| Vol. I,
No. 1 |
Oct.
20th, 2000 |
Links to Arts & Craft On-Line
The amount of info on the web is enormous, as
anyone who's ever tried to run a search can attest to. And, to put it all
in context, best estimates say that only a fraction, maybe 20 - 40 % of what's
out there is actually making its way to the search engines.
Well ...
Here at DownStreet, we'd like to try to help. So
each issue, we post a few links in Arts & Craft to sites that might interest
you. Sometimes the links will be related to one another ...
sometimes we'll just offer up a somewhat random sampling. Sometimes
they're about Vermont sites, sometimes not. In either case,
we think we might be able to help you find the kind of site you've been looking
for.
Of course, while we can't vouch for the fact that every link
we provide will be of interest to everyone, we do our best to filter out the
noise and the bustle. ...
We hope you enjoy the following sites as much as we do.
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Great Galleries: A Worthwhile Sampling of
On-Line Collections
-
Mark
Harden's Artchive
Mark Harden's Artchive site is nothing short of
wonderful. The wealth of images make it a visual feast, and the
site's construction make it easy to navigate and find what interests
you. From Milton Avery, William Blake and Mary Cassatt to Van Eyck,
Women Artists and Francisco de Zurbaran. ...
The site comes up in frames, with links in the left-hand
frame to mostly painters, as well as some representatives of other visual
arts, as well as styles, schools, and periods. Click on any link, and
what comes next is usually a write-up, almost always generous, about the
artist {or style, school, etc.}, including quick links to images of the
works named, as well as links to other artists, schools or the like which
might be mentioned. You can also click on an "Image List"
which takes you directly to a list of the artist's works, usually in
chronological order. Click on any of these, and you go to a
generous-sized thumbnail of the image, along with basic info giving title,
date, medium, size, and current location, as well as a link to a full-sized
image. Not only that, but the full-size image uses a JavaScript applet
{written originally for the Web
Gallery of Art, see below} to enable you to zoom the image in or out, as
well as take a close-up view of details. ...
There are lots of sites out there for viewing works of art, including many
put up by museums and galleries. But few seem to have taken the time,
or undertaken their task with the kind of love and care that Mark Harden has
displayed in this worthwhile site. ***** [5 stars]
.
-
Web
Gallery of Art
The Web Gallery of Art is a Hungarian-based site, presented in
English. And as its introduction says, it's "a virtual museum and
searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic,
Renaissance and Baroque periods (1200-1700), currently containing over 6,500
reproductions. Biographies, commentaries, guided tours are available."
While not as chronologically comprehensive as Mark Harden's
site, the Web Gallery of Art easily makes up for in depth what it may lack
in breadth. The site is also easy to navigate. A Quick Index
allows you to see lists of artists alphabetically. A Search form
allows you to search by artist, title or text; but it also allows searches
to be conducted or refined by timeline, school, medium [called
"form" on the site] or theme [called "type], including
religious, mythological, historical, landscape, portrait, still life,
interior, genre, or study.
Perhaps the most unique feature of the site is the Guided Tours -- a set of
{currently}12 tours -- including Italian Painters: 1200-1750, the Art of
Giotto, Art in Spain, and Flemish Altarpieces. In addition, there is
also a downloadable database of Museums, Churches, a glossary, and
statistics on the Gallery's collection. Finally, you can also send any
of the images as a web "postcard" to friends or family. Like
the Harden site, this one too is an obvious labor of love. ***** [5
stars]
.
-
National
Museum of American Art
As you might expect, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art
is another worthwhile visit. With more than 4,000 works on-line, you
can browse the works by category, find selected works with an extensive
search form {which includes a generous sampling of examples}, or
browse any of more than a dozen on-line exhibitions, including An Edward
Hopper Scrapbook, Chaim Gross: A Celebration, or American
Kaleidoscope: Themes & Perspectives in Recent Art.
With its educational aim, the Smithsonian's NMAA also offers
a Study Center, where you can search the catalogues of over 360,000 works,
read current or back issues [to 1987] of the NMAA's journal, American Art,
and even submit a question to "Ask Joan of Art," with the promise
of a reply.
Of course, the NMAA site also includes extensive listings of shows, both at
the Museum and on tour, as well as write-up's and on-line selections
available from the Renwick Gallery of American crafts and the Helios
collection of American photography. Finally, you can also visit the
Museum's Gift Shop where you can purchase books, postcards, posters,
calendars, or a CD-ROM with in-depth looks at over 750 works.
Definitely all worth visiting. **** [4 stars]
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If you know of any links that you think are
worthwhile, why not send them along to ...
links@downstreetmagazine.com
...
If we agree, we'll be happy to include them
in an upcoming issue to pass the word along. ...
Thanks.
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