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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

A picture taken on March 18, 2018 of the ruins of the al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul

With Cornerstone Set, Mosul’s Landmark al-Nuri Mosque Begins Rebuilding Process

The start of physical reconstruction of the historic mosque and its iconic leaning minaret was marked in a ceremony on Sunday

Egon Schiele, "Self-Portrait with Lowered Head," 1912

New Digital Archive Provides Critical Record of Egon Schiele’s Body of Work

Online catalogue raisonné features over 400 paintings, graphics, sketchbooks and sculptures, with additional drawings, watercolors set to be added in 2019

View of the Silent Night Chapel

Trending Today

A Brief History of ‘Silent Night’

The classic Christmas tune was first composed as a poem, and it was set to music for the first time in the winter of 1818

Only one of the letters included in the scrapbook has been previously published

Kurt Vonnegut’s Unpublished World War II Scrapbook Reveals Origins of ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’

Volume features 22 letters from author to his family, photographs of the razed city of Dresden, telegrams and news clippings

“Nellie Bly: The Virtual Reality Experience” tracks Bly’s travels from Egypt to Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, San Francisco and beyond

VR Experience Lets You Join Nellie Bly on Her 72-Day Trip Around the World

The Newseum, Vive collaboration catalogues the intrepid reporter’s record-breaking journey

Frederic Leighton, "The Music Lesson," 1877

Connie Gilchrist Was the Shirley Temple of Victorian London

The child star captivated audiences and artists alike, served as muse for Lewis Carroll, James McNeill Whistler

The artist installed 24 blocks of Greelandic ice outside of London's Tate Modern

Straight From a Greenland Fjord, London Installation Sends Dire Message on Climate Change

Olafur Eliasson’s ‘Ice Watch’ aims to bring viewers into direct confrontation with the devastation wrought by global warming

Television remains dominant across all mediums, with 49 percent of Americans surveyed citing it as their most-frequented news source

Pew Finds Social Media Has Surpassed Print Newspapers as Americans’ Main News Source

The research center says 20 percent of Americans rely on sites like Facebook, Twitter for news updates, while 16 percent cite print as main news source

Thousands of yellow vest protesters seen in front of the Arc De Triomphe on December 8, 2018.

Arc de Triomphe to Reopen After Being Vandalized During ‘Yellow Vest’ Protests

Demonstrators sprayed the famed monument with graffiti and ransacked its small museum

The resin-based 3D printer layers ink much like the chocolate and wafer combination seen in Kit-Kat bars

Art Meets Science

This New Technique Could Revolutionize the Future of Art Reproduction

RePaint renders reproductions in color four times closer to the original than the next-best tool

Trending Today

By the End of 2018 More Than Half the World Will Be Online

In the past decade, there’s been a huge spike in internet access though that number is beginning to slow down

Claude-Joseph Vernet, "The Storm," 1759

How a New Hampshire Museum Is Using Art to Reach Families Affected by the Opioid Crisis

The ‘Art of Hope’ initiative encourages participants to draw connections between works of art and their own lives

The re-discovered works are newly published in the literary journal Fugue.

Cool Finds

Scholar Unearths Trove of Anne Sexton’s Forgotten Early Works

The four poems and an essay find the confessional poet detailing American life in the 1950s, from skiing to suburban lawn care

Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar, Senegal.

Sprawling Museum of Black Civilizations Opens in Senegal

The launch comes as Senegal is requesting the repatriation of looted artworks from France

Is your life affirmed?

What Is ‘Life-Affirming’ Coral, Pantone’s Color of the Year?

What to know about Pantone 16-1546, the orange shade with a golden undertone

The Nazis appropriated Christmas imagery for political purposes, even changing the lyrics of traditional holiday songs like "Silent Night"

Berlin Exhibition Chronicles Evolution of Christmas Decorations From 19th Century to Today

Selections include swastika-adorned baubles from Nazi Germany, miniature bombs and warships popularized during World War I

Prodger's 33-minute film features shots of seemingly mundane aspects of life, including these sneakers

Charlotte Prodger Claims This Year’s Turner Prize With Film Shot on iPhone

The Glasgow-based artist’s diaristic ‘Bridgit’ examines the fluidity of queer identity

August 20, 2018 file photo showing police standing guard after the Confederate statue Silent Sam was toppled by protesters on campus at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

UNC’s ‘Silent Sam’ Could Be Coming Back to Campus. Here’s What to Know

On Monday, the university’s Board of Trustees unveiled a controversial proposal to build a “history and education” center to house the Confederate monument

New Research

No, Wait, This Is the Real Ava, a Bronze Age Woman From the Scottish Highlands

New DNA evidence drastically changes the image of the young woman buried in Caithness 4,250 years ago

Shirley Chisholm in 1972

New York Honors Shirley Chisholm, First Black Congresswoman in U.S. History, With New Statue

The firebrand politician once quipped that she would like to be remembered as a woman who ‘had guts’

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