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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

Tuesday

Sunday

Stories Of Race In America Captured On Quilt And Canvas

Artist Faith Ringgold is best known for her story quilts which depict scenes of African-American life. But a new exhibit highlights the provocative paintings she made 20 years earlier — documenting the racial and political tumult of the 1960s.

Stories Of Race In America Captured On Quilt And Canvas

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Sunday

For Judd Family, Home Is Where The (Rectilinear) Art Is

Donald Judd's daughter, Rainer, says her father's bedroom is her favorite space in the house. (101 Spring Street, New York, 5th Floor, 2013.) Josh White/Donald Judd Art (c) Judd Foundation. Licensed by VAGA, New York. Artwork (c) John Chamberlain. (c) Lucas Samaras. Dan Flavin (c) Stephen Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Donald Judd Furniture TM (c) Judd Foundation. hide caption

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Josh White/Donald Judd Art (c) Judd Foundation. Licensed by VAGA, New York. Artwork (c) John Chamberlain. (c) Lucas Samaras. Dan Flavin (c) Stephen Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Donald Judd Furniture TM (c) Judd Foundation.

Fine Art

For Judd Family, Home Is Where The (Rectilinear) Art Is

When minimalist artist Donald Judd died, his Manhattan house stayed in the family, with much of his stuff exactly where he left it. Now, after a renovation his son helped oversee, the general public can tour the building and see firsthand how Judd brought art and architecture together.

For Judd Family, Home Is Where The (Rectilinear) Art Is

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Thursday

Civil War's First African-American Infantry Remembered In Bronze

Boston's Shaw Memorial sits at the corner of Beacon and Park Streets. Andrea Shea/WBUR hide caption

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Andrea Shea/WBUR

Culture

Civil War's First African-American Infantry Remembered In Bronze

WBUR

Boston's Shaw Memorial depicts the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, which was crushed 150 years ago in South Carolina. It took American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens 14 years to complete the Boston Common landmark.

Civil War's First African-American Infantry Remembered In Bronze

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Wednesday

Naked Or Nude? Wesselmann's Models Are A Little Bit Of Both

Nearly 100 years after Edouard Manet painted his scandalous 1863 Olympia, Tom Wesselmann created The Great American Nude #26. Estate of Tom Wesselmann/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY hide caption

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Estate of Tom Wesselmann/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Fine Art

Naked Or Nude? Wesselmann's Models Are A Little Bit Of Both

Female bodies sprawl across canvases in a retrospective of work by pop artist Tom Wesselmann, now on view at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. If the images make you blush, that's just part of a long artistic tradition.

Naked Or Nude? Wesselmann's Models Are A Little Bit Of Both

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Tuesday

Sunday

Friday

Thursday

At 90, Ellsworth Kelly Brings Joy With Colorful Canvases

In this 2007 Ellsworth Kelly piece, four separate oil-painted canvases combine to form a single work, Green Blue Black Red. Jerry L. Thompson/Courtesy of Ellsworth Kelly hide caption

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Jerry L. Thompson/Courtesy of Ellsworth Kelly

Fine Art

At 90, Ellsworth Kelly Brings Joy With Colorful Canvases

The nonagenarian artist recently received the National Medal of Arts, and museums around the world are still celebrating his May birthday. The Phillips Collection, in Washington, D.C., is displaying seven "exuberant" pieces: layered or lined-up canvases painted in bold, solid colors.

At 90, Ellsworth Kelly Brings Joy With Colorful Canvases

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Monday

Saturday

The Art Of Food: Museum Celebrates Iconic Catalan Chef's Cuisine

Catalan chef Ferran Adrià poses with plasticine models of his food on display at Somerset House in London. A new exhibit looks back at the influential modernist chef and his landmark restaurant, El Bulli. Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images for Somerset House hide caption

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Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images for Somerset House

The Salt

The Art Of Food: Museum Celebrates Iconic Catalan Chef's Cuisine

As head chef of El Bulli, the widely influential Ferran Adria revolutionized modernist cuisine. Now, the man hailed as the "Salvador Dali of the kitchen" is the subject of an experimental new art exhibit in London.

Monday

From Kids' Books To Erotica, Tomi Ungerer's 'Far Out' Life

Tomi Ungerer's 1967 book Moon Man follows its lonely protagonist as he visits Earth for the very first time. Tomi Ungerer hide caption

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Tomi Ungerer

Author Interviews

From Kids' Books To Erotica, Tomi Ungerer's 'Far Out' Life

Fresh Air

The famed author and illustrator broke the rules of American children's literature in the '50s and '60s, but many Americans have never heard of him. A new documentary, Far Out Isn't Far Enough, looks at his life and work.

From Kids' Books To Erotica, Tomi Ungerer's 'Far Out' Life

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Thursday

A Paris Vacation For Nashville Millionaires' French Art

A table (Le Dejeuner), an 1892 oil painting by Edouard Vuillard, appears to show a quiet domestic scene. But Isabelle Cahn, the curator of a new show at the Musee d'Orsay, says this painting actually depicts a scandal-ridden household. Courtesy Musee d'Orsay hide caption

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Courtesy Musee d'Orsay

Fine Art

A Paris Vacation For Nashville Millionaires' French Art

The Hays Collection, born of two Tennessee millionaires' love for French art, has come back to its home country: The pieces are currently on display at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. NPR's Susan Stamberg speaks to the American lenders and the French borrowers about why these works inspire such passion.

A Paris Vacation For Nashville Millionaires' French Art

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