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Arts & Culture / Art & Artists

The Admiral, 16th century | Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Atlas of Eating

A Brief History of Food as Art

From subject to statement, food has played a role in art for millennia

Oil portrait of Barack Obama by Kadir Nelson

A Portrait of Obama in the Final Days of His Presidency

Commissioned for Smithsonian magazine, this painting shows a leader at a crossroads

Marsh Ponds; Mavilette, Nova Scotia, 2014

Canada

A Photographer Captures Emptiness and Longing in Longfellow’s Nova Scotia

Photographer Mark Marchesi spent four years tracing images from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem, “Evangeline”

Dried cohineal insects from the author's study

The Bug That Had the World Seeing Red

How a Mesoamerican insect once created the globe’s most coveted color

Iron-thiocyanate complex, droplet on surface

Art Meets Science

Time-Lapse Photos Reveal the Beauty of Metal Crystals Growing

Photographer Emanuele Fornasier spends hours capturing the intricacy of chemical reactions

Top Left: Horace Poolaw, American Indian Museum; Ming Dynasty and Rothko, Sackler, Any Sherald, Visual Arts Gallery, NMAAHC; Noguchi, SAAM. Bottom Left: Bill Viola, Portrait Gallery, Jacob Lawrence, Phillips Collection, Steven Young Lee, The Renwick and Ragnar Kjartansson at the Hirshhorn

Ten Exhibitions to See in Washington, D.C. Over the Holidays

Several innovative art shows, some which close early in the new year, are a must-see

Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama, 2016

This Great Pumpkin Heralds the D.C. Arrival of Yayoi Kusama

The Hirshhorn’s 65-year retrospective boasts six mirror rooms by this hugely popular artist

Radio Nurse by Isamu Noguchi, 1937

The Innovative Spirit fy17

After the Tragic Lindbergh Kidnapping, Artist Isamu Noguchi Designed the First Baby Monitor

The six-decade career of the artist and commercial designer is on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Want to See Installation Artist Doug Aitken’s Latest Work? Grab Your Scuba Gear

"An open line of communication and mutual exchange can ensure that grassroots operations are able to thrive in increasingly challenging urban arenas."

Commentary

In the Aftermath of Oakland’s Tragedy, How Museums Can Better Serve Local Arts and DIY Venues

One Smithsonian curator weighs in on new best practices for outreach

Gene Davis at work on his painting Franklin's Footpath, created on the street outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1972.

The Painter Who Earned His Stripes

Gene Davis, the leading member of the Washington Color School, is celebrated a half century after his striped paintings caught on

The new work is nearly 21 feet tall and weights almost 900 pounds.

Evoking a Ship’s Rippling Sail, This New Sculpture Aims to Make Global Connections

The African Art Museum at its first award ceremony recognizes two international artists who have overcome personal hardships to excel

The Raft, May 2004, Video/sound installation

Keep an Eye on These Portraits Because They Move

Noted visual artist Bill Viola is subject of the first all-video exhibition in one of D.C.’s oldest buildings.

Art Meets Science

The Best “Art Meets Science” Books of 2016

Eight sumptuous books from the past year that meet at the intersection of science and art

Left to right: Newton Poolaw (Kiowa), Jerry Poolaw (Kiowa), Elmer Thomas Buddy Saunkeah (Kiowa). Mountain View, Oklahoma, ca. 1928

A Rare Insider’s View of Native American Life in Mid-20th-Century Oklahoma

Horace Poolaw’s photography is unearthed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian

Sonny Assu Uses Graffiti to Reassert Native Culture

The 41-year-old artist mashes decades-old depictions of indigenous peoples with modern-day style

Today, the Marsh Collection is treasured for its inherent cultural value as well as its connection to the debates that framed the Smithsonian.

American Culture’s Unlikely Debt to a British Scientist

A fortuitous influx of cash launched the Smithsonian Institution and its earliest art collection

Legacy is scheduled to be on display at the Ontario Science Centre beginning in 2017 before embarking on an international tour.

Art Meets Science

This Whale Sculpture Was Modeled After a Beached Orca

Canadian artist Ken Hall built Legacy based on 3D scans of the skeleton of Hope, an orca that died on the coast of Washington in 2002

A forest grows in miniature at Metrotech Commons in Brooklyn for Spencer Finch’s “Lost Man Creek."

Art Meets Science

A Miniature Living Redwood Forest Springs Up In Brooklyn

Artist Spencer Finch explores landscape by building a tiny, scale replica of a California grove

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Cuba

A Photojournalist Captures Dramatic Portraits of Dancers in the Streets of Cuba

For Gabriel Davalos, photography is about storytelling

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