A New Perspective on Munch’s Famous Frieze, How NYC’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit Transformed the Art Market: Morning Links for July 16, 2026
ARTnews “Morning Links” for July 16, 2026 highlighted a Financial Times profile of Manhattan prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos, focusing on how New York City’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit has recovered thousands of objects worth hundreds of millions of dollars and reshaped museum and auction-house acquisition practices through provenance scrutiny. The roundup also noted a Guardian report on a new exhibition at Norway’s Munch Museum reexamining Edvard Munch’s 1922 Freia frieze, contrasting its idyllic scenes of workers in nature with issues such as factory labor conditions, gender inequality, and the colonial history of cacao production. Separately, it reported that the British Council is closing offices in nine countries, including Tanzania and Mozambique, as part of cost-cutting measures. Additional links mentioned a Gladys Nilsson retrospective at the Crocker Art Museum and the V&A’s announced 2027 exhibition program, among other items.
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This story was covered in Lost Masters, Looted Legacies, and Monument Rollbacks