Weekly
December 31, 2022

We did it! 2022 is now in the rearview mirror as we reflect on the year in our top lists. As we prepare to ring in the new year, I want to thank all of you for supporting our work at Hyperallergic by subscribing, sharing, and, most importantly, by becoming members. 

We celebrated 13 years of Hyperallergic this fall — who has time to throw a party!? — and in the last few years alone, we've continued the work to strengthen our operations to ensure we can bring you the best and most accurate reporting, along with high-quality reviews and opinions that help you stay informed and plugged into the larger conversations in our community.

Did you know that this year alone we published over 2,300 posts? Wow, right? Some days I have trouble believing it, but it's true. 

We look forward to bringing you the news, views, and reviews that matter in the coming year. Journalism matters now more than ever and we're delighted to have you on this journey with us. 

Thank you.

— Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief

No, you’re not hearing things: That’s the White Lotus theme song playing. (edit Valentina Di Liscia/Hyperallergic)

The 20 Most Powerless People in the Art World: 2022 Edition

It’s the end of the year, so that means it’s time for our annual list that highlights those who are often rendered powerless in a system ruled by the oversized influence of the super-rich and their courtiers.

NEWS THIS WEEK

Johannes Vermeer, “Officer and Laughing Girl” (1657-1658) (photo Joseph Coscia Jr, courtesy the Frick Collection)

• The largest Vermeer exhibition ever staged will go on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam this February.

• Archaeologists have discovered 168 geoglyphs near the arid Nazca plain in Southern Peru.

• Two sarcophagi found beneath Notre Dame belonged to religious dignitary Antoine de la Porte and an unidentified aristocratic cavalier.

• Nine contemporary artists have taken over vacant advertising spaces at NYC’s aesthetically beleaguered Port Authority.

• Zain Curtis sells t-shirts made with the blood of gay men to protest anti-LGBTQ+ donation guidelines that date back to the ‘80s AIDS crisis.

THIS YEAR'S BEST

The artworks in Hyperallergic‘s Top 50 list installed in Alexandre Jean-Baptiste Brun’s 19th-century rendering of a Paris salon (edit Valentina Di Liscia/Hyperallergic)

The Top 50 Exhibitions of 2022

This year, we’re going big with a list of memorable shows from around the world, seen and loved by our editors and contributors.

The Best Art Books of 2022

Our contributors picked 20 must-reads that informed and broadened their worldviews this year.

The Top 10 Films of 2022

Nope, Neptune Frost, and Laura Poitras’s portrait of Nan Goldin are on our list of the best films made this year.

Artwork by Sahar Goreshi (courtesy the artist)

The Art Stories That Defined 2022

There was more to this year’s art news than tomato-souped Van Goghs — though that made our list, too. | Valentina Di Liscia

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LATEST REVIEWS

Ian Fisher, “Atmosphere No. 139 (Nate & Marissa)” (2022), oil on canvas, 42 inches x 54 inches (photo by Joshua Ware)

Taking Landscape Painting to New Heights

Beau Carey and Ian Fishers’ exhibition considers our relationship to the earth, from the top down. | Sommer Browning

Pushing Against the Art World’s Disavowal of Labor

Pittsburgh’s John Kane: Life & Art of an American Workman presents Kane’s experience as a manual laborer as integral to — not separate from — his art. | Sylvia Rhor Samaniego

The Private Passions of Henry Fuseli

Fuseli and the Modern Woman is immensely pleasurable for the technical facility of an artist pursuing his own personal interests in an incredibly idiosyncratic style. | Olivia McEwan

ARTIST'S P.O.V.

Studio of Lola Sáenz, East Village, New York City (courtesy the artist)

A View From the Easel

In this edition, artists pour paint across folded sheets of paper, regard their studio as an “office,” meticulously craft mosaics, and make small spaces feel limitless.

MORE ON HYPERALLERGIC

“Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple” (18th century), Cusco, Peru, oil and gold on canvas, 37 13/16 × 51 1/2 inches (collection of Carl and Marilynn Thoma)

The Complex Fashion History of Colonial Spanish America

An exhibition at Blanton Museum of Art encapsulates the complicated ways in which Indigenous and European traditions cross-pollinated through textiles and accessories. | Lauren Moya Ford

The Understated Beauty of Decorated Paper

Pattern and Flow: A Golden Age of American Decorated Paper, 1960s to 2000s is a feast for the eyes. | Sarah Rose Sharp

Norman Rockwell’s Exceptional Drawings, Revealed for the First Time

Extensively illustrated, Norman Rockwell: Drawings, 1911–1976 is the first book dedicated to the artist’s prolific but largely private drawing practice. | Lauren Moya Ford

How to Crack the Catholic Code of the Old Masters

Suzanna Ivanič’s new book Catholica: The Visual Culture of Catholicism is an essential primer on how Catholicism intersects with art history. | Daniel Larkin

Maira Kalman Considers All That Women Hold

By turns whimsical and poignant, Kalman’s Women Holding Things combines two of her most consistent subjects: women and beloved objects. | Sophia Stewart

FROM THE ARCHIVE

New Year’s Resolutions for Artists

Maybe this will be the year. Fingers crossed. | Jack Sjogren