Smart News Arts & Culture

“Today, they started to demolish my studio ‘zuo you’ in Beijing with no precaution,” the long-time dissident wrote on Instagram

Authorities Raze Ai Weiwei’s Beijing Studio

The contemporary art giant is known for his caustic criticism of the Chinese government

A plan for the Virginia women's monument

American South

New Virginia Monument Will Pay Tribute to Hundreds of Historic Women

The monument features 12 bronze statues and a wall etched with 400 additional names of women who played an important role in shaping Virginia's history

Hemingway photographed in 1956, the year he completed “A Room on the Garden Side.”

Trending Today

New Semi-Autobiographical Hemingway Story Published

"A Room On the Garden Side" was written in 1956 and takes place during the liberation of Paris in 1944

Following Malcolm X's 1965 assassination, the original manuscript and unpublished chapters of his autobiography remained hidden from the public

New York Public Library Acquires Unpublished Chapter of Malcolm X’s Autobiography

The public is just weeks away from being able to view these “lost” works

Researchers at the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence, Kansas, have attributed the painting to British portraitist and illustrator John Vanderbank

Have Researchers Unraveled the Six-Decade Mystery of a Kansas Museum Portrait?

The team believes it has identified the rightful artist behind ‘Mrs. Thomas Pelham,’ a nearly life-size portrait depicting an 18th-century aristocrat

New Research

Did George Orwell Pick Up TB During the Spanish Civil War?

A new technique was able to pull tuberculosis bacteria and morphine residue from a letter the author sent in 1938, ten years befor his diagnosis

McCartney has long claimed that he wrote the melody to "In My Life," but Lennon stated that his songwriting partner had only contributed to the middle section of the tune. This study suggests they were both wrong

Statistics Offer Answer to Decades-Long Dispute Over Authorship of Beatles Hit

Researchers say there is less than a one in 50 chance that Paul McCartney composed the melody of "In My Life"

Archaeologists identified the library based on a series of wall niches that once housed ancient scrolls

Cool Finds

Cologne Archaeologists Unearth Foundations of Germany’s Oldest Known Library

The library, which was built between 150 and 200 C.E., held an estimated 20,000 ancient scrolls

Bird's eye view of the 1893 Columbian Exposition, which Olmsted was instrumental in planning

24,000 Documents Detailing Life of Landscape Architect Frederick Law Olmsted Now Available Online

Collection includes journals, personal correspondence detailing development of Biltmore estate, U.S. Capitol grounds and the Chicago World's Fair

Alan Smith-Allison poses with his collection

A New Exhibition Is Here to Spice Up Your Life

Do you really, really, really wanna see it?

MASTODON MAXIMUS. CUV. [Cuvier]; Orra White Hitchcock (1796–1863); Amherst, Massachusetts; 1828–1840; pen and ink and watercolor wash on cotton, with woven tape binding

Art Meets Science

Art, Science and Religion Blend in Exhibition Honoring Illustrator Orra White Hitchcock

Orra’s paintings and drawings depict the natural world in colorful detail

Salvador Dalí, "Gala Placidia. Galatea of the Spheres," 1952

Catalonia

Why Gala Dalí—Muse, Model and Artist—Was More Than Just Salvador’s Wife

Barcelona exhibition draws on 315 artifacts to unravel the myths behind central surrealist figure

Tracey Emin, "Death Mask," 2002

This Initiative Is Loaning Artwork Back to the Communities They're Most Associated With

Britain's National Portrait Gallery's 'Coming Home' initiative will loan portraits to the towns and cities most closely associated with their subjects

Photograph of Lulu Adams in the 1940s

Black and Female Circus Artists Take Center Ring in New Museum Show

“Circus! Show of Shows” at the U.K.’s Weston Park Museum reveals how the circus was shaped by diverse groups of performers

Rosa Parks lived in her brother's Detroit home after fleeing the south

Rosa Parks’ Detroit Home Is Now Up for Auction

Parts of the tiny home where the civil rights activist lived with 17 family members are expected to sell for between $1 and $3 million

"Portrait of Harriet Tubman," 1868-69

Library of Congress Puts Spotlight on 440 Snapshots Culled From Archive of 14 Million

About 300 of the images have been newly digitized, and 200 of these are free for public use

Willem de Kooning photographed in studio

Art Dealer Discovers Six Alleged Willem de Kooning Paintings in New Jersey Storage Locker

Boxes labeled with artist's name were found among the 200 abandoned works

July 1983 illustration of David Bowie for TIME magazine

David Bowie’s First Studio Recording Discovered in a Bread Basket

The demo failed to impress recording executives in the early 1960s

You'll Soon Be Able to Stay in This Historic California Ghost Town

Cerro Gordo was once a lively mining town. Now its new owners have plans to refurbish it in hopes of attracting visitors to the relic of the Wild West

Cool Finds

Claude Monet's Glazed Biscuit Kitty Cat Returns to the Artist's Home

The terracotta feline was believed to have gone missing after the death of Claude Monet's son Michel

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