Art
Contemporary and Historic Ledger Art Joined in a Seamless Native Narrative
Too often museums exhibit indigenous art of the United States as artifacts made by ghosts, even though many of these traditions are still inspiring contemporary creators.
Smithsonian Institution
Art
Hearing a Symphony in the Cacophony of a Lagos Market
Every city has its own sounds, its distinct murmur and roar of voices and traffic.
Art
Photographing Biodiversity, One Cubic Foot at a Time
WASHINGTON, DC — Much of science is observation, being attuned to what others overlook.
Art
A 19th-Century Cheyenne Warrior's Drawings of His Life as a POW
Some of the best-known 19th-century ledger art was created by Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, Kiowa, and Caddo prisoners of war at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida, following the Red River Wars.
Art
The Elegant Architecture of Airport Control Towers
Beginning in 2006, Smithsonian photographer Carolyn Russo journeyed through 23 countries, documenting the one structure nearly every traveler arriving by air sees: the airport tower.
Art
How Audubon Pranked a Fellow Naturalist with a Bulletproof Fish
Field books capture essential information for ecological history but are often difficult to track down in scientific collections.
Art
Skeletons on the Shelves: Museums' Slow Return of Indigenous Remains
Active repatriation of indigenous remains in museums only gathered serious momentum in the 1980s.
News
Looking at the Data Behind Free Museum Admission
The question of whether or not art museums should be free tends to get people riled up.
Art
Drawn Self-Portraits Materialized as Masks
For her Second Self photography series, Canadian artist Meryl McMaster asked her subjects to blindly draw single-line contours of their faces, which she then sculpted into wire masks.
Opinion
An Open Letter to the National Museum of African Art Regarding Bill Cosby
I am writing to you today with a simple request: take down the pictures of Bill Cosby in your current exhibition Conversations.
Art
Listen to the Resurrected Voice of Alexander Graham Bell
WASHINGTON, DC — Out of patent litigation paranoia, inventor Alexander Graham Bell donated copies of his devices and sound recordings directly to the Smithsonian.
News
A Sign the Smithsonian Is Getting Nervous About Cosby Exhibition
In the wake of new controversy over AP's discovery that the Cosbys bankrolled the entire show, the Smithsonian has finally mustered up the courage to take some visible form of action.