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Arts & Culture / Art & Artists

Jaya Jaitly has fought for the survival of traditional crafts such as the earthen pots, pans, planters, piggy banks and pradip, or oil lamps.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

Meet the Woman Fighting for the Survival of India’s Traditional Crafts Culture

Jaya Jaitly aims to protect India’s cultural heritage from the threat of globalized marketplaces

Avenue of Cherry Trees Yoshida Hiroshi, Showa era, 1935

How Cherry Trees Blossomed Into a Tourist Attraction

The fragile and transient blossom may herald the first stirrings of spring, but their significance has evolved since the 9th century

Independence Day Celebration by Lauren Good Day Giago, (Arikara/Hidatsa/Blackfeet/Plains Cree), 2012, antique ledger paper, colored pencil, graphite, ink, felt-tipped marker

For These Native American Artists, the Material Is the Message

A new exhibition traces the evolution of Plains tribes’ narrative art from the 18th century up through today’s contemporary works

liquid gravity, 2013. A cosmonaut seems to levitate in an industrial environment but the view of Earth through a porthole “dislocates the viewer’s perspective,” Najjar writes in an email. The image comes from Najjar’s experience in the hydrolab, a huge tank of water, at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

Art Meets Science

An Artist Imagines the Future of Humans in Space

Through manipulated photographs and video, Michael Najjar tackles the meaning of space travel

The green color of the superb startling’s wing feathers is produced by microscopically structured surfaces that interfere with and scatter light.

Art Meets Science

The Extravagant Beauty of Feathers

A new book spotlights the astonishing diversity of avian plumage

Meet Molly Crabapple, an Artist, Activist, Reporter, and Fire-Eater All in One

With pen and brush, the talented journalist fights for justice in the Middle East, and closer to home

TEFAF 2016 - Robbig

Where Museums Go to Shop for Rare Works of Art

In the south of Holland, a Dutch city plays host to the art world’s biggest collectors

Caja De Memoria Viva II: Constancia Clemente-Colon by Adrian "Viajero" Roman

Every Three Years, Artists Compete to Be On View at the National Portrait Gallery. Here Are the Winners

The 2016 show conveys an intensity, as if the artists and their subjects are demanding a conversation on the complex issues of our times

A Jodhpur court artist painted “Three Aspects of the Absolute,” illustrating the universe’s creation according to the Nath sect. Completed in 1823, the 3.5-by-5-foot painting accompanies the manuscript Nath Charit, a part of the Mehrangarh Museum’s Jodhpur Royal Collection.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

Hatha Yoga Inspired Abstract Art a Century Before Rothko

Paintings recently discovered in Jodhpur’s royal palace depict Nath yogis’ understanding of the cosmos

Portrait of composer Barbara Strozzi (1581-1644)

These Women Composers Should Be Household Names Like Bach or Mozart

Denied the same opportunities as their male counterparts, women like Lili Boulanger and Clara Schumann found ways to get their work in front of audiences

Landscape of Change uses data lines reflecting sea level rise, glacier volume decline, increasing global temperatures and the increasing use of fossil fuels.

Art Meets Science

These Watercolor Paintings Actually Include Climate Change Data

Jill Pelto, an artist and scientist, incorporates graphs of rising sea levels and soaring temperatures in her artwork

The Garden of Earthly Delights

Even 500 Years After His Death, Hieronymus Bosch Hasn’t Lost His Appeal

A trip to the painter’s hometown reminds us how his paintings remain frightfully timely

Artist Suzan Shutan assembled her map of the rivers and groundwater wells of Nebraska by projecting the data on the gallery's wall.

Art Meets Science

Eight Artists Conspire About Water Issues In a New Exhibition

In Omaha, Nebraska, individuals and nonprofits unite in a show focusing on the issues of water quantity and quality

Actor Kevin Spacey arrived at the National Portrait Gallery in character as President Frank Underwood for a "presidential" portrait unveiling.

Francis J. Underwood’s Presidential Portrait Goes On View at the Smithsonian

A portrait of actor Kevin Spacey, in his Netflix role as the world’s most devious president, proves that fiction is as good as real life

Artist Gary Staab and his team spent roughly 2,000 hours over five months to create the first of three models.

Art Meets Science

An Artist Creates a Detailed Replica of Ötzi, the 5,300-Year-Old “Iceman”

Museum artist Gary Staab discusses the art and science of constructing exhibition pieces

Dennis the Menace

Dennis the Menace Has an Evil British Twin

Meet the lovable American cartoon character’s sinister counterpart

To Mapplethorpe, flowers offered a way to broaden his appeal. Parrot Tulips, 1988

Robert Mapplethorpe Could Make Even Tulips Erotic

LACMA and the J. Paul Getty Museum will be showcasing the photographer’s lesser known flower portraits

Virtual reality headsets at the 2015 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam allow visitors to view digital reconstructions of artifacts destroyed by ISIS.

The Heroic Effort to Digitally Reconstruct Lost Monuments

Scholars create a virtual archive of antiquities destroyed by extremists in Syria and Iraq

The statue of Abu Bint Deimun, from third century B.C. Hatra, Iraq. A global network of preservationists are teaming up to protect the world’s antiquities.

Crash Courses Prepare Art Conservators for Catastrophic Disasters

Smithsonian experts train a brave band of conservators in northern Iraq to brace buildings and rescue artifacts in a hurry

A human-headed winged bull from the eighth century B.C. Assyrian royal palace in Khorsabad. ISIS razed the city’s ruins last year.

The Race to Save Syria’s Archaeological Treasures

The deliberate destruction of antiquities by ISIS and others in the birthplace of human civilization is cultural genocide

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