Features

self portrait of the artist Paul Cezanne as an older man wearing a beret

Spotlight on Cezanne's Portraits at the National Gallery of Art

May 11, 2018
When you think of French Post-impressionist Paul Cézanne, you most likely think of his masterful landscape and still life paintings, often cited as the bridge between Impressionism and Cubism. But equally influential, yet much less well-known, are Cezanne’s portraits, which in some ways were both...
Painting by Roger Shimomura

ThrowbackThursday: Art Talk with Roger Shimomura

May 10, 2018
Roger Shimomura is in many ways a study in contrasts. His paintings are visually bright and frequently humorous, even as they expose the dark underbelly of stereotypes and racism. They are unquestionably American, even as they warp idealized visions of American life. And their flat colors, borrowed...
various sculptural art works by Isamu Noguchi at the Noguchi Museum

Notable Quotable: Isamu Noguchi

May 2, 2018
Learn more about Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) in this online gallery from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's 2016 exhibit Isamu Noguchi, Archaic/Modern .
collage of three photos of artists Shin Yu Pai, Steven Walker, and Jym Walker

The Art of Place: Artists in Residence at National Parks

April 27, 2018
For more than 100 years, the National Park Service (NPS) has been cultivating creativity at its parks, preserves, monuments, and historical sites through 50 artist-in-residence programs across the country. Founded in 1916, this program has welcomed thousands of artists—including writers,...
Woman in Native outfit sitting in front of a plains background with a cow skull next to her and an inflatable elk behind her.

Wendy Red Star

March 22, 2018
Growing up on the Apsáalooke (Crow) reservation in Montana, Wendy Red Star was immersed in Crow culture and art. Her father was a rock musician, her uncle was a painter,...
a graphic treatment of the Louise Bourgeois quote with gray letters on a white square over a gray background and her name in red

#WisdomWednesday: Louise Bourgeois on the Purpose of Art

March 7, 2018
"Art is restoration: the idea is to repair the damages that are inflicted in life, to make something that is fragmented--which is what fear and anxiety do to a person--into something whole." -- Louise Bourgeois
headshot of the artist Christine Sun Kim

#FlashbackFriday: Art Talk with Sound Artist Christine Sun Kim

March 2, 2018
“I have learned that being an artist is one of the most vulnerable things you can do to your mind and body…” — Christine Sun Kim From works on paper that play with our understanding of standard music notation to participatory works that explore the idea of silence, through her art practice...
Room in a museum with paintings by women on the walls

Five Ways to Support Women Artists

February 28, 2018
Just in time for Women’s History Month, our forthcoming issue of NEA Arts focuses on women artists and arts leaders who inspire, galvanize, and encourage us. One of the women we interviewed was Susan Fisher Sterling, the director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. As a...
a painting of a head of a woman using black ink, paints and wood textures

Art Talk with Visual Artist Jessica Maria Hopkins

February 27, 2018
While working on her Master of Fine Arts in Painting at Howard University, Jessica Maria Hopkins received life-changing news. After a routine visit to the doctor’s office in 2011, she was diagnosed with cancer. Having to postpone her studies, with the support of her mother and her eight siblings,...
An illustration of a garden party

An Exhibition That Illustrates Women's Progress

January 31, 2018
When Martha Kennedy joined the Library of Congress as curator years ago, she was struck by the quality and variety of work by women illustrators and cartoonists in the library’s vast collections. But this richness in turn revealed a corresponding lack, specifically in terms of recognition and...

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