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Arts & Culture / Art & Artists

Kewpies were the creative invention of illustrator Rose O'Neill.

Women Who Shaped History

The Prolific Illustrator Behind Kewpies Used Her Cartoons for Women’s Rights

Rose O’Neill started a fad and became a leader of a movement

Ahmad Shah (r. 1909–25) and his cabinet by Assadullah al-Husayni naqqash-bashi, 1910

In Persia’s Dynastic Portraiture, Bejeweled Thrones and Lavish Decor Message Authority

Paintings and 19th century photographs offer a rare window into the lives of the royal family

Calvin and Hobbes, the influential and popular comic strip by Bill Watterson about a boy and his stuffed tiger that ran in thousands of newspapers worldwide during its run from 1985-1995.

This Artist Deconstructed His Love and Fascination for Calvin and Hobbes

Tony Lewis finds a new way of writing poetry, through artistry, and his assemblage of cut-up dialog balloons from Bill Watterson’s much-loved comic strip

Many of the fascinating stories tied to women across history are preserved in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution.

This Museum Tour Is the Perfect Guide to Celebrating Women’s History in Style

From the National Portrait Gallery to the Air and Space Museum, here’s where to find the stories of wondrous women come March

To make it easier for those in the U.S. and in Germany to trace the history of World War II-era artworks, the Smithsonian and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation created the German/American Provenance Research Exchange Program for Museum Professionals (PREP).

How U.S. and German Art Experts Are Teaming Up to Solve Nazi-Era Mysteries

Specialists in WWII art loss and restitution discuss provenance research

At Sisian Ceramics, Vahagn Hambardzumyan throws clay on a wheel to make traditional Armenian shapes onto which Zara Gasparyan etches decorative patterns. The terracotta jugs on the left are made to hold water.

Armenia

The Art of Armenian Pottery Will Be on Display at This Summer’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The artists behind Sisian Ceramics create works evocative of the Armenian landscape

Many of the pieces in "Brand New" are simply decontextualized products and ads, like these works from Joan Wallace, (left) The Pool Ladder Painting No. 2, 2004, and Jeff Koons, New! New Too!, 1982.

Are You Buying What These Artists Are Selling?

The absurdity of American commercialism is laid bare in the Hirshhorn’s latest exhibition

Norman Rockwell (above in a 1968 photograph by Garry Camp Burdick), who created more than 300 original covers for the Saturday Evening Post over the course of his long career, was already widely known for his rich visualizations of the American dream when he set about the challenging task of animating FDR's Four Freedoms.

Norman Rockwell’s ‘Four Freedoms’ Brought the Ideals of America to Life

This wartime painting series reminded Americans what they were fighting for

Joseph Kayan, a Goroka Show participant from Chimbu Province, wears boar tusks and the tail of a tree kangaroo around his neck. The design of his headdress is specific to his village: it includes bird-of-paradise feathers, with reeds to fill out the shape. His armlets hold sprigs of plants from his region.

Striking Photos of the Past and Present of Papua New Guinea

From tribal traditions to urban strife in the island nation

Clockwise from top left, new illustrations by Ryan Schude, Edel Rodriguez, Tim O'Brien, Melinda Beck.

A 21st-Century Reimagining of Norman Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms”

The iconic paintings helped the U.S. win World War II. What do they mean today?

At La Pasiega in Spain, the scalariform, or ladder shape, composed of red horizontal and vertical lines (center left) dates to older than 64,000 years.

New Research

Were Neanderthals the Earliest Cave Artists? New Research in Spain Points to the Possibility

Archaeologists pushed back the date of cave paintings at three sites to 65,000 years ago—20,000 years before the arrival of humans in Europe

Manifestipi (installation detail) 2016 by ITWÉ Collective

The Innovative Spirit fy17

The Tipi Gets a Makeover

Ideas of evolution and tradition commingle in a new show at the American Indian Museum in New York City

Wood took aim at the Daughters of the American Revolution, whose members, he claimed, “are trying to set up an aristocracy of birth in a Republic.”

A Preview of Grant Wood’s New Retrospective at the Whitney

The artist who posed as a farmer gets the star treatment at the New York museum in his biggest show ever

In Search of the Real Grant Wood

The denim-clad artist who painted American Gothic wasn’t the hayseed he’d have you believe

The rose buds are the universal symbol for love and courage.

In Obama’s Official Portrait the Flowers Are Cultivated From the Past

Kehinde Wiley’s painting is full of historical art references says Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery

Peter Hurd's famous portrait of Lyndon Baines Johnson

The Presidential Portrait That Was the ‘Ugliest Thing’ L.B.J. Ever Saw

Lyndon Johnson’s cantankerous nature carried over to even the more engaging parts of being Commander in Chief

Krzysztof Wodiczko; 1988-2000; C-print face-mounted to acrylic; Museum Purchase, 2000

A Powerful, Three-Story Video Installation Will Transform the Hirshhorn

The giant projection by Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko returns to the museum for the first time in 30 years

The specially commissioned portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama make their formal museum debut.

The Obamas’ Official Portraits Break New Ground With Their Boldness

A picture-perfect reveal ceremony was by turns heartfelt and humorous

Both Kehinde Wiley and Obama said they were struck by parallels in their life stories. “Both of us had American mothers who raised us, with extraordinary love and support,” Obama said.

Artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald Capture the Unflinching Gaze of the President and First Lady

The nation’s first African-American presidency is marked by two prominent African-American portraitists

Spiral chairs pay homage to both the museum and the helicoid shape of DNA.

Hirshhorn’s Redesigned Lobby Sheds New Light on a Classic Washington D.C. Building

The Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, known for his pensive images, is taking on the role of architect and designer

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