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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

English artist Sam Cox and his wife, Alena, sitting in front of their Kent mansion, which Cox covered in doodles

This Artist Spent Two Years Covering His Mansion in Doodles

Sam Cox—also known as Mr. Doodle—has been dreaming about the project since he was 18

French writer Annie Ernaux

Annie Ernaux Wins Nobel Prize in Literature for Her Unabashed Autobiographical Writing

The French author is the 17th woman to win the prize

The Beatles’ George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and original drummer Pete Best play a gig at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

See Rare Photos of the Beatles Before They Were Famous

The images show the band playing a local gig in Liverpool in 1961

Giraffe drinking with oxpecker birds in the background in South Africa

View 16 Breathtaking Images From the Nature Conservancy’s Annual Photo Contest

The winning shots feature everything from glowing mushrooms to sauntering lions

Chess world champion Magnus Carlsen, seen here competing in 2021, has accused 19-year-old Hans Niemann of cheating in recent games.

The Cheating Scandal Rocking the Chess World

Will the evidence back up world chess champion Magnus Carlsen’s allegations against Hans Niemann, a young grandmaster?

Megan Piphus Peace with Gabrielle

Meet the First Black Woman Puppeteer on ‘Sesame Street’

Megan Piphus Peace, 29, plays a 6-year-old Black girl named Gabrielle

Singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn was applauded—and sometimes banned—for her daring songs about women's lives. 

Country Legend Loretta Lynn Braved Controversy to Tell the Truth About Women’s Experiences

The self-taught singer-songwriter died on October 4 at her home in Tennessee

Untitled artwork by Moses Johuma, a student at the Cyrene Mission School

Rare Collection of 1940s Art Returns to Zimbabwe After 70 Years

Students at the Cyrene Mission School created the works at a time when the African country was under colonial rule

Researchers have created facial reconstructions of three medieval Scottish people who were buried at the historic Whithorn site.

Art Meets Science

Stunning Facial Reconstructions Resurrect a Trio of Medieval Scots

The renderings show what a bishop, a cleric and a young woman with a remarkably symmetrical face may have looked like in life

Sacheen Littlefeather speaking at the Academy Awards in 1973

Indigenous Rights Activist Sacheen Littlefeather Dies at 75

Marlon Brando sent her to decline his Best Actor award in protest over Hollywood’s depiction of Native Americans

Fragments of the Hercules statue (left) and an archaeologist excavating the artwork (right)

Cool Finds

Archaeologists in Greece Unearth ‘Larger-Than-Life’ Statue of Hercules

The team discovered the 2,000-year-old artwork in Philippi

A game of doubles pickleball 

Why LeBron James Is Buying a Pickleball Team

The Los Angeles Lakers star is a fan of America’s fastest-growing sport

Jim Metzner recording on Great Gull Island

In Thousands of Recordings, Jim Metzner Collected Sounds From Around the World

The Library of Congress has acquired the prolific radio producer’s full body of work

A different page from the Beauvais Missal, a manuscript created in the late 13th century

Cool Finds

Man Pays $75 for Medieval Text That Could Be Worth $10,000

He spotted the page from the 13th-century Beauvais Missal at an estate sale in Maine

Lizzo plays President James Madison’s flute at the Library of Congress

Lizzo Played a 200-Year-Old Glass Flute Given to James Madison

The Library of Congress invited the musician, a classically trained flutist, to play the instrument at her concert this week

Abigail Disney beside a poster for The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales earlier this month

Abigail Disney Criticizes Labor Practices at the Company Her Family Founded

Her new documentary, “The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales,” shines a light on income inequality and workers’ rights

Young artist Andres Valencia and his family at the opening of “No Rules,” his solo exhibition at New York’s Chase Contemporary gallery

This 10-Year-Old Boy Makes Art That Sells for Over $100,000

Fifth-grader Andres Valencia’s inspirations range from Picasso to Pokémon

James Earl Jones beside Darth Vader in 2002

James Earl Jones Retires From Voicing Darth Vader

Future “Star Wars” productions will recreate Jones’ menacing voice using artificial intelligence

Female Figure

Who Were the Painters of Pompeii?

A new exhibition explores the ancient Roman “pictores,” who created beautiful frescoes preserved in ash from Mount Vesuvius’ eruption

Ernest Hemingway and his middle son, Patrick, pose with a record 119.5-pound Atlantic sailfish caught off Key West, Florida, in May 1934.

Archive of Ernest Hemingway Writings, Photos Opens to the Public for the First Time

Privately owned for decades, the materials include a short story featuring F. Scott Fitzgerald, personal effects and rough drafts

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