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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Yayoi Kusama with recent works in Tokyo, 2016

Trove of Early Yayoi Kusama Works to Go on Public View for the First Time

The Japanese artist gifted the pieces, which will be exhibited ahead of a May auction, to her doctor as thanks for free medical care

The 74-foot-tall slab will be installed at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

The Newseum’s Iconic First Amendment Tablet Is Headed to Philadelphia

Weighing in at 50 tons, the marble slab previously adorned the facade of the now-shuttered journalism museum in D.C.

A 1932 facsimile of the first issue of the Emancipator, published on April 30, 1820

History of Now

New Project Reimagines the U.S.’ First Antislavery Newspaper, the ‘Emancipator’

A joint initiative from Boston University and the “Boston Globe” revamps a 19th-century abolitionist publication for 21st-century research about race

During World War II, the United States government incarcerated some 120,000 Japanese Americans, including the Uno family spotlighted in the documentary series.

Education During Coronavirus

Watch 150 Years of Asian American History Unfold in This Documentary

The five-part PBS series chronicles the community’s story through archival footage, interviews

At the new exhibition at the Mauritshuis in The Hague, scent dispensers will let viewers smell scents associated with the paintings.

Don’t Just Look at These Paintings—Smell Them Too, Says New Dutch Exhibition

“Scent dispensers” will emit odors fragrant and foul to evoke 17th-century Europe

Much of the Apostle Santiago Church burned to the ground in a March 7 fire.

Fire at 16th-Century Mexican Church Prompts Debate Over How to Protect Cultural Heritage

Critics argue that a lack of preservation funding contributed to the devastating loss

Ruth Bader Ginsburg would have celebrated her 88th birthday on March 15, 2021.

A New Sculpture in Brooklyn Honors Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The statue, unveiled to coincide with Women’s History Month, is dedicated to the late Supreme Court justice

The team used DNA analysis to determine the brothers' hair and eye color. Top: Spytihněv I and bottom: Vratislav I

Art Meets Science

3-D Reconstructions Reveal the Faces of Two Medieval Dukes

Researchers used a variety of techniques to visualize what Czech rulers Spytihněv I and Vratislav I might have looked like

The insect, which is barely visible to the naked eye, was probably dead by the time it landed on van Gogh's canvas.

Cool Finds

How Did This Grasshopper End Up Trapped in a Vincent van Gogh Painting?

New research offers insights on “Olive Trees” (1889), including the story of the hapless insect trapped on its thickly painted surface

The amulet probably dates to the fifth or sixth century B.C.

Cool Finds

Eleven-Year-Old Boy Discovers Ancient Fertility Amulet in Israeli Desert

The 2,500-year-old ceramic figurine was likely created to provide protection and promote conception

Beeple's Everydays: The First 5000 Days, a non-fungible token, or an entirely digital work, will go up for auction at Christie's later this month.

Entirely Digital Artwork Sells for Record-Breaking $69 Million

The sale marks the third-highest auction price achieved by a living artist

Staff hang a work by Rachel Ruysch in the Amsterdam museum's Gallery of Honour on March 8, 2021.

For the First Time in Its 200-Year History, the Rijksmuseum Features Women Artists in ‘Gallery of Honour’

The Amsterdam institution is spotlighting works by Dutch Golden Age painters Judith Leyster, Gesina ter Borch and Rachel Ruysch

The National Park Service predicts that peak bloom will take place between April 2 and 5.

Virtually Celebrate Peak Bloom With Ten Fun Facts About Cherry Blossoms

This year’s National Cherry Blossom Festival will feature a mix of in-person and online events

Frida Kahlo, Still Life, 1951, oil on masonite

Five Rarely Seen Frida Kahlo Artworks United for Dallas Exhibition

The show features lesser-known paintings and drawings, most of which date to the end of the iconic Mexican artist’s life

Tattoo by early Japanese tattoo artist K. Akamatsu, ca. 1910s

Explore 200 Years of Tattoo History With This New Book

Celebrated tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher shows off designs from around the world in images from his private collection

Alexander Calder checks some of his mobiles during a 1962 exhibition of his work at Tate London.

Education During Coronavirus

Explore the Newly Digitized Archive of Alexander Calder, Famed ‘Sculptor of Air’

A new online trove from the Calder Foundation offers fans endless avenues to learn about the artist’s life and work

A close-up look at one of the pieces of stolen armor

Authorities Recover Intricate Renaissance Armor Stolen From the Louvre in 1983

An appraiser’s quick thinking helped recover the treasures, which vanished from the Paris museum 38 years ago

Vincent van Gogh, Field With Irises Near Arles, 1888

How the ‘Ecstatic Joy of Nature’ Unites Vincent van Gogh and David Hockney

Houston exhibition marks the first time the famed artists have been shown side by side in an American museum

A descendant of art collector John Skippe donated the painting to the parish in 1909.

Cool Finds

Forgotten Last Supper Scene Linked to Renaissance Master Titian Spent Century Hidden in Plain Sight

Researchers spotted the artist’s signature, among other clues to the 16th-century painting’s provenance, on the canvas

Five months after a missing panel from Jacob Lawrence's Struggle series resurfaced, a second long-lost painting by the artist—pictured here in 1957—has been found.

Cool Finds

Another Long-Lost Jacob Lawrence Painting Resurfaces in Manhattan

Inspired by the recent discovery of a related panel, a nurse realized that the missing artwork had hung in her house for decades

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