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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

The First Supper (Galaxy Black), Tavares Strachan, 2023

Monumental Sculpture Reimagines ‘The Last Supper’ With Black Historical Figures

Tavares Strachan’s “The First Supper” took four years to sculpt and is now on display at an exhibition in London

An aerial view of the freshly graffitied Oceanwide Plaza skyscraper development in downtown Los Angeles

Graffiti Artists Tag 27 Floors of Abandoned Skyscraper in Los Angeles

The street art brought new attention to a $1 billion project that’s been stalled since 2019

A gold Asante necklace was among the items turned over to British forces in 1874.

Los Angeles Museum Returns Artifacts to Ghana That Were Taken by British Forces in 1874

Museum officials traveled to the city of Kumasi to return the objects on the 150th anniversary of their seizure

A man exits the Euclid Avenue stop in Brooklyn.

These Photos Capture Every First and Last Subway Stop in New York City

Photographer Rita Nannini traveled across 665 miles of track and snapped some 8,000 images

The 1898 silent film Something Good‑Negro Kiss is often described as the earliest known on-screen depiction of Black intimacy. 

See Long-Lost Artifacts From Early Black Cinema

Now open in Detroit, “Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971” showcases nearly 200 rare props, posters, photographs and more

J.M.W. Turner created the sketch of Hampton Court Castle around 1796.

Cool Finds

Forgotten J.M.W. Turner Watercolor Discovered in an Attic

The painter, renowned for his atmospheric landscapes, created the sketch of Hampton Castle in England when he was about 21

An A.I.-generated image of a kitten on display in "Cute," the new exhibition at London's Somerset House

Why We’re So Obsessed With Cute

A London exhibition explores how cute became such a powerful—and sometimes dangerous—cultural force

The Millenium Camera, set on the path of a hiking trail in Tucson Arizona, is capturing an image over the course of 1,000 years.

Art Meets Science

This Camera Is Taking a 1,000-Year-Long Exposure Photo of Tucson’s Desert Landscape

Jonathon Keats, who devised the plan, hopes the camera will inspire onlookers to contemplate how humanity’s actions affect the environment

The recovered pair of ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz

Thief Who Stole Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers Avoids Prison

Terry Martin has been sentenced to one year of supervised release for swiping the iconic “Wizard of Oz” shoes from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005

Measuring 40 by 50 inches, The Schoolmistress (circa 1784) had belonged to physician Earl Leroy Wood. Officials returned it to his son, Francis Wood, on January 11.

Stolen by Mobsters 54 Years Ago, This 18th-Century Painting Was Just Returned to Its Rightful Owners

Authorities presented “The Schoolmistress” to 96-year-old Francis Wood, the owner’s son, last month

The Glen Affric tartan, which dates to the 16th century, on top of the newly recreated pattern

You Can Now Wear a Recreation of Scotland’s Oldest Tartan

Fashion designers have created a fabric inspired by the Glen Affric tartan, which was discovered in a peat bog and dates to between 1500 and 1600

Writer N. Scott Momaday at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2019

N. Scott Momaday Built the Foundations of Native American Literature

Smithsonian scholars offer their reflections on the author, who died last week at age 89, and his impact on a new generation of Native writers

David Hockney painted California (1965) after traveling to Los Angeles for the first time.

One of David Hockney’s First Pool Paintings Is Going on View for the First Time in 40 Years

“California,” which set the stage for the British artist’s later poolside pieces, is expected to sell for more than $20 million

Protesters throw soup at the Mona Lisa's protective glass covering at the Louvre on January 28.

Climate Activists Throw Soup at the ‘Mona Lisa’

Protected by bulletproof glass, Leonardo da Vinci’s famous masterpiece was not harmed

Portrait of Fräulein Lieser, the 31-by-55-inch work by Gustav Klimt, at a press conference in Vienna

Cool Finds

Lost Gustav Klimt Portrait Rediscovered Nearly 100 Years After It Vanished

“Portrait of Fräulein Lieser,” one of the last works the Austrian artist painted before his death, could sell for over $50 million

A winding walkway from Mary Miss' Greenwood Pond: Double Site in 2014

Iowa Museum Plans to Tear Down Acclaimed Land Art Installation

Known as the country’s first urban wetland project, “Greenwood Pond” has been declared “no longer salvageable” due to financial constraints and structural decay

A gilded unicorn atop a silver baton from the regalia of Scotland's Usher of the White Rod

How the Unicorn Became an Enduring Symbol—and Scotland’s National Animal

The Perth Museum’s inaugural exhibition examines the mythical creature’s long history

An oak peacock moth lands on a window behind dancing wedding guests, illuminated in red light. This photograph won the category for butterflies and dragonflies.

See 11 Winning Images From the Close-Up Photographer of the Year Awards

Focused on little details of animals and plants, these stunning shots spotlight the world’s tiny wonders

The latest winner of a Japanese literary prize said she used ChatGPT to write parts of her novel.

Art Meets Science

ChatGPT Helped Write This Award-Winning Japanese Novel

After receiving the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, Rie Kudan spoke about why she used A.I. to write a portion of her work

Firefighters work to control the blaze at the National Art Gallery in Abkhazia on January 21.

Fire Destroys 4,000 Paintings at Abkhazia’s National Art Gallery

The blaze, which spared only some 150 artworks, is a devastating cultural loss for the region

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