Tag: Books
Exhausted by 2020? Here are 5 ways to recover and feel more rested throughout 2021
For most of us, 2020 was an exhausting year. The COVID-19 pandemic heralded draining physical health concerns, social isolation, job dislocation, uncertainty about the future and related mental health issues. Although some of us have enjoyed changes such as less…
These Are the 22 Art Projects That Social Media Went Bananas Over in 2020
As the phrase “going viral” took on a new, far more literal definition this year, art that went viral on the internet evolved into a role more important than ever. While we were stuck at home, art shared online served…
A New Book Makes the Case That Fantasy Art Is America’s Least Understood Fine-Art Form—See the Wild Images Here
Dragons, sexy maidens, and epic sword fights are getting the fine-art treatment in Masterpieces of Fantasy Art, Taschen’s new 532-page illustrated tome celebrating the genre. Lest you think fantasy art is nothing more than a lightweight endeavor, the massive volume…
It takes a lot of energy for machines to learn – here’s why AI is so power-hungry
This month, Google forced out a prominent AI ethics researcher after she voiced frustration with the company for making her withdraw a research paper. The paper pointed out the risks of language-processing artificial intelligence, the type used in Google Search…
The Late Artist Aminah Robinson Dedicated Her Life to Recovering America’s Lost History. At Last, She’s Finding a Bigger Audience
When Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson died of heart disease in 2015, she bequeathed the entirety of her estate to her hometown museum, the Columbus Museum of Art. Now, after five years of tirelessly sorting through the artist’s artworks, journals, and various personal…
Threatened Species Rely On Ecotourism To Survive. So What Happens When The Tourists Stop Coming?
Most years, the Beaufort Sea is freezing over by November and a busy season of polar bear viewing is winding down in the Arctic. As the ice takes hold, the flow of tourists slows to a trickle in the Inupiaq…
24 Astounding Art Facts From the Guinness Book of World Records, From the Tallest Statue to the Most Prolific Painter
To set a Guinness World Record is no easy accomplishment—there are currently some 47,000 record titles, with more than 1,000 incoming applications to set new records each week. (Wait times can be up to four months.) Tucked inside these tomes…
A Husband-and-Wife Team Pulled Together Delightful Travel Photos That Accidentally Look Like Wes Anderson Stills—See Them Here
Film director Wes Anderson has a distinctive aesthetic: candy-colored, pleasingly symmetrical, vaguely retro, and maybe a little bit twee. Now, Anderson’s warm, invitingly nostalgic style has inspired a new book celebrating real-world locations that look like something off the set…
The Founding Curator of the Nelson-Atkins Photography Department Has Resigned in Protest of Layoffs at the Museum
Keith F. Davis, the founding curator of the photography department at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, has resigned his position in protest of layoffs at the institution. Davis had spent 10 days fighting to save the job…
Ways To Celebrate NAIDOC Week In 2020: ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’
NAIDOC Week is held in Australia each year to acknowledge and celebrate the history, diverse culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. While usually held in July, NAIDOC Week has been pushed back this year due to…
The Beastie Boys’ Mike D Is Selling His Mom’s Eclectic Art Collection at Auction for as Much as $30 Million
Michael “Mike D” Diamond, of Beastie Boys fame, will sell his mother’s $30 million collection of Old Masters and contemporary art—plus selections from her personal trove of memorabilia from the hip-hop group—at Sotheby’s in New York. The rapper’s parents, art dealer Harold…
‘New Yorker’ Poetry Editor Kevin Young Has Been Named Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture has tapped Kevin Young, the New Yorker’s poetry editor and director of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, to succeed founding director Lonnie Bunch III. Young, who…
How Much Is a Signature Worth? An Epic Friendship Book Signed by Cosmio de Medici and a Holy Roman Emperor Sold for $3.1 Million
In 1648, Augustus the Younger, duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, attempted to purchase Das Große Stammbuch, a “friendship book” from the collection of the recently deceased Philipp Hainhofer, a wealthy, well-traveled merchant from Augsburg, Germany. Augustus failed, and the lavishly illustrated volume did…
What’s Up With That Pig Couch? Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the Internet’s Latest Obsession—and the Artist Behind It
By Contributor on November 19, 2020