To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter.
Good morning!
A new women-led art fair called Echo Solo will take place alongside Frieze London in October.
Photo London is moving from Somerset House to new, shiny digs in Olympia next year, as it bids to rival Paris Photo.
The artist Lumin Wakoa, who was represented by Harper’s Gallery in New York, had died at the age of 43.
The Headlines
GIRL POWER. A new boutique art fair for women-led galleries, Echo Soho, will debut in London from October 16 to 19, running alongside Frieze London. Launched by gallery owner India Rose James, the fair will take place at Artist’s House on Manette Street—home to Soho Revue Gallery’s residency program—and feature 12 exhibitors across two floors of a Georgian townhouse. James, who founded Soho Revue in 2019, said she was inspired by the vibrant satellite fair scenes in cities like Miami. “Every year I go to Frieze and wonder why London doesn’t have more alternatives,” she told the Art Newspaper . While not positioned as a competitor to Frieze, Echo Soho aims to be a more accessible, complementary platform for mid-sized and emerging galleries. With stand prices starting at just £850 ($1,150) and booth sizes ranging from 20 to 30 square feet, the fair seeks to lower barriers for participation. “We’ll help with installs, provide an art handler, take booth photos—it’s designed to be as easy as possible,” James said. The fair also underscores her commitment to female representation. “Our program is largely female, as is my network,” she explained. “And when writing the exhibitor list, we realized how few female-led galleries there actually are.” Confirmed participants include Pipeline, Gillian Jason Gallery , and Awita, which will curate the “Resonant Spaces” exhibition in the venue’s former chapel. Echo Soho is supported by Soho Estates and partners including Soho House and Cass Art.
Related Articles
THAT’S A SNAP. Next year, Photo London, the UK’s leading photography fair, will relocate to Olympia’s National Hall in West London, the Art Newspaper reports. The move will end a 10-year run at the historic Somerset House on the banks of the River Thames and aligns with Olympia’s £1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) redevelopment, led by Heatherwick Studio and SPPARC. “Olympia’s new cross-cultural profile means we will benefit from increased synergy with other arts, entertainment, and creative businesses, creating opportunities for the development of audiences and ideas whilst enhancing the fair’s appeal to visitors and simplifying our layout to ensure a more unified experience for all participating galleries,” fair director Sophie Parker said. In 2026, galleries and visitors can look forward to improved sightlines and navigation, more space, and dedicated VIP and collector areas. First opened in 1896 and designed by Henry Edward Coe, Olympia reopens at the end of this year and has long served as a venue for global exhibitions and cultural events. Photo London setting up shop there signals its ambition to compete directly with Paris Photo, which has just returned to the refurbished Grand Palais. Photo London has been instrumental to the photography market, once a niche corner of the art world. The fair now ranks among the top photography fairs globally, representing a medium that holds its own in the art market, despite accounting for only 1 percent of global auction sales, according to Art Basel and UBS’s 2025 Art Market Report. The 11th edition of Photo London will take place at Olympia from May 14 to 17, 2026, with a preview on May 13.
The Digest
Paris is set to open a new museum honoring Hector Guimard, the creator of its iconic Art Nouveau metro entrances. The museum’s founders hope its launch will “right a historical wrong” and give long-overdue recognition to the once-forgotten artist. [Time Out]
The Museu de l’Art Prohibit in Barcelona, the world’s first museum dedicated to censored art, has closed indefinitely less than two years after its launch. Described by the Times in London as “the most offensive museum in the world,” it opened in October 2023 under the direction of Catalan journalist and entrepreneur Tatxo Benet. The museum showcased banned works by artists including Ai Weiwei,David Wojnarowicz, and Abel Azcona. Its closure in late June followed ongoing disruption from striking workers who had been picketing the institution. [ The Art Newspaper]
Nicola Lees, director of the Aspen Art Museum, told Apollo how her institution—what she calls the “Serpentine in the mountains”—is transforming artists into leaders. [Apollo]
Lumin Wakoa, a rising painter whose art was part of a quest to better learn how to see the world around her, has died at 43. Her death was announced by her gallery, Harper’s, on Monday. [ARTnews]
The Kicker
MATISSE AFTER VAN GOGH. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam recently acquired Olive Grove in Collioure (1905) by Henri Matisse to highlight the profound influence Vincent van Gogh had on 20th-century art. Though painted 15 years after Van Gogh’s death, Matisse’s vivid, expressive landscape reflects the Dutch master’s impact—intensely personal, anti-naturalistic, and radical in color and technique, Jo Lawson-Tancred writes in Artnet News. The work exemplifies how Van Gogh helped shape Matisse’s early Fauvist style, marked by bold palettes and loose, energetic brushwork. Matisse first discovered Van Gogh’s art in 1897 while visiting John Russell, an Australian painter and friend of Van Gogh. Deeply moved, Matisse was gifted a Van Gogh drawing, Haystacks (1888), which he proudly displayed alongside works by Cézanne and Gauguin. Some say his style changed overnight. Yet Matisse also drew from other sources, including the pointillism of Georges Seurat, visible in his use of spaced, deliberate brushstrokes. Lisa Smit , curator of paintings at the Van Gogh Museum, described the Matisse work as “an explosion of confetti” and a crucial addition to the museum’s collection. The acquisition strengthens the museum’s narrative of Van Gogh’s legacy, which extended to artists like Picasso, Hockney, Kirchner, and Kandinsky. “It fills a significant gap,” she said, showing Van Gogh’s enduring role in shaping modern art.