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

Art & Design

An aerial view of Luna Luna in Moorweide park in Hamburg, Germany in 1987. Sabina Sarnitz/Luna Luna, LLC hide caption

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Sabina Sarnitz/Luna Luna, LLC

World famous artists designed this carnival in 1987. Nearly 40 years later, it's back

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Students walk by the statue of Hecuba, the legendary Queen of Troy, with a quote by William Shakespeare — spelled "Shakespear" — on the campus of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in 2017. Richard Vogel/AP hide caption

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Richard Vogel/AP

This black and white photo taken in May 1982 shows Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama, whose death was announced on March 8, 2024. STR/JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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STR/JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images

Denise Murrell is the curator of The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism, featuring works like Archibald J. Motley Jr.'s Black Belt. Photos courtesy of The Met hide caption

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Photos courtesy of The Met

Yokosuka Museum of Art, situated on Tokyo Bay, is designed as a destination for both visitors and locals. Tomio Ohashi/The Pritzker Architecture Prize hide caption

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Tomio Ohashi/The Pritzker Architecture Prize

Riken Yamamoto, who designs dignity and elegance into daily life, wins Pritzker Prize

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Melanie Dantzler, president of the African American Quilt Circle of Durham, N.C. and past vice president Teena Crawshaw, stand in front of the quilt "Recalling Slavery Days" at QuiltCon 2024. Sea Stachura hide caption

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Sea Stachura

The enduring story for Underground Railroad Quilts

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Louisville's statue of French King Louis XVI was removed after it was vandalized during protests in 2020. The 200 year-old monument was a gift from Louisville's sister city of Montpellier, France. Stephanie Wolf/Louisville Public Media hide caption

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Stephanie Wolf/Louisville Public Media

Removed during protests, Louisville's statue of King Louis XVI is still in limbo

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Dorothea Lange, Human Erosion in California (Migrant Mother), March 1936, gelatin silver print The J. Paul Getty Museum hide caption

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The J. Paul Getty Museum

In today's global migrant crisis, echoes of Dorothea Lange's American photos

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Entrée du port (Entrance to the Port), a previously unknown mural discovered at Paul Cezanne's childhood home in Aix-en-Provence Ville d'Aix-en-Provence / Philippe Biolatto hide caption

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Ville d'Aix-en-Provence / Philippe Biolatto

Emmalene Blake poses for a portrait in front of her mural showing Samia al-Atrash holding her niece Masa Khader, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in October. Molly Keane for NPR hide caption

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Molly Keane for NPR

A grieving Palestinian, an Irish artist and the mural that brought them together

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Jada Pinkett Smith's creative life. Matt Winkelmeyer/Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images hide caption

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Matt Winkelmeyer/Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images

Props and sets are available to rent at EcoSet in Los Angeles. It's a resource for the creative industry that implements zero waste practices on productions and events. Tracy Nguyen for NPR hide caption

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Tracy Nguyen for NPR

How Hollywood art directors are working to keep their sets out of the landfill

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This 1970 photograph, Untitled (Model Who Embraced Natural Hairstyles at AJASS Photoshoot) is just one of the works in the Dean Collection on display at the Brooklyn Museum Joshua White / JWPictures.com/ The Dean Collection, courtesy of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys. © Kwame Brathwaite. hide caption

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Joshua White / JWPictures.com/ The Dean Collection, courtesy of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys. © Kwame Brathwaite.

In her new book Get the Picture, journalist Bianca Bosker explores why connecting with art sometimes feels harder than it has to be. Above, a visitor takes in paintings at The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London in 2010. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images hide caption

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Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

How the art world excludes you and what you can do about it

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A man walks near a mural of Handala in the village of al-Fara, in the occupied West Bank, following an Israeli raid on Dec. 8. Zain Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Zain Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images

Who is Handala, the barefoot, spiky-haired boy who symbolizes Palestinian resistance?

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Tattoo artist Noemi Barajas applies a stencil onto the arm of her client, Brittany Mena, at her studio in Orange, Calif. Jessica Pons for NPR hide caption

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Jessica Pons for NPR

Thinking of getting inked? Start with a tiny tattoo

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Bonus: Janet Yellen on Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

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The Prison Reimagined: Presidential Portrait Project exhibition features artwork by incarcerated artists critiquing the U.S. justice system and is on display at President Lincoln's Cottage in Washington, D.C. Catie Dull/NPR hide caption

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Catie Dull/NPR

Singer and composer H. Sinno is bringing a site-specific opera to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Temple of Dendur. Derrick Kakembo /The Metropolitan Museum of Art hide caption

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Derrick Kakembo /The Metropolitan Museum of Art

An ancient Egyptian temple in New York inspires a Lebanese American musician

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