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Arts & Culture / Art & Artists

Off for the Sabbot, circa 1927

The Photographer Who Ansel Adams Called the Anti-Christ

William Mortensen’s grotesque, retouched photos of celebrities were a far cry from the realism favored by the photography elite

Scientists found deliberate scratching on a fossil Pseudodon, likely an engraving made by Homo erectus at Trinil in Indonesia.

New Research

Zigzags on a Shell From Java Are the Oldest Human Engravings

The early human Homo erectus also made the oldest known shell tools half a million years ago

Evergreen, 2008, Acrylic and charcoal on paper 22 1/2 x 30 inches (57.15 x 76.2 cm)

These are the Forgotten Places in Your Neighborhood, Painted

Artist Kim Cadmus Owens celebrates the places we ignore

Those who see Needle Tower often wonder how, with barely 14 inches of contact with the ground, the 60-foot tower stays upright.

How Does the Hirshhorn’s 60-Foot “Needle Tower” Stay Upright In A Stiff Wind?

In the 1960s, when artist Kenneth Snelson mingled architectural innovation with abstraction, the result was heavenly

5 Umezebi Street, New Haven, Enugu, 2012

Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s Intimate Work Straddles Mediums And Oceans

The young Nigerian-American artist wins one of the Smithsonian’s most prestigious awards.

The T5 Gallery located inside London's Heathrow Airport.

Stuck at the Airport? Why Not Take In an Art Exhibit

A missed connection or delayed arrival doesn’t have to ruin your time at the airport, especially if your airport has an art show

Raymond C. Yazzie, 2012. Coral, Lone Mountain and Orvil Jack turquoise, opal, sugilite, 14-karat gold. Collection of Janice Moody.

Why is Turquoise Becoming Rarer and More Valuable Than Diamonds?

With depleting mines, turquoise, the most sacred stone to the Navajo, has become increasingly rare.

Jura 103

Art Meets Science

The Physics of Whisky’s Aesthetically Pleasing Residue

A photographer teamed up with scientists to figure out the fluid dynamics behind patterns left in whisky glasses

Sam and the Perfect World by David Lenz, 2005

Here’s What It Takes To Win the Smithsonian’s Boochever Portrait Competition

Curator Dorothy Moss gives a hint at what the jurors might be thinking in this high-stakes competition

In his magisterial America Today mural, Benton invented a muscular style intended to convey “the language of the street.”

The Story Behind Thomas Hart Benton’s Incredible Masterwork

The famed artist drew on his extensive travels to paint “America Today”

Window at Chartres Cathedral.

Why Colors You See in an Art Museum Can’t Be Replicated Today

A look into the history of the pigments used in spectacular art

Fred Tomaselli, Migrant Fruit Thugs, 2006.

Art Meets Science

The Threatened Birds in These Artworks Might One Day Go the Way of the Dodo

The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s exhibition explores mankind’s relationship to birds and the natural world

Edgar Degas' Study in the Nude of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Nude Little Dancer), c. 1878-1881 is the subject of a new show at the Kennedy Center starring Tiler Peck.

The True Story of the Little Ballerina Who Influenced Degas’ “Little Dancer”

The artist’s famous sculpture is both on view and the subject of a new theatrical performance

The installation, "A Room of Her Own: An Altar for My Mother," is on view through January 2015.

Halloween

An Awe-Inspiring Altar Remembers One Latino Artist’s Guiding Spirit

At the American History Museum, an installation reimagines the life story of a Latina artist and writer

The trope of the beautiful witch was popular between 1905 and 1915.

Halloween

Women of the Early 1900s Rallied Behind Beautiful, Wartless Witches

Women looking to work, vote and marry whomever they wanted turned the Halloween icon into a powerful symbol

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Art Meets Science

Gorgeous Portraits of Spineless Sea Creatures

In a new book, San Francisco-based photographer Susan Middleton captures the curious gestures and expressions of marine invertebrates

James Castle, Untitled, n.d., found paper, soot.

A World Of His Own: The Art of James Castle

Born profoundly deaf, the self-taught artist’s body of work depicts his unique relationship to the world around him

Estes has been painting scenes of cities and nature for half a century.

Richard Estes’ Incredibly Realistic Paintings Require a Double Take

Like stage sets, there seem to be a million stories embedded in the works of Richard Estes, icon of photorealism

When Dazzling Art Transforms the Cityscape

Janet Echelman’s sky-high sculptures, created from miles of fiber, cast a magical spell over urban spaces

Greenland #63

Can Fingerpainting Save the World?

Brooklyn artist Zaria Forman has Arctic landscapes at her fingertips

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