimore Museum of Art. I can’t wait to see it there. The show then travels to the @highmuseumofart.bsky.social, opening Spring 2026.

Please consider these generally unknown details.

This is a big deal. Kudos to @mfaboston.bsky.social for its actions. The institution is proving an important precedent for the restitution of objects that others should follow. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/u...

🚨🚨🚨 Major announcement!!! I am extremely pleased to announce that HAA is searching for a senior, endowed position in premodern art or architecture. The subfield is wide open. Please spread the word and encourage curious scholars to write to me with questions! 🚨🚨🚨 cfopitt.taleo.net/careersectio...

This is what authoritarianism looks like. Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel laureate and Trump critic, says US visa revoked www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

Elizabeth Cropper on 16th-century painters Prospero and Lavinia Fontana www.nicholashall.art/journal/fath...

ICYMI: Drop everything and spend 13 minutes with Amy Sherald--with her singular vision and talent, with her clarity about her central place in the jagged American story. You will be stirred by it all. www.cbsnews.com/video/amy-sh...

When the president is destroying national landmarks, murdering fishermen, raising prices because he's angry over a Reagan video, and kidnapping parents in front of their crying children is probably not an ideal time to have a lazy, completely incompetent legislative branch perpetually on vacation.

“Authoritarians always target art first. They do so, because art and history are enemies of the myths a regime needs to survive." From my new TIME piece on Donald Trump’s campaign to defund the arts and rewrite our history. The stakes could not be higher.

When Massachusetts passed a "millionaires tax" in 2023, conservatives claimed the rich would flee. But two years later, they haven't — and MA has collected $5.7B for infrastructure and public education. A reminder that positive change can still happen at the state level.

It’s just so weird.

Academic freedom is being gutted in Texas, among other places. www.kut.org/education/20...

Wow. Harvard nuking its PhD programs - Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75% - Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60% - Social Sciences by 50–70% - History by 60% - Biology by 75% - The German department will lose all PhD seats - Sociology from six PhD students to zero

Our entire national democracy will always be at risk until we actually protect the capital of this country. Everyone across this country needs a free DC. - Kaya Chatterjee

#nokings rally DC. Note the snipers on the roof of the National Gallery of Art.

Much good sense here. #NoKings on Saturday. www.meditationsinanemergency.com/no-kings-no-...

The Department of the History of Art and Architecture at Brown University seeks applicants at the rank of Assistant Professor (tenure-track) whose scholarship focuses on histories of medieval (ca. 500s-1400s) European art and architecture in the world. apply.interfolio.com/174923

Congratulations to the organizers at USC, whom I know pushed hard for this.

Penn rejecting the compact is a big deal bc Marc Rowan, the author of the central academic sections, is a huge Penn donor and was responsible for the defenestration of President Liz Magill. So they are not only standing up to an administration they had caved to (like Brown) but to their own alum

Artists Plan Nationwide Protests Against ‘Authoritarian Forces’ The visual artist Dread Scott, the playwright Lynn Nottage and others have organized a series of actions to unite the arts community against the Trump administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/a...

On October 18th, you’ll find me volunteering at the No Kings rally in DC. Here’s the info on events throughout the US. www.nokings.org

Democrats want to play it safe in Maine’s white-hot Senate race. That’s a mistake. An absurd amount of energy is spent trying to avoid primaries, when, in fact, Democrats should want more of them.

An important reminder. hyperallergic.com/1049388/how-...

Sorry, @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social, I have nothing to say to these folks. www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Congratulations to Erica Moiah James on the publication of her book, “After Caliban: Caribbean Art in a Global Imaginary.” This is the newest title in the Duke University Press series The Visual Arts of Africa and Its Diasporas, edited by Kellie Jones and me. dukeupress.edu/after-caliban

No, the protesters aren’t being paid. Believe it or not, lots of people are genuinely upset about authoritarianism! paulwaldman.substack.com/p/ahead-of-n...

"Amy Sherald: American Sublime," which opens at the Baltimore Museum of Art next month will travel to the High Museum in Atlanta, opening on May 15, 2026. It will be uncensored. high.org/exhibition/a...

I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS in Washington, D.C.” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...

MIT refuses to sign the regime's authoritarian compact.

We're going.

It was wonderful being in conversation with artist Victor Ekpuk about his fantastic work late night. From Victor: “When someone grounds their research about your art in cultural historical facts and quotes you verbatim, you know you’re talking to an art historian.”

Uncovering the lives of enslaved people is incredibly important. Here’s a great example of such work. #arthistory hyperallergic.com/1047549/port...

Methinks that a road trip to London to see Nigerian Modernisms at the Tate is in order. www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tat...

If you're in the Boston/Cambridge area, in three weeks I'll be talking about my Van Gogh book at Harvard's Mahindra Humanities Center mahindrahumanities.harvard.edu/event/enviro...