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Artists

Shirley Woodson, Take it To The Limit, 2013, acrylic on canvas

At 85 Years Old, Longtime Detroit Artist Gets a Show of Her Own

A new exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts spotlights Shirley Woodson, an arts educator and longtime fixture of the city’s vibrant Black arts scene

With the world on the brink of destruction, three of the earliest comic book superheroes (above: an array of 1940s covers from the Smithsonian collections) joined in the war effort, hawking bonds, boosting morale and entertaining troops.

Before the Riddler, Batman’s Archenemy Was Hitler

A Smithsonian collection of vintage Golden Age comic books tells a story of WWII propaganda, patriotism and support of the war effort

Harriet Jacobs, who escaped enslavement to write Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), created these three dolls for the children of writer Nathaniel Parker Willis around 1850-60. 

History of Now

Black Dolls Tell a Story of Play—and Resistance—in America

A new exhibition traces the toys’ history from handmade cloth figures to an American Girl character

Toyin Ojih Odutola (above) “flips the script in every aspect," she says of her 40 charcoal and pastel drawings depicting a story about a strong race of women, called the Eshu, who rule over humanoid men made to work in the mines or to cultivate food.

Women Warriors Ran the Ancient World in Artist Toyin Ojih Odutola’s Imagined Past

The Hirshhorn’s show, “A Countervailing Theory,” posits a society where gender roles are reversed

Ringgold's mural, For the Women's House (1971), showcased earlier at a Brooklyn Museum exhibition in 2017. The painting will be permanently relocated to the museum pending its removal from the Rikers prison complex.

An Evocative Mural on Rikers Island Will Be Moved to the Brooklyn Museum

Faith Ringgold’s “For the Women’s House,” which sought to inspire female inmates, will be relocated ahead of the jail complex’s impending closure

Blue Madonna, oil on canvas, 1961. Many of the artist’s works feature religious themes and are painted in the bold colors of the Fauvists and German Expressionists.

American Artist Bob Thompson Riffed on the Old Masters of Europe

A new view of an original genius who died before he could realize his full potential

Finds unveiled in 2021 included a wooden falcon that originally belonged to doomed queen Anne Boleyn, an intact ancient chicken egg and a dress worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz.

Cool Finds

Ninety-Nine Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2021

The year’s most exciting discoveries include a Viking “piggy bank,” a lost Native American settlement and a secret passageway hidden behind a bookshelf

Wayne Thiebaud, Pies, Pies, Pies, 1961. Oil on canvas.

Getting a Taste of Wayne Thiebaud

An exhibit in California examines the full, delicious spread of the American artist’s work

A Louis Wain illustration of cats singing carols

See Louis Wain’s Exuberant Cat Art at the Hospital Where He Spent His Later Years

The Victorian artist’s famous feline portraits are on view at England’s Bethlem Museum of the Mind

The center aims to establish a "dialogue between modern and contemporary art," one curator says.

Why Baltimore Is Poised to Become a Major Hub for Henri Matisse Fans

The Baltimore Museum of Art recently opened a research center dedicated to the French artist

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Night Watch, 1642

A Hidden Sketch Is Discovered in Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch’

Researchers in the Netherlands used new scanning technologies to discover how the Baroque artist painted his most famous masterpiece

Bob Dylan, One Too Many, 2020

See Bob Dylan’s Cinematic Paintings, Welded Sculptures and More

A comprehensive collection of the iconic songwriter’s visual art is on display for the first time in the United States

Archaeologist Anastasiia Stupko-Lubczynska at work in the Chapel of Hatshepsut.

Master Artisans Fixed Mistakes Made by Apprentices at Ancient Egyptian Temple

New research reveals how reliefs on the walls of the Temple of Hatshepsut in Thebes were crafted—and corrected

Ai Weiwei's Whitewash (1995–2000), pictured here in the M+ museum's newly opened galleries, features 126 Neolithic clay jars unearthed in China.

Major Contemporary Art Museum Debuts in Hong Kong Amid Censorship Concerns

M+ promises to be a leading cultural destination, but China’s new national security law threatens its curatorial freedom

Attributed to Mary Way or Elizabeth Way Champlain, A Lady Holding a Bouquet, circa 1790–1800

Women Who Shaped History

These Sisters’ Innovative Portrait Miniatures Immortalized 19th-Century Connecticut’s Elite

An exhibition at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum is the first to showcase Mary and Elizabeth Way’s unique creations, which went unrecognized for decades

Art collector John Foster spotted this sculpture, titled Martha and Mary, in the front yard of a St. Louis home in 2019. 

Cool Finds

Art Enthusiast Spots Long-Lost Sculpture by Black Folk Artist in Missouri Front Yard

William Edmondson had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1937 but was buried in an unmarked grave following his death in 1951

A view of the Anahuacalli Museum's main "temple" structure, which was inspired by Aztec architecture and completed in 1964

Diego Rivera’s Utopian ‘City of the Arts’ Debuts 64 Years After the Artist’s Death

The Anahuacalli Museum has expanded its campus to create a community art center first envisioned by the Mexican muralist in 1941

Ary Scheffer, The Ghosts of Paolo and Francesca Appear to Dante and Virgil, 1835

Before Romeo and Juliet, Paolo and Francesca Were Literature’s Star-Crossed Lovers

Centuries after Italian poet Dante published “The Divine Comedy,” Romantic artists and writers reimagined the tragedy as a tale of female agency

Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF (short for "mischief") sold 999 fake Warhol drawings and 1 real print. All the works are billed as identical, making it impossible for consumers to know for certain if they own the "authentic" print.

For Sale: One Real Warhol Print, Hidden Among 999 Fakes

Collective MSCHF sold the 1,000 drawings for $250 each in a stunt designed to draw attention to authenticity in the art world

Julie Green poses in front of a selection of The Last Supper plates in 2015. The artist died on October 12 at age 60.

Remembering Julie Green, Who Painted the Last Meals of Death Row Inmates

The artist, who died this month at age 60, sought to emphasize condemned prisoners’ humanity

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