The week in art news: Courbet nude tagged #metoo, George Bush paintings at Disney World, art students arrested in pro-Palestine protests and more…

Feminist performance artist attacks L’Origine du monde. The painting, a full frontal view of a woman’s vulva by Gustave Courbet, was one of five works at the Centre Pompidou-Metz sprayed with the words “Me Too”. Artist Deborah De Robertis posted a video of the act online, stating that she wanted to protest the “misogynistic divide” in the art world.

Bush on show: Disney World to host exhibition of president George W. Bush’s art. After eight years in the White House, where he kicked off the War on Terror and failed to prevent the global financial crisis, the former commander-in-chief laid down his arms and picked up his brushes to paint portraits of military veterans. They’re now going on show at Epcot in Florida. The Plaster take: America simply isn’t real.

Frank Stella dies at 87. The American painter and sculptor found fame in the 1950s with his ‘black paintings’, which introduced a rigorous, minimal aesthetic to abstract art. He famously dismissed Donald Judd’s attempt to interpret his art, saying, “what you see is what you see.” Later in life, he introduced ‘maximalist’ elements into his painting and sculpture. He died at his home in the West Village, New York.

Art students arrested in US crackdown on pro-Palestine protests. On Friday, 40 protesters were arrested after they occupied a building of the Parsons School of Design on Fifth Avenue, New York. The next day, 68 protesters at the Art Institute of Chicago were arrested and charged with trespassing, just hours after setting up camp.

UK National Crime Agency to sell seized Frank Auerbach. The painting, Albert Street (2009), was bought by Lenn Mayhew-Lewis in 2017 for £1.6M. In 2023, Mayhew-Lewis was convicted of money laundering and the work was seized as the proceeds of crime. He’s is now on the run, while the painting will be sold later this year.

Ralph Steadman’s “filthy scribblings” on show in major retrospective. The artist, known for his surreal illustrations of Hunter S. Thompson’s gonzo reportage, will show cartoons, book illustrations, and artwork in ‘And Another Thing’. The exhibition opens this September at the Katzen Art Center in Washington D.C., and will tour venues across the United States until 2027.

US government forgives $6.1B art student debt. Around 317,000 students attended The Art Institutes, a network of private, for-profit art schools, between 2004 and 2017. The Department of Education found that during that time, the organisation misled students about employment rates and potential salaries. Founded in 1969, The Art Institutes closed permanently in September 2023.

Italy can seize Getty statue: The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Italy has the right to seize the 2000-year-old bronze sculpture from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The life-size bronze sculpture, known as the Victorious Youth, was found by Italian fishermen in 1964 and illegally exported to the US, where in 1977 it was sold to the Getty for $4M. It’s one of the highlights of the Getty’s collection, and the museum has vowed to continue the legal battle.

Ann Philbin leaves the Hammer Museum after 25 years. Philbin was named director in 1999. In the years since, attendance quadrupled. Many credit her for helping to put Los Angeles on the art map. The goodbye gala held in her honour saw many A-list attendees, among them: Keanu Reeves, Jane Fonda, Owen Wilson, Alexandra Hedison, Mark Bradford, Hilton Als, k.d. Lang, Rufus Wainwright and Will Ferrell.

…Meanwhile, the Hammer Museum gala faced protests by around 20 members of University of California at Los Angeles faculty, demanding an amnesty for pro-Palestine student protestors arrested on campus earlier in the week, and the resignation of chancellor Gene Block. The LA Times reported that Philbin “acknowledged” the protestors in her speech.

Another kind of protest art: Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People is back on show at the Louvre after a six-month restoration to remove layers of grimy varnish. Laurence des Cars, president and director of the Louvre, said in a statement that the work has now “regained the brilliance, freshness and marvellous harmony of colour so specific to Delacroix.”

“Neither side is entitled to what it wants,” in Mary Miss land art lawsuit. District Court Judge Stephen Locher ruled that the Des Moines Art Center can’t demolish the installation, Greenwood Pond: Double Site, without Miss’ permission, but also ruled that it is not obliged to repair the installation if the cost is prohibitive. The DMAC reckons the repair bill to be around $2.5M, but the artist disputes that.

Venus Williams to host podcast on art, photography and the environment. The Carnegie Museum of Art tapped the 7-times Grand Slam champion and keen art collector to host the six-episode podcast, which will coincide with its upcoming exhibition ‘Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape’. The podcast will feature various experts and artists, including David O. Alekhuogie, A.K. Burns, Sam Contis, Justine Kurland, Mark Armijo McKnight and Victoria Sambunaris. Tune in from 26th June.