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Art & Design NPR explores the visual arts including design, photography, sculpture, and architecture. Interviews, commentary, and audio. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Art & Design

Wednesday

Friday

Vietnam Memorial Has Spelling Errors Set In Stone

A visitor touches names engraved on a traveling half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Bebeto Matthews/AP hide caption

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Bebeto Matthews/AP

Vietnam Memorial Has Spelling Errors Set In Stone

The Martin Luther King Jr. memorial isn't the only monument in Washington, D.C., that's grappled with how to make a correction. At the nearby Vietnam Veterans Memorial, more than 100 names have been misspelled. So far, 62 have been re-engraved.

Vietnam Memorial Has Spelling Errors Set In Stone

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Thursday

Quote On MLK Memorial To Be Fixed, But How?

Not long after it was unveiled in 2011, controversy erupted over the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. Critics argued that one of King's quotes had been paraphrased in a way that altered its meaning. In January, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the mistake would be fixed. Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

Quote On MLK Memorial To Be Fixed, But How?

How do you change something that is literally set in stone? That's the question the architects of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial are asking themselves after a paraphrased quote carved into the monument sparked a barrage of criticism.

Quote On MLK Memorial To Be Fixed, But How?

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Wednesday

Architecture

Architect On New Black History Museum Design

The way Americans learn about African American history is largely shaped by architect Philip Freelon. He's designed most of the country's major African American history and culture museums — from the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro, NC, to the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco. And Wednesday there was a groundbreaking ceremony on the National Mall for his highest profile project to date — the new Smithsonian devoted to African American history and culture. Freelon stopped by after the ceremony to talk with Melissa Block about the museum and his design philosophy.

Architect On New Black History Museum Design

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Saturday

6 Miles Of Silver Ribbon: Locals Protest Christo

Artist Christo finances his projects by selling design drawings like this one, a preparatory sketch for the Over the River project on Colorado's Arkansas River. Wolfgang Volz/Copyright Christo 2007 hide caption

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Wolfgang Volz/Copyright Christo 2007

Fine Art

6 Miles Of Silver Ribbon: Locals Protest Christo

The artist famous for works measured in miles wants to drape long, billowing panels of silvery fabric over sections of a Colorado canyon. Not everyone is excited; some residents say art is no excuse for the damage it could cause.

6 Miles Of Silver Ribbon: Locals Protest Christo

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Wednesday

Fashion Week 2012: Coats Make A Comeback

A model presents an outfit during the Marc Jacobs show Monday at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York. Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

Fashion Week 2012: Coats Make A Comeback

Coats had fallen out of favor, but they're back — cozy yet chic as ever — on the New York runways. It's a shaky time for the fashion industry, and many designers have decided to "batten down the hatches and do the thing that they do best," says Sally Singer, editor of T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

Fashion Week 2012: Coats Make A Comeback

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Sunday

BLack, Female And An Inspirational Modern Artist

Elizabeth Catlett's 1968 sculpture Homage to My Young Black Sisters Allison Keyes/NPR hide caption

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Allison Keyes/NPR

Culture

BLack, Female And An Inspirational Modern Artist

In just the last year, 96-year-old sculptor Elizabeth Catlett has had her work featured in exhibitions from Istanbul to Mexico to New York. She broke through barriers of race and gender, yet remains unknown to all but the artists she inspires.

BLack, Female And An Inspirational Modern Artist

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Thursday

Global Trends Expected To Dominate Fashion Week

A Spring 2012 design by Phillip Lim. He will show his Fall 2012 collection during this year's Fashion Week in New York. Jason DeCrow/AP hide caption

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Jason DeCrow/AP

Global Trends Expected To Dominate Fashion Week

For the next eight days, designers from around the world will show off their fall collections on runways and online. NPR's Michel Martin checks in with Robin Givhan of Newsweek and The Daily Beast to discuss how globalization and technology are influencing runways and transforming the industry.

Global Trends Expected To Dominate Fashion Week

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Saturday

Thursday

The Mona Lisa's Twin Painting Discovered

The original Mona Lisa is on permanent display at the the Musee du Louvre in Paris. Jean-Pierre Muller/Getty Images hide caption

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Jean-Pierre Muller/Getty Images

Fine Art

The Mona Lisa's Twin Painting Discovered

Conservators at Madrid's Museo del Prado recently discovered that a replica of the Mona Lisa might have been painted by one of Leonardo da Vinci's pupils. The find provides fresh insight into da Vinci's enigmatic masterpiece and studio practice.

The Mona Lisa's Twin Painting Discovered

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Tuesday

In Italy, Art As A Window Into Modern Banking

Oil painting by Marinus van Reymerswaele. Courtesy of Palazzo Strozzi hide caption

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Courtesy of Palazzo Strozzi

Europe

In Italy, Art As A Window Into Modern Banking

With a nod to the current financial crisis in Europe, an Italian art exhibition looks at the often controversial role that banking played in expanding trade and helping usher in the Renaissance.

In Italy, Art As A Window Into Modern Banking

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Sunday

Film Noir: Weegee Was His Name; Murder Was His Game

The Genius of the Camera, circa 1938: A self-portrait Weegee/International Center of Photography hide caption

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Weegee/International Center of Photography

The Picture Show

Film Noir: Weegee Was His Name; Murder Was His Game

He went by Weegee — as in ouija — because in the 1930s and '40s, the prescient photographer and his camera were often the first to show up at crime scenes.

Film Noir: Weegee Was His Name; Murder Was His Game

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Minnesota Festival On Ice Melts Art's Boundaries

At the Art Shanty festival on Medicine Lake in Plymouth, Minn., the ICE-Cycles Shanty uses a bit of fun (and weather-appropriate tires) to try to encourage wintertime bike riding. Nathaniel Freeman hide caption

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Nathaniel Freeman

National

Minnesota Festival On Ice Melts Art's Boundaries

Call it the Burning Man of the Midwest: a temporary city, built around artistic expression. On a frozen lake outside of Minneapolis, the ice shanties are filled with art and dance parties.

Minnesota Festival On Ice Melts Art's Boundaries

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Saturday

Pollock's Legend Still Splattered On Art World

Influenced by Mexican and Native American art, Pollock popularized action-painting and drip style, as seen in Number 7, 1951. Pollock-Krasner Foundation, National Gallery of Art/Artists Rights Society hide caption

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Pollock-Krasner Foundation, National Gallery of Art/Artists Rights Society

Pollock's Legend Still Splattered On Art World

Even a century since his birth, American "splatter artist" Jackson Pollock still provokes heated debate about the very definition of art. Was a man who placed a canvas on the floor and dripped paint straight from the can actually creating a work of art?

Pollock's Legend Still Splattered On Art World

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