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Arts & Culture / Art & Artists

Of Gods and Heroes by Jeffrey Veregge, 2018 (detail featuring Colleen Wing and Misty Knight)

This Artist Reenvisioned Marvel Superheroes in a Traditional Native American Style

Jeffrey Veregge uses formline, more typical of paintings and totem poles, to create a heroic mural

More like something out of a dream than a part of daily life, that weekend indelibly imprinted scenes in American memory: the riderless horse, the rat-a-tat-tat of the muffled drums, the brave widow, the toddler saluting his father’s casket.

How Poetry Soothed a Nation in Mourning for John F. Kennedy

First the jolt of shock, then a shroud of sadness struck the nation in the weeks following that fateful day

Stan Lee Helped Shape the Story of What It Is to Be American

Smithsonian curator Eric Jentsch weighs into the legacy of the comic-book mastermind

Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee died yesterday at age 95.

A Letter to Stan Lee, Comic Book Legend, Written by One of His Biggest Fans

Movie producer and instructor Michael Uslan eulogizes his hero and mentor, whose superheroes taught him countless life lessons

A member of the U.S. Army 3/187th Scouts from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, takes a break at a bombed out building on April 12, 2002, at Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan.

A Veteran Combat Photographer Recalls His Most Memorable Shots

Originally stuck in a darkroom, Jeremy Lock traveled the world capturing life on the front lines and the homefront

Pulse Tank by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, 2008

This Art Show Is Taking the Literal Pulse of America

Artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer uses biometrics to make breathtaking spectacle

With elaborate coiffures and scarves and ceremonial garb, all the way down to beautifully designed sandals and the tinkling of gold bracelets, Senegalese women usefashion for sociopolitical and economic ends as well as celebrating their own history.

In Senegal, Female Empowerment, Prestige and Wealth Is Measured in Glittering Gold

The African Art Museum’s new exhibition delves into a tradition that is both ravishingly beautiful and hauntingly fraught

The dozen or so cameras watching the musicians sent live video from the performance to a rack of computers, which used off-the-shelf artificial intelligence algorithms to create the eerie visuals.

The Musical Performance “Sight Machine” Reveals What Artificial Intelligence Is “Thinking” About Us

Like artist Trevor Paglen’s other work, the show asked viewers to reexamine the human relationship to technology

Mario Klingemann’s ‘Neural Glitch Portrait 153552770’ was created using a generative adversarial network.

With AI Art, Process Is More Important Than the Product

Christie’s just auctioned its first piece of AI art—a portrait created via machine learning

Unidentified 60, 2017. Meyer learned the art of making headdresses from Swazi women.

How Kyle Meyer’s Photo-Tapestries Give Voice to a Silenced Community

The New York artist combines digital photography and African fabrics to create deeply textured portraits of persecuted Swazi men

Simmon: A Private Landscape (#1), by Hosoe Eikoh, 1971

How Japanese Artists Responded to the Transformation of Their Nation

Two new exhibitions at the Freer|Sackler vividly illustrate Japan’s arrival to the modern age

Untitled (Wash Day: Scrubbing the Clothes) by Clementine Hunter, ca. 1965

Self-Taught Artist Clementine Hunter Painted the Bold Hues of Southern Life

On view at NMAAHC, Hunter’s colorful artworks depict work in the field, church on Sundays, and laundry on the line

Traylor's works (above: Man with Yoke, detail) are drawing fans worldwide for their exuberant modern composition and design.

Bill Traylor Depicted His Brutal Lifetime With Vibrant Art

A new Smithsonian show, seven years in the making, takes a deep dive into the life of a self-taught artist and former slave

Art Meets Science

A New Project Weaves Patient Stories Into Art

A bioengineer collaborates with artists, clinicians and patients to come up with an art exhibition with heart

In 2015, John T. Unger embarked on a project to recreate 14 of Eustachi’s drawings in life-size mosaics.

Art Meets Science

This Artist Redefines a “Chiseled Body”

Life-size and hyper-detailed, these anatomical mosaics draw on ancient inspiration

Thousands of migratory birds fly over Northern California in February.

Photo Contest Featured Photographer

From Lava Tentacles to Abandoned Car Lots, This Acclaimed Violinist Turned Aerial Photographer Captures Our World From 2,000 Feet Up

Jassen Todorov, a professor of music, shares his journey into the world of aerial photography

This red knit cardigan was worn by Fred Rogers, creator and host of the children's program, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (PBS, 1968-2001).

The Cardiganed Fred Rogers Was Every Kid’s Cozy Comfort Zone

A red sweater in the Smithsonian collections was the trademark of kindness and caring in the indelible ‘Mr. Rogers Neighborhood’

Land Sea Sky by Sean Scully, 1999

Sean Scully’s Artworks Are a Study in Color, Horizon and Life’s Sorrows

With a return to the Hirshhorn following his 1995 retrospective, Scully presents his sublime Landlines series

The Box in a Valise/Boite en Valise (Series E) From or by Marcel Duchamp or Rose Sélavy by Marcel Duchamp, 1963

Hirshhorn Curator Explains the Significance of the Huge Marcel Duchamp Donation

Washington D.C. art lovers Aaron and Barbara Levine promise 50 important works to the museum

Interpreters of the artwork (above: four of the eight from left to right: Jahnel Daliya Slowikowski, Sadie Leigh, Briona Jackson, Lara Supan.) are “people that can hold space and have a connection” with the passersby, says the curator.

Don’t Be Surprised if a Woman Sings to You in the Hirshhorn’s Sculpture Garden

The Smithsonian’s first purchase of a performance art piece is happening now, but the artist requests no photos, please

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