Painting a Path Out of Prison

Liesl Bradner / Truthdig May 26, 2018 Fulton Leroy Washington turned to art to cope with an unjust federal sentence. The story of his path to freedom is worth remembering as Congress considers prison reform. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Art of Keeping Guantanamo Open

By Erin L. Thompson / TomDispatch Dec 7, 2017 What the paintings by its prisoners tell us about our humanity and theirs. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Creative Souls

Paul Von Blum / Truthdig Oct 6, 2017 An excerpt from a new book that demonstrates that Los Angeles, surpassing New York and Chicago, is arguably the epicenter for African-American visual art. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

The Painting That Saved My Family From the Holocaust

By Stephen Engelberg / ProPublica Nov 25, 2015 A frightened young woman left her apartment in Munich in November 1938 and returned with the visa that saved her family. A team of German journalists launched an improbable search to find the missing artwork and tell its story. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

Video: The Solace of a Blind Artist

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Nov 29, 2014 In his mid-30s, British artist and teacher Sargy Mann went blind from cataracts in both eyes. Twenty-five years later his paintings sell to top collectors for upward of $80,000. He tells the BBC how he lives and paints. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

George W. Bush Used Top Google Results for All Paintings; Who Will Sue for Copyright Infringement?

Staff / Truthdig Apr 10, 2014 Yes, that's right. George W. Bush is an appropriation artist. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Dutch Museum Solves Van Gogh Mystery

Staff / Truthdig Mar 20, 2012 Is it or isn't it? Turns out it is -- that is, a still-life painting of a dynamic flower arrangement that experts at the Kroeller-Mueller Museum in the Netherlands once believed to be the work of Vincent van Gogh but then questioned has been reattributed to the Dutch postimpressionist, thanks in part to some X-ray sleuthing. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Giving Famous Nudes the Photoshop Treatment

Staff / Truthdig Feb 14, 2012 So much for Rubenesque: An artist by the memorable name of Anna Utopia Giordano has reshaped the famous figures of several nudes from classical paintings -- think Velazquez, Bouguereau and Botticelli -- to give them a 21st-century sensibility. (Read: They're a lot skinnier.) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Gauguin Painting Survives Viewer’s Assault

Staff / Truthdig Apr 5, 2011 A visitor to the National Gallery in Washington apparently saw something she really didn't like in Gauguin’s “Two Tahitian Women.” Last Friday, she allegedly rushed the lush image and set to it with her fists, to the alarm of onlookers and gallery staff. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Yet Another ‘Mona Lisa’ Mystery

Staff / Truthdig Dec 14, 2010 Just when you thought the "Da Vinci Code" craze had mercifully passed, here comes another potential puzzle hidden in the "Mona Lisa": Members of Italy's National Committee for Cultural Heritage say they have found symbols embedded in the eyes of Leonardo da Vinci's iconic portrait. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

7-Year-Old Bags More Than $200K for Original Artwork

Staff / Truthdig Aug 4, 2010 A collection of scenic paintings by 7-year-old British boy Kieron Williamson sold out in a very short time for a very hefty amount of money -- we're talking half an hour and $236,000 -- at a gallery in Norfolk last weekend That's enough scratch to make the tedious nicknames that those clever media people can't help but bestow (continued). Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Five Famous Paintings Swiped in Paris Museum Heist

Staff / Truthdig May 20, 2010 Somehow, a lone art bandit -- or a band of bandits -- managed to pull off an impressive five-finger-discount maneuver at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris on Wednesday night, making off with five masterpieces worth a grand total of close to 100 million euros. Sacré bleu! Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )