Art & Artists

Plaster cast of Greek Slave, 1843, by Hiram Powers

The Scandalous Story Behind the Provocative 19th-Century Sculpture "Greek Slave"

Artist Hiram Powers earned fame and fortune for his beguiling sculpture, but how he crafted it might have proved even more shocking

The "Queer Threads" exhibition, which ran in early 2014, examined the diversity of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer experiences.

Urban Explorations

What it Took to Create the World’s First Gay Art Museum

Charles Leslie’s passionate half-century of homoerotic art collecting offers a mirror for the history of gay history itself

Digital artist Jeremy Sutton's finished painting captured the many elements of the event.

This Is How You Live Paint an Event

Artist Jeremy Sutton painted on his iPad while musicians performed and visitors played virtual reality games at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Two boxers spar in the ring in the outdoor gym Gimnasio de Boxeo Rafael Trejo in Old Havana, Cuba.

These Photos From Cuba Place You in the Boxing Ring

Photojournalist and wedding photographer Rebecca Barger captures vibrant images of local streets, architecture and athletes in Havana

Past and Presence: The Power of Photographs

The shattering nature of violence. The resilience of the human spirit. The power of photographs. A Smithsonian special project

Robot jockeys ride camels in Abu Dhabi.

The Latest Sign That the Robot Uprising Is Nigh? Camel Racing

A centuries-old pastime in the United Arab Emirates gets a reboot

Yepraksia Gevorgyan fled Turkey with her family. Her father was killed along the way, and her mother died soon after they crossed into Armenia.

Armenia: Smithsonian Guide

One Photographer's Personal Endeavor to Track Down Survivors of the Armenian Genocide, 100 Years Later

As children, they escaped ruthless state-sponsored violence. Now, these Armenian women and men visit the aching memory of what they left behind

Harper's Ferry, West Virginia (top) and Chickamauga, Georgia (bottom) were the sites of two Civil War battles.

Past and Presence

A Photographic Requiem for America's Civil War Battlefields

Walking far-flung battlefields to picture the nation's defining tragedy in a modern light

A rendering of the installation, which officially launches June 28. Seventeen artist-made stars will glow each night in a constellation above an abandoned castle.

Urban Explorations

An Abandoned Island Now Glows Star-Bright Under a New Constellation

Artist Melissa McGill creates a luminous public art project above a ruined castle on a mysterious piece of land in the Hudson River

Artist Jeff Koons admires his Puppy (1992). Carpeted in colorful swaths of flowering plants, the 41-foot-tall Westie joined the Guggenheim Bilbao’s permanent collection in 1997 and stands in the square just outside the museum entrance.

Shine On: Jeff Koons in Bilbao

Frank Gehry's titanium-clad Guggenheim plays host to a stunning survey of Koons's larger-than-life career

Allis Markham puts the finishing touches to her entries at the World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships in Springfield, Missouri, on May 6.

Why Taxidermy Is Being Revived for the 21st Century

A new generation of young practitioners is leading a resurgence in this centuries-old craft

Joe

These Stirring Portraits Put a Face on Homelessness

Rex Hohlbein's method of using social media to get tents, clothing, car repair and other needs to Seattle's homeless is catching on in other cities

An open source cardboard dino from KitRex stands outside the New York Hall of Science during the World Maker Faire in September 2014.

The Innovative Spirit

What Is a Maker Faire, Exactly?

Billed as the world’s greatest show and tell, the DIY extravaganza might just make a maker out of you

This image, Elephants at Twilight, Botswana, 1989, writes Lanting, "is my homage to the primeval qualities of southern Africa's wilderness, the grandeur of elephants, and the precious nature of water in a land of thirst."

Wildlife Photographer Frans Lanting on the Difference Between Taking Pictures and Making Photographs

The <I>National Geographic</i> photographer has been described as having the "mind of a scientist, the heart of a hunter, and the eyes of a poet"

Filthy Lucre, 2013-2014, by Darren Waterston, MASS MoCA installation

Urban Explorations

Whistler's Peacock Room is Reimagined in a State of Oozing and Broken Decay

In Filthy Lucre, a new installation at the Sackler Gallery, artist Darren Waterston deconstructs Whistler's masterpiece

Peter Dinklage by Jesse Frohman, 2003

Who Crafts the Image in Celebrity Portraiture?

Is it real or is it celebrity branding? A portrait exhibition of iconic celebs considers the question of who holds the upper hand—the artist or the star

All Is Not Lost

At the Intersection of Dance and Portraiture, Vulnerability and Intimacy Prevail

Dance troupe Pilobolus and video portrait artist Bo Gehring teamed up to defy boundaries

Speechless (Women of Allah), 1996

Iranian Exile Shirin Neshat's New Exhibition Expresses the Power of Art to Shape Political Discourse

An exhibition of the artist's work at the Hirshhorn is an allegorical narrative framed against historical and political realities

Native Dress Calgary Stampede(2010)

Scenes From the Calgary Stampede

Noted photographer Richard Phibbs has a new book that sends him back home on the range

Two Nudes in a Forest, from 1939, one of the paintings on display in the Bronx. Kahlo painted it for Dolores del Río, an actor who played the role of the "other" in Hollywood films and who often played Indian women in Mexican films despite that she was not herself of indigenous descent, as Joanna L. Groarke writes in the book that accompanies the exhibition.

Urban Explorations

Visit Frida Kahlo’s Recreated Garden to See the Plants That Influenced Her Art

The New York Botanical Garden is showing rare paintings and drawings alongside the types of flora Kahlo herself once cultivated

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