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Visual Art
Modernism has lasted longer than any art movement since the Renaissance.
Meaningful pictures are assembled from meaningless noise.
Successful forgers are remembered as great conmen, not artists. This is strange, considering their forgeries fooled even the most seasoned critics.
Who should be compensated?
Rock art in northern Australia depicts marsupial lions, giant kangaroos, and other megafauna that populated the Land Down Under long ago.
Rare and costly paints have shaped art history in unforeseen ways. Mummy brown caused one artist to bury his paint.
Technologically, the answer is definitely no. But that doesn't mean CGI is always used to good effect.
Bernini created art for 8 different popes. In the process, he helped reinforce and redefine Christianity’s visual culture.
A recent advance in 3D imaging techniques helped spark the biggest ever discovery of North American cave art.
Paintings played an important role in these ancient civilizations. Unfortunately, pigment is not nearly as durable as marble.
The so-called "court painter of Silicon Valley" was shaped by her youth in communist Poland but looks forward to a future ruled by celebrity robots.
Independent of cultural background, people seem to share a sense of what makes certain color combinations aesthetically pleasing.
Moments of social anxiety around truth tend to be accompanied by similar “fool the eye” pop culture phenomena.
Frank Slater’s book "Practical Portrait Painting" reveals the secrets of masters old and new, from Leonardo da Vinci to Augustus John.
Any dataset that can be quantified over time can be turned into a contest that is both exciting and (a little bit) enlightening.
For a long time, important events could only be visualized retroactively through paintings. Photography allowed us to capture history as — or sometimes even before — it happened.
Released in 1972, "Ways of Seeing" has proven to be as worthy of study as the artistic traditions it investigates.
For northern hemisphere skywatchers, it might just be the century’s best comet so far. Every once in a while, large, icy objects pass through the inner Solar System. C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) […]
Find a clear western horizon after sunset, and this ‘triple treat’ of a dance can be yours. Every once in a while, the night sky provides a spectacular feast for our […]
Okay, this is an incredible and rare opportunity, but I’m so pleased to announce that next January, from the 18th-24th, 2019, I’ll be leading an exclusive AstroTour of Iceland! We’ll […]
Did you experience totality? I did, for the first time. And it was, even as a well-prepared scientist, beyond anything I expected. “All that is nowAll that is goneAll that’s […]
But there are resources, tips, and telltale signs to keep you from being duped. “Some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover-up and decoration. But as […]