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Arts & Culture

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

Did artist Verrocchio delegate two figures in his Beheading of St. John the Baptist to his prize pupil Leonardo da Vinci?

Looking for Leonardo

Are figures in a Florentine altar panel attributed to Italian artist Andrea del Verrocchio actually by Leonardo da Vinci?

First baseman Frank Chance was known as "the Peerless Leader."

Portraits of Baseball’s Tinker, Evers and Chance

The famed Chicago Cubs infielders were immortalized in verse—as well as through Paul Thompson’s lens

Amy Herman at the Metropolitan Museum with Sargent's Madame X asks her class of cops, "How would you describe this woman in one sentence?"

Teaching Cops to See

At New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Amy Herman schools police in the fine art of deductive observation

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Hail Caesar—The Birthplace of the Famous Salad Closes

Anne Truitt in her Twining Court studio, Washington, DC, 1962.

Anne Truitt’s Artistic Journey

Balancing the two lives of a Washington, D.C. sculptor—1950s hostess and emergent artist

Death by Durian Fruit?

Famous for Motown hits like “My Girl” and “Get Ready,” the Temptations spin and glide through their polished choreography at the Apollo Theater.

Motown Turns 50

For years, the recording industry excluded black artists. Along came Motown, and suddenly everyone was singing its tunes

Josiah Wedgwood's innovative products gained popularity and by 1763, he was filling orders for kings, queens and nobles.

250 Years of Wedgwood

Two new exhibitions celebrate the enduring wares of ceramics designer and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood

Sunchokes

Discovering Sunchokes

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When Humans First Got Milk

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Baking a Punctual Cake

“Jewgrass" is the fusion of bluegrass music with Hebrew lyrics and is played by a diverse group of old-time and bluegrass musicians.

Jewish Bluegrass

Lovers of the banjo, fiddle and mandolin blend cultural identity and religious faith to create a uniquely American sound

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Kudzu—Curse or Cure?

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Five Ways to Eat Apples

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Making Cooking Safer in the Developing World

With a degree in English, biology and education, actor Tom Cavanagh holds his own on Smithsonian Channel's award-winning series, "Stories from the Vaults."

Q and A: Smithsonian Channel Host Tom Cavanagh

Actor Tom Cavanagh discusses what it is like to go behind the scenes of the Smithsonian museums

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