Elizabeth Blair

"I take these pictures so that we can look; we can see what we're not supposed to see," says photographer David Jay. "And we need to see them because we created them."

Missing for nearly 75 years, a painting by Henri Matisse is being returned to the family of its rightful owner Friday. Seated Woman belonged to renowned art dealer Paul Rosenberg, who fled the Nazis in 1940.

The story of the painting's recovery reads like a historical crime novel.

In ...

In Germany, a Matisse painting is being returned to Paul Rosenberg's family. It was one of more than 400 paintings stolen by the Nazis from the "first family" of art in Paris in the '20s and '30s.

On the 70th anniversary of the books that spawned Thomas The Tank Engine, NPR's Elizabeth Blair considers the economic model of Thomas's home island of Sodor, and its elaborate railway system.

Ben E. King, best known for the classic soul song "Stand By Me," has died at 76.

It has been two years since more than 1,100 workers were killed in a garment factory collapse in Bangladesh. "Ethical fashion" is gaining momentum — though what that means depends on whom you ask.

Cooper Union architecture professor Diana Agrest has influenced generations of accomplished architects. Agrest was one of the first women to teach in the largely male-dominated field.

For the first time, two black dancers will star in a major American production of Swan Lake. NPR's Elizabeth Blair peeks behind the curtain to see why it has been so hard for ballet to diversify.

In 1960s London, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp approached a young band to be the subjects of their first film. As a new documentary explains, they ended up managing rock royalty.

Will Cheez Whiz survive the merger?

We don't need major business news to think about snack foods here at The Salt, but Warren Buffett's announcement this week that he and 3G Capital will merge Kraft and Heinz gave us a great excuse. Turns out, the story behind Cheez Whiz ...

Sir Elton John says he will boycott fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana over comments they made about gay adoption and in vitro fertilization.

Some feel increasingly marginalized by PBS. They say hard-hitting news and public affairs programs are being overshadowed by the likes of Downton Abbey and Antiques Roadshow.

Jazz producer and record label found Orrin Keepnews died on Sunday at the age of 91. Keepnews was behind landmark recordings by jazz legends like Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans and Cannonball Adderley.

Peabody and Emmy Award winning filmmaker Bruce Sinofsky has died at age 58.

Sinofsky and his longtime co-director, Joe Berlinger, made such acclaimed documentaries as Some Kind of Monster, about the heavy metal band Metallica and Brother's Keeper, about four brothers in rural upstate New York. They are perhaps best ...

The Grand Budapest Hotel might take place in a fictional world, but Oscar-nominated composer Alexandre Desplat was there to make it feel authentic.

Love relationships have long been fodder for comedians. So on this Valentine's Day, a few of them explain why romance — or the lack of it — is so funny.

Marina Franklin, who's African-American, finds humor in the different nationalities and races of the guys she's dated.

"Whenever I date ...

In The Slap, NBC takes on the touchy issue of corporal punishment. The show begins at a Brooklyn barbecue with a dad hitting another parent's out-of-control 5 year old.

The four Grammys awarded Sunday night to Sam Smith are good news not just for Sam Smith, but for Tom Petty, too. Petty and another songwriter will get a quarter of the royalties from ...

American Sniper, based on the life of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, has been a surprise hit at the box office. But as NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports, some say the movie misrepresents Kyle and glorifies war.

Despite being long, convoluted and sometimes sleep-inducing, Swan Lake is a reliable ticket seller for dance companies. The version most often performed today premiered in Russia in 1895.