| If you’re not already an Anne Anlin Cheng fangirl like me, you might just become one today. In her landmark 2018 book, she decried the unabashed Orientalism of The Met’s 2015 exhibition China: Through the Looking Glass. “This show is palpably not that interested in the human,” she wrote, “much less in women.” A decade later, when The Met invited her to work on another exhibition about China, she had misgivings — but Monstrous Beauty: A Feminist Revision of Chinoiserie, Cheng writes in our featured piece today, is an entirely different beast. Speaking of revisiting, Staff Writer Maya Pontone takes us through the history of New York City’s Pride March in one of the final installments in our Pride Month series. The first, held in 1970, had “no floats, no music, no boys in briefs” — whereas the one this Sunday will have all of that, and much more. Let’s take a moment to remember, too: Rosalind Fox Solomon, a New York photographer of emotive portraits, passed away earlier this week at 95. Read about her life and work below. God, do I love writing the introduction to the Friday newsletter, because (A) it’s Friday, duh, and (B) that’s when Associate Editor Lakshmi Rivera Amin’s Required Reading drops. This week’s is a doozy — Zohran’s merch, Gatsby boat tours, and Harvard doing Harvard things (such as firing a researcher hired to dig into its connections to slavery for finding “too many”). Finally, A View From the Easel is always a palate cleanser. Both Gabrielle Benak and Jessie Laura feel that their studios are an extension of home, even self. Art as life, life as art. — Lisa Yin Zhang, Associate Editor | | |
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 | | After an exploitative 2015 show, I was wary about being an academic “beard” for another exhibition in the guise of “revision.” Monstrous Beauty is a different beast. | Anne Anlin Cheng |
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SPONSORED |  | | | | The museum carries out its multifaceted mission to celebrate and cultivate the arts, all while keeping the Mexican-American community of Pilsen at its center. Learn more |
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 | | Her unflinching gaze, which garnered both criticism and praise, confronted some of the most momentous and often painful chapters in global human history. | Maya Pontone |
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|  | | What started as a response to the 1969 Stonewall Uprising has evolved and expanded, taking on an added urgency amid Trump’s ongoing attacks on LGBTQ+ people. | Maya Pontone |
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|  | | “Sometimes, I need to live with a piece to fall in love with it and get rid of any doubt that brews, a struggle many artists know well.” | Lakshmi Rivera Amin |
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|  | | This week: the Black Arts Movement’s radical aesthetics, Gatsby boat tours, advice columns, Hot Girls for Zohran, Gen Z dumps glitter on ICE, and much more. | Lakshmi Rivera Amin |
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FROM THE ARCHIVE |  | | The rainbow, which is still perhaps the most commonly known symbol for the LGBTQIA+ community, has gone through a cultural tug of war over the years. | Guillaume Vandame |
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TRANSITIONS | | Karen Gunderson is now represented by Yancey Richardson Gallery.
Katrin Henkel and Peter H. Kahng have been elected to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation board of trustees.
Daryl Ward was named interim executive director of the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art.
Brittany Webb was appointed curator of the department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. |
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AWARDS & ACCOLADES | | Ashia Ajani, The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker, and Daveed Baptiste are among the Artists in Residence in the Everglades (AIRIE) 2025/2026 fellows. See the full list here.
Chelsea Boxwell, Oleksandr Brzhezytskyi, and jinseok choi are among the visual artists participating in Art in Odd Places 2025. See the full list here.
Taurus Burns, Donald Calloway, and Malak Cherri were among the visual arts recipients of the 2025 Kresge Artist Fellowships. Akea Brionne, Taylor Childs, and Jimel are among the winners of the Gilda Snowden Emerging Artist Awards. See the full list here.
Alfredo Jaar received the 2025 Edward MacDowell Medal.
Ipek Sahinler, Keira Roberson, and Emma O’Neill-Dietel are the recipients of the Charles S. Longcope Jr. Writers and Artists Grant. |
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MEMBER COMMENT | | Davit Botch on “What Do We Do with the Work of Immoral Artists?” | | This article really hits that “ugh, it’s complicated” nerve. It’s refreshing to see someone actually sit with the messiness instead of trying to cancel or defend someone outright. Totally get that we can’t just vibe with someone’s work without thinking about who they are as the art is an extension of themselves, but also, not everything needs a black-and-white answer. Would’ve loved more on how institutions, museums or galleries should handle this though, not just individuals. Still, 10/10 for opening the convo without turning it into a Twitter fight. |
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