John Spellman Library and Media Center

Web Resources in Art

This page is designed to assist students in the areas of Art and Art History to locate information available on the Web. Resources  includes definitions, biographies, virtual collections and general links. Journals  are electronic journals available on the Web. Museums  lists sites from physical establishments with an online presence.

Resources:

• The Artchive
  http://artchive.com/
  Maintained by Mark Harden, The Artchive contains several sections: The Galleries (online exhibits); Theory and Criticism; Juxtapositions (GlyphsArt Reviews;); Art CD-ROM Reviews; and Art Links. Under a general section simply called "The Artchive" you can find articles and works by artist or movement.  There are also 'tours' by subject, such as Landscapes or Favorites.  The Favorites includes famous works, such as Botticelli's Birth of Venus and the Venus de Milo. One down side is the advertisements distracting you on every page.
• Art Crimes: The Writing on the Wall
  http://www.artcrimes.com/
  Graffiti from around the world by artists.  Volunteers compile this site, which includes links to Shows & Events, Photos & Images and Resources.  This is an unusual resource, both in the nature of the art, and in the fact that much of the material shown here no longer exists in the physical world.
• Art History Resources on the Web
  http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html
  Compiled and maintained by Dr. Christopher L.C.E. Witcombe, Professor of Art History at Sweet Briar College. This is an extensive list of art and art history sites, divided by time period and location.  Also listed are various museums and galleries from around the world.  Within each division, further break-downs are to style, individual names or movements. A very organized and comprehensive listing of resources on the Internet.
• ArtSource
  http://www.ilpi.com/artsource/welcome.html
  These art links are divided into easy to understand categories, such as exhibitions, new media, organizations, and programs.  They take submitted sites, but do not include all submissions.  No sales galleries or artists sale sites are listed.
• Axis
  http://www.axisartists.org.uk/axishome/default.htm
  Axis is a national contemporary visual arts service providing information about artists and makers living/working in Britain to a national and international audience. It is the largest interactive database of contemporary British art on the Internet. The Axis database is a showcase of the talent, innovation and quality of Britain's professional and emerging visual artists and makers."
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• Internet Art Directory
  http://www.internetartdirectory.com/
  "An annual reference guide of internet addresses for the art world!" While not comprehensive, this site is useful for a variety of topics. Art Schools, Fairs (U.S. and International) and Artists are just a few samples of their 16 categories.  One drawback, they tend to group everything by state, which is irrelevant when talking of web sites.
• Voice of the Shuttle: Art and Art History Page
  http://vos.ucsb.edu/shuttle/art.html
  Created and maintained by Alan Liu, Professor in the English Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  'Art and Art History Page' is just one of a greater set of web pages for Humanities Research. While this page contains many categories common to art resource pages, such as Galleries and Museums, it has several unusual categories, such as Cartography and Art: Theory and Politics.
• WebMuseum, Paris
  http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/
  This site contains biographies, pictures and even a virtual tour of Paris. Established by Nicolas Pioch at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications, Paris. Although there have been no updates recently, this is still an excellent site for art information and reference.
• World Wide Arts Resources
  http://wwar.com/
  An extensive Arts Information Gateway, which includes a search engine and browsing capabilities. There are numerous links divided by Artists Portfolios, Arts News, Global Resources, and Services.  One disadvantage is the distracting advertisements, while one great advantage is you can sign up to post your art on their site, free of charge, and expose your work to buyers, gallery owners and other web surfers.

Museums:

• The Getty
  http://www.getty.edu/
  A well organized site, the main links are Explore Art, Visitor Guide, and About Us.  These are further broken down, to access much information. There are also quick links from the front page, to New Acquisitions, Featured Exhibition, News and their Bookstore.  The online collection is excellent, with multiple ways to locate materials.  Cross-references are hyper-linked, and some explanations open in a pop-up window to help with descriptions. The font is sometimes too small to read, which can be a difficulty. One of the best museum sites I have seen.
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp
  There are many links, such as the Collection, Special Exhibitions, Educational Resources and Explore and Learn.  The Collection includes approximately 3500 items reproduced on their site, and can be viewed by a tour, searching by artist, period or style, or browsing through the categories. Explore and Learn breaks down by works of art, artists, and has a timeline of art history.
• Musée du Louvre
  http://www.louvre.fr/louvrea.htm
  Excellent links to images in their collection are just one feature on the Louvre Museum Official Website.  The section "Palace &Museum" has the History of the Louvre; Collections; Virtual Tour; and Latest News.  "Activities" has Temporary Exhibitions; Auditorium;  and Guided Tours and Workshops.
• The National Gallery of Art Washington D.C.
  http://www.nga.gov/home.htm
  The main links to art are Collection, Online Tours, and Exhibitions. You can search the collection in multiple ways, title, artist, accession etc.  Exhibitions include current, upcoming, past, on tour, and virtual. The virtual tours require Quick Time movie player.  They state that"Data on all of the more than 100,000 objects in the National Gallery of Art's collection can be found..."  and the key word here is DATA. Often the images are not available, only the data about them.  This can be disappointing.  But for the images that are available, detail is excellent.  One interesting feature, they will show you a map of the museum and where that item is displayed.
• The National Museum of Women in the Arts
  http://www.nmwa.org/index.htm
  "The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) brings recognition to the achievements of women artists of all periods and nationalities by exhibiting, preserving, acquiring, and researching art by women and by educating the public concerning their accomplishments."  There are many links to exhibits and programs at the museum.  The collection is available to view, divided by time period.  You may also view information about current and past exhibits.
• Smithsonian American Art Museum
  http://www.nmaa.si.edu/
  There are links to their collections and exhibitions, with over 4000 images from their collection to browse by artist or category. In the Study Center section, you may "Ask Joan of Art!", where you can check the FAQ’s or ask questions to them directly.  Also in Study Center, you can view the journal American Art online.
• Virtual Library Museums Pages
  http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/icom/vlmp/
  Supported by the International Council on Museums. You can view all the museum links listed by country, but there is also search capability. Searching is handy for a particular city (e.g. "Chicago") or a type of art (e.g. "Renaissance").

Journals:

• Art Daily
  http://www.artdaily.com/
  "The First Art Newspaper on the Net"  Updates daily with art-related news and information.  Links to artists, architecture, exhibits, fairs, museums, auctions and more.  A new features is "Art in 360 Degrees" which shows panoramic video of the selected site.  The quality appears very good, although sometimes the camera person needs to center the shot better.  Exciting potential.
• Assembly Language
  http://www.assemblylanguage.com/
  "Tokyo avant-garde culture and Japanese contemporary art" News, essays, poetry, reviews, images and even a bit of political activism.
• Journal of Contemporary Art
  http://www.jca-online.com/
  There is not much information about who or what is behind this site, but there are many interviews and images.  Links are Portfolios, New Interviews, Projects and Archive.  The archive has a fairly lengthy list of past interviews, which generally include some images.  Portfolios seem to be online versions of artists' work, while Projects are web-specific presentations.
• Religion and the Arts
  http://infoeagle.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/relarts/
  "Religion and the Arts is a journal which promotes the development of discourses for exploring the religious dimensions of the verbal, visual and performing arts. "  The Table of Contents are available online, but not the full text.  They often include an Online Supplement, which gives related information and images.
• TRACCE Online Rock Art Bulletin
  http://www.rupestre.net/tracce/
  By Footstep of Man, an International Federation of Rock Art Organizations member, this site is all about rock art.  Drawings, articles, photographs, maps etc.  There are lots of links to additional information, and to rock art and archeology sites.

Created and maintained by: Adrienne Roush, Librarian. John Spellman Library, Grays Harbor College, Aberdeen Washington. Last Updated: April 2008