This week in art news: Art Basel Paris sets high bar, Robbie Williams sells ceramics, Lisa Schiff guilty and more…

We’ll always have Paris: there’s no denying it, despite the hot temperatures under the greenhouse glass of the Grand Palais, followed by the sudden downpour that damaged the fair floor and a fair few signs – Art Basel Paris was a huge success. Major sales on the first day pleased gallerists, and visitors reported a more upbeat mood than that of last week’s Frieze London.

During the festivities, Christie’s France brought in €79.2M ($86M). Three separate sales of 20th and 21st century art took place between the 17th and 19th October, making the most of the VIP crowd in town for the fair. “The strong results of this week of sales confirm once more Christie’s strong position in the contemporary and modern art market in France,” said the auction house.

Meanwhile: pro-Palestine protests in Grand Palais. In the final hour of the fair, two protestors stood on a balcony underneath the central dome and unveiled a ‘Free Palestine’ banner while calling for an end to killing. They sprinkled red love heart confetti before being escorted from the fair. One witness said that the protestors appeared to have a lot of support from fair visitors, but that some were visibly upset.

London’s National Gallery bans all liquids after art attack protests. It announced new measures days after pro-Palestine activists staged a protest in front of Picasso’s 1901 painting Motherhood (La Maternité). This was the fifth protest to take place inside the gallery in two years. As of 18th October, no liquids can be brought into the gallery, except for baby formula, expressed milk and prescription medicines. A press statement said, “unfortunately, we have now reached a point where we have been forced to act to protect our visitors, staff and collection.”

National Portrait Gallery announces exhibitions for 2025: the calendar starts off with an exhibition of photography from The Face magazine (20th February – 18th May 2025), followed by Edvard Munch’s portraits (13th March – 15th June), the summer will see a major retrospective of Jenny Saville’s portraits (20th June – 7th September 2025) and the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award (10th July – 12th October 2025), Cecil Beaton over the autumn and winter (9th October 2025 – 1st January 2026) with the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize the final show of the year (13th November 2025 – 8th February 2026).

I’m crafting angels instead: Robbie Williams launches new ceramics range. “I know what people think about celebrities doing art, and I feel the same way,” the Stoke-on-Trent born singer told Artnet in an interview with Caroline Roux in Gstaad, Switzerland. “Fuck off, keep it to yourself.” Robbie’s works, released with London-based Mint Gallery, are pop-art-inspired busts of the Pope and Jesus that draw on his Catholic upbringing.

The Vessel reopens: the 16-storey Thomas Heatherwick structure in New York’s Hudson Yards was closed in January 2021, two years after opening due to a number of suicides. The Vessel reopened on Monday with a number of new safety measures: metal barriers on the upper levels, visitors barred from the top level, and a ticketing system.

Lisa Schiff pleads guilty to stealing $6.5M: the Manhattan art adviser, who previously worked with high-profile clients including Leonardo DiCaprio, admitted to the multimillion dollar wire fraud on Thursday at Manhattan federal court. Over five years, Schiff defrauded a dozen clients, using secret sales of art to repay debts. Eventually, the scheme ran out of steam. Schiff’s plea deal calls for no more than 51 months in prison. Her defence hopes to show that Schiff is genuinely remorseful.

Basque locals campaign against new Guggenheim: the contemporary art gallery is looking to build two new locations in Guernica and one in Urdaibai, not far from Bilbao. The Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim is credited with revitalising the Basque city of Bilbao, bringing jobs, tourists and money since it opened in 1997. However, many locals and environmentalist organisations say that the expansion plans threaten to damage the protected landscape of the Urdaibai biosphere reserve. The Guardian reports that annual visitors would outstrip locals by three to one.

President Biden awards National Medals of Arts. On Monday, the winners of the 2022 and 2023 medals met the US president at a private ceremony in the White House. Among them artists Alex Katz, Mark Bradford and Carrie Mae Weems – the first black woman to be awarded the prize. The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the US government, in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the arts. The medal was awarded posthumously to sculptor Ruth Asawa.

Mellon Foundation directs funding to US-Mexico border. Over the next few years, the foundation’s Frontera Culture Fund will hand out $25M to non profit organisations on both sides of the border. Lucky grantees include: Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center in San Diego and the Carrizo Comecrudo Nation of Texas. Program associate Casandra Hernández Faham told Artnews that this isn’t a one-off fund, but that success will be found in developing “long-term relationships with these projects.”

Update: court blocks eviction of Elizabeth Street Garden. On Thursday 17th October, the New York State Supreme Court gave the miniature Manhattan sculpture park another two weeks to appeal the eviction decision. The art park is a rare piece of public space in the crowded city, and hosts around 200,000 visitors each year. City officials are hoping to develop the one-acre site into housing.