British painter Jenny Saville is set to make her Venice debut with a major solo exhibition at the International Gallery of Modern Art at Ca' Pesaro next year. The show, scheduled to coincide with the 2026 Venice Biennale, marks the Cambridge-born artist's first solo presentation in the northern Italian city and represents her fourth major museum exhibition in just 18 months.
The exhibition will feature 30 paintings and run from March 28 to November 22, 2026, at the Baroque marble palace that houses the museum overlooking Venice's Grand Canal. Elisabetta Barisoni will curate the show, which is being supported by Gagosian, the mega-gallery that represents Saville. "Venice represents a place where art is an intrinsic part of everyday life and where the Biennale artists of today sit in dialogue with these great Venetian artworks," Saville stated. "It's a great honor to have the opportunity to exhibit in Venice."
This Venice exhibition continues Saville's remarkable institutional momentum, following recent major shows at London's National Portrait Gallery, the Albertina in Vienna, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The 54-year-old artist has emerged as one of Britain's most celebrated contemporary painters, known for her powerful figurative works that explore themes of the human body and identity.
In other art world developments, former Sotheby's CEO Tad Smith has expressed renewed optimism for blockchain art and NFTs. Smith, who led the auction house from 2015 to 2019 and spearheaded major digitalization efforts including the 2018 acquisition of AI startup Thread Genius, told The Art Newspaper he remains bullish on digital art despite the market's recent volatility.
"Each new development in the field of art will inevitably horrify traditionalists," said Smith, who now serves as chairman of the supervisory board at The Fine Art Group and is a partner at 50T Holdings. "So, the division around digital art and NFTs is not new. This is a normal transition." His comments come ahead of Robert Alice's NFT painting sale at Sotheby's New York, following the speculative boom and subsequent bust of blockchain art in 2021-2022.
Meanwhile, the art world continues to grapple with the contentious issue of museum photography and selfies. Earlier this year, The Telegraph published a provocative headline declaring "Ban selfie-takers from museums—these people don't deserve to see great art." Columnist Celia Waldon described her frustration at finding Emile Jean Horace Vernet's "Portrait of a Lady" obscured by a visitor taking photos, arguing that prohibiting selfies could help restore respect for cultural heritage.
The debate gained renewed attention when Florence's Uffizi Galleries announced plans to impose strict limits on selfies after a visitor damaged a painting by Anton Domenico Gabbiani while attempting to photograph himself. The museum's director said the policy aimed to curb "behavior incompatible with respect for cultural heritage."
However, opinions on the matter remain deeply divided within the museum community. Ross Parry, professor of museum technology at the University of Leicester, notes that the UK's 1,700 museums differ widely in digital maturity and physical space constraints. Some photography restrictions, he suggests, may simply reflect operational or safety needs rather than cultural concerns. The Frick Collection in New York, for example, maintains a longstanding ban on all photography to protect unbarriered artworks, implemented after past trials led to visitors nearly colliding with paintings.
In brief art world news, Ed Ruscha has created a limited-edition chocolate bar molded in the shape of a topographic section of California's Central Valley in collaboration with andSons. Meanwhile, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett's prized Frank Frazetta painting is headed to auction on December 10 at Heritage Auctions, with bidding starting at $10 million. Additionally, San Francisco's Rena Bransten Gallery, which has championed BIPOC and female artists since 1975, announced it will close on November 22, marking the end of an era for the Bay Area art scene.
