Principles of Composition in Art and Design
An artist combines repetition, balance, proportion, movement, and other design elements to form the whole of a visual composition.
Masterpiece Theater
Climate activist attacks on works by van Gogh, Vermeer, and other art world titans are the latest in a tradition of destruction that hearkens to the early Christian zealots.
The Changing Face of Southern California
An expansive collection of postcards captures the evolving cultural landscape of Southern California—particularly greater Los Angeles—in the twentieth century.
Trouvelot’s Total Lunar Eclipse
Immigrant artist Étienne Léopold Trouvelot used his skills to accurately represent the details—and the sublimity—of our solar system.
What’s the Deal with Crypto Art?
Thirty years after the invention of blockchain, an artist sold a JPG using that technology for nearly $70 million. Huh?
How People in the Depression Managed to Laugh
American popular culture flourished in the 1930s, despite the Great Depression. One thing that helped: artists being included in the New Deal.
Ed Hardy Changed Tattooing Forever
Trained as a printmaker, this artist helped change American tattooing from a fringe behavior into an art form people use to express themselves.
Art Is Good for Your Brain
The field of neuroaesthetics uses neuroscience to understand how art affects our brains, both when we're making it and when we're viewing it.
The Guerrilla Girls Are Back for Hollywood
These anonymous activists have been stirring things up in the art world since the 1980s, and they've just released another thought-provoking poster.
Taking Children’s Art Seriously
Are children’s drawings meaningless scribbles or serious creative work? Western scholars and child psychologists have debated this topic for years.