The Horniman Museum's collection of artifacts from the ancient kingdom of Benin includes 12 brass plaques, ceremonial objects and a key 'to the king's palace'. Horniman Museums and Gardens hide caption
Art & Design NPR explores the visual arts including design, photography, sculpture, and architecture. Interviews, commentary, and audio. Subscribe to the RSS feed.
Art & Design
tk Courtesy of Tshomarelo Mosaka hide caption
Lesia Khomenko, Max in the Army, 2022. Oil on canvas, 84.5 x 57.5 inches © Lesia Khomenko hide caption
Many of Megan Miranda's thrillers make nature — the deep woods or a steep trail — a central and often menacing character. Elissa Nadworny/NPR hide caption
How do you write a captivating thriller? This author found clues in the woods
Artist Tunde Olaniran Steven Piper/Tunde Olaniran hide caption
Artist Tunde Olaniran's 'Made a Universe' opens a portal at a Detroit museum
Yoshikazu Netsuno (left) watches his son Shinichi hammer a thick stack of specialized paper. In between each sheet is a thin layer of gold leaf. "My son is going to take over this business, so in our case, we had a successor," Netsuno says. "Many other artisans' families in Kanazawa were not so lucky." Jackie Northam/NPR hide caption
Japan's traditional crafts are struggling to survive the country's population decline
Franklin Armstrong made his debut in the Peanuts in 1968. Peanuts Worldwide LLC hide caption
A project named for 'Peanuts' character Franklin aims to boost Black animators
Fred Mutebi, a Ugandan artist, holds up one of his paintings, which uses traditional Ugandan barkcloth as a canvas. Madeleine Callanan hide caption
The large-scale street art "Saw, Sawing" by Claes Oldenburg / Coosje Van Bruggen Sculpture is seen last year in Tokyo. Leon Neal/Getty Images hide caption
James McNeill Whistler's Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl, 1861–1863 National Gallery of Art hide caption
Whistler's Mother, meet Whistler's very, very close friend at the National Gallery
An X-ray image shows this previously unknown self-portrait of Vincent Van Gogh painted on the reverse side of his painting Head of a Peasant Woman. Graeme Yule/National Galleries of Scotland hide caption
This reconstruction of a marble archer shows the vivid colors that characterized Greek sculpture, and patterns that identify him as a fighter from Persia. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York hide caption
Takahashi's original comic inspired a worldwide craze, including an anime television series, and a popular trading card game. Christy Radecic/Invision/AP hide caption
When you check one of the watches made by Kevin Bertolero, you'll find tiny magnetic ducks instead of the time. Halisia Hubbard/NPR hide caption
An image of babies doing parkour generated by DALL-E mini. Weird Dall-E Mini Generations hide caption
Cara Romero, "Water Memory," 2015 Cara Romero/Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York hide caption
A provocative exhibit at NYC's Met Museum takes a new point of view
Sam Gilliam's 1968 work Double Merge, which is currently on display at Dia Beacon in Beacon, N.Y. Dia Art Foundation, New York hide caption
A flower crafted by Nell Greenfieldboyce, at an American Society for Microbiology event highlighting agar art. Aidan Rogers/Edvotek hide caption
A bridge in Irpin, Ukraine, in April. Vladyslav Krasnoshchok hide caption
The Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building on the National Mall is one of four sites selected as possible locations for two new museums. Ron Blunt Architectural Photography hide caption
Small black Telfar shopping bag Arturo Holmes/Getty Images hide caption
Fishermen haul in a fishing net in the eastern central Atlantic off Senegal. Belgian photographer Pierre Vanneste documents commercial fishing in his black-and-white photos. Pierre Vanneste for NPR hide caption