The week in art news: Lubaina Himid to represent Britain at Venice, court case begins for gold toilet thieves, Leigh Bowery hits Tate Modern, and more…

Lubaina Himid to represent the UK at 2026 Venice Biennale. The Turner Prize-winner and one of the pioneers of the Black British Art Movement is known for her large stage-set-style installations that draw attention to colonial history and racism. At 70, Himid is the second Black woman to represent the UK at Venice, following Sonia Boyce in 2022, who received the coveted Golden Lion prize. Himid stated that she “laughed out loud with both disbelief and pleasure when I found out about this wonderful invitation”, ArtReview reports.

Leigh Bowery hits Tate Modern with major retrospective. ‘Leigh Bowery!’ opens on 27th February and will celebrate the life and work of the controversial artist, outlandish performer, club promoter and fashion designer, who left an undeniable mark on the art world and beyond. The show will offer a chance to experience many of Bowery’s ‘Looks’ alongside his collaborations with artists including Michael Clark, John Maybury, Baillie Walsh, Fergus Greer, Nick Knight and Lucian Freud, and will also shed insight into the creative scenes Bowery was a part of in London, New York and beyond featuring Sue Tilley, Trojan, Princess Julia, Les Child, Andrew Logan, Lady Bunny, Scarlett Cannon, MINTY and Boy George.

Court case begins for Maurizio Cattelan gold toilet thieves. In 2019, three men were charged with the theft of the artist’s £4.8M insured sculpture from Blenheim Palace. The 18-carat gold was believed to be worth about £2.8M at the time of the theft. Michael Jones, Fred Doe, Bora Guccuk and James Sheen will stand trial at Oxford Crown Court. The trial is expected to last four weeks. Prosecutor Julian Christopher KC stated “they knew precisely where to go, broke down the wooden door to the cubicle where the toilet was fully plumbed in, removed it, leaving water pouring out of the pipes, and drove away. “All in all they spent just five minutes in the building. Clearly such an audacious raid would not have been possible without lots of preparation” Sky News reports.

Former diversity manager at Arts Council England wins tribunal over ‘transphobia’ comments. Afreena Islam-Wright was the subject of an internal investigation at ACE after leaving comments on a staff petition opposing the approval of a £9k grant to LGB Alliance, an organisation that has expressed opposition to policies that include transgender people. The comments were brought to ACE’s HR department and escalated to a tribunal in Manchester. Last week, Judge Rhodri McDonald ruled in her favour, finding that she had been the victim of constructive dismissal. Rodhri stated that “it seems to us clear that [Islam-Wright] had no intention to cause hurt and was motivated solely to support trans and non-binary colleagues,” as reported in The Art Newspaper.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s New York home is up for sale. The architect’s Plaza Hotel suite is hitting the market for $18.9M, boasting 4,000-square-feet, 13-foot-high ceilings and views of Central Park. It was last renovated in an Art Deco style by previous owners Lisa and James Cohen in 2009. Wright moved into the apartment in 1954, after construction began for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and hosted a range of friends and artists including Max Hoffman, Georgia O’Keeffe and most famously, Marilyn Monroe and her husband Arthur Miller.

Architect Lina Ghotmeh to revamp British Museum galleries. Ghotmeh beat five architecture firms – including Rem Koolhaas and David Chipperfield – in a competition to design the museum’s Western Range galleries. The project comes as part of the ‘masterplan’ to modernise the museum’s aging buildings while preserving its historical architecture and the wider renovation has been described in a news release as “one of the biggest cultural renovations undertaken anywhere in the world”. Ghotmeh’s previous projects include the 2023 Serpentine Pavilion in London, the Estonian National Museum, Les Grands Verres in the Palais de Tokyo and the Hermès Workshops in Normandy.

Bronzes looted by British soldiers to be returned to Nigeria. 113 Benin Bronzes from the Dutch State Collection will be returned to Nigeria after they were found to be looted in 1897 from the Kingdom of Benin, sold, and eventually ended up in the Netherlands. Olugible Holloway, Director-General of the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments, said “we thank the Netherlands for their cooperation and hope this will set a good example for other nations of the world in terms of repatriation of lost or looted antiquities”, Artnews reports. In addition to these items from the Dutch State Collection, Rotterdam will also return six Benin Bronzes that were looted in the same year.

Nazi-looted Egon Schiele could make $1.9M at auction. Schiele’s Boy in a Sailor Suit drawing is due to be sold at Christie’s next month in London. Timothy Reif and David Fraenkel – heirs of the work’s owner, Austrian Jewish cabaret performer Fritz Grünbaum – successfully lobbied for the piece to be rightfully returned after it was stolen by the Nazis. The auction house brokered a settlement between the consignor and the heirs. The 1914 portrait, with a low estimate of $1.3M, is one of about 80 works by Schiele that Grünbaum owned. However, the Art Institute of Chicago has opened a court case disputing whether Grünbaum’s collection was ever seized by the Nazis. The New York Supreme Court will issue a ruling on the case in the following weeks.

Widow of Barnes & Noble founder to sell $250M art collection. Dozens of works from Leonard Riggio’s collection, from artists including Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, Giacometti and Piet Mondrian, will be up for auction at Christie’s spring sales in New York. Riggio died last year and was described by Christie’s CEO Bonnie Brennan as a “true collector”. The auction house won the tender after a bidding war with Sotheby’s, although the New York Times reports some rumours about Pace gallery being enlisted by Christie’s to shmooze Riggio’s wife, Louise.