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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Adam W. McKinney dances in front of a former KKK headquarters in Fort Worth. 

Past Imperfect

Texas Artists Are Taking Over—and Transforming—a Former KKK Building

Those once terrorized by the Klan will decide on the center’s events and programming

The artwork’s last owner purchased it for just a few hundred pounds. 

Cool Finds

A Vase Kept in an Ordinary Kitchen Turned Out to Be a Qing-Dynasty Artwork Worth Millions

The rare, blue-and-gold vessel was crafted in 18th-century China

Visitors looking at sculpture by Skellon Studio in “Cancer Revolution” at the Science Museum.

Exhibition Explores the Art and Science of Cancer—and the Hope of a Future Without It

The Science Museum in London explores the past and future of the disease, and the resilience of its survivors

This portrait of some of the Wharton family children by Joan Carlile represents the work of one of Britain's earliest female professional portrait artists. 

Past Imperfect

She Was One of Britain’s First Professional Female Portraitists. Why Isn’t Joan Carlile Better Known?

Though only ten of her works have been identified, the painter’s influence endures

This Roman copy of a Greek bronze depicts an idealized male figure. 

This Ancient Roman Statue Embodies the ‘Perfect’ Man. But Was It Stolen?

Italy wants a Roman replica of “Doryphoros” in the Minneapolis Institute of Art returned

The Carabinieri Police Cultural Heritage Protection Unit returned the painting to the government in a May 19 ceremony.  

Italian Art Police Recovered a Long-Lost Titian. But Is It Really the Renaissance Master’s Work?

The recently confiscated painting is worth an estimated $7 million

Left: Photo of the dress from a Bonhams auction listing. Right: Father Gilbert Hartke with the gifted garment

There’s No Place Like Home—but What’s the Right Place for Dorothy’s Dress From ‘The Wizard of Oz’?

Donated to the head of Catholic University’s drama department in 1973, the garment’s ownership is now at the center of a legal dispute

Red ocher has served many history, from painting cave walls to tanning hides.

Cool Finds

This 12,000-Year-Old Wyoming Quarry Could Be North America’s Oldest Mine

The state’s archaeologists believe people quarried red ocher at Powars II starting 12,840 years ago

Judy Chicago’s 1985 painting The Creation shows a woman birthing the world. 

Global Cultures Have Always Worshipped—and Feared—Women

A new explores two sides of female divinity

The Parthenon sculptures are also known as the Elgin Marbles. 

Past Imperfect

Can Greece and the U.K. Finally Broker a Deal to Return the Elgin Marbles to Athens?

New talks raise old questions about the ancient Parthenon sculptures

Man Ray, Le Violon d’Ingres (1924).

Man Ray’s Iconic Portrait of Kiki de Montparnasse Is Now the Most Expensive Photo Ever Sold at Auction

The Surrealist and Dada artist superimposed violin f-holes on his muse’s back

Tiger tamer Alexander Lacey gets his tigers on their feet in one of the final performances of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ Is Coming Back—Without Circus Animals

After seemingly closing for good five years ago, Ringing Bros. and Barnum & Bailey will launch a new, more modern show in 2023

Pablo Picasso's Femme nue couchée depicts his mistress as a sea monster.

Trending Today

A Painting of Picasso’s Mistress Muse Just Sold for $67.5 Million

The piece was created in 1932, one of the painter’s most noteworthy years

Scientists want to open a dialogue with intelligent extraterrestrial beings in the Milky Way.

Art Meets Science

Why NASA Scientists Want to Send Nudes to Space

The naked truth: It’s a plan to make contact with intelligent life forms in the Milky Way

This statue was looted from the Koh Ker temple complex in Cambodia in the 1970s.

Cambodia Asks U.K. Cultural Institutions to Return Looted Statues

British museums contain hundreds of allegedly stolen temple treasures

Excavations in Troy, circa 1890s

The Many Myths of the Man Who ‘Discovered’—and Nearly Destroyed—Troy

In the 1870s, amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann inflicted irreparable damage on the site of the legendary city

Tiara, Cartier London, special order, 1936. Platinum, diamonds, turquoise. Sold to The Honorable Robert Henry Brand. Cartier Collection.

How Islamic Art Influenced One of Fashion’s Most Famous Jewelers

A new exhibition traces how Middle Eastern patterns and motifs inspired—and fueled—Cartier

Kalush Orchestra smashed records in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest. 

Good News

A Ukrainian Band Just Won the World’s Most Popular Song Competition

Kalush Orchestra’s “Stefania” is a tribute to the frontman’s mother—and the group’s embattled motherland

Researchers keep finding dolls and doll body parts off the coast of Texas, where ocean currents push debris and garbage onto the beach.

Why Do Creepy Dolls Keep Washing Up on Texas Beaches?

Ocean currents push the unsettling toys—and tons of other trash—onto state shores

Created in 1979, the wax sculpture was used as the model for different editions of Dalí works in platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

Cool Finds

Long-Lost Dalí Sculpture Could Be Worth $20 Million

For four decades, the rare was artwork was thought to be missing

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