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| Institutional Art on the World Wide Web |
More than half of the art information
available on the Internet is provided by institutions, including
museums, schools, non-profit foundations, and government-funded
agencies. This shouldn’t be surprising, considering these
same organizations also provide most of the funding and information
behind real-world art. The obvious advantage to utilizing the net
is that the seeker doesn’t have to journey to France or Washington,
DC to obtain the information, but rather can view original pieces
of art from an easy chair, or at worst, an office chair.
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| The Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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The sweetest apple of the bunch.
This is the site to go to if your aim is research. The online Met
has one of the most extensive collections on the web, with more
than 3500 works of art currently available. The collection is divided
into departments; each set up to allow the user to view either highlights
or the department in its entirety. Each department page has an introduction
to the period, an overview, and the real-world gallery location.
Each piece’s page provides the image, a description, its provenance
or ownership history and any signature, marks, or inscriptions found
on the piece. Finally, the Met also offers educational resources
including an online catalog of the museum’s library as well
as a center for Electronic Information Resources which has a fantastic
collection of links, both art-related and general.
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| The Louvre |
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The official site for possibly
the most famous real-world gallery in existence, the online Louvre
offers users the choice of interfacing in French, English, Spanish,
or Japanese. Beautifully set up, the site offers pages detailing
the history of the Louvre, its collections, a virtual tour, e-magazine,
special exhibition announcements, and extensive visitor’s
information with links to publications, databases, and documentation.
The collections are categorized to allow easy browsing, if you aren’t
interested in taking the entire virtual tour. Each category offers
the major works held, their provenance, real-world gallery location,
and what is guaranteed to be open if an in-person visit is planned.
The works are displayed by era, and then as images with title, artist,
and year. This site is best for mature users interested in art appreciation,
as there are no offerings for young students or children.
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| The Carnegie Museum of Art |
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A very slick, professional
site. The technology that Carnegie institutions have always been
renowned for is definitely at work here; this site is quick loading
despite its many visuals. While offering the usual museum data such
as visitor information, calendar, press releases, programs, exhibition
schedule and job opportunities, the site has several pages devoted
to art conservation. The online collection, however, is slightly
disappointing. Categorized by medium, only a select few of the holdings
are available to view, as if the folks at the Carnegie are hoping
to tempt the user enough to provoke a visit to the real-world gallery.
The best part of this site are the links, since the Carnegie is
but one of a large family. This is a great jumping off point, but
not a one-stop-shop for online resources.
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| The Getty |
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A fabulous site. Like the Carnegie
site, there are links to all the Getty’s branches including
the museum, research institute, conservation institute, leadership
institute, and the arts education network. The online museum, however,
is much like the Met or the Louvre: comprehensive, detailed, and
informative. This site is an excellent place to do research or simply
learn about great art.
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| The Art Institute of Chicago |
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This site is noteworthy because
it encompasses both the museum and the school. The museum offers
pages for special exhibitions, the provenance research project,
collections, visitor’s information, a calendar of events,
publications, children’s interests, programs, memberships,
job opportunities and links to their libraries and online catalogs.
The collections of the museum are offered creatively, allowing the
user to choose how exactly you would like your art served up. Additionally,
the accompanying text is clear, concise, and provides both the basic
information about the artist as well as a simple interpretation
of the work. The school’s pages offer standard educational
institution information such as admissions requirements and deadlines,
programs, resources, student life, alumni, and a schedule of events.
In addition, there are links to art at the school including galleries,
a newsmagazine, TV and radio work, and film selections. All told,
this is an excellent site for anyone looking to learn about art,
or how to enter the art world as an artist.
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| The London Institute |
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The mission of the London Institute
is to be at the forefront of learning, creativity and practice in
arts, communication and design. This web site is a concrete example
of their commitment to that mission. By far the most intriguing
of the sites discussed here, this particular endeavor is a conglomerate
of the top five art and design schools in England. This is evidenced
by the web art on the content page – eye-catching and innovative
while serving the practical purpose of providing links to each of
the five schools represented. Other pages dedicated to special shows,
news, events, student information (including admissions and course
work), job opportunities and links are also noteworthy for their
artful presentation.
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| Museum of Neon Art |
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Though non-conventional as far
as traditional art is concerned, the Museum of Neon Art has developed
an amazing online presence. The site offers visitor information,
membership, classes, current exhibition schedules, galleries, a
“call to Artists” and links. The galleries themselves
are perfectly fabulous. Works are displayed grouped by artist, and
the quality of the graphics is outstanding. By clicking a hyperlink,
a separate window appears with information about the artist, including
contact information, exhibition histories, education and publication
credits, and a unique statement by the artist. This site represents
the cutting edge of current, contemporary online museums and is
well worth a bit of your cyber-time.
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Another non-traditional site,
but one of unique interest. Though the name may seem off-putting
to some, do not be deceived! The works held in both the real-world
collection and the online galleries span thousands of years and
several continents. The site offers information in Spanish (the
physical museum is located in Barcelona), German, and English, and
has quite a nouveau design which allows users to interact horizontally
as opposed to the traditional vertical progression [the cyber-metaphor
was not lost on this visitor]. In addition to exceptionally clear
images of their holdings, the site also has great art links.
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| American Visionary Art Museum |
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If there were an award for the
site that provides the most fun while visiting it, this one would
win. Though there are no online galleries, this site merits a mention
based on its crushingly unique and artful presentation. The animated
graphics and interactive opportunities are delightful and imaginative.
Site offerings include “stuff everyone asks,” exhibition
and events schedules with descriptions, “brain food”
(surprisingly adept text on illumination, educational goals, teacher
resources, and interactive art games), and links to “visionary
sites.” While not the place to go for viewing masterpiece
art or researching the classics, this is a fabulous site to bolster
the interest of both children and adults in visiting an art museum
and encouraging alternative opinions of art.
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| The Museum of Web Art |
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Absolutely what the name
claim, a collection of web art, this site is easy to move around
on as the collection is divided into four galleries: Things That
Move, Things That Work, Things That Are Constant, and Things That
Change. A virtual hall exists for special exhibits as well as
a virtual wing for kids. Again, this is not the kind of site for
viewing or researching the classics, but it provides something
equally important to aspiring artists, especially web artists.
The latest techniques for producing web art are on display here,
along with an analysis of what has been successful in online art
and what has failed. Finally, the works on display are fresh and
new, excellent for brainstorming creators.
Obviously, there are many kinds of institutional sites; some
conventional and traditional, others creative and prolific. The
best aspect of these sites, as evidenced from the previous reviews,
is the validity and quantity of information provided: images and
graphics are
high quality; accompanying texts are scholarly, well researched,
and usually cited; collections span decades and sometimes centuries.
The downside to these sites is that, since they are filled with
images, they are slow and sometimes ponderous to load, especially
with older processors or when using service providers with slow
connection speeds. Find a high-speed connection and a 21-inch
monitor, and these sites will provide hours of enjoyment, invoke
breath-taking awe, supply fascinating knowledge, and produce true
inspiration.
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