Fine Art

Ragnar Kjartansson's Woman in E takes place in a circular room built from a gold tinsel curtain. Unlike many of his works, Woman in E features real people, rather than films.

Arts

Art Star Ragnar Kjartansson Moves People To Tears, Over And Over

7:00am October 28, 2016

by Neda Ulaby

The artist's repeating performance films can bring on a sort of catharsis, and people often cry after seeing a few cycles. "He's a huge deal," says one curator. "He's been ... rocking the art world."

When Cultural Heritage Is At Risk, Italy's Art Police Come To The Rescue

5:33am October 22, 2016

by Christopher Livesay

Over the decades, they've tracked down looted paintings and manuscripts, and rescued artwork after natural disasters. These days, they're salvaging centuries-old works in Italy's Amatrice quake zone.

This statue, in Sudbury, Ontario, was apparently vandalized about a year ago. A local artist volunteered to help replace Jesus' missing head, but not everyone appreciates her efforts.

Arts

New Head For Jesus Statue That Prompted Double Takes Is Gone

7:30pm October 21, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Last year, baby Jesus' head went missing from a statue at a church in northern Ontario. A local artist sculpted an attention-getting substitute, but that damaged the statue.

Artangel co-director James Lingwood has been struck by how much time visitors are spending at the exhibition.

Arts

Reading Gaol, Where Oscar Wilde Was Imprisoned, Unlocks Its Gates For Art

6:07pm October 20, 2016

by Vicki Barker

In 1895, Wilde was convicted of homosexual activity and sentenced to two years Reading Gaol. Built in the mid-1800s, the facility was operational until 2013. Now, it's hosting an unusual art exhibit.

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Self-Portrait in Blue Jacket (1950), by Max Beckmann. The painter had been on his way to see an exhibit featuring this self-portrait at the time of his heart attack.

Arts

Decades After His Death, Max Beckmann Returns To New York

5:18pm October 16, 2016

by NPR Staff

On sunny December day in Manhattan, the great German painter had been on his way to an exhibit featuring his latest self-portrait when he died. Now, that painting is back in the city where he left it.

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In a recent series of photographic drawings, David Hockney, shown above in his studio, plays with the relationship between painting and photography.

Books
Arts

Artist David Hockney Says The Drive To Create Pictures 'Is Deep Within Us'

9:08am October 13, 2016

by Susan Stamberg

The nearly 80-year-old artist has written a book called A History of Pictures. It's chock-full of art he's loved looking at, including one painter he credits with inventing Hollywood lighting.

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Preserving Rosa Parks' Detroit House, In Germany

5:04pm October 09, 2016

by NPR Staff

Rosa Parks' niece, Rhea McCauley, teamed up with artist Ryan Mendoza to move the civil rights icon's Detroit home to Berlin in order to save it from demolition.

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Van Gogh's Seascape at Scheveningen, 1882, was stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2002.

2 Stolen Van Goghs Recovered By Anti-Mafia Police In Italy

12:31pm September 30, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

The two paintings — of a seascape and of a congregation at a church — were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2002. "They are the real paintings!" a curator said in a statement.

Winston Churchill was so displeased with Graham Sutherland's portrait that his wife asked his secretary to destroy it. Pictured here is a preparatory sketch.

'The Face Of Britain' Tells A Nation's History Through Portraits

6:23pm September 19, 2016

by NPR Staff

Art historian Simon Schama shares the stories behind the artworks — from the portrait that made an 18th-century actor into a star, to the one Winston Churchill's secretary threw into a bonfire.

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Maurizio Cattelan's America goes on display Friday at the Guggenheim in New York. The artist says it is "one-percent art for the ninety-nine percent."

Behold The Throne: There's A Golden Toilet At The Guggenheim

5:43pm September 15, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

Museum-goers, prepare for "unprecedented intimacy with a work of art." Starting Friday, visitors will be able to use Maurizio Cattelan's America, a gold-cast, working toilet at the New York museum.