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Arts & Culture / Art & Artists

Norman Rockwell recruited Stockbridge neighbors, including state trooper Richard Clemens and 8-year-old Eddie Locke, to model for The Runaway.

Norman Rockwell’s Neighborhood

A new book offers a revealing look at how the artist created his homey illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post

The iconic Graflex Speed Graphic was used by photojournalists from the 1930s to the late 1950s.

What’s Up

"Bittersweet Harvest," a Smithsonian exhibit about braceros (California, 1956), fits neatly into the new strategy.

Our Plan

A retrospective of artist William T. Wiley's work is on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Q and A: William Wiley

For over 50 years, the artist has approached serious topics with wit and a sense of the absurd

The cards and letters aboard the Graf Zeppelin bore a distinctive mark on their envelopes: a small image stamped in ink.

Holiday Delivery From the Graf Zeppelin

In 1934, a zeppelin originating in Germany and bound for Brazil carried a cargo of Christmas cheer

Avant-garde photographer Man Ray may have written his name with a penlight in his self-portrait titled Space Writings.

Man Ray’s Signature Work

Artist Man Ray mischievously scribbled his name in a famous photograph, but it took decades for the gesture to be discovered

Ansel Adams wrote of an "inevitable conflict" between the accuracy of color film and people's subjective reaction to colors.

Ansel Adams in Color

As a new book shows, not everything in the photographer’s philosophy was black and white

This dance stick (c. 1890) was created by the warrior No Two Horns to honor his horse being killed at Little Big Horn.

What’s Up

Simeon Wright, 67, is Emmett Till's cousin and was with him the night Till was kidnapped and murdered.

Emmett Till’s Casket Goes to the Smithsonian

Simeon Wright recalls the events surrounding his cousin’s murder and the importance of having the casket on public display

John Marshall began filming the Ju/'hoansi people in 1950. Later, he set up a foundation to help the tribe in its struggle for self-determination.

Recording the Ju/’hoansi for Posterity

For 50 years, John Marshall documented one of Africa’s last remaining hunter- gatherer tribes in more than 700 hours of film footage

A National Postal Museum exhibition includes postage stamps that President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped design. FDR's stamps helped him relax.

From the Castle - FDR’s Stamps

FDR’s Stamps

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Letters

Readers Respond to the September Issue

Artist Janice Lowry regarded the notebooks as “126 chapters of a memoir.” Her life’s journey, chronicled in her diaries, ended Sept. 20, 2009, when she succumbed to liver cancer.

Drawn From Life

Artist Janice Lowry’s illustrated diaries record her history—and ours

Art historian Henry Adams contends that Pollock created Mural around his name, discernible as camouflaged letters.

Decoding Jackson Pollock

Did the Abstract Expressionist hide his name amid the swirls and torrents of a legendary 1943 mural?

Smithsonian Institution Building, "The Castle"

Dan Brown’s Smithsonian: Fact or Fiction?

The Nike Zoom Victory Spike is among the showcase of winners honored by the National Design Awards.

What’s Up

After Xiangmei Gu takes off the backing, she saves the brittle fragments in her record books, which date back two decades and line the shelves in her office.

Restoring Artwork to its Former Glory

With a steady hand, Xiangmei Gu wields paintbrushes and tweezers as the Smithsonian’s only conservator of Chinese paintings

The Grateful Dead's Hart: Still thinking about the cosmos.

From the Castle

Mind-Meld

Artist Mark Newport replaces the flashy capes and skin-tight garments of comic book superheroes with soft, hand-knit costumes.

Q and A: Mark Newport

Costume designer Mark Newport talks about knitting outfits for superheroes, both famous (Batman) and unknown (Sweaterman)

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Letters

Readers Respond to the July and August Issues

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