Art Authority Blog
Be Our Valentine
We’re pleased to announce a couple new Art Channel shows, “Valentine’s Day Inspirations” and “Highest Priced.”
“Valentine’s Day Inspirations” includes many of the all-time favorites, like Klimt’s Kiss, but also a number of other works you may be less familiar with. We think you’ll love it 🙂 Hopefully you have an Apple TV and can tune in. If not, here are a few of the highlights:
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- The Woodman’s Daughter, by Sir John Everett Millais
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- The Fisherman and the Syren, by Lord Frederick Leighton
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- Pygmalion and Galatea, by Jean-Léon Gérôme
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- The Siesta, by Vincent van Gogh
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- The Kiss, by Edvard Munch
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- The End of the Song, by Edmund Leighton
If you’re looking for inspirations as far as Valentine’s Day gifts, you’ll want to check out Art Channel’s new “Highest Priced” show, which lets you hang over $2 billion in the world’s most expensive art on your wall! More details on that shortly.
A Christmas Present
We’ve been working on some new holiday shows for our new Art Channel on Apple TV (more on that shortly). One of the new shows is turning out so well that we decided to spin it off into its own app.
Our “Christmas Art” app is now available in the Apple TV App Store, with over 700 years worth of yuletide paintings from master artists like Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Brueghel, Rembrandt and Gauguin. The app includes features on the Annunciation, the Nativity, and Madonna & Child, plus the Complete Christmas. It’s a great selection of HD-quality images from the Art Authority collection of over 100,000 works.
We hope you like it as much as we do. Just search for “Christmas Art” on the Apple TV App Store. Merry Christmas to all!
The Future is next week
Today, October 21, 2015, is the day in the movie Back to the Future Part II to which hero Marty McFly travels in his DeLorean-based time machine. Although many aspects of that day in the movie, like hover boards and the Cubs winning the World Series, have yet to come to pass, a few have. In particular, the flat-screen TVs in the movie don’t even seem surprising to us now, but they sure were in 1989 when the movie came out. One scene we like in particular shows a flat-screen TV being used to display great classic works of art.
Not unrelatedly, Apple, the company that’s probably the most responsible for bringing us the real future, just announced that their new Apple TV product will be available next week. And of course it will run apps. And we happen to sell the number one art viewing app around. Hmmm.
Could the Future be next week?
Life imitating Art (Authority) imitating Life
One of our big goals with Art Authority for iPad is to provide you with a great museum-like art viewing experience. One of our major innovations in this area is Art Real Size, which lets you quickly and intuitively understand the size of a work of art, just as you do in a museum. We designed and implemented Art Real Size, like many of our other Art Authority features, by imitating life:
Works well, right?
Just as Art Authority imitates life, Paul Collins, principal developer for the Art Authority app line, had the opportunity to have life imitate Art Authority. While visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art, he had this picture taken:
Yes, that’s him standing in front of the real-life version of A Reading from Homer by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Looks familiar?
More to Explore
Following up on our recent summer intern program update, we thought we’d talk about how the Art Authority museum has been evolving to give you more to explore. Not just more to explore than when it first “opened” over four years ago (on the same day as the iPad shipped), but also more to explore, in many ways, then any single real-world museum.
We of course love real-world museums, whose viewing experience cannot be replaced by any app, including ours. But the Art Authority museum viewing experience likewise cannot be replaced by any real-world museum. Since we started using Childe Hassam’s work in our intern update, let’s keep going with that.
In the update post, we mentioned that Hassam’s Art Authority collection includes 487 works. It is of course very unlikely that any single real-world museum, even through a special exhibit, would be able to gather that many of Hassam’s works under one real-world roof. The post also indicated that many of his works in Art Authority include not just standard museum details like date and medium but also items that only a virtual museum could provide, such as links to in-depth articles about the works.
The post also showed how our groundbreaking Art Real Size feature helps you explore and understand the size of the works, addressing one of the big defects of many virtual museums. And with Art Like This you can view items from across all Art Authority collections that are similar to any work (check out how similar to Hassam’s the Monet work is below).
Explore Hassam’s “Allies Day” through articles, Art Real Size, and Art Like This
But there’s still more to explore too. You can view a work full-screen, and then zoom in on any part of the work, often much closer than you can get in a museum. For selected works, you can follow a link to a video about that work. And through the grid view’s chronological thumbnail display, you can gains insights into how an artist’s style has evolved over the course of their career.
Explore full-screen, zoom in, view a video, compare to artist’s other works
If you do spend the time to become familiar with Hassam, or any other artist in this way, you may well want to continue your exploration by seeking out real-world museums that are displaying his works. Art Authority can help you to find and preview exhibits at many of those museums. And our companion Art Alert app can then help you to get there too.
We think you’re going to really adore how Art Authority helps you explore more!
Merry Christmas (stamps)
Since 1962, the US Postal Service has issued one or more Christmas stamps each year. Many of these stamps have been based on classic works of art, usually from the Renaissance period. And of course many of those works of art are in Art Authority. It’s particularly interesting to see how the Postal Service has “adapted” the works to the stamps. Merry Christmas!
1966 stamp: Madonna and Child with Angels, by Hans Memling, after 1479
1967 stamp: Madonna and Child with Angels, by Hans Memling, after 1479
1968 stamp: The Annunciation, by Jan van Eyck, 1435
1970 stamp: Nativity, by Lorenzo Lotto, 1523
1971 stamp: Adoration of the Shepherds, by Giorgione, 1505-1510
1973 stamp: Small Cowper Madonna, by Raphael, 1504-1505
1975 stamp: Madonna and Child, by Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1475
1976 stamp: Nativity, by John Singleton Copley, 1776
1979 stamp: The Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Gerard David, 1510
1981 stamp: Madonna and Child, by Sandro Botticelli, 1475-1485
1982 stamp: Madonna of the Goldfinch, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1767-1770
1983 stamp: Niccolini-Cowper Madonna, by Raphael, 1508
1985 stamp: Genoa Madonna, by Luca Della Robbia, 1445-1450
1986 stamp: Madonna and Child, by Perugino, 1501
1987 stamp: A Gentleman in Adoration before the Madonna, by Giovanni Battista Moroni, 1560
1988 stamp: Madonna and Child, by Sandro Botticelli, 1470
1989 stamp: The Dream of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, by Lodovico Carracci, 1593
1990 stamp: Madonna and Child, by Antonello da Messina, 1475
1993 stamp: Madonna and Child in a Landscape, by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, 1496-1499
1995 stamp: Madonna and Child, by Giotto di Bondone, 1320-1330
1997 stamp: Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels, by Sano di Pietro, 1460-1470
1999 stamp: Madonna and Child, by Bartolomeo Vivarini, 1475
2002 and 2003 stamp: Madonna and Child, by Jan Gossaert, 1520
2004 stamp: Madonna and Child, by Lorenzo Monaco, 1413
2007 stamp: The Madonna of the Carnation, by Bernardino Luini, 1515
2008 stamp: Virgin and Child with the Young John the Baptist, by Sandro Botticelli, 1490
2009 stamp: Christmas: Madonna and Sleeping Child by Sassoferrato
2011 stamp: Madonna of the Candelabra by Raphael, 1513
2013 stamp: Virgin and Child, by Jan Gossaert, 1531
Size matters, part 2
While working on Art Real Size, we found it quite interesting to look at different artists in terms of the size of their works in the Art Authority database. Which artists produced the biggest works? Which the smallest? And which had the greatest (or least) variety in terms of size? Here are some particularly “extreme” artists to explore and understand better through Art Real Size.
Largest works*: Giovanni da Bologna (sculptor), Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, David Alfaro Siqueiros (muralist)
Smallest works*: Martin Schongauer, M.C. Escher
Greatest variability**: Gian Lorenzo Bernini (sculptor), David Alfaro Siqueiros (muralist), Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Lowest variability**: Limbourg Brothers (miniaturists), Helen Allingham
Also, for those interested in extremes, tallest work:
- Fountain of the Four Rivers, Bernini
- Baldacchino, Bernini
- The Apotheosis of the Pisani Family, Tiepolo
The Apotheosis of the Pisani Family (through Art Real Size)
Widest work:
- Apollo and the Continents, Tiepolo
- For Complete Social Security of All Mexicans, Siqueiros
- Stained Glass Windows, Mordecai Ardon
Smallest work:
- Amulet in the shape of an ibis (Egyptian)
- Edward VI, from the Bosworth Jewel, Hilliard
- Henry VIII, from the Bosworth Jewel, Hilliard
*Based on at least 10 works with known heights
**Highest standard deviation of height
Fun and Understanding with Art Real Size
Here’s a special guest post from Julie Turgeon, one of the students participating in year 3 of the Art Authority Summer Intern Program:
We’ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with Art Authority’s new Art Real Size feature this week. The tool completely transforms how art is viewed in a digital environment, adding what others have failed to provide thus far: a tangible dimension connecting the viewer to the works on-screen. Exploring some of Art Authority’s 65,000 artworks with Art Real Size revealed some delightful surprises about some of our most beloved works. We’ve listed a few here to give you a taste of the capabilities of the new feature:
1. Claude Monet’s larger-than-life-sized Camille (The Woman in the Green Dress) was one of the artist’s earliest pieces. Painted and exhibited in 1866, the portrait boldly announced Monet’s arrival in the Parisian art scene. At that time, it was unheard of, almost risible, to paint someone who was neither of noble nor of privileged birth at such an impressive scale.
2. Fellow Frenchman Georges Seurat’s paintings exhibit great range in size. The diminutive Eiffel Tower, for example, could fit inside his monumental masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte 177 times, with wiggle-room to spare! It took Seurat over two years to paint La Grande Jatte, and numerous sketches and studies exist dispersed throughout the world’s art museums (but conveniently at our disposal on the Art Authority app and community site). Seurat continually altered the composition of the pleasant waterfront scene as he progressed in his work, adding, for example, more bustle to the dress worn by the woman on the right-hand side of the painting, reflecting the ever- shifting fashions of the era. Remarkably considering the scalar dissimilarities, both of Seurat’s works are composed of the same miniscule multi-colored dots that became the defining characteristic of Pointillist paintings.
3. Passage of the Delaware by Thomas Sully easily eclipses Seurat’s La Grande Jatte in size. The enormous historical painting has posed problems for the institutions wishing to display it since its completion in 1819. Originally commissioned by the state of North Carolina, the painting was refused because it would not fit in the allotted space in the state’s Senate Hall. Today, it rests placidly in a section of Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, accommodated by the wing’s exceptionally high ceilings. The eleven-day ordeal of hanging Sully’s most famous painting is documented on YouTube, and made the local news.
4. Andy Warhol used size to make a statement, although in a different way than Monet’s avant-garde statement of artistic prowess and vision or Sully’s patriotic eulogy. Warhol’s whopping 15-foot portrait of Mao Zedong, currently on view at the Art Institute of Chicago, scathingly critiques the overblown reputation and attention given to celebrities and prominent political figures such as the notorious communist leader. Mao’s gaudy maquillage adds an additional dimension of absurdity to the colossal canvas (we can’t show you the Art Real Size version here because this work remains under copyright).
5. A post about size wouldn’t be complete without a mention of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. She has gained quite a reputation for stunning the Louvre’s visitors with her small size, seemingly unfit for one of the best-known paintings in the world. Eager museum-goers bump and jostle shoulders, step on each other’s toes, and crane their necks over the perpetual gallery throng to get a glimpse at the iconic portrait and to experience the sensation of having Mona Lisa’s eyes follow them as they move through the room. The guidebook aphorism rings true: the posters sold in Parisian gift shops are larger than the actual painting! Fittingly, perhaps, scientists chose to recreate da Vinci’s Mona Lisa for the smallest painting ever. Astoundingly, they succeeded in creating a version of the painting that is half the width of a strand of human hair. Read more about the record-breaking feat on the Huffington Post.
Appreciating a painting’s size is an indispensible component of interpreting a work of art. Art Real Size helps to bridge the gap between experiencing a work of art in person and seeing it on a digital platform by providing a visual tool through which the viewer can relate more viscerally to digital reproductions. We here at Art Authority are hooked on Art Real Size already, and are delighted to finally introduce this vital feature to our user community.
Fun with Art Authority: Trivia #2
The images below are all screenshots from Art Authority for iPad. Examine these five works of art and see if you can determine which piece is definitely not from the Renaissance period.
Leave your answer or best guess in the comments section below. Additionally, you can enter to win an iTunes gift card by tweeting your guess. Be sure mention the Twitter handle, @art_authority, somewhere in the body of your tweet.
By the way, you can easily create your own unique trivia questions with the Art Authority app. Send us your trivia questions, and we’ll even feature them on our ‘Fun with Art Authority’ series.
Share all your triva, app feedback, and any other insights or scholarly articles you have written by emailing mica at artauthority.net.
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Answer now available here: https://artauthority.net/answer-to-fun-with-art-authority-trivia-2