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Arts & Culture / Art & Artists

Gerard Malanga, c. 1970s.

Celebrity Portraitist Gerard Malanga

An associate of Andy Warhol, Gerard Malanga reflects on his subjects and his career as a photographer

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo.

The Measure of Genius: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel at 500

Half a millennium later, the story of the painting of the Sistine Chapel is as fascinating as Michelangelo’s masterpiece itself

Using shadows and the moon, Olson determined the moment Ansel Adams photographed Autumn Moon. When conditions recurred 57 years later, Olson was ready.

Forensic Astronomer Solves Fine Arts Puzzles

Astrophysicist Don Olson breaks down the barriers between science and art by analyzing literature and paintings from the past

Ceramist Emily Rossheim uses luminescent underglazes to make her bowls shimmer.

What’s Up

A juvenile tapetail in the process of becoming an adult grows a huge liver.

A Fish Tale

A curator discovers that whalefishes, bignose fishes and tapetails are all really the same kind of fish at different life stages

Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi sat down with Smithsonian magazine to discuss the upcoming exhibition "Design for a Living World."

Q and A: Isaac Mizrahi

Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi’s salmon skin dress is on display in a new exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum

Goodman played the clarinet even "during the commercial breaks of the World Series," according to one of his daughters.

Benny Goodman’s Clarinet

Late in his career, jazz musician Benny Goodman favored a Parisian “licorice stick” as his instrument of choice

Bank manager Kellie Johnson says that recording the location, species and size of trees "puts things in perspective."

Bank Executives See the Forest and the Trees

In a Maryland forest, bankers trade in their suits and ties to study the environment with Smithsonian scientists

The Smithsonian online: something for everyone, no matter how esoteric their interests.

Long Tails

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Letters

Readers Respond to the February Issue

Sarah Zielinski (left) is an assistant editor at Smithsonian magazine and Jennifer Drapkin (right) is a senior editor at Mental Floss magazine.

Jennifer Drapkin and Sarah Zielinski on “Celestial Sleuth”

Pompeii, House of the Golden Bracelet, Garden Scene, 1st century BC - 1st century AD.

Roman Splendor in Pompeii

Art and artifacts reveal the elaborate maritime pleasure palaces established by Romans around the Bay of Naples

Langston Hughes' epic poem, Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz is the text for the piece performed by Jessye Norman, among others.

A Jazzed-Up Langston Hughes

A long-forgotten poem about the African-American experience is given new life in a multimedia performance

Woman's four-piece ball gown. Europe, circa 1868.

Costume’s Cultural Reveal

The Los Angeles County Museum aims to draw new visitors and historic insights with a landmark costume acquisition

"Sleepover with the Sharks" is one of two overnights the museum offers.

Nights at the Museums

You don’t have to be Ben Stiller to spend the night behind the scenes at a museum

The Feast of Esther, painted by Lievens c. 1625, was identified for years in 20th-century art texts as an early Rembrandt. Like Rembrandt, Lievens used contrasts of light and shadow to add drama.

Jan Lievens: Out of Rembrandt’s Shadow

A new exhibition re-establishes Lievens’ reputation as an old master, after centuries of being eclipsed by his friend and rival

Charles and Henry Greene furniture now on display at the Renwick Gallery.

What’s Up

Exhibits from the National Museum of Natural History, National Portrait Gallery, National Postal Museum, Freer Gallery of Art and the Renwick Gallery

After discovering a new species of bird, research ornithologist Brian Schmidt made sure to give it a proper name: "stout bird that bears a flam-colored throat."

Naming a New Species

Smithsonian naturalist Brian Schmidt gave a new species of African bird an interesting scientific name

Artist Ori Gersht created traditional still-life arrangements only to blow them up, literally.

Still Life Explosions

Artist Ori Gersht details the beauty and violence behind his works

The miniature remote-controlled scout plane "helps alleviate the danger of what's over the hill," says aviation expert Ben Kristy.

Under the Radar with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The five-pound RQ-14A takes high-tech reconnaissance to new heights

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