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Arts & Culture / Art & Artists

The Battle of Actium, c. 1680.

The Divine Art of Tapestries

The long-forgotten art form receives a long overdue renaissance in an exhibit featuring centuries-old woven tapestries

The Luce Foundation Center is a three-story exploratorium located in the top levels of the American Art Museum. The final quests in "Ghosts of a Chance" took place here on October 25. Nearly 250 people participated.

The End of the Game, a Mystery in Four Parts

In a first-hand account of participating in an alternative reality game, one player gets caught up in the challenge

Harrison: "Practically every product in the Sears, Roebuck line I had a hand in at one time or another."

Interview with Charles Harrison

The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt honors the prolific industrial designer with its Lifetime Achievement Award

David B. Gamble house, Pasadena, 1907-09.

The Splendor of Greene and Greene

A new exhibition celebrates the work of brothers Charles and Henry Greene, masters of American Arts and Crafts architecture

The Madonna’s dress was of the costumes most severally damaged by the poor lighting in the barn, which faded the color of her gown from pink to white. The restorer’s solution was not to discard the original dress, but instead to reverse it, so that the gown’s back is now its front.

A Creche Reborn

In rural Connecticut, a 300-year-old nativity scene is brought back to life by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mark Catesby's Blue Jay.

Mark Catesby’s New World

The artist sketched American wildlife for Europe’s high society, educating them on the creatures living among the unexplored lands

Author of Karsh Reality, Mathew Gurewitsch.

Matthew Gurewitsch on “Karsh Reality”

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Letters

Readers Respond to the November Issue

"Years later, in the Kremlin," Karsh would recall, "[Leonid] Brezhnev agreed to sit for me only if I made him as beautiful as Audrey Hepburn."

From Castro to Warhol to Mother Teresa, He Photographed Them All

Yousuf Karsh took a singular approach to fame and the famous

North African artisans combined gold and silver to forge jewelry like the khamsa.

What’s Up

Lincoln’s face, African alchemy, and Victory Mail are all on display at Smithsonian museums

Installation artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Together they built "Running Fence", a 24.5-mile fabric divide through Northern California.

Q and A: Christo and Jeanne-Claude

The artists discuss Running Fence, their 1976 fabric installation that ran through Northern California and subject of an upcoming Smithsonian exhibition

The only known image of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg was uncovered in 1952 at the National Archives. It was taken by photographer Mathew Brady.

Gettysburg Address Displayed at Smithsonian

Lincoln’s timeless speech during the Civil War endures as a national treasure

NASA's Stardust capsule returned from a seven-year, three-billion-mile trip to collect dust from comet Wild 2.

Stardust Memories

Cosmic dust may reveal some of the uncovered secrets of our universe

Despite receiving critical acclaim, the Curtis film was a box office failure.

Around the Mall: Old Documentary on Western Tribes Restored

How a Film Helped Preserve a Native Culture

John Hodgman, the author of "More Information Than You Require," is a preeminent authority on fake trivia.

John Hodgman Gives “More Information Than You Require”

John Hodgman, best recognized as the “PC” in the Apple advertising campaign, discusses how humans distinguish fact from falsehood

Courtesy of Municipal Gallery in Lenbachhaus. Two riders before the red, 1911, woodblock, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.

Feeling Blue: Expressionist Art on Display in Munich

Visitors catch a glimpse of the groundbreaking, abstract art created bypreeminent 20th century expressionists

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Letters

Readers Respond to the September Issue

"Politicians made more sense when they relied on oracles and omens."

In Politics, Just Follow the Signs

Politicians made more sense when they relied on oracles and omens says Joe Queenan

Frank sought to compile "a spontaneous record of a man seeing this country for the first time." Indianapolis, 1956 is typically short on particulars but laden with symbols.

Robert Frank’s Curious Perspective

In his book The Americans, Robert Frank changed photography. Fifty years on, it still unsettles

Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur.

What’s Up From the Smithsonian

Photographic keepsakes, garden paintings from the maharajahs and Fritz Scholder’s Indian identity on canvas

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