How the Guardian’s reporting shook the art world

This week the Guardian broke a story that rocked the art world. Investigations correspondent Maeve McClenaghan revealed that three Damien Hirst sculptures dated by his company to the 1990s were in fact made in 2017. The works, made by preserving a dove, a shark and two calves in formaldehyde, have in recent years been exhibited in Hong Kong, New York, Munich, London and Oxford as examples of works from Hirst’s 1990s Turner prize-winning golden period. Yesterday, Maeve followed up with the news that Hirst’s 4-metre (13-foot) tiger shark, on display at a luxury bar in the Palms casino resort in Las Vegas and dated to the same period, is also from 2017. Our art critic Jonathan Jones, previously an admirer of Hirst’s, said that the news had “destroyed any belief we might cling to in his creative future”.

We are of course committed to reporting deeply on culture as well as news and politics, and it was an unusually busy week in the visual arts.

In Australia this week Kelly Burke reported on a fascinating anti-discrimination case in Tasmania, where a male gallery visitor made a complaint against artist Kirsha Kaechele. In Ladies Lounge, Kaechele’s exhibit in Hobart, women are pampered by male butlers and served champagne while being surrounded by some of the museum’s finest artworks. Those who do not identify as women are not permitted entry. Kaechele, whose work is a comment on Australian women’s experiences of discrimination and exclusion, said that she was “absolutely delighted” about being sued given that “men’s experience of rejection is the artwork”.

In the United States, Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, got a break from covering the Trump circus and headed to Alabama for the unveiling of a powerful 17-acre sculpture park which is opening next week as a memorial to victims of enslavement. The park’s opening comes as Alabama’s governor signed into law a stifling new bill that in effect bans diversity, equity and inclusion programmes across the state.

We reported on a new tree mural in London, which was defaced soon after it was revealed to be a Banksy. (The excitement around the work, wrote campaigner Gio Iozzi, obscured the artist’s point about the dire state of our urban trees.) We also interviewed actor Sharon Stone who has become an accomplished painter in lieu of being offered decent parts: “When a door closes, I have to open another one,” she told Stuart Jeffries. And I enjoyed Tim Jonze’s beautiful piece about artist David Hampton, who turns 98 this year. In his first ever interview, Hampton told Tim about seeing his life’s work finally getting its due. Finally, don’t miss Katy Hessel’s fabulous fortnightly column The Great Women’s Art Bulletin, which talks about great artworks by women through the lens of current events.

Amelia Gentleman revealed for the first time the full membership list of London’s 193-year-old men-only institution, the Garrick Club, in a scoop that caused a big impact in the UK. The list included scores of leading lawyers, heads of publicly funded arts institutions, and even King Charles. Days later, two high-profile members resigned their memberships – the head of the civil service and of MI6 – after intense criticism, and there remains significant pressure on others to do the same. Amelia explored the story further on a great episode of Today in Focus.

Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer covered Russia’s foregone conclusion of a presidential election, which was held in the absence of dead, jailed or disqualified opposition figures. In this excellent analysis, they reported on the outlook after Putin’s 87.2% majority win, and spoke to former Kremlin officials and sanctioned business owners who saw no prospect of Putin losing power and the country becoming a “stagnant, militaristic nation”.

In an astonishing interview which took place the day before her death, Paola Marra, a woman with terminal stage four bowel cancer, told us about her decision to end her life at Dignitas, a centre in Switzerland for assisted dying. Marra also spoke of the urgent need for legislative change in the UK. Robert Booth’s piece featured beautiful portraits by Linda Nylind.

With Gaza on the brink of famine and with UK foreign secretary David Cameron criticising Israel for blocking a key aid crossing, our visuals team used data, maps and photography to produce a striking visual guide to the obstacles making the delivery of aid into the territory so difficult. Joshua Leifer took a deeper look at Hamas in a detailed profile of the organisation for the Long Read.

A few weeks ago John Crace, the Guardian’s political sketch writer in the UK, had a heart attack. On Thursday he wrote a gripping account of the terrifying few days that followed.

Owen Jones comes from generations of fervent supporters and members of the UK Labour party. That made his announcement this week that he is leaving it both poignant and stark. Meanwhile, British politics is hamstrung by its first-past-the-post system, wrote George Monbiot, who shared his own constituency’s attempts to subvert the system: a people’s primary.

Our Anywhere but Washington video series continues to provide a great insight into what ordinary American voters are thinking ahead of November’s presidential election. This week the team headed to Michigan where Joe Biden’s base is increasingly fractured due to events in the Middle East.

Aya Nakamura is the world’s most listened-to French-speaking pop artist, but is facing a barrage of racist abuse after an invitation to perform at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. Rokhaya Diallo wrote about why a proud Black woman from the banlieues isn’t considered “French enough”.

In Charles Spencer’s eye-opening and distressing interview with the Observer’s Tim Adams, the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales spoke about his difficult decision to write about being physically and sexually abused while at boarding school.

And finally … it’s time for a shirt sandwich. I was inspired by Guardian fashion expert Jess Cartner-Morley’s fun and helpful piece on how to zhoosh up your wardrobe between seasons, without buying anything new.

Cook this | Yotam Ottolenghi’s asparagus and artichoke fritters with herby yoghurt

These make for a lovely light lunch, starter or snack. If you’ve got any other crunchy vegetables that need using up, feel free to use them instead of (or as well as) the asparagus – the likes of tenderstem broccoli, sugar snap peas and carrots all work well.

Listen to this | Black Box, episode five – podcast

Our brilliant new series about the human impact of artificial intelligence continues with The White Mask. This episode is the story of Robert Williams, a man who was arrested in January 2020 by Detroit police for a crime he had not committed. The officers were acting on a tip not from a witness or informant. In fact, the tip wasn’t from a person at all.

Watch this | The Digital Divide

Could you live without the internet? Doctors appointments, job applications, personal banking – and much more – are now predominantly online, but around one in seven people in the UK are forced to live without the internet. Lucy Jane and Joya Berrow’s The Digital Divide is based on the personal stories of people living with digital exclusion.

Book this | An African History of Africa, with Zeinab Badawi

Wednesday 17 April, 8pm-9pm BST

Zeinab Badawi’s new book, An African History of Africa, is an epic and sweeping new history of the planet’s oldest inhabited continent. In this livestreamed event, Badawi will join Nesrine Malik to reveal the stories that show how Africa’s history is so much more than what we think we know.

The Guardian’s crosswords and Wordiply are here to keep you entertained throughout the weekend.