Art for Sale Page 2

May 22, 2026
The alleged incident took place May 18 at Barrington Middle School in Hillsborough County, Florida.
A Florida teacher was removed from the classroom and later fired after a video reportedly showed a Black baby doll hanging by a cord inside a middle school classroom. This sparked outrage among parents and community members who called the display racist and harmful to students.
The alleged incident took place May 18 at Barrington Middle School in Hillsborough County, Florida, according to People. Students stated that the teacher, identified as Karen Savage, allegedly suspended the doll by its neck from a television using a black cord during class. A student’s video of the incident quickly spread online.
Parents and students noted that several children immediately objected to the display, with some reportedly telling the teacher it resembled a lynching. One student, Noah Carter, told local reporters that he recorded the scene to have proof of what happened. His mother later shared the footage on social media, describing the act as “hate and trauma being weaponized” in front of children.
“This emotionally affected all the children in that classroom,” Carter’s mother said. “My son’s friends of different cultures and races were all deeply offended and disturbed by this racist act.”
Officials with Hillsborough County Public Schools confirmed the Florida teacher was initially removed from campus while the district investigated the incident. Superintendent Van Ayres publicly condemned the display, calling it “unacceptable.”
“As soon as school administrators were made aware, they took immediate action and referred the matter to the district’s Office of Professional Standards,” Ayres said in a statement. “The staff member involved has been removed from the school.”
This teacher should be immediately fired. Today at Barrington Middle School (Hillsborough
County Public School System) Florida, This art teacher Mrs. KAREN SAVAGE took the time to wrap a charger cord around a Black baby doll’s neck and hang it directly over the classroom… pic.twitter.com/YK6PKYPyH6
The controversy has reopened discussions about racial sensitivity and classroom behavior in schools, especially due to the historical link between lynching imagery and violence against Black individuals in the United States.
The district noted that the case has also been referred to Florida education officials for a potential review of the teacher’s certification status.
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The Atlanta Dream’s comeback win over the Phoenix Mercury gave Atlanta a big sports moment, and the celebration carried straight into Birthday Bash XXX that same night. Angel Reese, along with teammates Allisha Gray, Rhyne Howard, and Naz Hillmon, added a crossover pop-culture moment to an already high-energy Atlanta weekend.
RELATED: The South Got Somethin’ To Say: Everything You Missed at BIRTHDAY BASH XXX
Atlanta erased a 15-point deficit to beat Phoenix 82-80 at home and improve to 4-1 on the season. Reese delivered one of her strongest all-around games in a Dream uniform, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block. Rhyne Howard led Atlanta with 21 points, while Allisha Gray added 18 and Jordin Canada posted 11 points and 14 assists in the comeback.

The win was defined by late-game poise, with Canada tying the game inside the final minute and Howard hitting a clutch 3-pointer to swing the momentum. It was the kind of gritty finish that gave the Dream a statement victory and set the tone for the rest of the night.

Later that night, Reese and her Dream teammates made a special appearance at Birthday Bash XXX, turning the night into more than just a concert recap. The appearance from Reese, Gray, Howard, and Hillmon connected Atlanta’s basketball energy with its hip-hop scene in a way fans immediately noticed.
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Birthday Bash XXX featured an all-Atlanta feel, with artists like T.I., Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz, Waka Flocka, and others helping make the event a major hometown showcase. The Dream players’ presence added another layer to that local pride, especially coming on the heels of a dramatic win the same evening.
Last night, Birthday Bash blended winning basketball with Atlanta star power. Reese has already become one of the league’s most talked-about players, and pairing her with fellow Dream teammates at one of the city’s biggest nightlife and music events made the night feel bigger than sports. For Atlanta fans, it was a clean one-two punch: a thrilling home win, then a surprise appearance from the team at a major city event.
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Angel Reese, Atlanta Dream Turn Statement Win into Star-Studded Birthday Bash Night in Atlanta was originally published on hotspotatl.com

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Who’s Hot winner Daysha Taylor hits her first-ever Birthday Bash XXX stage, launching her solo era in front of a sold-out ATL crowd.
Backstage at Hot 107.9’s sold-out Birthday Bash XXX, Miasia Symone sat down with this year’s Who’s Hot winner, Daysha Taylor, just moments after she ripped the stage. The energy was high as Daysha celebrated opening the show and making a statement in front of a packed Atlanta crowd. Known to many from the Taylor Girlz, she is now stepping into a new era and proving she can shut it down on her own. For Daysha, this performance marks a major milestone in a growing solo journey.
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Despite the massive stage and sold-out crowd, Daysha said she was not intimidated by the moment. Instead, she felt grateful because this was her first time ever performing at Birthday Bash in her entire career. She shared that she has only been pursuing her solo career for about six months, which makes opening the show an even bigger win. Calling it a “good big first thing,” Daysha made it clear she planned to shut it down and leave everything on the stage.
Many fans were first introduced to Daysha through the Taylor Girlz, but she explained why stepping out on her own was important. She described herself as grown now, with a different sound, a different voice, and a message she needs to get across. As a mother of three, she said it is time to get where she is trying to go and stop playing with her potential. This new solo chapter is about proving her point, popping her talk, and fully owning who she is as an artist.
When Miasia asked what keeps her reinventing herself, Daysha pointed straight to her kids as her biggest motivation. She wants to be able to give them acres, land, and a solid foundation, just like her parents provided for her growing up. Their constant support helped push her career, and she wants to be that same example for her children. With female rap winning the game right now, she encourages emerging artists to go for the stars, do what they are not used to, and always give their fullest effort.
Daysha Taylor Owns Hot 107.9’s Birthday Bash XXX Stage As Who’s Hot Winner was originally published on hotspotatl.com

21 Black Beauties From The ’90s Who’ve Been Fine Forever
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The 30 Most Beautiful Black Women In Hollywood
COMMENTARY: 5 Reasons Why Obama Will Beat Romney
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The most recent rendering of the Triumphal Arch for Washington, DC’s Memorial Circle Courtesy Harrison Design
US President Donald Trump’s proposal to build a 250ft-tall arch on Memorial Circle in Washington, DC, was approved by a the US Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) on Thursday (21 May) in a vote that leapfrogged the usual review process and largely disregarded the public comments, which were “99.5%” in opposition to the project, according to a staff report. While the arch’s design still lacks some key details, including additional sculptures and reliefs to fill its niches, the CFA’s chairman, Rodney Mims Cook, Jr, put forward a motion for final approval, which was passed by the four present commissioners. (National Endowment for the Arts chair Mary Anne Carter, who attended the first portion of the meeting, did not return after a break was called before the vote.)
During the CFA’s previous review of the conceptual designs for the arch, panel members recommended excluding gold statuary from the top of the arch to reduce its overall height from 250ft to 166ft. But Trump rejected this suggestion, “while respectfully noting the differences of aesthetic opinion that may exist on the subject”, according to Nicolas Charbonneau, a principal at Harrison Design, the architects working on the project.
“The intent of the arch is a celebration in America of 250 years of greatest freedom and posterity, for which we can only thank the wisdom of our founders and God’s providence,” Charbonneau added. “While it may celebrate the victories of America in various theories of war and the sacrifice of our fallen heroes, it is not primarily a monument dedicated to the dead, but to the living, to this free country, and its perseverance.” (Memorial Circle is located near the main entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, the country’s most important military cemetery.)
The design discussed on Thursday eliminates an eight-foot platform on which the arch was previously shown standing as well as a collection of gold lions on plinths surrounding it. It also does away with a proposed tunnel that visitors would use to reach the arch, instead relying on traffic lights and pedestrian walkways across the busy traffic circle. Most of the CFA panellists seemed satisfied with these changes and to have forgotten their previous reservations about the arch’s size, insisting that the main structure was actually 166ft high.
Carter was the sole panellist suggesting any further reduction in the arch’s decorative elements, drawing a comparison to the simplicity of the white stone markers at soldiers’ graves in Arlington Cemetery, where both her parents are buried. Memorial Circle “is between what was a historical part of this country and on one side really is hallowed ground”, she told the architects, “so I appreciate what you’ve done, and as you continue moving forward, just keep in mind how simple those gravestones are to the south”.
The arch could ultimately be even more heavily decorated than the current designs show, since its currently blank wall surfaces are intended to feature a series of “narrative sculptures”, Charbonneau said during his presentation of the updated design. When asked if work was already underway or when further details would be ready, the architect said: “I can’t give you an exact date, but the administration is working on developing a scheme.”
The most recent rendering of the Triumphal Arch, seen in situ from Memorial Bridge Courtesy Harrison Design
The hearing was then opened to public comments, which included statements from representatives of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the DC Preservation League and the Cultural Landscape Foundation, as well as Washington residents.
“I’m here this morning because I am horrified by the speed with which the Triumphal Arch project is moving through the approval process,” said Susan Douglas. She outlined the public and legal objections to the project, including the fact that Congressional approval is not being sought, Trump’s own admission that the arch is being built for “him”, the lawsuits brought against it by veterans groups, the structural issues of building on a manmade island composed mainly of landfill dredged from the Potomac River and the necessary Federal Aviation Administration review since the structure would stand in the flight paths to and from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
“There are myriad reasons for not allowing the construction of the ‘Arc de Trump’ to move forward,” Douglas said “Democracies do not build memorials to living presidents. Building this gaudy arch in a location that will overpower everything in its midst and interrupt the historically significant view between Lincoln Memorial and the Arlington National Cemetery is an affront to our history and to the men and women at Arlington National Cemetery who gave their lives in service to our country as well as to those who remember them. It is in fact arch insanity.”
Gary Langston, a veteran, spoke next and shared photos of the view across Memorial Bridge towards Arlington Cemetery that he took during a recent visit to the Lincoln Memorial with his son.
“One of the more breathtaking views is from the DC side looking across to Arlington House,” Langston said, adding that the commission should consider how this would be affected, especially at night if the arch is fully lit. “I seriously question the underlying purpose of the arch, which is a monument, as opposed to a memorial,” he added. “Those are hallowed grounds there. Anything that doesn’t respect that, anything that doesn’t help bring unity to the country, is in conflict with what I believe is the original intent.”
After several more members of the public spoke, Cook considered ending any further comments. Carter noted “a lot of the stuff that they’re talking about, we’re actually not the venue”, although she added: “I appreciate everyone talking. I appreciate everyone’s concerns. That’s what America’s about.”
One final speaker was allowed to take the microphone, John Ayers, a fourth-generation DC resident, who noted that since Memorial Bridge serves as the ceremonial entrance to Arlington Cemetery, serious thought should be put into anything on this route. He quoted a document issued in 1902 by the McMillan Commission, the group behind Washington’s urban design, which included the architects Daniel Burnham and Charles F. McKim, the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr and the sculptor Augustus Saint Gaudens.
“A cemetery, they wrote, should be ‘a place to which one should go with a sentiment of respect and peace, as into a church or sacred place’,” Ayers said. “I have no objection to a monument for the living, I just don’t think it belongs here on our way to the cemetery.”
Cook then suggested the public’s opposition to the arch was due to a lack of understand about the history of such triumphal arches and said a document would be posted on the CFA’s website providing other historic examples.
The CFA’s vice chair, James McCrery, the original architect of Trump’s ballroom proposal to replace the White House’s demolished East Wing, suggested that people arguing that the arch’s design is too large “need to understand that if you make it smaller, it will block the view, and its current size, it doesn’t”. Rather, he argued, the arch in the current proposal will create a frame through which to view the capital’s landmarks. He added that the CFA is meant “to work with designs that are presented to us, to work on them as a forge, to make them better, to make them more appropriate, to make them more beautiful”.
After a brief break called by Cook due to a family emergency, the commission reconvened (sans Carter) and voted to approve the design, noting that they looked forward to seeing the additional sculptural components in the future. The arch will next go under review by the National Capital Planning Commission, which is also staffed largely by Trump appointees and loyalists, on 4 June.
The White House plans to install new Commission of Fine Arts members who “are more aligned with President Trump’s ‘America First’ policies”
A public art installation of 200,000 flags opens on the National Mall, as coronavirus and heightened security forces most events online
The US president has set his sights on transforming the city of Washington, DC, to fit his grandiose aesthetic

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Clark’s latest venture entails her becoming a children’s book author, penning ‘EXTRAordinary: A Little Extra to Reach Big Dreams.’
As with any good sports fandom or rivalry, there’s a set of fans always ready to critique the other, and it’s been very apparent in the newfound attention on women’s sports following the Caitlin Clark— Angel Reese collegiate beef.
Three years into the league, both still have their haters who even call out their off-court behavior.
Clark’s latest venture entails the Indiana Fever star becoming a children’s book author, penning EXTRAordinary: A Little Extra to Reach Big Dreams.
Based on her basketball come up, in the book, “Clark shares a personal message about the foundation of her success on and off the basketball court: that love and joy matter most. Because what’s truly important in life—what deserves our EXTRA time and EXTRA attention—are the people surrounding us.”
The synopsis dubs it a “beautiful message for readers of all ages, EXTRAordinary is a heartwarming reminder to cherish the ones we love,” and says it’s “complete with vibrant illustrations.”
But it’s those illustrations — done by Adriana Predoi— that some on social media are taking issue with.
The cover features an image of Clark, in her signature ponytail and No. 22 jersey, dunking a ball. Beneath her on the court are three people, including two women of color.
The optics have upset some on social media, upset that she’s dunking on them, even though they’re wearing jerseys similar to hers, meaning they’re on the same team.
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One user wrote, “maybe i’m too woke but that caitlin clark book cover is…like  how many little black girls was  she dunking on in iowa for real.”
The 32-page rhyming picture book won’t be released until November 3, but social media’s opinions are already strong.
See more reactions to the book’s cover below.
Caitlin Clark’s Children’s Book Cover Sparks Heated Race Debate was originally published on cassiuslife.com

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The 30 Most Beautiful Black Women In Hollywood
COMMENTARY: 5 Reasons Why Obama Will Beat Romney
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Drake dropped the albums “Iceman,” “Habibti,” and “Maid of Honour” on May 15.
Drake has made chart history as the first artist to have three albums top the Billboard 200 simultaneously.
The 39-year-old rapper released his highly anticipated album “Iceman” on May 15, and then surprised fans with two additional albums, “Habibti” and “Maid of Honour.” He revealed that the other albums were coming during a livestream on May 14, while he was promoting “Iceman.”
“Iceman,” predicted to top the charts, debuted at No. 1, ending its first week out with 463,000 album units. This is the Canadian artist’s 15th No. 1 album, sharing the record with Taylor Swift for the most ever as a solo artist. The only artists ahead of Swift and Drake are The Beatles, who hold the record for any artist, with 19 No. 1 albums.
With the new drop, Drake has also beaten Jay-Z as the solo male and R&B/hip-hop artist with the most No. 1 albums.
“Habibti” entered the second spot on the chart, at 114,000 units, and “Maid of Honour” slid into the third slot with 110,000 units.
According to Billboard, this is the first time an artist has held the top three album slots concurrently since the chart began tracking the Billboard 200 each week in 1956.
The chart tracker also noted that Drake is the first artist to achieve this feat after a chart rule change. After Michael Jackson died in June 2009, his three albums “Number Ones,” “The Essential Michael Jackson,” and “Thriller” were the top three selling albums of the week ending June 28, 2009. Jackson was not ranked on the Billboard 200 at the time because catalog albums were excluded from the chart, and instead was filed into the Top Comprehensive Albums chart, which no longer exists. Billboard began including catalog albums on the 200 chart in December 2014.
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If you have a biological brother, or a male figure that you consider to be a brother, today is the day to celebrate each other.
National Brother‘s Day, which is recognized on May 24th, was founded by writer and sculptor C. Daniel Rhodes. Though little is known about what inspired the holiday, or why this particular date was selected, it’s the perfect excuse to celebrate that strong, unbreakable bond amongst brothers. If you have a biological brother, or a male figure that you consider to be a brother, today is the day to celebrate each other.
To honor the holiday, we are highlighting 11 sets of brothers who took the entertainment industry by storm, whether it be in music, sports, or film.
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The infamous Jackson Five started with a group of five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael Jackson. Led by their father Joe Jackson, in 1964 they formed their group in Gary, Indiana. After winning amateur night at the Apollo theatre in 1967, they soon got on Berry Gordy’s radar, leading them to sign with Motown in 1969. After leaving Motown in 1979, they went on to sign with Epic Records. Jermaine stayed at Motown after having just married Gordy’s daughter, and was replaced by their youngest brother Randy. From their, they went by The Jacksons. 
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The legendary Michael, dropped his album Thriller in 1982 and chose to go solo in 1984 after its success. Marlon also quit and Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Randy came together to record 2300 Jackson Street. The group disbanded afterwards. Each of the Jackson brothers explored solo careers, but Michael Jackson maintained the longest.
The Isley Brothers were and still are another iconic group, known for hits like “It’s Your Thing,” “Between The Sheets,” and “Summer Breeze.” They started as a group of four brothers, O’Kelly, Rudolph, Ronald, and Vernon, until Vernon was tragically killed on his bike. The brothers stopped performing, but after some encouragement from their parents, they moved to New York City and wrote, “Shout.”
Ernie and Marvin Isley joined their older brothers in the band, but later formed their own group with their brother-in-law, Charlie Jasper, called Isley-Jasper-Isley. The group lasted three years before the two brothers returned to the Isley Brothers. Ernie and Ronald are the only surviving members from the group and still play together today.
Eddie and Charlie Murphy were two brothers who could laugh you out of your pants. 
Eddie, who is two years younger than Charlie, was just 15 when he started doing stand-up at nightclubs and bars. He got his big break at 19 years old, joining Saturday Night Live, and would go on to do movies like Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, and The Golden Child. 
When Charlie came home from doing six years in the Navy, Eddie cast him in films like Harlem Nights and Vampire in Brooklyn. Later, he booked his own career-booming gig on the Chapelle Show. He went on to star in other projects, and in 2007, he co-wrote the screenplay for Norbit with Eddie. In 2017, Charlie passed away from leukemia.
Stephen and Seth Curry grew up watching their father, Dell Curry, on the court, so it is no surprise that they both followed in his footsteps. Stephen was drafted to the Golden State Warriors in 2009 and has stuck with the team ever since. Seth, on the other hand, has been on 10 teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Brooklyn Nets, and the Charlotte Hornets, which is the team his father played on for 10 seasons. In 2025, Seth joined the Warriors with his brother. 
There are 10 Wayans siblings total, five of them being brothers. Keenen Ivory Wayans started with dreams of being an entertainer. After writing a couple of films, he went on to make the sketch comedy show In Living Color, which starred most of his brothers at some point, but it was also a starting point for other celebrities like Jim Carey, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Lopez, and more. 
They each went on to do their own big projects, like Damon with Mo’ Money and later a comedy series called My Wife and Kids. Dwayne Wayans worked behind the scenes on In Living Color as a production assistant and did the same for My Wife and Kids.
Shawn and Marlon Wayans created their 90s sitcom The Wayans Bro and made their mark in spoof comedy films with the Scary Movie franchise. 
Before having a career in the NBA, Lonzo, LiAngelo, and LaMelo Ball started playing basketball at their school, Chino Hills High School. Lonzo, who is the eldest, continued playing at the University of California, Los Angeles, and was drafted the next year to the Lakers. After that, he went to the New Orleans Pelicans and played for a few other teams. But now, he is currently a free agent.
LiAngelo also committed to UCLA, but didn’t end up playing any games. He bounced around playing overseas and later in his father’s Junior Basketball Association league. After joining training camps, the G League, and playing professionally in Mexico, he decided to pivot careers and started rapping. He was signed to Def Jam Records in 2025. 
LaMelo signed with the Charlotte Hornets in 2020 and has been with them since. 
Steve and Wood Harris grew up in Chicago, and both got into acting in their college years. It happened for Steve after he endured a football injury, that ended his dreams of playing professional football. So he turned to drama and got his Master’s of Fine Arts in acting at the University of Delaware. He’s most known for series like The Practice, and BMF, as well as Diary of a Mad Black Woman. 
While Wood was attending Northern Illinois University for his Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts, he was cast in his first film, Above the Rim. He continued his education and received an MFA at  NYU Tisch School of the Arts. In the early 2000s, Wood went on to star in the popular film Remember the Titans and the series The Wire. 
Aldis Hodge is known most for his work in Underground, and today he plays Alex Cross in the crime thriller series Cross. But it was his brother Edwin who initially had dreams of being on TV, which started both of their careers. As children, they were both cast in Sesame Street and Showboat. They can even be spotted in Big Momma’s House.
Eventually, they would book their own gigs. Edwin played Marcus Ride in Jack & Bobby. He was also a regular in the military drama called SIX. He played FBI SA Ray Cannon in the FBI: Most Wanted series, too. 
Nigerian-Greek NBA players Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo both came to America from Greece to continue their professional basketball careers. 
Thanasis started at minor levels with the Greek Club Filathlitikos, before going on to play with them in the semi-professional and lower levels. He was drafted by the Delaware 87ers in 2013 and went to the New York Knicks the next year. Later on, Thanasis was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks. 
Giannis also played for the Filathlitikos youth team before joining the club professionally for two seasons. In 2013, the Milwaukee Bucks drafted him, and he’s been on the team ever since.
Their younger brother, Alex Antetokounmpo, made history when he was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2025. It was the first time three brothers had ever played on one team.
Cuba Gooding Jr. and Omar Gooding are another set of brothers who were both into acting. Cuba’s first major role was in John Singleton’s Boyz ‘ N the Hood. Before that, he was seen in films like Hill Street Blues, Amen, and Coming to America. In 1996, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the film Jerry Maguire. 
Omar Gooding got his start appearing in commercials and starring in McGruff the Crime Dog. Afterwards, he became a host for the 1990s Nickelodeon game show Wild & Crazy Kids.  His major television role was in Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, where he played Earvin. 
Sterling Sharpe started in the NFL in 1988 after being drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the first round. He stayed with the team until 1994 and left the league after experiencing a neck injury. In 2025, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 
Before going on to be a sports commentator and now a podcast host, Shannon was also in the league. In 1990, he was drafted in the seventh round by the Denver Broncos, where he played for nine years. He did two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, then started playing with the Broncos again, where he ended his football career in 2003. 
Shannon was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. He was also a Super Bowl champion three times — twice with the Broncos and once with the Ravens. 
Who are two talented and funny actors? Chris Rock and his younger brother Tony Rock. Chris Rock started doing stand-up in the 80s at New York City’s Catch a Rising Star. Eddie Murphy saw him and decided to be his mentor, and soon, Rock was on Saturday Night Live. In 1997, he won two Emmys for his Chris Rock: Bring The Pain comedy shows. He also did behind-the-scenes work as an executive producer for The Hughleys. But the biggest show he made in his career was the one loosely based on his childhood called Everybody Hates Chris. He’s since starred in and EP’d several more projects and even made an animated reboot for Everybody Hates Chris in 2024.
Tony Rock got his start in the industry working at the New York Daily News at age 14 with his father. Years later, he became the host for the game show Can You Tell in the early 2000s. He was also the correspondent for BattleBots. He eventually leaned more into acting and got a recurring role in All of Us. Tony also starred as Uncle Ryan in Everybody Hates Chris. He even appeared in dozens of episodes for the sitcom Mann & Wife.
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Black Bro Code — Showing Love To 12 Famous Male Siblings On National Brothers Day was originally published on madamenoire.com

21 Black Beauties From The ’90s Who’ve Been Fine Forever
The 30 Most Beautiful Black Women In Hollywood
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COMMENTARY: 5 Reasons Why Obama Will Beat Romney
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May 26, 2026
The findings showed that the AI model correctly identified exact or near-correct diagnoses in 67% of emergency room triage cases
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing discussions about the future of healthcare. A new study from Harvard found that an AI model performed better than human doctors in several emergency room diagnostic tests. 
This study, published in the Science Journal and highlighted by AfroTech, looked at how OpenAI’s “o1” large language model performed compared to doctors handling emergency room cases. Researchers from Harvard Medical School, Stanford University, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center took part in this research. 
The findings showed that the AI model correctly identified exact or near-correct diagnoses in 67% of emergency room triage cases. In comparison, physicians scored between 50% and 55% under the same conditions. When researchers later provided additional patient information, the AI’s accuracy rose to 82%, still slightly better than that of the doctors. 
The researchers evaluated 76 actual emergency room patient cases from a Boston hospital using electronic health records that included demographic information, vital signs, and nurses’ notes. The study found that AI was particularly strong in the early stages of triage, when doctors often must make quick decisions with limited information. 
However, researchers and medical experts emphasized that this technology is not meant to replace physicians. A separate report from Vox noted that the AI system analyzed only text-based patient data and could not assess physical symptoms, emotional distress, or body language — factors doctors regularly rely on in emergency settings.
Lead researcher Arjun Manrai described the findings as proof of a significant change happening in medicine as AI tools improve. He told TechCrunch, “We tested the AI model against virtually every benchmark, and it eclipsed both prior models and our physician baselines.”
Experts believe that this technology could eventually act as a second-opinion tool to help doctors enhance diagnostic accuracy and treatment planning, rather than completely replace human care.
RELATED CONTENT: Artificial Intelligence Is Changing The Way Students Pick College Majors

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art ended its universal pay-what-you-wish policy in 2018 Photo by Erwin Verbruggen, via Wikimedia
For US museums that have reduced or eliminated entry fees, the expectation has often been that doing so will lead to an increase in visitors who will spend money on different things at the institution, such as merchandise, food, memberships or other special programmes, making up for lost admission revenue. The reality does not always measure up to this expectation.
Gary Vikan, the former director of Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum, says the institution’s decision to eliminate admissions in 2006 led to an increase in attendance “by 45%, and minority participation went up by a factor of three”, but still that greater influx of traffic did not pay for itself. People came for free but did not spend more while there.
Baltimore’s other leading art institution, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA), eliminated admissions at the same time as the Walters, and the long-term results have not been positive overall for either museum. After the first year or so of increased attendance when entry became free, the number of visitors declined at both institutions, by 18.6% at the Walters and 12.7% percent at the BMA, according to a 2021 survey.
“What we have seen, across the country, is that institutions that have eliminated admissions have generally not seen an increase in visitation in any meaningful way,” says Daniel Weiss, the former president and chief executive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and now the director and chief executive at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He adds that competing financial and ethical imperatives are at play. “Museums have an ethical obligation to be accessible, but they also have an ethical obligation to be financially solvent.”
Doing away with admission fees does not help the actual visitors and only hurts the institution, according to John Silvia, an economist and founder of the North Carolina-based business consulting firm Dynamic Economic Strategy. He adds: “It is not financially wise.” Gerald Friedman, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, asked whether or not “people walk in for free who would have paid otherwise? I doubt it.”
The pandemic is another factor in this. It caused a great deal of harm to museums and other cultural institutions that rely on people showing up or paying annual memberships. At the height of Covid, frequent museum visitors got out of the habit and many institutions have been slow to regain their 2019 attendance numbers, let alone draw in the audiences that had been reluctant to go to museums all along.
Attendees of an education programme at the Baltimore Museum of Art Photo: Mitro Hood
The problem of making a public institution more accessible to the public goes beyond the price of getting in and includes what is on view in the museum itself. The principal collections at the Walters are of ancient objects from the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, as well as medieval and pre-20th century European art, which appeal to somewhat specialised tastes and unsurprisingly might not be an obvious draw in Baltimore, a city that has lost a third of its population since 1950 and currently is almost 63% African American. The BMA has recognised that its audience has changed and made some controversial moves under its previous director Christopher Bedford (now at the helm of SFMoMA), such as selling off works by canonical white artists like Franz Kline, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol in order to raise funds to purchase works by under-represented, non-white and African American artists.
There is no one answer for all museums, since many are in cities that tourists flock to (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Washington, DC, for instance), while others primarily serve local and regional residents. The percentage of overall revenues that institutions raise from admissions can vary enormously, from just 2% at the Walters when it still charged entry fees, to 29% at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Based on 2024 tax filings, SFMoMA had total revenues of $76m that year, with entry fees accounted for $40.6m (or over 53%), while the Speed Museum had annual revenues of $17.1m, of which just $261,991 (or 1.5%) came from admissions.
In places where tourism is a major driver of the economy, visitors pay the cost of travel, hotels, restaurants and various forms of entertainment, such as theatre and live music, which all can be very high. Those who have spent thousands of dollars to visit Manhattan are not likely to avoid the Museum of Modern Art because it charges a $30 entry fee for adults. In less tourism-focused cities, museum visitors may be more price-sensitive. Many major Midwestern art museums, such as those in Cleveland, Toledo, Kansas City, St Louis, Minneapolis and Cincinnati, are free.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York found that in spite of ever-increasing numbers of visitors, income from entry fees was actually trending downward since, when given the option of paying what they wish, a growing share of visitors paid quite little. As a result, admissions revenues at the Met were lower in real dollars in 2016 than they had been in 2004. The museum opted to make its pay-what-you-wish admissions policy only applicable to New York State residents and students with valid identification from New York, New Jersey or Connecticut—adult visitors otherwise currently pay $30.
Even museums with steep entry fees implicitly recognise this can pose a problem, as many offer free days or afternoons or discounts to first responders, active military, seniors, locals, the disabled, people receiving subsidies, students, caregivers and others. Still, for some museum leaders, free admission is a cause worth pursuing.
“Museums are charities and mistaking them for businesses that can ‘earn’ their way to solvency is mistaken,” says Maxwell Anderson, the former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA). “Contributed income and endowments are how museums are supported, not ticket sales. Imposing high admission fees only reduces the museum’s relevance to its local audience.”
The Detroit Institute of Arts eliminated admission fees for residents of three surrounding counties in 2012, in exchange for the museum receiving a percentage of their property tax levy Photo by Antony-22, via Wikimedia Commons
In some instances, the most effective way to do away with most attendance fees while balancing the books is to find a donor to make up the lost revenue. That is what took place at the DMA in 2013 (which charges admission to special exhibitions) and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art in 2019. In 2012, the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) eliminated its admissions for residents of three surrounding counties (Wayne, Oakland and Macomb) in exchange for the museum receiving a percentage of their property tax levy.
As part of the DIA’s elimination of its admissions fees, the museum made notable changes in its displays and programming. A department of African American art was created, and a reinstallation of art placed a greater emphasis on contemporary art. According to Timothy Chester, the former director of the Grand Rapids Public Museum and currently a museum consultant, “the DIA added a variety of interpretive signage and interactive tools to help make installations more relevant to diverse audiences. Critics accused the institution of ‘dumbing down’ the museum, but such criticism quickly faded.”
Until the Met decided to do away with it, Weiss says, its pay-what-you-wish policy effectively reminded people of a social contract between the museum and its public, that “we all have an obligation to support this institution, which all of us own and all of us benefit from”.
Government funding for the Sydney institution, which is already closed one day a week and is now charging A$20 entry, remains the same as in 2008
Remuseum’s second report concludes that admission fees are raising few funds and keeping out potential visitors—and expansions are often not worth the money
Many of the biggest art museums in New York and elsewhere have raised the price of general admission to $30, while others continue to pursue free-entry policies
The principle of free admission to museums is being eroded, as entry fees are introduced to balance budgets

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Waka Flocka Flame links with The Morning Hustle at Birthday Bash XXX to talk legend status, politics, Jake Paul and turning ATL up.
Backstage at Birthday Bash XXX, The Morning Hustle’s Kyle Santillian and Lore’l sat down with Waka Flocka Flame, a performer the crowd already knew would send the energy through the roof. Waka joked that at 40 he might need an introduction, but fans outside were already naming him as the main person they came to see. Fresh off the Millennium Tour, he pulled up humbled and excited to hit a stage in the city that helped shape him. Performing at this 30th anniversary show is another marker in a career that has clearly stood the test of time.
RELATED: The South Got Somethin’ To Say: Everything You Missed at BIRTHDAY BASH XXX
Waka talked about recently wrapping the Millennium Tour and how being backstage with artists he once watched as a kid felt like a bucket list check. Seeing stars he grew up on and sharing space with them was humbling, and he described it as God telling him, “Bro, you a legend.” That realization hit him again at Birthday Bash XXX, where he struggled to even get dressed because performing at home in Clayton County’s backyard felt so personal. For him, this show is less about pressure and more about being at home and giving Atlanta what it made him famous for.
Lore’l gave Waka his flowers for confronting Jake Paul in a past interview, but he pushed back on the idea that he simply “checked” him. Waka said he sees himself as too grown to just check a kid and viewed that moment more as enlightening him. He explained that his passion may have come off as anger, but when he knows the truth, he doesn’t get mad — he wants to offer enlightenment. Because Jake Paul looked at him as a pillar of respect, Waka said he was more let down than angry and wanted to make it clear the situation wasn’t funny.
When asked about his political views and the controversy around them, Waka said he is not a politician and rejects being labeled a “super supporter” of anyone. He stated plainly that he feels Donald Trump is better than Kamala Harris but added that, as an American, he does not believe in publicly disrespecting his country’s president abroad. He emphasized knowing who he is and what he stands for, while also making it clear he is always ready to defend those beliefs. Looking back on Birthday Bash history, he named the T.I. and Lil Flip moment as one of the biggest he witnessed, saying it made him proud as a fan and felt like a true “Atlanta” moment.
Waka Flocka Flame Talks Legend Status, Politics And Going Crazy On Stage With The Morning Hustle At Birthday Bash XXX was originally published on hotspotatl.com

21 Black Beauties From The ’90s Who’ve Been Fine Forever
The 30 Most Beautiful Black Women In Hollywood
Rest In Power: Notable Black Folks Who We’ve Lost In 2026
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As Rihanna reportedly says farewell to her partnership with PUMA, we look back at some of the flyest celebrity sneaker collaborations.
We’d be lying to ourselves if we said celebrity influence didn’t play a major part in the world of commerce. From food and drinks to the brand names we wear on our backs, many of those decisions were made thanks in part to an endorsement by one of your favorite famous faces. It’s practically a standard when it comes to copping sneakers.
It’s probably the reason why so many find themselves shocked by recent news that PUMA has reportedly ended its longstanding partnership with global pop queen Rihanna. This comes after she was spotted rocking the popular Jacquemus x Nike Moon Shoe that Solange modeled for the campaign back in March.
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Shop Now – adidas x JFF World Cup Kits And Bob Marley Collab
According to Snobette editor Lois Sakany, a reliable-yet-anonymous source confirmed that not only will FENTY x PUMA be soon coming to an end, the sportswear imprint’s collaborative efforts with her boyfriend/baby daddy A$AP Rocky will also be wrapping up for good sometime in 2026. The decision appears to be simply contractual and was only meant to last for a duration of three years.
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More details below, via Snobette News:
“The return of Fenty x Puma was officially announced in March 2023. While financial terms were never disclosed, I’m told Rihanna and Puma agreed to a three-year contract. Rihanna initially partnered with Puma in 2014, likewise under a three-year agreement that she later told Vogue had concluded with a final spring 2018 collection. Other than their duration, however, the two deals had very little in common.
For her first run with Puma, CEO Bjørn Gulden was still leading the company before departing in 2023 to take over at Adidas, where he remains today. At the time, Rihanna’s world looked very different too: she was dating around but not yet committed, and had yet to launch Fenty Beauty (2017) or Savage X Fenty (2018).”
The report goes on to add that it became a whole new ball game from the initial partnership to the renewed deal, including Arne Freundt signing a four-year contract as new CEO of PUMA only to depart two years later, stiff competition from the on-trend adidas Samba, and, understandably, a distance from younger consumers as her absence from music turned from a few years into a full decade. That Rihanna reign might not let up, but timing has a way of changing everything.
It got us thinking back on the history of celebrity sneaker collaborations overall. In addition to Rih, we have seen some of the biggest superstars at the forefront of campaigns for our favorite footwear giants — checks, stripes and the Jumpman alike! Regardless of how you feel about their music, movies or performance on the court, there’s no denying the impact they had in dominating the business of footwear on a whole new level of artistic creativity.
Honorable Mention: Kanye West x Nike

Honorable Mention: Billionaire Boys Club/Ice Cream x Reebok
Honorable Mention: Kendrick Lamar x Nike

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21 Black Beauties From The ’90s Who’ve Been Fine Forever
Rest In Power: Notable Black Folks Who We’ve Lost In 2026
The 30 Most Beautiful Black Women In Hollywood
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A sandstone sculpture of a dancing Ganesha that was looted from a temple in Madhya Pradesh, India in 2000 by a co-conspirator of Subhash Kapoor Courtesy the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office
The office of Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg announced late last month that it had returned 657 antiquities, collectively valued at nearly $14m, to Indian authorities. The pieces were recovered through several ongoing investigations into criminal trafficking networks and handed over at a ceremony at India’s consulate in New York City. Some of the objects recovered were linked to the smuggling networks of the convicted traffickers Subhash Kapoor and Nancy Wiener.
Among the returned pieces is a bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara, valued at $2m. The figure was part of a large group of bronzes discovered near the Lakshamana Temple in 1939 and had entered the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum’s collection in Raipur by 1952. However, it was subsequently stolen and, by 1982, had been smuggled into the United States. It was located and seized from a private New York collection in 2025.
Also being repatriated to India is a red sandstone Buddha, its feet broken off below the knees, which is valued at $7.5m. It had been smuggled to New York by Kapoor and was retrieved from one of his storage units by the Manhattan DA’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit.
Additionally, a sandstone dancing Ganesha, looted from a temple in Madhya Pradesh in 2000 by one of Kapoor’s indicted co-conspirators, was relocated after passing through several hands. It had been sold to Nancy Wiener’s mother, the dealer Doris Wiener; after her mother’s death, Nancy Wiener created a false provenance for the artifact and successfully consigned it to Christie’s. It went up for auction in New York in 2012, where it was purchased by a private collector who later surrendered it to the District Attorney’s office.
“The scale of the trafficking networks that targeted cultural heritage in India is massive, as demonstrated by the return of more than 600 pieces today,” Bragg said in a statement.
Kapoor and seven co-defendants were indicted in November 2019 for conspiring to traffic stolen antiquities from South and Southeast Asia. He was convicted in India in 2022, and his extradition to the US remains pending. Five co-defendants have already been convicted.
The artefacts were flagged by Christos Tsiogiannis, who has, since 2006, been identifying looted antiquities through photographic archives of suspected and convicted dealers in plunder
The 60 objects included some that had been on display at the Metropolitan Museum and several that had been bought by billionaire collector Michael Steinhardt
Five objects worth more than €3m have been confiscated by authorities as part of a wide-ranging global investigation involving former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez
Some of the 133 objects being repatriated are associated with the antiquities smugglers Subhash Kapoor and Richard Beale

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Heffel vice president Robert Heffel fields bids for E.J. Hughes’s Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC during Thursday’s auction Courtesy Heffel
The West Coast landscape painter E.J. Hughes stole the show at the Canadian auction house Heffel’s marquee spring auction in still-chilly Toronto on Thursday night (21 May). His Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC (1948)realised C$5.7m (or $4.1m, all prices include fees), more than tripling its high estimate of $1.75m and surpassing the artist’s previous secondary-market record, set at a Heffel auction in 2025.
The bustling seascape painting had been consigned by Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where Hughes studied nearly a century ago (when it was known as the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts) and graduated in 1933. Proceeds from the work’s sale were earmarked to benefit student awards.
Seven other works by Hughes were offered during the evening’s earlier session, though none came close to the result for Coastal Boats. Heffel had even created a separate catalogue devoted to its star lot.
E.J. Hughes, Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC, 1948 Courtesy Heffel
The evening’s total tally came to C$22.4m ($16.2m), a sizeable drop from the equivalent auctions last November, which brought in more than C$31m ($22.1m). Of the 80 works offered across Thursday’s back-to-back sales of postwar and contemporary art followed by Old Master, Impressionist and Modern art, only five failed to sell, resulting in a solid 93.75% sell-through rate by lot on the night.
“From the record-breaking E.J. Hughes to the exceptional results achieved throughout the evening, the sale reflected continued confidence in the Canadian art market and the enduring importance of these remarkable artists,” Robert Heffel, vice president of Heffel Fine Art Auction House, said in a statement after Thursday’s auctions.
“Buying art makes you happy,” Heffel’s president David Heffel said in launching the proceedings at the auction house’s premises in Toronto’s swank Yorkville district. His words apparently hit home as the sale got to a swift start and works by Guido Molinari and Mary Pratt easily surpassed their pre-sale estimates. Pratt’s luminous 2010 painting Snow Light in My House eventually sold for C$205,250 ($149,000), tripling its high estimate.
Mary Frances Pratt, Snow Light in My House, 2010 Courtesy Heffel
There were more fireworks to follow, with four lots crossing the million-dollar mark during the evening’s two sales. “It was in 2000 that we sold our first million-dollar painting,” Robert Heffel pointed out. (That was Emily Carr’s 1912 painting War Canoes, Alert Bay, now in the Audain Art Museum’s collection.)
The always-in demand Jean Paul Riopelle was well represented, with four works in the post-war and contemporary sale. His roiling untitled canvas from 1950, held in the same private collection in Toronto for the last 43 years, sold squarely within its estimate for C$1.3m ($959,000).
An early work by the realist painter Alex Colville also elicited bullish bidding. Cattle Show (1955), which was included in the 1964 exhibition Fifteen Canadian Artists at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, sold for C$931,250 ($676,000), just over its high estimate.
Alexander Colville, Cattle Show, 1955 Courtesy Heffel
The much-honoured artist Takao Tanabe, who will turn 100 later this year, had three works on offer in the post-war and contemporary sale. Top of the group was his moody seascape Inside Passage 12/98: In Grenville Channel (1998), which brought in C$511,250 ($371,000)—more than four times its high estimate and a new auction record for the artist.
There were fireworks in the evening’s second session, devoted to more historic material, as well. The moody landscape composition Early Winter Frost (1914) by the ill-fated Tom Thomson sold near its high estimate, achieving C$1.2m ($872,000).
Group of Seven mainstays Arthur Lismer and A.J. Casson also racked up big numbers. Lismer’s Bon Echo Rock (1922) cracked the seven figure mark, selling for C$1.08m ($785,000). Casson’s Autumn on the York River (1959) tripled its high estimate, taking in$931,250 ($676,000). Another composition in autumnal hues, The Turning Earth (around 1950) by Lawren Harris, the Group’s unofficial leader, sold for C$313,250 ($227,000), nearly nine times its high estimate.
Peter Lely, His Royal Highness Prince Rupert, around 1665 Courtesy Heffel
The evening featured five works by Emily Carr, led by Strait of Juan de Fuca (around 1935), which doubled its high estimate to sell for C$601,250 ($436,000). Another Carr standout was Alive (1939), which had very humble beginnings: when it was shown at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1943 it carried a price tag of just C$50. It far surpassed that price, and its high estimate of C$350,000, to sell for C$481,250 ($349,000) on Thursday night.
A work of historic interest in the latter auction of the evening was the recently rediscovered portrait of Prince Rupert by Peter Lelyfrom around 1665, which had been in the collection of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). It is thought to have been gifted by Prince Rupert at the founding of the once all-powerful company in 1670. It surpassed its C$150,000 high estimate to sell for C$217,250 ($157,000).
Serge Lemoyne, Sans titre (from the series Bleu blanc rouge), 1976 Courtesy Heffel
In addition to that exceptional lot from the HBC collection, the evening featured works from several important private collections, notably those of the Québecois lyricist and music producer Luc Plamondon, and the late Albertan radiologist Luigi Rossi. A work from Plamondon’s collection provided a timely exclamation point in the earlier of the night’s sales.
With the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup playoffs in full swing and the Montreal Canadiens flying high, David Heffel flashed a Canadiens jersey once worn by his son and bearing the naming PRICE on the back. He then opened bidding on Serge Lemoyne’s Sans titre (1976), an abstract composition of primary red and blue criss-crossed with white—the colours of Montreal’s favourite team. Despite Toronto being solidly behind the struggling Maple Leafs, Lemoyne’s painting skated past its low estimate to sell for $49,250 ($35,700). (The Canadiens, too, found success Thursday night.)
The Canadian auction house also saw strong results from works by members of the Group of Seven and a soaring Warhol print
The Carr painting was one of the star attractions at the Heffel Fine Art Auction House’s marquee autumn sale in Toronto, alongside works by Tom Thomson, Marcelle Ferron, Kenojuak Ashevak and Chief 7IDANsuu James Hart
Across the day’s four sales in Toronto, the auction house set new secondary-market records for 16 artists’ work
Works by Group of Seven members Franklin Carmichael and Arthur Lismer, plus Emily Carr, topped the Canadian auction house’s two-part evening sale

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May 24, 2026
Rev. Richardson shares a big message in a short package
It took Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson 30 seconds to inspire a little more than 700 Black men at the 2025 XCEL Summit for Men. Rev. Richardson, the senior pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon, New York, and an XCEL Award honoree, encouraged everyone during his acceptance speech to create their own resources and possibilities today, so they become transgenerational to their children and grandchildren tomorrow. It all boiled down to a simple concept: If you’re investing in this generation, make it last for the next. Otherwise, our children and grandchildren will not get to where they need to be.

As BLACK ENTERPRISE prepares for its 10^th anniversary of the XCEL Summit for Men, Rev. Richardson’s message still resonates. Here’s a brief excerpt from his speech.
RELATED CONTENT: BET Founder Robert L. Johnson To Receive XCEL Honors At BLACK ENTERPRISE’s 2026 XCEL Summit For Men
© 2026 Black Enterprise. All Rights Reserved.

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Christie’s auctioneer,Yü-Ge Wang sells Gerhard Richter’s Kerze (Candle) for $35.1m (with fees) on 20 May Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd 2026
Rounding out a marquee auction week that has combined record-breaking masterpieces with tepid bidding for more middling material, Christie’s delivered a satisfactory, if uneven, two-and-a-half-hour performance Wednesday night (20 May) in its back-to-back 21st century evening sale, featuring works from the estate of the late dealer Marian Goodman, and a single-owner auction of Henry S. McNeil’s collection.
Overall, the night featured 42 lots and achieved a hammer total of $132m ($162.6m with fees), putting it just over the low end of Christie’s pre-sale estimate of $129m to $191m for the night (estimates are calculated without fees). Just one work was passed, Ed Ruscha’s 2000 canvas Career Sportswear (est $3.5m-$5.5m), and one was withdrawn, an acrylic-on-PVC work by Kerry James Marshall (est $2m-$3m), making for a healthy sell-through rate of 95%. The $136.8m (with fees) total for the 21st century evening sale portion of the night was 42% higher than last May’s equivalent sale, and marks the highest 21st century evening sale total at Christie’s New York in five years, according to a press release from the auction house.
Donald Judd, untitled, 1969 Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd 2026
Beginning Wednesday’s proceedings were 12 Minimalist works from the Philadelphia home of Henry S. McNeil Jr, who was thought to have amassed one of the greatest private collections of the post-war style. The top lot from the single-owner sale was Donald Judd’s untitled plexiglass and copper stack sculpture, which hammered for $10.6m ($12.8m with fees) to a phone bidder via Christie’s global president Alex Rotter, after a three-way, four-minute tussle, making a new record for a Judd stack at auction.
While the Judd stack predictably commanded the sale’s top price, the surprise star of the collection was its final lot: Richard Artschwager’s Two-Part Invention (1967), an understated sculpture composed of two modular wooden pieces, one placed on the floor and the other affixed to a wall above. Estimated at $60,000 to $80,000, it attracted bids from four bidders, including two in the room, eventually hammering at $500,000 ($635,000 with fees), more than six times its high estimate.
Richard Artschwager, Two-Part Invention, 1967 Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd 2026
Carl Andre’s 66 Copper-Carbon Corner, the first cubic sculpture by the artist to ever come to auction, also outperformed its estimate, hammering at $880,000 ($1.1m with fees) against a $500,000 high estimate.
Other works by Minimalist titans failed to ignite attention. A second Judd, a brass wall sculpture, hammered at $3.6m to a single bid from its guarantor, well below its $5m low estimate. This was one of five works from the collection to be guaranteed by a third-party, alongside sculptures by Andre, Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin and Richard Tuttle. Although they likely deterred more lively bidding, securing these pre-sale purchases proved a sensible tactic: all those five lots received little attention and hammered below their low estimate, each almost certainly to their guarantors. Consequently, all 12 lots from the McNeil collection sold, making for a white-glove sale to open the two-auction evening.
Following that Minimalist trove was another group of works with a storied provenance. When Christie’s announced it had secured the private collection of the revered New York dealer Marian Goodman, eyebrows were raised as to whether the market could absorb a deluge of works by Gerhard Richter, the famous German painter whose career Goodman was pivotal in stewarding.
The answer, it turns out, is yes, but not with the gusto these works might have stirred up a decade ago. With all but two of the octet guaranteed by third parties, Goodman’s Richters contained no great disappointments but also few fireworks.
Gerhard Richter, Kerze (Candle), 1982 Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd 2026
The star lot of the group, a painting of a candle in Richter’s signature blurred photorealistic style—and whose imagery gained extra poignancy in the context of Goodman’s death—was given a confident estimate of $35m to $50m, positioning it to compete with the artist’s current secondary-market record, set at $46.3m at Sotheby’s London in 2015. But the lot, Kerze (Candle) (1982), proved not to be a slow burn, hammering quickly below its low estimate for $30m ($35m with fees) to a phone bidder on the line with Kathryn Lasater, Christie’s senior vice president based in San Francisco. Nonetheless, it is the fourth-highest price achieved by the artist’s work at auction.
Two of Goodman’s Richters managed to considerably exceed their high estimates, including the oil-on-photograph 10. Dez. 99 [Firenze] (1999) made $190,000 ($241,300 with fees) against a $70,000 high estimate. Most others hammered squarely within, or at the upper end of, their estimates.
Gerhard Richter, 10. Dez. 99 [Firenze], 1999 Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd 2026
Still, the consensus is that demand for the revered German painter’s work, especially outside trophy pieces, is relatively subdued. “I was sitting behind a dealer who not so long ago had asked me to secure a Richter abstract painting, and was willing to pay up to $5m,” the adviser Lorinda Ash said shortly after the sale concluded. “Tonight they weren’t bidding on any of it. There is no limit to how much people are willing to spend. But they are just not spending money in the middle.”
Ash added that bidding for Goodman’s Richters on Wednesday was particularly strong from China and the Middle East, the latter of which she said was surprising “considering the present political situation”.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Asbestos, around 1982 Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd 2026
The sale then continued into its various owners portion, bringing healthy competition for a fiery painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat titled Asbestos (around 1982), which was once sold at Sotheby’s New York in 1990 by the infamous collector Ethel Scull. It eventually hammered at $5.3m ($6.5m with fees), above its 5m high estimate.
Coming at the end of an intense fortnight of fairs and auctions in New York, the energy in Christie’s Rockefeller Center headquarters on Wednesday eventually began to lag. “It was like the air was sucked out of the room,” Ash noted. What followed was essentially a string of bargain deals, as numerous works by established names hammered below their estimates, including canvases by Rudolf Stingel, Richard Prince and Mark Bradford.
Richard Prince, Sexual Behavior of American Nurses, 2009-11 Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd 2026
The night’s biggest discount came courtesy of Eric Fischl’s The Pizza Eater (1982), a nude beach scene that hammered at $250,000 to its third-party guarantor. With fees the price came to $300,000—half its $600,000 low estimate.
Finally, bringing up the sale’s rear was an enormous 1990 pornographic silkscreen by Jeff Koons, depicting the artist, then in his thirties, with his then-wife, the adult film star and politician Ilona Staller. The work, which was guaranteed in-house, hammered at half price, making $254,000 (with fees) against a $400,000 low estimate.
Undeterred, the evening’s auctioneer Yü-Ge Wang quipped, “now that’s a happy ending!”, eliciting a chorus of cringing laughter from the final stragglers in the salesroom. Perhaps it is too early to say the art market has fully regained its mojo—but it certainly hasn’t lost its sense of humour.
Two-part sale spanning Impressionism to the ultra-contemporary had few headline lots—but Brexit is not to blame, auction house specialists maintain
The evening kicked off with a sale of 20th- and 21st-century art, followed by works from the collection of the late businessman Sam Josefowitz
The auction house’s bottom line benefitted from the strong performance of works from the collections of S.I. Newhouse and Paul G. Allen

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