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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Billy Graham, Jr. James Pease Blair 1958 (printed later) Gelatin silver print

Billy Graham, the Evangelical Pastor Who Preached to Millions, Has Died at 99

He distinguished himself from other charismatic preachers with his ambition, technological savvy and message of inclusivity

Markus Brunetti, Wells Cathedral Church of St. Andrews, 2015-2016 Archival Pigment Print

Thousands of Photographs Created These Hyper-Real Portraits of Historic Buildings

German artist Markus Brunetti brings a high-tech approach to capturing centuries-old cathedrals

The team's work with flavobacterium could lead to the creation of biodegradable, non-toxic paints in all the colors of nature

Art Meets Science

This Vibrant Bacteria Could Be Used to “Grow” Paint

Researchers genetically manipulated bacteria to produce the iridescent colors seen in peacock feathers, butterfly wings

Researchers used non-invasive analysis to trace the origins of Picasso's bronze sculptures

Art Meets Science

Metal Blends Offer Clues to Picasso Sculptures’ History

Analysis of bronze and sheet metal sculptures reveals how, when and where works were cast

"Scenes From the Collection" emphasizes modern and contemporary art in its exploration of Jewish identity

The Evolution of Jewish Identity Takes Center Stage at Revamped Jewish Museum Exhibition

The redesigned permanent exhibition highlights a rotating selection of artifacts spanning 4,000 years of history

Fragments of Famed ‘UFO’ Discovered in Archives of London Museum

Though experts deemed it a hoax, the ‘Silpho Saucer’ created a sensation when it was discovered in the 1950s

In 2018, researchers at the Art Gallery of Ontario released X-ray scans of this hidden painting beneath Picasso's The Crouching Beggar. The artist used the mountains in the painted-over landscape to shape the curves of his subject's back.

Researchers Uncover Hidden Details Beneath Picasso Painting

Using new imaging techniques, researchers reveal the secrets of the 1902 work “La Miséreuse Accroupie” (“The Crouching Beggar”)

The exhibition features a pair of 18th-century stork scissors, heavy tailors’ shears and calligraphy scissors

Exhibition Cuts Into the Fascinating History of Scissors

Fashion and Textile Museum traces scissors’ role in life and death, fairy tales, crime and punk

The scholar, educator, and political activist Angela Davis was the nation’s most iconic revolutionary for a generation.

Angela Davis’ Archive Comes to Harvard

The papers illuminate her rise from philosophy professor to global icon and activist

Gustav Klimt, Two Reclining Female Nudes, about 1916/17

‘Lost’ Klimt Drawing Found in Cupboard of Museum Personal Assistant

The recovered work is now on view at Austria’s Lentos Museum in a show marking the centenary of the deaths of Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and ​Koloman Moser

Portrait of the unknown judge.

Can You Identify the Judge in This Courthouse Portrait?

Officials of the John Adams Courthouse in Boston are asking the public for help in uncovering the identity of the anonymous jurist

French philosopher Michael Foucault in a studio during a radio broadcast in Paris, France, on December 16, 1981.

Unfinished Volume of Foucault’s ‘History of Sexuality’ Released in France

Foucault did not want the work to be published posthumously, but his family and heirs decided that the time had come for the book to be released

Trending Today

What to Know About 5Pointz Graffiti Collective’s Big Win at Court

A federal judged ruled Monday on the whitewashing of the internationally known graffiti site by a New York developer

Leonardo da Vinci, "A deluge," c.1517-18

Exhibition to Reveal da Vinci’s Invisible Drawings

The UK show will mark the largest display of da Vinci’s work in more than 65 years

The Louvre museum has opened two showrooms with 31 paintings on display which can be claimed by their legitimate owners.

The Louvre Puts Nazi-Looted Art in Public Eye in Effort to Find Rightful Heirs

The museum hopes the initiative will help connect the works to their legitimate owners. But critics say the move is too little, too late

New Met Exhibition Transports You to the Korean Peninsula’s Diamond Mountains

The North Korea resort destination has been inaccessible to tourists for nearly a decade

Cropped stamp featuring a portrait of William Shakespeare.

Software Points to Possible Inspiration for 11 Shakespeare Plays

Researchers used plagiarism software to highlight similarities between Shakespeare’s work and an obscure, unpublished manuscript

Jedek speakers

Cool Finds

Unknown Language Discovered in Malaysia

About 280 people north of the Malay Peninsula speak the language, which is called Jedek

Collège des Prêcheurs, future home of The Musée Jacqueline et Pablo Picasso

Cool Finds

New Museum in Southern France Will House More Than a Thousand Works by Pablo Picasso

The Musée Jacqueline et Pablo Picas, which is expected to open in 2021, will include a trove of works inherited by the artist’s stepdaughter

Hyundai Pavilion designed by Asif Khan at PyeongChang Winter Olympics 2018

Winter Olympics

Artist Coats Olympic Pavilion With the Blackest Black Pigment

The pavilion is also studded with thousands of light rods to resemble the twinkling night sky

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