Daily Newsletter

John Galliano Withdraws From Met Show

The British designer was convicted of antisemitic and anti-Asian hate speech. Also: What was Peter Thiel doing at a VIP preview at the British Museum, and should we be scared?

Hyperallergic

September 1, 2026 — 4 min read

Staging a retrospective at the Met Museum for a fashion designer convicted of antisemitic and anti-Asian hate speech was not the Costume Institute's best idea. After serious backlash, British designer John Galliano finally withdrew, and the show was officially canceled. Staff Writer Anna Lee has more about this debacle.

Speaking of unsavory characters, billionaire Peter Thiel, who makes Lucifer blush, received red-carpet treatment at a VIP preview of the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum in London. We're still trying to figure out why.

Also today: Jennifer Higgie imagines a year in the life of painter Richard Dadd — who was famously institutionalized after killing his father — in a new novel; John Yau visits Catherine Murphy in her studio; and Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia reviews a performance by Julio Torres and Martine Gutierrez at Manhattan’s Little Island.

—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief

John Galliano Withdraws From Met Exhibition After Backlash Over Racist Comments

The British fashion designer John Galliano has withdrawn his upcoming exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, set to run concurrently with the 2027 Met Gala, after intense criticism of his past racist behavior.

A French court convicted Galliano of antisemitic and anti-Asian hate speech directed at a French couple in February 2011, and a barrage of antisemitic slurs against a woman in October of the same year. He was fined a total of €6,000 ($6,962). A video of Galliano declaring “I love Hitler” was also circulated by the British tabloid, The Sun, leading to Dior firing the designer from his post as creative director in March 2011. | Anna Lee

Writing and the Photographic Image One-Year Certificate Program at ICP

Find your voice and build a creative network in the International Center of Photography’s online One-Year Certificate Program in Writing and the Photographic Image. The 2027 program year begins in January. Submit your application by October 18 for priority admission and scholarship consideration.

Learn more

News

The British Museum hosts Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel for a VIP viewing of the Bayeux tapestry, drawing concerns among staff.
The Broad museum will pair students with contemporary artists in a new neighborhood-focused initiative called “Our Block, Our Stories," with the first iteration spotlighting South Los Angeles and artist Lauren Halsey. [Los Angeles Times]
After the State Department removed a Kehinde Wiley painting from the US Embassy in Santo Domingo, there are concerns that more artworks in embassies could be removed and potentially sold. [Vanity Fair]
Workers at the Washington History Museum in Seattle are among the thousands of Washington Federation of State Employees members who walked out of their jobs yesterday, August 31, to demand a fair contract. [WFSE]

Feature

Catherine Murphy Has Her Cake and Eats It Too

The painter reconciles modernist conventions like the grid with one-point perspective, creating something fresh and entirely her own. | John Yau

Jennifer Higgie’s Empathetic Elegy for Richard Dadd

In “Bedlam,” the author and art critic does not describe the English painter’s often-sensationalized mental deterioration. Instead, she writes the novel in his voice. | Claudia Ross

“Marina” Dares You to Laugh at Technology

Julio Torres and Martine Gutierrez’s new performance is a grotesque parade of visual delights that defangs our toxic relationship to our screens. | Valentina Di Liscia

Member Comment

Are you going to write a book about this? It seems like you have more to say. I certainly would like a more in-depth exploration of how the public perception of this couple differs from how it is presented today. If not, you should. You would be the person to write it, referencing your own experience, which is singular but also is similar to how many female artists, famous or not, have either tried to fit it or fight against relationships like Krasner and Pollock. I haven't read Ninth Street Women or Gail Levin's biography of her yet. Maybe they covered it but I think there is still more to say.

—Elizabeth Neubauer on "What I Got Wrong About Krasner and Pollock"

From the Archive

What the Art World Doesn’t Want You to Know About Yayoi Kusama

A new publication tries hard to reinvent Kusama as a champion of racial equity despite her troubling record of anti-Black statements. | Dexter Thomas

Smithsonian American Art Museum — 2027–2028 Research Fellowships
Residential fellowships at SAAM support full-time, independent research on US art, craft, and visual culture. Appointments are available at graduate, predoctoral, postdoctoral, and senior levels.
Deadline to apply: October 15, 2026 | americanart.si.edu

Mitchell Johnson: "Twenty-One Years in Truro (Selected Paintings 1988–2026)"

Meet with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at Admissions Events Across the US and Online

Grounded in Grain, Washed in the Water

UT Austin’s Harry Ransom Center Provides Funded Fellowships in the Arts and Humanities