Lisa Klopfer's Link Collection for Fine Art

These are not your usual links.  I figure you can find major sites (such as the Met, the Louvre, etc.) without my guidance (hint: use google).  What I offer here are some less well known sites plus a few favorites that I just couldn't leave out .

Museums  | Virtual Museums and Online Indexes  | Art History Resources  |  Sources Requiring Subscription


Museums

National Gallery of Art  http://www.nga.gov/copyright/toc.htm
This site has everything.  Search, browse, tour, get resources and information on just about any art period.  The kids pages (http://www.nga.gov/kids/) are interesting and not cutesy (some of them require Quicktime).  The teacher resources (http://www.nga.gov/education/) include some useful online programs (images and interpretive text, sometimes curriculum guides) of artists from Rembrandt to Rothko.
Art Institute of Chicago  http://www.artic.edu/aic/index.html
Plan your visit, see a calendar of events, or view images and short descriptions of thousands of art objects.  Within the site, Art Access (http://www.artic.edu/artaccess/) offers glossaries, lesson plans, activities and bibliographies for Ancient American, African American, Impressionism/Post Impressionism and Modern/Contemporary art.  The bibliographies are divided into adult's books, children's books, audio-visual and useful web links to other collections.
Kyoto National Museum  http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/indexe.htm
A beautiful site, but not entirely in English. The "Museum Dictionary" offers "stories" based on particular works of art. The writing varies from simple to High School level, so these work best with a teacher to help select and interpret.
Fine arts Museums of SF  http://www.famsf.org/
This image database is one of the first to arrive, and one of better indexed.  It allows related works searching.  You can zoom down to the pixel level (if you care to see pixels) of the image.   Best of all, you can design your own virtual gallery. This is fun, and could be an excellent class project.
Philadelphia Museum of Art  http://www.philamuseum.org/
This museum has added social tagging to its online collection!  You can create your own virtual gallery and participate in forums.

National Gallery of Iceland  http://www.listasafn.is/
It's not a huge site, but you can download some art images to your cell phone.

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Virtual Museums and Online Indexes

Virtual Museum  El Pais  http://www3.diarioelpais.com/muva2/
A museum that only exists on the web!  Although this was one of the first of its kind, it hasn't been developed much. The html version works in English but the Multimedia (using Flash) seems to work only in Spanish. Be sure to allow pop-ups. The virtual architecture is just as interesting as most of the artwork. The exhibits are fresh, contemporary and challenging.
Graphic Witness: Visual Arts & Social Commentary http://graphicwitness.org/ineye/about.htm
This is a beautiful, if somewhat clumsily organized collection of social commentary in art (prints, cartoons) by such giants as William Hogarth and Kaethe Kollwitz as well as more contemporary artists.  The site is actively maintained and updated, with new exhibits appearing regularly.
Art Images for College Teaching 
http://arthist.cla.umn.edu/aict/
Created and maintained by Allan T. Kohl of the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, this is a labor of love.  Images may be downloaded, or ordered as CDs or slides.  The concordance to major Art History texts is also useful.
Vermeer  
http://www.ballandclaw.com/vermeer/
Click on the thumbnail images to see larger reproductions and commentary on 36 Vermeer paintings (more or less all of his known ouvre).  There are links to other Vermeer sites, too.
Japanese Garden Database 
http://www.jgarden.org/
A non-profit organization presenting excellent information and images on Japanese Gardens around the world.  This site is refreshingly free of sentimentality and exoticism.
Islamic Architecture in Isfahan  http://www.isfahan.org.uk/
Persian and  Islamic Architecture from the 11th to the 19th century. This database contains photographs and descriptions of some sites, and a section on Fundamental Concepts of Islamic and Iranian architecture.  Much of this site hasn't been updated since 1999. Some of the navigation is clunky. Still, what is available is unique.
If you don't like sound effects, mute your speakers before you log into this site.
Artcyclopedia   http://www.artcyclopedia.com/
This is not a collection, but a guide and search page that indexes links to information and images of "museum quality" art.  Search by artist, title, medium, movement, subject, nationality or, conveniently, art museum.
Mark Harden's Artchive  http://www.artchive.com/
Over 2,000 scans of fine art available for private, noncommercial use.  Many of the images are linked to useful essays or overviews from reliable art history reference sources.  Browse an index of artists by name, or click your way through a virtual gallery.  There are some ugly ads, but that's why the site is free.

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Art History Resources

Art History Research Centre  http://art-history.concordia.ca/AHRC/index.htm
A Canadian site that helps students find and use and cite Internet sources on art history.
Mother of all Art History Links 
http://www.art-design.umich.edu/mother/
Silly name, but good collection of links.

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Sources Requiring Subscription (check your library's website)

Grove Dictionary of Art  
http://www.groveart.com/
Over 45,000 articles on the art and culture of Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Pacific from prehistory until today with links to images and further information in museum and other art-related web sites.
ARTstor
http://www.artstor.org/info/
Seemingly endless collection of high quality images from some of the best public, academic and private collections in the world. Photographs, ancient artifacts and architecture are also included. View anything from a Gehry chair to16th century scientific drawings.




 

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This page last updated July 2007