The Headlines
BAYEUX TAPESTRY TRAVAILS. In a letter to the Guardian, British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan attempted to reassure readers concerned that the nearly 900-year-old Bayeux Tapestry will be in good hands when it travels to his museum next year. The unprecedented agreement to loan the 11th-century tapestry from France to Britain has been interpreted as a diplomatic gesture between the two countries. Still, art historians, particularly ones based in France, have since protested the initiative: a petition with over 71,000 signatures claims that French president Emmanuel Macron ignored expert advice warning the tapestry was too fragile to be moved to the UK. Cullinan flatly refuted that claim. “Since a partnership agreement was signed earlier this summer, experts on both sides of the Channel have been carrying out rigorous planning and due diligence to ensure the safe transport and conservation of the tapestry,” he wrote in his letter published Friday. The tapestry is set to be presented at the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027 while Normandy’s Bayeux Tapestry Museum undergoes a renovation.
MARILYN MONROE’S HOME STANDS. A Los Angeles judge denied a petition to demolish the former home of American icon and actress Marilyn Monroe, thus maintaining the house’s current landmark designation, reports the New York Times. The ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court judge James C. Chalfant ends a two-year legal standoff between property owners, Brinah Milstein and Roy Bank, and the city. Milstein and Bank hoped to tear down Monroe’s house and combine the lot with their adjacent home, but news of the impending demolition led to a public uproar, along with a successful motion to name the Spanish-style hacienda a city historic cultural monument. “To lose this piece of history, the only home that Marilyn Monroe ever owned, would be a devastating blow for historic preservation and for a city where less than three percent of historic designations are associated with women’s heritage,” LA City Council member Traci Park previously argued.
The Digest
The 6th-century St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula will remain an active religious site. The monastery, built on the site where Moses is thought to have seen the burning bush, is the oldest operating monastery in the world, with the largest collection of icons. [The Art Newspaper]
Following the closure of several other art galleries across Los Angeles, Superchief may be next. “We thought we had until November to save Superchief, but it came early,” said the gallery cofounder Bill Dunleavy. [The Los Angeles Times]
Tracey Emin’s largest exhibition to date will be held at Tate Modern next year, covering some 40 years of the multidisciplinary British artist’s practice. [Art Dependence]
A painting by German Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made between 1910 and 1926 has been painstakingly restored and is back on view at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. [Artnet News]
The Kicker
IF YOU HEAR SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING. New Yorkers are by now used to subway announcements urging caution on the platform and attentiveness on the train. But the latest announcements due double duty as conceptual art. Through October 5, artist Chloë Bassis broadcasting messages of a different sort, with the hope that her spoken-word messages inspire liberation. “‘If you hear something, free something’ doesn’t tell anyone what to do ever,” Bass told the New York Times. Accordingly, her messages end on a different note, with the phrase “If you hear something, free something.”
