Art History

Audio Recordings of Great Works of Art

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:53:56 -0600

Exploring the aural aura of masterworks as found in the sounds in the immediate locations of highly regarded paintings, sculptures, and other artworks.

Part social experiment, part sound exploration, and part guaranteed conceptual failure, Ed Osborn's Audio Recordings of Great Works of Art was initially intended to investigate the aural side of the museum experience with the expectation that recordings of the acoustic life of silent objects would reveal almost nothing about them.

Except in the case of extremely popular art works where crowds gather noisily, this proved to be true. But if Attali's oft-quoted maxim "nothing essential happens in the absence of noise" is applied, is there then really nothing essential about works placed in barely-populated atriums? As Osborn shows here, there is much more to sound and noise than can be picked up through microphones, and the space left to the ear while the eye is engaged is indeed a rich one.

By considering both the actual physical sonic environment of a work of art and the implications of how sound functions literally and metaphorically within it, new readings (auditions?) can be drawn out of even over-examined pieces. In regarding visual art with a leading ear Osborn proves himself adept here at sounding out this rarely navigated, nearly silent, and always invisible terrain.

The fifteen pieces presented here were selected from thousands of artworks that Osborn has recorded from Scandinavia to New Zealand. They were chosen based on a variety of factors including their various physical locations, relationship to site, and relative fame.

http://www.auralaura.com/

WebMuseum: Famous Paintings

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:53:55 -0600

Comprehensive and well organized site that offers rich images and concise historical context for artists and art movements ranging from Gothic and Renaissance to Impressionism and Pop.

The WebMuseum was not made as part of any official or supported project. There's not grant behind that, it is total pleasureware (tm).

Some companies may be trying to get a monopolistic grab on arts and culture, developing a pay-per-view logic, shipping out CD-ROMs while trying to patent stuff which belongs to each of us: a part of our human civilization and history.

This exhibit is not trying to compete in any way with books or specialized CD-ROMs. Such an Internet exhibit will neither reach the quality of paper reproduction and professional critic, nor will it be as easily available as a local CD-ROM, given the transfer time on the Internet.

No support, no funding, no manpower: the WebMuseum is a collaborative work of its visitors contributing to expand and improve the WebMuseum.

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/

World Art Treasures

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:53:55 -0600

Based on the Jacques-Edouard Berger collection of images of art objects and essays devoted to the main civilizations, such as Egypt, China, Japan, India, Europe.

Art historian, lecturer, organiser and leader of cultural trips, J.-E. Berger was also a passionate collector of Art. After his death in November 1993, the J.-E Berger Foundation deposited his very important collections with the City of Lausanne (Switzerland) with a view to their installation in the Musée de design et d'arts appliqués contemporains. At present, visitors will find The Animal World in Ancient Egypt.

http://www.bergerfoundation.ch/

The Getty Provenance Index

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:53:54 -0600

Collects and disseminates information related to the history of collecting and the provenance of individual works of art.

http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/provenance_index/

HuntFor Art History

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:53:54 -0600

Quick reference for all periods in the art history, images and links.

http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/

Know Your Art

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:53:54 -0600

Database for the study of the history of art from Utah University. Images and data about works of architecture, sculpture, and painting from prehistory to the 20th century.

http://www2.art.utah.edu:81/

Lübeck's Dance of Death

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:53:54 -0600

Dances of Death in Lübeck, Tallinn, Berlin and Denmark. Pictures, books and primary sources. Several books are reproduced.

Our only witness to the text from 1463 is Jacob von Melle who wrote down the text and published it in his books with the words "zum Gedächtnis, und dem Alterthum zu Ehren". Countless other dances of death have since disappeared without a trace - because they did not have a Jakob von Melle to record them.

Today - with the Internet full of medieval texts - there's still next to nothing about dances of death. This is a pity because dances of death are a great source for discovering the medieval state of mind - since the dance of death is a mirror of the entire society. There's also quite an amount of satire and social criticism.

We are no longer threatened by The Black Death - but Death itself hasn't retired, and whether we shall die simultaneously - hand in hand as on the paintings - or one at a time as in the manuscripts - the mortality rate remains the same as in the Middle Ages, namely 100%.

Therefore this site - for remembrance, and to honour the antiquity.

This site concentrates on the medieval Low German dances of death (Lübeck, Tallinn and Berlin), but as a Dane, Martin Hagstrøm felt obliged to describe all Danish dances of death (there's nothing about them on the Net either). Later Martin Hagstrøm intend to include dances of death from Klever and from St. Paul's in London.

http://www.dodedans.com

Mark Harden's Artchive

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:53:54 -0600

An art archive with thousands of images that are accessed through an alphabetical list of artist's names and art styles. Covers every style of art from ancient and African to impressionist and modern.

http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm

Mexican Masks

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:53:54 -0600

Collection of authentic danced masks from Mexico and Guatemala with discussions and comments on the art of collecting and other curious observations. Antique masks, patination techniques, insect infestation, techniques of collecting.

The Mask Monger brings us a spicy and sometimes humorous blend of mask relevant subjects directed toward both the traveled collector of Latin American ethnic art as well as those interested in Mexican culture.

http://www.mexicanmasks.us/

Mona Lisa Images for a Modern World

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:53:54 -0600

A site exploring the enduring fascination of the Mona Lisa, including history, parodies, homages and comments from site visitors.

http://www.studiolo.org/Mona/MONALIST.htm