Lisa Havilah has reportedly said she wants to return to Sydney's beleaguered Powerhouse Parramatta museum after standing aside last week but the former chief executive might change her mind given the latest headlines.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports the local government is considering selling off one of the museum's buildings before it opens in a bid to recover some of its $720 million budget.

The Harwood building had been earmarked for staff offices and workshops but could be sold after the discovery of asbestos and lead paint on some of the site, which had not shown up in three previous tests, added another $21.5 million to the cost of the project.

Havilah stood aside after "fresh allegations" were raised by a whistleblower around procurement issues and conflicts of interest.

The museum, which will show works by the likes of Es Devlin and James Turrell, is due to open on November 7.

The cost of Kehinde Wiley's Aesthetically Terrifying t-shirt which is being sold in his online shop. It bears the phrase used by Erin Scavino of Art in Embassies to describe his work Young Artists After Siamesas 1960 which was removed from the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic.

Maurizio Cattelan says it will be "more disturbing" if his new Berlin show - complete with his sculpture of a kneeling Adolf Hitler - does not attract protests.

The show, which opens on Thursday at the city's New National Gallery, includes his work Him which shows the Nazi leader on his knees.

He told Italian newspaper La Repubblica he wanted to bring the work to the city because it was "not just an image of evil, but a memory that the country has had to continue to look at for generations".

Speaking before the weekend's election when the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won a decisive victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, Cattelan said: "If Him no longer caused any discomfort in Berlin, that would seem much more disturbing to me than a protest."

An unlikely inter-museum acquisition has caused controversy after a prestigious US art museum revealed it had snapped up some furniture sold off by the National Gallery in London.

The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, posted a film on Instagram showing the installation of "two Victorian-style gallery benches" it said had "recently crossed an ocean to continue their museum careers here at The Wadsworth".

Its director Matthew Hargraves said the red leather benches had been "kindly donated to us by a London-based supporter" prompting one follower to lament their loss from London, saying: "Sadly so many museums and galleries in the UK are now run by philistines."

There were protests when the benches, which are modern reproductions of Victorian designs, were auctioned off last year with the gallery, led by Gabriele Finaldi, saying they did not meet modern safety standards and replacing them with plain wooden benches.

Harlem's Studio Museum has two million reasons to celebrate Beyonce's 45th birthday after the singer marked the occasion with a major donation.

The star said she was "impressed" by the New York museum's position as "an integral part of the community" and said it had introduced her to "several of my favorite young and upcoming Black artists".

Chief curator Thelma Golden said the $2 million would "allow us to continue strengthening our work for Harlemites, New Yorkers, and audiences across the globe".

1 - Seoul's Kumho Museum of Art will close next July after almost 40 years of exhibitions and programs supporting young artists. The museum, which has staged shows by artists including Joan Miro, said it will now concentrate its "resources on selected programs" to help budding musicians.

2 - British fashion designer Paul Smith said he plans to leave "literally everything" to his foundation to help young designers navigate the industry. Smith, who has dressed UK icons from David Bowie to the Manchester United football team, told The Guardian he wanted to ensure they learned "all the things I didn't know at 20".

3 - An Argentinian court has ruled a painting stolen from a Jewish art dealer by the Nazis in the Second World War must be returned to his heirs. Portrait of a Lady, previously owned by Jacques Goudstikker, was recovered after it was spotted in an online real estate listing hanging on the wall in the home of the daughter of a high-ranking Nazi. It was originally thought to be by Italian artist Giuseppe Ghislandi but recent research has put that in doubt.