Photography

Burtynsky’s ‘Oil’: Refining Art from the Crude

Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky's recently opened exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art takes a large-scale look at something most of us never see, but use or benefit from nearly everyday of our lives: oil.

Famed Photographer Irving Penn Dies at 92

By Arts Desk

Fashion and celebrity photographer Irving Penn died Wednesday in his Manhattan home at the age of 92, according to his photo assistant Roger Krueger. He is remembered for creating striking, minimalistic images and for adopting a craftsman-like approach to his…

Art:21 Kicks off New Season

By Arts Desk

"Art:21":http://beta.art21.org/, the documentary series about art and artists in the 21st-century, starts a new season tonight on PBS.

Welcome Home: A Look at Living in Slums

A multimedia exhibition from Norwegian photographer Jonas Bendiksen on display at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., documents the experiences of families living in unplanned, off-the-grid slums in Nairobi, Mumbai, Caracas and Jakarta.

Eggleston: An Exceptional Eye for the Ordinary

By Arts Desk

For more than 40 years, photographer William Eggleston has captured common, everyday instances or objects that, through his particular framing, elevates the familiar and makes the ordinary beautiful. Through his lens, a moment can be made monumental.

Kodak Retires Iconic Kodachrome Film

Eastman Kodak Co. announced this week that it was retiring its iconic Kodachrome film because of declining demand. Introduced in 1935, Kodachrome became the world's first commercially successful color film.

Work of an Amateur: Czech Avant-Garde Photography at the National Gallery

By Arts Desk

These days, everyone is a photographer. Pocket-sized cameras are ubiquitous; Flickr is a phenomenon; Facebook has reinvigorated the photo album and the self-portrait. Lest we forget that this was not always the case, a new exhibit at the National Gallery…

After Layoffs, More Time to Focus on Art

At the end of last year, "Joe Claus":http://www.joeclaus.com was working at a small electronics company in Silicon Valley doing photography, marketing and design. And then he got laid off. "I was pissed," he said. But there was an unforeseen upside…

Character Project Captures Faces of America

A new photography exhibit called the 'Character Project' features the work of 11 contemporary photographers who each shot a small series of photographs of Americans during the summer of 2008.

‘Picturing the Promise’ in D.C.

By Arts Desk

On a cool Easter Sunday morning in 1939, 22-year-old photographer Robert Scurlock was sent on one of his first assignments to the Lincoln Memorial to capture a performance by Marian Anderson, the world-famous black contralto.