Dorothy's blue and white dress and her sparkling ruby slippers have traveled from Oz to London's Victoria and Albert museum, where more than 130 of cinema's iconic costumes star in a new exhibition.
The show, which opens to the public Saturday, examines the role of costume design in a century of cinema storytelling, from Charlie Chaplin to the recent remake of "Anna Karenina", with a journey through hits from Hollywood's Golden Age.
Full StoryRays of sunlight seep through a stained glass window at the tomb on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River of the tribeswoman who on Sunday will become the first American Indian saint.
They form a golden halo above Kateri Tekakwitha's image in the glass, and light her marble burial place where, on Mohawk land, a statue and portrait of her likeness also stand.
Full StoryFifty years ago India tasted bitter defeat at the hands of China in a brief border war, and the memory still spooks New Delhi's leaders as they try to compete with their powerful Asian neighbor.
In 1962, badly-equipped Indian troops were humiliated in the four-week battle over the Himalayan frontier, with Chinese forces pouring through the mountains and advancing as far as the plains of Assam.
Full StoryThe day after Moammar Gadhafi died, Chinese artist Yan Pei-Ming set to work painting a wall-sized oil of his corpse -- the first in an unlikely trio of artworks inspired by the Libyan strongman's grisly demise.
"He died such a dramatic, cruel death," the artist, who lives and works in France, told Agence France Presse. "He became a victim of his own victims".
Full StoryA Chinese city hopes to cash in on the success of its most famous resident, Nobel Literature Prize winner Mo Yan, by investing millions in a tourist zone dedicated to the writer, Chinese media said Thursday.
Gaomi, a city in eastern China's Shandong province, will invest $107 million in projects to honor Mo Yan, who has set most of his gritty stories of Chinese peasant life in the area, the Beijing News reported.
Full Story"Politics is an ugly business," says an official in Chinese author Wang Xiaofang's novel, The Civil Servant's Notebook. "You always need to keep a knife in reserve, even for your own boss."
Delving into the darkness of Chinese bureaucracy, Wang depicts a world of intrigue where those at the top lose sight of their principles in the race for political power.
Full StoryAn unpublished Beethoven manuscript sold for 252,750 euros ($331,000) at auction in Paris, part of a major collection put together over 50 years by the late French-born banker Andre Meyer.
A signed string quartet manuscript by Arnold Schoenberg went for almost as much, 240,750 euros, a record for the Austrian composer who died in 1951, according to Sotheby's auction house.
Full StoryThe organizers of Asia's most prestigious prize for literature said Thursday they were looking for a new sponsor after the Man Group announced it was ending its funding for the prize after six years.
The Man Asian Literary Prize began in 2007 and is given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English.
Full StoryA glance at history suggests it's easier for a Chinese woman to orbit Earth than to land a spot on the highest rung of Chinese politics.
In June, a 33-year-old air force major marked a major feminist milestone by becoming the first Chinese woman to travel in space. With a once-a-decade leadership transition set to kick off Nov. 8, many now are waiting to see if another ambitious Chinese female, State Councilor Liu Yandong, can win one of the nine spots at the apex of Chinese power.
Full StoryThe French government Tuesday moved to block a budget amendment introducing a wealth tax on artworks, following a storm of protest from top museums including the Louvre and the Pompidou Centre.
"The government's position is quite clear. Artworks will not be included in the assets liable for wealth taxation," Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told Europe 1 radio, after art world heavyweights sounded the alarm.
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