Art & Artists News | Smithsonian Magazine

Double Self-Portrait by John Singer Sargent, 1902

John Singer Sargent 'Abhorred' Making His Lavish Portraits, So He Took Up Charcoal to Get the Job Done

Sargent made his portraits in charcoal—a medium that allowed completion in less than three hours rather than the weeks it took for his full-length oils

March 10, 2020

The original call for submissions that was mailed out for the 1977 iteration of "What is Feminist Art?"

More Than 40 Years Later, Artists Answer a Still-Relevant Question: What Is Feminist Art?

An exhibition from the Archives of American Art asks artists—and the viewer—to ponder what makes art feminist, and how that definition has evolved

March 6, 2020

Strobridge Lithographing Company,
Kellar and His Perplexing Cabinet Mysteries, 1894. Purchase, funds graciously donated by La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso.

The Amazing Poster Art From the 'Golden Age' of Magic

An exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario shows how magicians enticed audiences with advertisements of levitations, decapitations and other deceptions

March 4, 2020

Over its two-minute lifetime, the faux rhino (above: The Substitute) adapts “to his environment and moves around. His form and his sound become more lifelike, but ultimately, he is coming to life without any natural context and in this completely digital form," says the museum's curator Andrea Lipps.

The Northern White Rhino Went Extinct, But for Two Minutes at a Time, the Animal Makes a Digital Comeback

An artist's 3-D recreation of the immense mammal probes the paradox of efforts to bring such animals back in the lab

March 3, 2020

Author-illustrator duo Jon Scieszka and Steven Weinberg debut How to Make a Collagasaurus, a how-to booklet inviting kids to transform the Smithsonian collections into zany new art forms.

Smithsonian Releases 2.8 Million Images Into Public Domain

The launch of a new open access platform ushers in a new era of accessibility for the Institution

February 25, 2020

The circa 1968-96 Lunar con Tatuaje (Moon With Tattoo), made of stretched canvas and acrylic, is one of over 40 works in the retrospective.

New York Museum Highlights the Artwork of Zilia Sánchez

The Cuban American artist has long been a creative force. Now she’s having her big moment—in her tenth decade

March 2020

Ken Gonzales-Day’s photograph of the Portrait of Shonke Mon-thi^ now resides in the collections of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.

Recognition of Major Osage Leader and Warrior Opens a New Window Into History

The story of Shonke Mon-thi^, a hidden figure in American history, is now recovered at the National Portrait Gallery

February 19, 2020

Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City (1946).

Women Who Shaped History

How the U.S. Government Deployed Grandma Moses Overseas in the Cold War

In 1950, an exhibition of the famed artist's paintings toured Europe in a promotional campaign of American culture

March 2020

The high-quality ice comes straight from a pond located just a stone’s throw away from Ice Art Park, just west of downtown Fairbanks, where the annual competition is held.

The Painstaking Art of Ice Carving

It might be cold and labor intensive, but that doesn’t stop artists from testing their ice sculpting skills at the World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks

February 6, 2020

Spectacular offerings include (clockwise from top left): John Singer Sargent; art in response to the Age of Humans; Preston Singletary; Yayoi Kusama; and the mighty influence of Alexander von Humboldt.

Twenty Smithsonian Shows to See in 2020

Women inventors, baseball stamps and a new Kusama Infinity Room are among the offerings

February 6, 2020

Janet Echelman's piece "1.78" has been on view in a variety of places, including Madrid in 2018. It will next be on display in Helsinki.

The Must-See Outdoor Art Installations of 2020

Janet Echelman, Yayoi Kusama and Dale Chihuly are just a few of the artists making massive sculptures for the year ahead

February 3, 2020

Peter Longstaff, a foot artist who participated in the neurological study.

Artists Who Paint With Their Feet Have Unique Brain Patterns

Neuroscientists determined that certain "sensory maps" in the brain become more refined when people use their feet like hands

January 30, 2020

John Baldessari, "Six Colorful Inside Jobs," 1977, 16mm film on video, color, silent; 32:53 minutes

How the Video Works of John Baldessari Defined Contemporary Art

Smithsonian curator Saisha Grayson examines the legacy of one of the greats of American Art

January 29, 2020

Great Nature, Storm on Mount Lyell from Johnson Peak by Chiura Obata, 1939

How Japanese Artist Chiura Obata Came to Be an American Great

With landscapes infused with an emotion borne of a life of struggle, this master receives his due in this traveling retrospective now at the Smithsonian

January 29, 2020

The Smithsonian's Jack Mitchell Photography of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Collection (Above: Detail of Judith Jamison in "Revelations," 1967) is now digitized for public viewing.

Trove of Stunning Dance Photography Now Online

An alliance between dance impresario Alvin Ailey and photographer Jack Mitchell yielded more than 10,000 images

January 24, 2020

Two of Antonio Gentile's original Mr. Peanut sketches from 1916.

History of Now