Launched as a fortnightly broadsheet in February 1949 by a retired country medical practitioner, Dr Richard Gainsborough, and the first edition was designed by his wife, the artist Eileen Mayo,[1] Arts News and Review set out to champion contemporary art in Britain, providing its readers with commentary, news and reviews.

By 2006 ArtReview had reinvented itself once more, to grapple with the artistic product of an artworld now thriving not only in Britain, Europe and the US, but also in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Artists featured on the cover have included Yayoi Kusama, Subodh Gupta, Liam Gillick, Ai Weiwei, Thomas Hirschhorn, Keren Cytter, Steve McQueen, Yael Bartana, Phyllida Barlow, Dóra Maurer, Tacita Dean, Danh Vo, Sarah Lucas, Fernanda Gomes, Ragnar Kjartansson, Geta Brătescu.

[6] In June 2019, the magazine announced that Modern Media Holdings had acquired a majority stake in its publisher ArtReview Ltd.[7] Lawrence Alloway, J. G. Ballard, Reyner Banham, Cecil Beaton, Sister Wendy Beckett, John Berger, Nicolas Bourriaud, Michael Bracewell, Anita Brookner, Jan Carew, Matthew Collings, Maurice Collis, John Coplans, Richard Cork, Janet Daley, Marie Darrieussecq, Geoff Dyer, Kenneth Frampton, Peter Fuller, Patrick Heron, Anthony Hill, Stewart Home, Siri Hustvedt, Liam Gillick, Frederick Joss, David Lee, Henri Matisse, Eileen Mayo, Rosie Millard, Eric Newton, Victor Pasmore, Nikolaus Pevsner, Heather Phillipson, Herbert Read, Bryan Robertson, Arundhati Roy, Jasia Reichardt, Brian Sewell, David Sylvester, Marina Vaizey, Christian Viveros-Fauné, and Max Wykes-Joyce.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin responded "China has many artists who have sufficient ability.

This includes criticism, reviews, commentary, and analysis, complemented by commissioned projects from artists, informative guides, and a range of special supplements.