Fine Art

Plaster casts taken from soldiers' mutilated faces (top row), new sculpted faces (bottom row), and final masks (on the table) sit in the studio of Anna Coleman Ladd in 1918.

One Sculptor's Answer To WWI Wounds: Plaster, Copper And Paint

2:02pm October 06, 2014

by NPR Staff

World War I left many soldiers with disfiguring scars. For those whose faces were no longer recognizable, an American artist, Anna Coleman Ladd, sculpted masks to cover their injuries.

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Arts

Art Project Opens Long-Closed Ellis Island Hospital

1:50pm October 04, 2014

The dilapidated hospital on Ellis Island has been shuttered since 1954. But now it's opening to the public. The occasion? An art exhibition. NPR's Scott Simon talks to the head of Save Ellis Island.

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Ai Weiwei's With Wind greets visitors to his exhibit, "@Large," on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco.

Confined In China, Ai Weiwei Directs Alcatraz Exhibit From Afar

5:03pm September 27, 2014

by Mina Kim

The dissident Chinese artist uses San Francisco's former island prison to contrast themes of freedom and restriction.

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These pastel boxes originally owned by Mary Cassatt were acquired recently by the National Gallery of Art. Click here for a closer look.

Arts

Now That's An Artifact: See Mary Cassatt's Pastels At The National Gallery

1:20pm September 23, 2014

by Susan Stamberg

Cassatt gave the three well-loved, wooden boxes of pastels to a friend's 10-year-old granddaughter, who later recalled: "I wasted lots of them on playing and swapping them with my friends."

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These supporters of Scottish independence are saying yes, and separatist groups in other parts of the world hope it will give them a boost as they seek to break away.

World News

From Quebec To Kashmir, Separatists Watch Scotland Vote

4:10pm September 17, 2014

by Krishnadev Calamur

Scotland's referendum on independence has implications beyond the borders of the United Kingdom. We take a look at several other regions with breakaway movements.

Deaccessioning — the permanent removal of an object from a museum's collection — has been a big issue in Detroit. When the city declared bankruptcy, it had to put all of its assets on the table. Turns out, the most valuable asset was the art collectio

Arts

As Museums Try To Make Ends Meet, 'Deaccession' Is The Art World's Dirty Word

5:57pm August 13, 2014

by Elizabeth Blair

Deaccessioning is the permanent removal of an object from a museum's collection. And there are a lot of rules surrounding it — for one, selling art to pay off debt will get you in big trouble.

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Mark Rothko, Panel Four (Harvard Mural), 1962

Arts

After Decades In Storage, Damaged Rothko Murals Get High-Tech Restoration

8:15am August 11, 2014

by Andrea Shea

In the early 1960s, abstract artist Mark Rothko created five murals for a penthouse dining room at Harvard University. By the late '70s they were trashed — sun-faded and splattered with cocktails.

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Arts

Buried By Picasso, The Man Beneath 'The Blue Room' Tells A Story

2:45pm June 21, 2014

by Scott Simon

In Pablo Picasso's painting The Blue Room, infrared technology this week revealed the canvas' previous occupant: a portrait of a melancholy, mustachioed man.

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While cities are still competing for the not yet built Lucas Cultural Arts Museum, parts of the collection are already on display. The "Star Wars Identities" traveling exhibition, currently at the Cite du Cinema in Saint-Denis, France, features 200 object

Never Tell Them The Odds: Cities Vie To Host 'Star Wars' Collection

7:12pm June 19, 2014

by Richard Gonzales

Star Wars creator George Lucas wants to build a museum full of movie memorabilia and fine art. But where? Both his hometown of San Francisco and Chicago, his "second home," are vying for it.

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Arts

The Human Heart And Its Rhythmic Magnificence

8:18am June 17, 2014

by Neda Ulaby

Rhythm comes in different forms from music and poetry to those inside our bodies. There's art based on the most primal rhythm of all: the beating of the human heart.

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