Visual arts/museums

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's new film tells the story of an artist who grows up in Nazi Germany, comes of age in East Germany and travels to the West to find freedom for himself and his art.

Five years ago, author and artist Jonathan Santlofer was at home with his wife, food writer Joy Santlofer, when Joy began feeling feverish. Joy, who had undergone outpatient surgery the day before for a torn meniscus in her knee, called her doctor's office and was told to come for her scheduled appointment four days later. That appointment never happened.

In the age of blockbuster art exhibitions, a small show sometimes makes just as big an impression as a large one. That's what happened to critic Lloyd Schwartz on a recent trip to New York.

When author and illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka was in the fourth grade, his grandparents called him into the living room. "I remember thinking: Oh maybe we're going to go on another family vacation," he says. (The last time they called a family meeting he learned they were going to Disney World.)

Stettheimer, who died in 1944, had only one public showing of her paintings during her lifetime. Now the Jewish Museum in New York has the first new exhibit of her work in more than 20 years.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz turns art critic to talk about the work of the Dutch painter Vermeer. Theres a major show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The art world is "fertile ground for criminals," says art scholar Noah Charney. In his new book, The Art of Forgery, he traces a tradition of fakes and forgeries that dates back to the Renaissance.