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+25 +1
A Rare Encounter with an Aaron Douglas Painting that References Slavery’s Past
Lavender and gold silhouettes of soldiers on horseback, waves, and a kneeling figure overlap on the flat plane of Aaron Douglas’s “Let My People Go” (1935–39)... By Allison Meier.
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+24 +1
A new perspective on old specimens
When biologist Abigail Curtis wants new insight into the hidden anatomy of the thimble-sized bat skulls she studies at the American Museum of Natural History, she pulls a specimen out of the museum’s vast collection and turns on the “bat photocopier.”
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+40 +1
Mexico’s Secret Narco Museum
Deep inside Mexican army headquarters sits a crazy collection of bling and weapons nabbed from drug traffickers—and religious iconography praising the Messiahs of the drug wars. Hidden in the smog-ridden north of Mexico City, inside the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense—or Mexican army HQ—sits one of the most fascinating museums on the planet.
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+17 +1
On (Not) Facing Britain’s Imperial Past at Tate Britain
“More broadly, looting committed by the British in India was so vast in scale that Powis Castle (in Wales) alone holds more Mughal artefacts ‘than are on display at any one place in India – even the National Museum in Delhi.’” By Louis Allday.
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+29 +1
Artists Covertly Scan Bust of Nefertiti and Release the Data for Free Online
Last October, two artists entered the Neues Museum in Berlin, where they clandestinely scanned the bust of Queen Nefertiti, the state museum’s prized gem.
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+21 +1
Inside the LSD Museum That the DEA Somehow Hasn’t Torn to the Ground
McCloud surmises that most blotter art was created so manufacturers, dealers, and imbibers could identify the origins of the acid in their possession. By Margaret Rhodes.
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+4 +1
Photography’s Blue Period Gets Its First Major Show in the US
In 1842, British scientist Sir John Herschel experimented with the effect of light on iron compounds, inventing a process to produce the blue-tinted prints we know as cyanotypes... By Claire Voon.
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+24 +1
Museum of Lost Objects: The Winged Bull of Nineveh
One year ago a man took a pneumatic drill to the statue of a winged bull at the gates of the ancient city of Nineveh, near Mosul in modern Iraq. It's one of countless treasures destroyed by vandals, militants or military action in the region in the last 15 years. Kanishk Tharoor and Maryam Maruf tell the first of 10 stories about ancient objects that have now been lost.
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+6 +1
Museum of Lost Objects: The Temple of Bel
When the so called Islamic State group took control of Palmyra, it destroyed the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel and executed the man who looked after it.
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+3 +1
The maddeningly magical maths of John Dee
As an exhibition of notorious magician John Dee’s books continues, Philip Ball argues that he warrants a place in science’s history.
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+31 +1
Could the Nefertiti Scan Be a Hoax — and Does that Matter?
Last month, we reported that a pair of artists scanned the bust of Nefertiti, currently on display in the Neues Museum in Berlin, without the permission of museum officials. Now, many people are raising questions about the authenticity of their work and what that even means.
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+25 +1
Raunchy, Raucous Coney Island
Perhaps for Freud, Coney Island was America—a realm where fantasy was made material and the pleasure principle ruled. So it is with the bountiful exhibition “Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861-2008,” at the Brooklyn Museum through March 13. By J. Hoberman.
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+7 +1
Fascinating Photos from the Secret Trash Museum in a New York Sanitation Garage
Garbage can be beautiful, if sorted correctly. By Dylan Thuras.
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+5 +1
The appearance of disappearance: the CIA’s secret black sites
Photographer Edmund Clark and journalist Crofton Black on the CIA’s covert detention facilities.
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+23 +1
A peek into the National Parasite Collection’s most fascinating creepy-crawlies
You won't be able to see any of the 20 million or so creatures in the U.S. National Parasite Collection for a while because displays take a few years to create. In the meantime, here are some of the collection’s most fascinating creepy-crawlies. By Bonnie Berkowitz and Lazaro Gamio.
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+9 +1
The Original Wagner
Martin Filler reviews the Morgan Library and Museum’s “Wagner’s Ring: Forging an Epic” exhibition.
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+18 +1
Discovering the Secrets of Venetian Glass
The finest glassware of the Renaissance was made by artisans on the Murano island in Venice, and their techniques were intensely guarded.
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+7 +1
Smithsonian Gives Nod to More ‘Dark Money’ Funding for Willie Soon
The Smithsonian Institution's new transparency policy hasn't kept prominent climate contrarian Wei-Hock. By David Hasemyer.
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+6 +1
Russian Museum Makes Good on Its April Fools’ Joke and Hires a Cat
The newest employee of Serpukhov’s Museum of History and Art in Russia will receive his salary in the form of fish and patties.
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+13 +1
Caught in the Act
A sampling of meticulous mug shots, along with about forty crime-related images from American tabloids, police files, security cameras, and photographers both anonymous and widely known, comprise the fascinating exhibition “Crime Stories: Photography and Foul Play,” currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By Michael Greenberg.
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