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Arts & Culture / Art & Artists

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

History of Now

Mr. Peanut Was the Creation of an Italian-American Schoolboy

One of the most iconic food brands was born in the imagination of a teenager, Antonio Gentile. Curator Kathleen Franz introduces the story

The 1906 Kunstdommere (Art Judges) (detail) by Michael Ancher, group portrait captured a handful of Danish cultural luminaries of Scandanavia’s Modern Breakthrough movement of the 1870s and 1880s.

Rare Chance in 2020 to See This Classic Danish Masterwork

At the Portrait Gallery, a new show gets at the visual heart of competitive camaraderie roiling within artist colonies

Yayoi Kusama with recent works in Tokyo, 2016

Celebrating the Eternal Legacy of Artist Yayoi Kusama

An upcoming Hirshhorn collection exhibition will honor the artist’s seven-decade career

AMA #WCW by Dada Khanyisa, 2018

How the Heroes of Africa Triumphed Against All Odds

At the African Art Museum the inspiring stories of 50 individuals from the continent are honored in classical and contemporary works of art

How Haiti’s Devastating Earthquake Prompted a Worldwide Effort to Safeguard Cultural Heritage

To safeguard cultural heritage, a massive Smithsonian-led cultural rescue operation can now be mobilized to help countries recover from disaster

Bear Family of Kamchatka

This Photographer Goes to the Ends of the Earth to Capture Rarely Viewed Animals

Roie Galitz considers himself an ambassador for the creatures he photographs, capturing their intimate moments in hopes of inspiring conservation

Alfredo Ramos Martínez’s 1929 Calla Lily Vendor is one of 200 works on view at the Whitney Museum by Mexican artists and the U.S. artists they influenced.

The Unheralded Influence of Mexico’s Muralists

These painters, the focus of a new exhibition at the Whitney, put their own stamp on 20th-century art

Yayoi Kusama, "Forlorn Spot," 1953, watercolor, pastel, ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John A. Benton and The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, 2019.32.4

How Four Watercolors by Groundbreaking Artist Yayoi Kusama Were Discovered at the Joseph Cornell Study Center

These unexpected treasures have now been transferred into the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

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