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Arts & Culture / Art & Artists

Mi Vida by Jesse Treviño, 1971-73

How American Artists Engaged with Morality and Conflict During the Vietnam War

The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s new show documents the turbulent decade and the provocative dialog happening in a diverse art community

"Tiffany Chung's exhibition opens our eyes to a history hidden in plain sight, illuminating the war and its aftermath from the perspective of those who lived through it," says curator Sarah Newman.

For Tiffany Chung, Finding Vietnam’s Forgotten Stories Began as a Personal Quest

To map the post-war exodus, the artist turned to interviews and deep research, starting with her own father’s past

Queen Liliʻuokalani (above in Honolulu in 1917) “was one of the most successful composers . . . so much so that her repertoire remains at the forefront of those performed by Hawaiian musicians today,” says the Smithsonian's John Troutman

Hitting the High Notes: A Smithsonian Year of Music

How the Music of Hawaiʻi’s Last Ruler Guided the Island’s People Through Crisis

A prolific composer, Queen Liliʻuokalani created some of the most popular Hawaiian tunes and compositions of all time

River basin map of the contiguous United States

Art Meets Science

These Beautiful Maps Capture the Rivers That Pulse Through Our World

Cartographer Robert Szucs creates colorful maps of the watersheds that creep across states, countries, continents and the globe

A portrait (detail, above) of Mary Church Terrell, a prominent D.C. activist and suffragist. The image is just one of dozens of turn-of-the-century photographs featured in "Pictures with Purpose"

For Turn-of-the-Century African-Americans, the Camera Was a Tool for Empowerment

A new installment in the Smithsonian’s “Double Exposure” photo book series depicts black Americans championing their lives through photography

Daesha Devón Harris Combines Oral History and Antique Portraits to Tell a Story of Loss and Hope

These layered works testify to African-American history

In 2016, 5,712 American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls were reported missing, which is likely the tip of the iceberg,

Women Who Shaped History

These Haunting Red Dresses Memorialize Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women

Artist Jaime Black says the REDress Project is an expression of her grief for thousands of Native victims

Gladys Bentley’s powerful voice, fiery energy on the piano and bold lyrics made her a star of New York City nightclubs.

Women Who Shaped History

The Great Blues Singer Gladys Bentley Broke All the Rules

For the Smithsonian’s Sidedoor podcast, host Haleema Shah tells the story of an unapologetically gay African-American performer in 1920s and 30s

The new designs call for the reopening of a long shuttered underground passageway that connects the garden to the museum plaza, as well as plans for a new area for large-scale contemporary works, performance spaces and intimate settings for the museum’s masterpiece collections.

American South

Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden to Undergo First Redesign in More Than 40 Years

Hiroshi Sugimoto’s design provides easier access from the National Mall and space for larger installations

The gift’s promise lies not just in its scale and Lichtenstein’s outsize place in 20th-century art, but in the fact that much of the materials will be searchable together online.

The Stories of Poets, Artists and Cartoon Characters Are All Waiting to Be Discovered in Roy Lichtenstein’s Personal Papers

The Pop artist’s archives, recently donated to the Smithsonian, are soon to be digitized

Zissou Tasseff-Elenkoff's "Power to the People" is dedicated to civil rights for every human regardless of race, color or religion.

What Should a Contemporary Monument Look Like?

A new multi-city art exhibition called “New Monuments for New Cities” tackles this question head on

American artist Georgia O'Keeffe poses outdoors beside an easel with a canvas from her series, 'Pelvis Series Red With Yellow,' Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1960.

Why Are Georgia O’Keeffe’s Paintings Breaking Out in Pimples?

A new handheld tool lets scientists diagnose the chemical reaction behind “art acne”—and learn how it can be prevented

Dugger makes a stylish statement by superimposing vibrant images of women jumping and twirling over photographs of patterned mats common in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, the Veil Is a Fashion Statement

Artist Medina Dugger finds joy in a colorful yet complicated symbol of faith

Banksias, 2014

Art Meets Science

Dornith Doherty’s Mesmerizing Photos Capture the Contradictions of Seed Banking

“Archiving Eden,” now at the National Academy of Sciences, shows how guarding against an ecological catastrophe is both optimistic and pessimistic

In a new Smithsonian Sidedoor episode, Cheech Marin talks about his dedication to elevating Chicano art, especially the kind that reflects an inventive and survivalist attitude.

Why the Chicano Underdog Aesthetic ‘Rasquachismo’ Is Finally Having Its Day

Next up for the podcast Sidedoor, actor and director Cheech Marin opines on the Chicano art sensibility that is defiant, tacky and wildly creative

George Washington, (Porthole type) by Rembrandt Peale, c. 1853

George Washington and I Go Way Back—Or So Goes the Tale of My Family’s Cane

An heirloom is charged with both sentiment and purely speculative history

An assemblage Assimilation? Destruction? by ceramicist Sharif Bey, is primarily about globalization and cultural identity. It is also a reference to Bey’s identity as a potter and an artist of color.

Four Craft Artists Use Their Medium to Tell the Story of Our Times

The Renwick’s newest show challenges everything you thought you knew about craft art

Mother III (detail) by Yun Suknam, (2013 version), 1993

Breakthrough Korean Feminist Artist Yun Suknam in Her First U.S. Museum Exhibition

With an assemblage portrait of her mother as the focal piece, the artist’s work is surrounded by the works of those who inspired her

The Panda Cams had to be turned off during the shutdown and so for the past month, the crown jewel of the National Zoo has been hidden from the public.

Smithsonian Staffers Scramble to Make Up Time Lost During Government Shutdown

Workers are back, the museums are open, the pandas are well, but officials say the ramifications of the shutdown are far from over

The Key Marco Cat was unearthed at Marco Island off Florida’s southwestern shore in the late 19th century.

This Hand-Carved Panther Statuette Embodies a Lost Civilization’s Harmony With Nature

Calusa Indians harnessed the bounty of Florida’s estuaries with respect and grace

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