A 2011 image of a “rose” of galaxies from the Hubble Space Telescope (courtesy NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))
Inspired by the Harper’s Index, Sum of the Arts is a periodic tabulation of numbers floating around the art world and beyond.
Years the Hubble Space Telescope has been photographing the universe from above our atmosphere = 25
Hooks once used to strategically hold a fig leaf on a cast of Michelangelo’s “David” at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (which is still on display near the statue) = 2
Mortuary coolers at the Art and Olfaction Awards in Los Angeles that recreated the scents from the final four minutes of four celebrity’s lives = 4
Scaffolding levels Italian artist Fra.Biancoshock transformed into a vertical home, including a studio = 5
Miles of stone and earth ruins archaeologists believe are a forgotten stretch of the Great Wall of China = 6
Dollars that Mary Doyle Keefe, who passed away this week, was paid by Norman Rockwell to model for his 1943 “Rosie the Riveter” painting = 10 (150 in today’s currency)
Generations of a Japanese family which has single-handedly sculpted the pottery known as Raku = 15
Goya witch drawings on view together at the Courtauld Gallery in London for the first time since 1877, in their intended order = 22
Percentage of scenes featuring marches on Trajan’s Column in Rome = 29 (with battles just behind at 21)
Floating yellow, fabric-lined cubes that will form paths across Lake Iseo in Italy as part of Christo’s 2016 “The Floating Piers” project = 200,000