Smithsonian.com

When smooth-talking Danny Ocean (George Clooney) strides into the gleaming office of Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) in Ocean’s Thirteen, the scene must instantly and wordlessly convey Benedict’s position as the reigning king of Vegas casinos—and therefore the only person who can bail Ocean and his ever growing crew out of their latest high-stakes snafu.

This is Vegas, land of illusions, so a slick, spacious office and a sharply tailored linen suit offer no guarantees. But there it is, hovering over Benedict’s desk like a framed diploma, that unmistakable mark of a modern-day mogul: a large, gold-flecked painting by Gustav Klimt. (more…)

The cover story in this week’s New York Times Magazine is about repatriating artifacts to the countries where they were discovered. Egypt wants the Rosetta Stone back; China wants none of its art objects made before 1911 sold in the United States; and Peru wants its Machu Picchu artifacts back from Yale, which first sent archeologists to excavate the site in 1911-1912. The article, by Arthur Lubow, focuses on the last case, examining arguments for and against repatriation, as well as the players involved and what they have to gain and lose.

This article caught my eye, since about three weeks ago I visited Tikal, a city of ancient Mayan ruins in northern Guatemala. Our Mayan tour guide told us that in 1877 a Swiss researcher, Gustav Bernoulli, led a party to Tikal and took most of the original carved wooden lintels from above the door jambs of two of the site’s largest temples. The lintels are now on display in Basel. Back in Tikal, the door jambs have been outfitted with copies. “Maybe we should have planned a trip to Switzerland instead of Guatemala,” quipped a dismayed member of our group. (more…)

I’ve been meaning to make it to “Trailblazers and Trendsetters: Art of the Stamp” at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. for some time now. Though stamps arrive in the mail every day, they are anything but pedestrian. Sadly, the art and intimacy of letter-writing seems to be disappearing along with the thoughtfully affixed stamp; say, the 37-cent candy hearts on Valentine’s Day or the kitschy angel on the classic 32-cent “Love” stamps.

Some might picture stamp lovers as those over-eager, quirky kids from middle school—the gangly, the knobby-kneed, the Dungeons & Dragons devotees. But stamp lovers have a rather elegant name for their deckle-edged passion–philatelic–and they also abide by an entire society devoted to stamp collecting. Stamps, in fact, speak volumes about high art, even beyond the enveloping walls of the Postal Museum.  (more…)

What’s most interesting about the above photo is not the brilliantly colored African landscape or the Seydou Keita-meets-Cartier Bresson fine art appeal, it’s that blue plastic Lifesaver-shaped thing that the boy is tugging along behind him. It’s called a Q Drum and has saved millions of lives since it was designed in 1993. It is currently sitting in the garden of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, in New York City.

The Q Drum is basically a giant, rolling canteen. Designed and manufactured by South Africa-based Kaymac Rotomolders and Pioneer Plastics, it provides a way to easily transport about 20 gallons of clean, potable water to rural African villages that may be many miles away from reliable water sources. (more…)

Word association games can be fun. When we think of the word “Audubon,” we associate it with birds. And birds make us think of flying, freedom and nature. The National Audubon Society, dedicated to the conservation of ecosystems, was named after John James Audubon (1785-1851), the naturalist and prolific artist of Birds of America. Audubon’s masterpiece consisted of 435 life-size prints—owls, parrots and ivory-billed woodpeckers, to name a few.

Yet Audubon’s artistic career did not take flight until he reached the age of 34. At that time, Audubon languished in debtor’s prison, his business selling dry goods in the frontier of Kentucky no longer prosperous. Drawing and painting birds—up until then a hobby—became Audubon’s best chance for financial freedom.  (more…)