ART
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Art in
Miniature
ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bulldancer |
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| Curious how many hobbies deal with items in miniature.
Perhaps
it's the space constraints of working in all those garden sheds.
Miniature
painting has a long and glorious history of course, probably dating
first
to the illuminated manuscripts that were the stock in trade of medieval
monks.
Despite a few dodgy decades after the advent of photography, miniature
painting
is again going strong. This site gives advice on materials, courses,
finding
a teacher and buying and collecting miniatures. There's also onsite
inspiration
in the shape of some delightful pictures both medieval and modern. |
Art
www.wisecat.co.uk/art |
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| Whether you are looking for details of the latest exhibition
at
the Royal Academy of Arts in London, a catalogue listing for the Louvre
in
Paris, a dictionary to explain to you exactly what chiarascuro and
picture
plane mean, or simply a guide to what's good to see on your trip to
Glasgow,
the tersely titled Art is the site to click to. Links to sites covering
every
aspect of painting and sculpture. |
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Official
Picasso
web site, endorsed by his son Claude, no less. Paintings are grouped
according
to people rather than period. There are lists of exhibitions and other
events
here.
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See Monet on
this
site from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in America, which takes
visitors
on a tour through the great impressionist's life and work.
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A door to the
net
for artists and galleries. Sign up for your own site or find links to
organisations and artists
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Everyone knows
some
- or at least one of the Renaissance genius's work. Here are many more.
Five hundred years on, the left-handed vegetarian still leaves artists,
technologists and inventors gasping.
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San
Francisco
Museum of Modern Art
www.sfmoma.org |
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| Something of a work of art in itself, this website. The
SFMOMA
is one of the world's greatest facilities dedicated to modern art, with
a
superb collection of painting and sculpture. Enter the website and you
are
faced with a minimalist white page, with fast-changing shots of the
stunning
museum building itself, its modernist lines looking stunning against
the
San Francisco skyline. Click further and you receive thumbnails and
rubrics
on the collection itself. |
British
Museum
www.british-museum.ac.uk |
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| The home page 'welcomes you to one of the greatest
museums
in the world', and anyone who has marvelled at the Bloomsbury
leviathan's
unrivalled collection of artworks Classical and modern, from
prehistoric
and Roman coins, through medieval carvings and Oriental antiquities
won't
argue with that. This is an excellent site in its own right, crammed
with
essays and pictures. If you're planning a visit to the museum itself,
start
your planning on the Internet. |
The Glass
Painting
Specialists
www.glasspainter.demon.co.uk |
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| Stained glass was once the sole preserve of medieval monks
labouring
away in damp cloisters but time, and technology move on. Professional
glass
painter Jane Dunsterville has expanded her work with conventional
stained
glass to include research into making the whole process easier, cheaper
and more accessible to beginners. This site is the fruit of her
labours. Be inspired by examples of Jane's own work, including her
professional commissions, featured
on the site, and take a look at what others have come up with in the
Gallery
section. |
Inside the
Louvre
sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/wm/paint |
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| Excellent preparation for a visit to this auspicious art
gallery,
or simply as education and entertainment for those who can't make it to
Paris.
Inside the Louvre not only lists all the paintings and sculptures
within
the galleries, but allows you to take a look at them and backs up your
viewing
with background history, so there are biographies not just of the
artists
themselves but of the movements they sprung from. |
Stained
Glass
Warehouse
www.stainedglasswarehouse.com |
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| Definitely a hobby for those with a steady hand and a keen
eye,
stained glass making isn't just about producing 40ft high rose windows
for
the west end of your local cathedral, but crafting miniature gems to
sit
proudly on the mantelpiece. This site appears to have been constructed
by
someone with an over-fondness for sky-blue and purple, but we'll let
that
pass. An excellent source of raw materials, and at reasonable prices.
Design
ideas abound, and the best feature is the stained glass search engine,
routing
you straight to the pick of the sites worldwide. |
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| ART MUSEUMS |
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By offering
affordable
posters and detailing information on art galleries across the globe,
this impressive site successfully appeals to the art enthusiast as well
as those
who don't know their Hirst from their Hogarth. There is a guide to art
movements, biographies of leading artists and recommended reading
lists. All featured exhibitions have pictures and descriptions so you
don't have to keep leaving the site.
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The Louvre
www.louvre.fr |
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| Don't worry, there's an English language version of this
website
from the most famous of French art galleries. This is an impressive
resource including lots of fast loading thumbnail images of the major
works stored
in the Parisian gallery (you just click on the images to pull up bigger
more detailed pictures). If you want to familiarise yourself with the
layout of
the Louvre before you take a trip over there give the virtual tour a
whirl
- it takes in the obligatory Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo exhibits. All
the sections of the site are splendidly presented with plenty of images
from
each of the seven main departments in the gallery. |
The Museum
of
Modern Art
www.moma.org |
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| Even if you can't afford the trip to New York to visit this
museum
take some time out to have a look at The Museum of Modern Art's
excellent website. The design is fabulous and incredibly stylish.
Exhibitions are backed up by plenty of online information as well as
discussion areas and photographs of the exhibits. The online store is a
shopper's delight, full of interesting and unusual gifts if you want to
wield your credit card. Or if that all sounds
a bit pricey you could always send a free electronic MOMA postcard to a
friend,
featuring an image from the museum. |
Art.com
www.art.com |
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| Art.com is first and foremost a commercial site that sells
prints,
posters, photos and lithographs, but it's also a great resource for art
lovers.
The reference section is impressive and includes a history of twentieth
century
art, written decade by decade and giving background on the artists,
images of their most famous works and, of course, the opportunity to
buy posters and prints of their work. The guide to museums and
galleries is sadly restricted to the US but the dictionary of art terms
is relevant no matter where you are. And it's worth taking time out to
browse through the art work for sale
- you're bound to end up buying something from this massive collection. |
Van Gogh
Museum
www.vangoghmuseum.nl |
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| This gorgeous looking site is packed full of images from the
Van
Gogh Museum and, thankfully for us, is presented in English as well as
Dutch.
This museum in Amsterdam is home to the world's largest collection of
works by Van Gogh (including 200 paintings, 500 drawings and 700
letters). Many of the most famous works are reproduced on the site
along with works from other 19th century artists including Gaugin and
Toulouse-Lautrec. Art historians should make the excellent Van Gogh's
Life and Times section of the site their
first stop. |
Worldwide
Arts
Resources
www.world-arts-resources.com |
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| Worldwide Arts Resources is a massive art search engine
providing
links to artists, museums, galleries and art history information housed
on
the Internet. This really is a comprehensive resource; over 15,000
artists
are listed in the artists' index (they're sorted by genre of art) and
there
are thousands of links to commercial and non-commercial galleries. This
site
makes a fabulous starting point for any art lover or art historian who
wants
to learn more about a specific artist or a period of art; you can even
get the latest arts news emailed direct to your mailbox by handing over
your email
address. |
National
Gallery
www.nationalgallery.org.uk |
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The biggest and most famous gallery in the country, the
National
Gallery in Trafalgar Square will take you at least a day to see on foot
and
the same could be said of this sprawling website.
As well as all
the
usual practical information, the gallery includes a stunning amount of
detailed explanations on the works of art therein. You can also view
many of the pictures themselves in a separate window while another
fascinating feature tells you
the story behind some of the more unusual items in the collection. |
The Grove
Dictionary
of Art
www.groveart.com |
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| The Grove Dictionary of Art is a huge work of art history
and
research published by Macmillan and costing a minimum of £275.
The
really good news is you can check out the online version of the
dictionary
for absolutely free for 24-hours. Hand over your email and contact
details
and you'll get a password and username in return that gives you access
to
41,000 cross-referenced articles and over 12,000 links to images of
works
of art housed in galleries all over the world. All aspects of the
visual
arts from prehistory to contemporary paintings and photography are
covered
in this gargantuan online resource. |
The Tate
Gallery
www.tate.org.uk |
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| Although the biggest Tate gallery is in London this site
also
covers exhibitions on show in the Liverpool and St Ives buildings, you
also
get the latest news on the Tate London expansion work in the Bankside
Power
Station (due to open May 2000). The Tate has worked hard at getting its
works
into electronic format and the web site is home to over 8,000 works of
art,
ordered alphabetically by artists. If budgets permit take a whirl
around
the Tate online store and check out all manner of art-related products,
from
T-shirts to stationery. |
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