Amy Sherald, As soft as she is..., 2023. Courtesy of Amy Sherald and Hauser & Wirth 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
Portrait of OSGEMEOS. Filipe Berndt hide caption
(L-R) Mirage, Amanda Tori Meating, Morphine Love Dion, Sapphira Cristál, Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige, Geneva Karr, Hershii LiqCour-Jeté, Plane Jane, Xunami Muse, Nymphia Wind, Q, Megami, Dawn and Plasma Amy Sussman/Getty Images hide caption
A 38-figure, 58-foot-long bronze relief titled A Soldier's Journey by sculptor Sabin Howard is unveiled at the National World War I Memorial in Washington on Friday. Ben Curtis/The United States World War One Centennial Commission hide caption
Ariel Heller, 4, helps to glue a broken clay jar during a special tour with his family after he accidentally broke another jar at the Reuben and Edith Hecht Museum in Haifa, Israel, on Friday. The boy who accidentally broke a rare 3,500-year-old jar in an Israeli museum has been forgiven and invited back, as curators hope to turn the disaster into a teachable moment. Maya Alleruzzo/AP hide caption
From mosses to mountain lions, the temperate old-growth rainforests of the Pacific Northwest provide the complexities and conditions necessary to support high levels of biodiversity. The Northwest Forest Plan has provided protection for these ancient ecosystems over the last 30 years and has helped advance forest management in Oregon, Washington and California. Developed in response to decades of unsustainable logging practices, the plan has helped restore forest ecosystems in 17 national forests. David Herasimtschuk hide caption
Raashida, 15, says she was injured in her family's home in Rakhine State, Myanmar, on August 7 in a drone attack by the Arakan Army. Her mother and one sibling also sustained injuries. According to Amnesty International, "Rohingya civilians are now caught in the middle of intensifying conflict in Rakhine State between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military." Raashida's family has fled Myanmar for Bangladesh, where nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees live in camps, having left their homes due to anti-Muslim persecution and violence. Sahat Zia Hero hide caption
A person walks by the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery, London. In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images hide caption
For a wealthy donor to the UK’s National Gallery, vindication came decades later
Lynda Barry was a 2019 recipients of MacArthur "Genius" Grant. John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation hide caption
Death educator Gabrielle R. Gatto and artist Mary Pat Klein host "Grieving & Weaving" at The Green-Wood Cemetery on July 23, 2024. Mengwen Cao for NPR hide caption
A death educator and a knitter walk into a cemetery — it's "Grieving & Weaving"
People gather to look at an artwork by street artist Banksy depicting two pelicans catching fish, painted on top of a fish-and-chips shop in Walthamstow, northeast London, on Aug. 9. Benjamin Cremel/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Banksy's back with surprise daily street art of animals across London
"The Fine Cut" is a re-created barbershop poster that depicts two kinds of cuts — hairstyles of African-American men and ritual scarification of African faces. Vivian Doering hide caption
The J. Edgar Hoover Building of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seen on April 03, 2019 in Washington, D.C. Eric Baradat/Getty Images hide caption
Some call brutalist architecture ugly or chunky. Others call it creative
Designer Thom Browne acknowledges the applause of the audience after the Thom Browne Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2024-2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on June 24, 2024 in Paris, France. Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images hide caption
Brazil's Gabriel Medina reacts after getting a large wave in the 5th heat of the men's surfing round 3, during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Teahupo'o, on the French Polynesian Island of Tahiti, on July 29, 2024. Jerome Brouillett/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
From left: Francisca Chagas Dos Santos. Taquari District. Rio Branco, Brazil. March 2015. Terence McKeen with his mother, Gloria. Blackcreek, Middleburg, Florida. United States. September 2017 Gideon Mendel hide caption
Victor "Marka27" Quiñonez is among the first group of artists to be commissioned as part of Boston's Un-Monument initiative. The artist is seen here working on his large-scale public artwork "Souledad," located in Boston's South End.
Lee Hopkins/The Boston Art Commission, Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture, City of Boston.
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Hailey Welch, also known as the "hawk tuah girl" who some argue is meme from the "zynternet" via Tim and Dee TV/YouTube hide caption
'Hawk tuah,' the Zynternet, & the bro-vote; plus, cowboys are having a moment
This circa 1846 daguerreotype of Dolley Madison, made by John Plumbe Jr., was purchased for $456,000 at auction in June. Sotheby's hide caption
The Smithsonian acquires the earliest known portrait of an American first lady
Judy Baca and artists working on the expansion of The Great Wall. Iman Maani/NPR hide caption
A half-mile long mural in Los Angeles celebrates the history of California
A century-old wrestling competition in Chittagong, Bangladesh, known as Abdul Jabbar's Boli Kheladraws thousands of spectators annually. In this picture from April 24, 2023, two wrestlers go at it on a sandy stage in front of a street audience. Sanchayan Chowdhury hide caption
Bruce Onobrakpeya, a towering figure in modernism, in his home/studio in Lagos, Nigeria. At 91, he has his first Smithsonian solo show. Manny Jefferson/for NPR hide caption