Art Authority Blog
How Art Authority can help make you $5 million
The FBI announced yesterday that it had made significant progress towards solving the greatest art theft of all time: the 1990 heist of 13 major works from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. 23 years to the day later, the FBI is definitely getting closer, with the help of a $5 million award “for information that leads directly to the recovery of all of our items in good condition.”
This is where you and Art Authority can come in. By running the app on an iPad with a retina display, you can view images of these works in as much detail as just about anyone else in the world; perhaps even as much detail as the FBI themselves. Who knows, maybe there’s a missed clue there somewhere. Regardless, you can certainly enjoy some great and historic works of art while dreaming of riches at the same time.
Stolen works included in Art Authority in high resolution are:
- Degas, La Sortie de Pesage
- Govaert Flinck, Landscape with an Obelisk, 1638
- Manet, Chez Tortoni, 1878–1880
- Rembrandt, Self-Portrait, c. 1634
- Rembrandt, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633
- Rembrandt, A Lady and Gentleman in Black, 1633
- Vermeer, The Concert, c. 1664
Electing the new pope: images from history
One of the great things about art in general, and Art Authority in particular, is its relevance to history, from ancient to modern-day. Yesterday’s election of Pope Francis is a perfect example of this combination.
The Art Authority app has an amazing 344 images from the Sistine Chapel, where the cardinals secluded themselves during the election. Of course these include full views of Michelangelo’s Last Judgment and Creation of Adam, but also many detailed views of these classics, along with a treasure trove of surrounding art.
Then there’s 151 works that include St. Francis, after whom the new pope chose his name. Dating back to the 13th century, these may be a bit less familiar.
And of course there are images of popes throughout history. And great images from St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Vatican in general. And Italy. And even images from the Fine Arts Museum in Buenos Aires Argentina, if you want to experience a bit of the culture from the new pope’s native land.
As the world welcomes a new pope, we’re happy to be able to provide the world with easy access to these images from history.
Real art in the real world
Perhaps one of our most meaningful experiences at Macworld/iWorld wasn’t even at the show itself. It was at the de Young museum in Golden Gate Park, where we were treated to the “Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Maurithuis” exhibit. It was literally an eye-opening experience.
As much as we love our Art Authority line of apps, and as much as we love Apple’s amazing iPad in particular, no app on any device can completely do justice to real art in the real world. “It’s just not the same!” You hear that about any recorded/digitized media versus the original, and it’s certainly true when it comes to fine art.
Yes, we had to fight crowds to get in, especially in the parking garage of all places. And, yes, we had to jostle with a few patrons to get up close to the quintessential “Girl.” And, yes, we couldn’t even get as close as we wanted due to a security railing (although we could with the other classic works in the exhibit). Avoiding these concerns are all certainly reasons to turn to Art Authority, as are the 60,000 works that it currently gives you immediate, no-travel-required crowd-free access to.
But the differences between viewing Vermeer’s “Girl” on an iPad (yes, even one with a retina display and brightness turned up high) and viewing her in real life are pretty startling. Here’s an image with the Art Authority version on the left and certain key areas of that image highlighted on the right (view full screen for best effect):
First off were subtle color differences. In particular the lit part of her jacket. There’s a subtle tint of green in the actual painting that isn’t conveyed by the version in Art Authority on the iPad (or other devices for that matter). In theory careful color correction might be able to address this deficiency, but it might well introduce other errors.
More significantly, the brightness and contrast of parts of the work went well beyond the way it looked on the iPad. The “terminator” between the light and dark blues in her headpiece, and within the folds of her scarf were much better defined. That pearl earring stood out much more clearly against the dark background, making the little spot of light reflecting off it slightly less noticeable but much more realistic. Conversely, the light reflecting off her irises, and even the tip of her nose, was made more realistic by being more distinct in real life than on the iPad.
An iPad is a device for showing images. Despite all of Apple’s magic, the display just doesn’t have the same dynamic range as the real world (or more precisely, of our eye’s ability to see the real world). It just isn’t possible to convey the contrast that comes from a well-lit work of real art in the real world. You just have to see it for yourself if you really want to see it for yourself.
Not too surpisingly, the same effects applied to many of the other works in the exhibit. In particular, the large Steen work entitled, alternately, either “The Artist’s Family” (in Art Authority) or “As the Old Sing, So Twitter the Young” (in the exhibit; we’re researching the discrepency) showed way more contrast in real life than on the iPad. The challenge there was standing back far enough to take it all in at once without someone being in the way.
Back from Macworld
We’re back from Macworld/iWorld in San Francisco. As usual, it was a whirlwind. We participated in even more events than usual, talking with a large number of current (and future) customers, various members of the press, and art aficionados and authorities of all sorts. Here are some of the highlights:
- Our booth was packed. Macworld suggested only one person work the booth at a time, but we often needed two and sometimes three.
- While a year ago many of the discussions were on education (resulting in our Art Authority K-12 app), this year more were on museums, galleries, and individual artists. No doubt some of that had to do with the recent introduction of our Art Alert app.
- Questions and comments during Alan’s talk “Art Goes Digital” also focused more on individual artists and galleries.
- Alan was interviewed (twice!) on KGO/KFOG radio.
- Keeping with the overall museum theme, after the show ended, we were honored and privileged to be given VIP tickets to the amazing “Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings for the Maurithuis” exhibit at the de Young museum in Golden Gate Park. That exhibit was so eye-opening (literally) that it will be the subject of a whole blog post in the near future.
As usual, a good time was had by all. And we learned a whole lot in the process.
Art Authority at Macworld/iWorld
The annual rite now known as Macworld/iWorld is coming up. It’s January 31 through February 2, at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Art Authority will have our biggest presence ever there. Here are some of the events we’ll be participating in:
- In our booth in the Appalooza showcase (#718) we’ll be showing off all our wares (apps). We’ll of course be highlighting Art Authority for iPad (best iPad reference app of 2010, 2011 and most recently 2012). We’ll also be showing off the new (last year) K-12 edition, as well as the new (last month) Art Alert (“find great art wherever you find yourself”). If you’re going to be anywhere near San Francisco, please come down and say hi. We even have free passes to the exhibits available if you’d like.
- Our president (and blog co-author) Alan Oppenheimer will be following up last year’s “World’s Biggest Art Museum” panel with a special session talk entitled “Art Goes Digital”. You need a full iFan Pass to get into the talks, but Alan may have one or two free passes to just his talk available if you’re really interested.
- We’re also participating in the First Look and Show Special programs. And of course the parties 🙂
And, just in case you missed it: we do have free exhibit passes available. Hope to see you there!
Comparing Art Authority and Art Alert
Now that our new Art Alert app is out, we’ve been getting questions about the differences between it and our award-winning Art Authority app (“Best iPad reference app of 2011”). The LA Times recently called Art Alert a “companion app” to Art Authority, and the two do work best together. But each app is great on its own too.
Here’s the simplest way to look at things:
Art Authority brings the world’s best art to you, and Art Alert brings you to the world’s best art.
Here are the main similarities between to two:
- Both use the Art Authority database of nearly 60,000 paintings and sculptures, 1000+ western artists and 500+ museums and other art locations.
- Both present that artwork full-screen and in scrolling thumbnail arrays, with detailed captions (title, artist, date, etc.)
And here are the main differences:
- Art Authority is a very general app for exploring, learning about, and enjoying art and art history. Art Alert is much more specific, focused on helping you find, preview and get to that art in the real world.
- Art Alert has an easy-to-use, map-based user interface. Art Authority, especially on the iPad, has a “visually dazzling” virtual museum-based user interface with a wide variety of features.
- Art Authority displays works from “Private Collections” and unknown and obscure locations, as well as the world’s top museums and other locations that Art Alert displays works from.
- Art Authority additional features include access by period, artist name, title, subject and even “Art Like This.” Also automated slide shows with Ken Burns motion effect, highlights, shuffle, period overviews, and Prints on Demand (some of these features are specific to the iPad version).
- Art Alert’s additional features help you get to the real art in the real world. Things like directions, search by city or country, and the ability to call a location directly on your iPhone.
- Art Authority provides information on individual works of art, artists, and locations. Art Alert provides details on location, above and beyond those provided by Art Authority.
- Art Authority downloads and displays a retina-quality version of the work where available, through our “smArt resolution” technology.
Art Alert can automatically run Art Authority if you have Art Authority installed. Just hit the “View this collection in Art Authority” button. You can then use Art Authority to explore related context, get more detail on works, view slide shows, etc. The best of both worlds!
Art Alert by the numbers
Now that Art Alert (“Find great art wherever you find yourself”) has been out for a few days, we’re starting to get questions about the number of works it can display at each location, or in each city or country. Or the number of different art sites in each city or country. Etc.
You can actually get a pretty good feel for some of these details through the number and density of pins in the initial map of the world displayed by Art Alert, or by zooming in on a particular country or city of interest.
We’ve also said that the Art Authority database, on which Art Alert is based, contains nearly 60,000 works of art, over 1000 artists and over 500 museums and other art locations (546 at this moment, to be precise).
Additionally, we thought we’d post some other useful numbers here. We’re of course always adding works and locations to the database, so this is just a snapshot of the way things are now, but we still think it’s very interesting and perhaps a good guide to where you might want your next trip to be.
Art Alert Top Countries by Number of Works
- USA 5592 works, 181 locations
- Italy 4585 works, 111 locations (includes the Vatican)
- Russia 3154 works, 14 locations
- France 3126 works, 47 locations
- UK 2669 works, 36 locations
- Germany 1970 works, 29 locations
- Spain 1121 works, 16 locations
- Netherlands 1076 works, 17 locations
- Belgium 613 works, 12 locations
- Austria 606 works, 9 locations
- Paris 2438 works, 16 locations
- St. Petersburg 1876 works, 4 locations
- London 1719 works, 14 locations
- Florence 1357 works, 23 locations
- Washington DC 1268 works, 12 locations
- New York 1265 works, 15 locations
- Moscow 1172 works, 4 locations
- Madrid 1003 works, 7 locations
- Venice 860 works, 21 locations
- Vatican 656 works, 13 locations
- Berlin 653 works, 4 locations
- Vienna 577 works, 7 locations
- Amsterdam 556 works, 5 locations
- Rome 375 works, 12 locations
- Philadelphia 340 works, 8 locations
- Louvre Museum, Paris, France 1405
- Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia 972
- Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia 948
- Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia 904
- Museo del Prado, Madrid 720
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY 702
- National Gallery of Art, Washington DC 661
- National Gallery, London, UK 587
- Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany 568
- Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy 556
- Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France 544
- Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria 353
- Sistine Chapel, Vatican 344
- Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC 343
- Tate Gallery, London, UK 336
- Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary 335
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands 323
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA 322
- British Museum, London, UK 304
- Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany 283
Art Alert, the movie
We’ve made a less-than-two-minute movie that goes over all the basics of how to use our new Art Alert app to find, preview and get to real art in the real world.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCWgKdJCLyQ?rel=0]
It’s also available directly from YouTube. Questions or comments? Please let us know.
Art Alert
“Find great art wherever you find yourself.”
Art Alert is the newest app in the Art Authority app lineup. It’s a “bridge” between the massive virtual art museum of Art Authority and the physical art museums of the real world. Using Art Authority’s database of nearly 60,000 works, Art Alert helps you find, preview and get to the world’s best art at over 500 locations worldwide.
Art Alert uses a familiar map interface to make locating real-world art incredibly easy. Once you’ve found an art location near where you are or where you’re going to be, you can learn about it through its Web or Wikipedia site, get directions to it, or even call it on your iPhone. Better yet, you can preview every work of art from that location that’s in the Art Authority database, so you’ll have some idea what to expect if you decide to go.
You’ll hear much more about Art Alert here, and elsewhere, over the next few weeks, including how it will be able to automatically run Art Authority to provide you with additional ways to learn about and explore related art. For now please check out the app and let us know what you think.
New rooms in Art Authority K12
Art Authority K12 for iPad marks the first time we have “renovated” any of the Art Authority museum’s nine rooms. Removing nudity from this K-12 edition of the app involved a number of challenges, the most major of which we talked about earlier. An additional challenge, although quite an enjoyable one, was revving a few of the Art Authority K12 rooms to replace a couple of “age-inappropriate” works.
Here’s the new main room, where we replaced Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” with Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” as the work representing the Renaissance.
In the Renaissance room itself, we also replaced Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” with Botticelli’s “Primavera,” which we use to represent the Early Renaissance period.
The Venus de Milo alas had to be removed as the representative “Ancient Art” work in the Early room, replaced with the equally interesting “Winged Victory.”
Finally, in the Romanticism room, “Liberty Leading the People” was replaced with “The Gleaners” as representing French Romanticism.
Even though these key works were taken off the walls of their respective Art Authority K12 rooms, they have not been removed from the museum entirely; they’re too important to the overall study of western art. As we talked about earlier, they still appear in related shows, including their rooms’ Highlights shows. Art Authority K12 just displays age-appropriate detail views, instead of the full views that K-12 teachers have told us just aren’t right for some of their students.