From the elements of art to the great goddess Durga — Smarthistory is adding new content every week.
Prehistoric to contemporary
From the elements of art to the great goddess Durga — Smarthistory is adding new content every week.
Prehistoric to contemporary
A rare and elaborate child portrait from Venezuela by an Afro-descendant artist.
Motifs and patterns are a language of their own, directly connecting the textiles to art history, visual culture, and deeper symbolism
This contemporary tapestry captures the colors and formations of Diné bíkéyah, the land of the Diné people.
The visual arts have helped, and continue to help, individuals establish frameworks for negotiating and defining identity on the African continent.
No wonder Ruysch treats each element of this still life like a scientific specimen—her father preserved insects.
The overriding quality of Lochner's Madonna of the Rose Bower is an intense sweetness.
Vicente Albán’s series of paintings seeks to define Quito’s population as distinct racial types, all set against a lush natural landscape.
Indigenous students at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School were photographed "before and after" forced assimilation.
Hammad manipulates the texture, color, and spatial ratios of Arabic words to the point of abstracted illegibility.
A rare example of a style of illuminated Qur’an produced in coastal East Africa on Pate Island.
Black kings and queens, accompanied by attendants and musicians, paraded through the streets during festivals in colonial Brazil.
Bellini imagines Saint Mark preaching in a collage of different times and places: ancient Alexandria, 16th-century Venice, and the Ottoman Empire.