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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Joan Hickson as Miss Marple in the BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie’s A Caribbean Mystery in 1989

Twelve Writers Bring Back Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple

In a new collection of short stories, contemporary authors take on the much-loved detective

Misty Copeland at the BET Black Girls Rock show in in Newark, New Jersey, in 2013

Misty Copeland Is Introducing Black and Latino Children to Ballet

The renowned dancer’s BE BOLD program will provide free dance classes to hundreds of students

James Earl Jones

Broadway Theater Renamed to Honor James Earl Jones

The official name change comes amid a push to recognize Black creatives on stage

David Byrne on the set of Theater of the Mind

Art Meets Science

Take a Trip Through David Byrne’s Mind

‘Theater of the Mind’ is an immersive play that unfolds in a 15,000-square-foot square-foot warehouse

Lou Reed, right, recorded stripped-down versions of Velvet Underground songs like “Heroin” with John Cale, left, in 1965.

Cool Finds

Listen to a Lost Tape by a 23-Year-Old Lou Reed

A new album presents the earliest-known recordings of “Heroin,” “I’m Waiting for the Man” and “Pale Blue Eyes”

Filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc Godard, an Icon of the French New Wave, Has Died at 91

The groundbreaking filmmaker helped set the stage for modern cinema

A visitor at the Seattle NFT Museum in Washington, one of the first states to tax non-fungible tokens

Two States Start Taxing NFTs

Washington and Pennsylvania wade into a largely unregulated marketplace

One of the iterations of Loab

Who Is the Woman Haunting A.I.-Generated Art?

Now known as “Loab,” she pops up repeatedly in a series of creepy images

David Bowie’s artistry is the subject of Moonage Daydream, the latest film from documentarian Brett Morgen.

David Bowie, in His Own Words

The new documentary ‘Moonage Daydream’ draws entirely from archival footage and recordings

Tillmans’ 2015 image of Frank Ocean was used on the cover of his critically-acclaimed album, Blonde.

Wolfgang Tillmans Looks Without Fear

The photographer’s largest-ever exhibition is now on view at the Museum of Modern Art

Barack and Michelle Obama at the unveiling ceremony on September 7

Who Are the Artists Behind the New Obama Portraits?

Robert McCurdy and Sharon Sprung add their unique pieces to the White House’s collection

Some of the returned artifacts

Panama

The Netherlands Repatriates 343 Ceramics to Panama

The pre-Hispanic pottery pieces range from bowls to plates to burial vessels

Loving Highsmith aims to challenge crime author Patricia Highsmith’s reputation as a cold-hearted misanthrope.

Was Patricia Highsmith Actually a Hopeless Romantic?

The documentary ‘Loving Highsmith’ presents a new side of the enigmatic crime writer

A produce farm on the Rural Studio campus in Newbern, Alabama

These Are the Winners of the National Design Awards

This year, Cooper Hewitt honored innovators in climate change, clothing design and more

Investigators have seized 27 antiquities from the Metropolitan Museum of Art over the last six months, including this marble head of a Greek youth, dated to around 300 to 100 B.C.

Investigators Seize 27 Greek and Egyptian Antiquities From the Met

The seizures come at a time of increased scrutiny from the Manhattan district attorney’s office over international art crime

Théâtre D’opéra Spatial by Jason Allen

Art Made With Artificial Intelligence Wins at State Fair

Artist Jason Allen placed first in a Colorado contest, generating debate about A.I.’s role in art

David Bowie released his iconic song “Starman” in 1972.

There’s a Starman Waiting at the Auction Block

David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics for ‘Starman’ could sell for more than $35,000

Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith on the set of the television show “The Monkees” in 1967

The FBI Kept Files on the Monkees—and Micky Dolenz Wants to See Them

The band’s last surviving member is suing the FBI, which monitored the group in the 1960s

E.T. looks out the window with Elliott (Henry Thomas) in a scene from the 1982 movie.

Why the Legacy of ‘E.T.’ Endures, 40 Years Later

A new book offers a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic Steven Spielberg movie

English writer Charles Dickens, circa 1860

Charles Dickens Was a Busy Man and a ‘Mild Diva’

Eleven never-before-seen letters go on display at the Charles Dickens Museum

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