With classical art not always well-represented in the District, the new exhibit at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Wine, Worship and Sacrifice: The Golden Graves of Ancient Vani, is a great opportunity to see some pieces from the sixth century B.C.E. to the mid-first century B.C.E. Colchis, now the country of Georgia. The exhibit highlights items that were found in eight graves; gold and silver jewelry and decorations, wine bowls and ladles, and glass vessels…

The most recent exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, organized with help from the National Museum of African Art, Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries, is as much a chronicle of history as it is a document for how art records history. Trying to pigeonhole this exhibition into a one category is difficult. It is more than just the fact the exhibition displays more than 260…

Two exhibits in Washington right now examine both ends of the history of the Bible. The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is showing In the Beginning: Bibles before the Year 1000 (through January 7, with a nice online feature), which brings together over 70 early examples of the Bible’s written tradition. The ancient papyrus and vellum pages are so fragile that the museum has to show most of them under faint and rather diffuse light, and…

While we celebrate the reopening of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery as classic examples of what museum care and innovation should be, the Smithsonian Institution at large may be slowly losing its grasp on the rest of its constituency. D.C.-based art critic and blogger Tyler Green has some critical words in a Los Angeles Times op-ed about the dilapidated conditions the other Smithsonian museums are suffering due to Congress’ underfunding of…

We knew it had to happen, but here it is almost July, and we have little to tell you about this week. So, the time has come for your Classical Music Agenda to take a well-deserved summer break. Today’s installment will give you some ideas for concerts to hear from now through July. We will be back at the end of July. Until then, you can always find classical concert information at Ionarts. CAN WE…

Have you stopped by the Phillips Collection yet? If you walked away wondering where Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec found some of their inspiration, meet Katsushika Hokusai, the Japanese artist whose novel integration of Eastern technical skill with Western style went on to influence these European giants, along with Van Gogh, Monet, and countless others. Hokusai’s innovative paintings and drawings dared to move beyond the popular Japanese styles of his time that focused on wealthy, urban lifestyles…

WPAC is hosting the first of a three night experimental media series, titled After Effects, curated by local heavy Kathryn Cornelius. From 7 to 9 p.m. tonight at the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s Armand Hammer Auditorium, check out new video work from Jason Zimmerman, Chad Stayrook (a still from his everytime a scientist dies, a unicorn gets its horn is at right) and a live performance from videohippos at 8:20 p.m. Drink it In: It’s…