Articles tagged as Art | Smithsonian Magazine

Robert Motherwell writing at his desk in Amagansett, New York, June 1944

These Letters Written by Famous Artists Reveal the Lost Intimacy of Putting Pen to Paper

Many of the letters included in a new book provide snapshots of especially poignant moments in the lives of American artists

August 12, 2016

A lackluster track record and controversial comments led to a shift

August 10, 2016

Babe Ruth Hit a Home Run With Celebrity Product Endorsements

The Great Bambino was one of the first athletes to be famous enough to require a publicity agent to handle his affairs

August 10, 2016

This drone is designed to start controlled burns of grassland.

10 New Ways to Use Drones

From fighting wildfires to coaching people on their tennis game, the aerial devices are becoming a tool of choice

August 10, 2016

It’s a tale of two Lucys

August 9, 2016

Cool Finds

These Meals Are Made of Paper

Stop-motion spaghetti? Yes, please

August 8, 2016

Interior of the Crystal Palace peep show, 1851

Cool Finds

This Museum’s Giant Collection of Paper Peepshows Offers a Pinhole into the Past

The art pieces were created during the 19th and earth 20th centuries to celebrate coronations, world events and illustrate children’s stories

August 8, 2016

"Portrait of a Woman" being scanned by the synchrotron.

New Research

Scientists Uncover a “Hidden” Portrait by Edgar Degas

A powerful X-ray unveiled one of the painter’s rough drafts

August 4, 2016

"The Brooding Woman," by Paul Gauguin, was one of the paintings stolen at gunpoint from the Worcester Art Museum in 1972.

Cool Finds

The First Armed Art Heist in History Is Being Made Into a Movie

But Ocean’s 11, this isn’t

August 3, 2016

"UnderLA" brings projections of the Earth's lithology to a concrete-bound stretch of the Los Angeles River.

Cool Finds

A New Installation Turns the L.A. River Into Art

The river’s surreal landscape is the perfect place to make a statement about water use

August 1, 2016

Director Guillermo del Toro Shares the Monsters in His Closet With the Public

The filmmaker talks about artifacts from his collection that are featured in the LACMA’s new exhibition, At Home with Monsters

August 1, 2016

Still Life With Spirit and Xitle by Jimmie Durham, 2007, goes on view at the Hirshhorn Museum.

Meet the Man Who Dropped a Boulder on a Chrysler

Ex-pat rebel sculptor Jimmie Durham’s funny work is celebrated in the capital of the country he left

July 26, 2016

The Secret Meaning of Food in Art

Discover 17th-century drinking games and coded political messages in this unique food tour of the Metropolitan Museum’s art collection

July 26, 2016

The Tent of Casually Observed Phenologies.

Art Meets Science

Can the Art of Divination Help People Cope With Climate Anxiety?

A Brooklyn-based artist strives to create emotional connections with the looming threat of climate change.

July 25, 2016

Cool Finds

This App Puts a Museum in Your Phone

Get out and get some culture with a newly released app that gives art a smart spin

July 25, 2016

"Memory Wound" is within view of Utøya, where Norway's July 22 massacre occurred.

“Memory Wound” will evoke the brutal losses of the July 22 tragedy

July 25, 2016

Commentary

How to Avoid the Pitfalls in the Politics of Graphic Messaging

The director of the National Portrait Gallery offers a few pointers on how to acquire visual intelligence

July 21, 2016

Pure Human features clothing made from leather that is produced from the DNA of designer Alexander McQueen—and that includes freckles, realistically placed tattoos and even sunburns.

The late designer’s DNA is part of a bizarre experiment in fashion ethics

July 20, 2016

Cool Finds

These Anti-Suffrage Postcards Warned Against Giving Women the Vote

There are always those who resist societal change

July 19, 2016

Please Touch the Art: This Artist Creates Tactile Portraits for the Blind

Andrew Myers uses screws to make 3-D masterpieces for curious fingers

July 19, 2016