Artist

• Action star and martial artist Chuck Norris has died at age 86, according to his family. • Norris built a legendary career spanning decades in film and television, becoming an iconic figure in action cinema and martial arts entertainment. • His death marks the loss of a cultural icon who influenced generations of action films and starred in numerous television series and movies.

• Lollapalooza 2026 has announced its full lineup featuring major pop artists including Charli XCX, Tate McRae, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Chainsmokers, and many others performing across eight stages in Chicago's Grant Park. • The four-day music festival runs July 30 through August 2, 2026, with tickets now on sale to the public for the highly anticipated summer event. • The lineup represents significant star power across multiple genres, drawing both contemporary pop powerhouses and iconic legacy acts to one of the nation's largest music festivals.

Show in part a rediscovery of more than 40 mostly forgotten women who plied their trade in the Low CountriesJudith Leyster, an artist of the Dutch golden age, was thought to be about 21 when she painted her self-portrait in 1630. In the picture she presented to the world, Leyster exudes cheerful confidence. Clad in shimmering silks and a stiffly starched lace collar, she leans back in her chair, palette and brushes in hand, a painting by her side.This work, completed in the year she was admitted to a painters’ guild in Haarlem, proclaimed her arrival as an established artist. It was one of the first self-portraits by an artist in the Dutch republic, a device most male painters did not adopt until years later. Continue reading...

‘I did it for the people’ says Farbod Mehr, of song drawing lyrics from the work of revolutionary 20th century poet Aref QazviniA stirring song – sung, apparently, by a young woman, with lyrics expressing the hope that sacrifice will lead to a better future – has become a soundtrack for Iranians in the first part of 2026, as the country experienced the brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests and then the US-Israeli air assault, now in its third week.However, the singer, called Nava, is a product of artificial intelligence, created by a London-based artist of Iranian origin, Farbod Mehr. Continue reading...

Alexandre Dumas was wowed by it and Burt Lancaster starred there. Now the Cirque d’Hiver has a new spectacleFor more than 170 years the Cirque d’Hiver, the world’s oldest circus, has been the scene of many a breathtaking act.In 1859, gymnast Jules Léotard – whose name would become synonymous with the one-piece – captivated audiences by launching himself from one swinging trapeze to another without a safety net for the first time in public. Continue reading...