On
one hand, new technologies; on the other, timeless masterworks of all
ages.
The
novel inventions of any period always take center stage; and they
always fade to the next new technology. The creative masterpieces of
all times remain as relics to haunt and please us from our galleries, museums and
libraries.
Our
latest evolving technologies--computers and the Internet--dominate the
beginning of this millennium. Careers, workplaces and economies all
fall under the yoke of the "information superhighway."
Occasionally
we pause. We read an old poem or wander through an art gallery. We
travel and visit some of the world's famous museums, the relics of
architecture, fallen ruins and ancient wonders of the world.
Eventually
technology embraces the heritage of the past. The fine arts have now
found their way into the galleries of the Internet.
The
World Wide Web has literally dozens of museums, including some of the
oldest, biggest and best.
The
Mona Lisa doesn’t produce quite the same effect on a computer screen
as it does when it’s suddenly there in front of you as you ascend
the steps of The Paris Musée
du Louvre. But then it’s as good or better as a photograph in
your coffee table art book. Check it out with all the other
masterpieces.
Well
worth a visit on the Internet are both the Fine
Arts Museums of San Francisco and The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
For
an eclectic collection of WWW services connected with museums,
galleries and archives see the Virtual
Libraries Museum. It's a distributed directory of online
museums worldwide.
The
Web Museum, Paris–Bienvenue
is the most remarkable site for viewing classical art on the Web. It
has an expanding network welcoming 200,000 visitors each week,
delivering 10 million documents. You can click on any of the thumbnail
images to enlarge them. The images can then be downloaded and saved or
printed.
They
can also be loaded on your computer screen as wallpaper. I
change the wallpaper on my PC almost weekly, enjoying a full screen
image of a great work of art. You can adjust your wallpaper artwork to
suit your mood.
When
you’re at the site, click on The "Famous Paintings"
collection, which will take you to the various themes featured at the
site, including Gothic, Italian Renaissance, Baroque, Revolution and
Restoration, Impressionism, the 20th century and Japanese
Art and Architecture.
From
the same page, you can click on the Artist Index. The list includes
130 great artists with information about each of them, with excellent
selections of their works.
One
of the best Internet search engine sources for art sites of all
sorts is Yahoo–Arts.
The site lists 26 categories of links to art-related subjects, with
multiple links in each of the categories.
"ArtSource"
is a gathering point for networked resources on Art and Architecture.
The content is diverse and includes pointers to resources around the
net as well as original materials submitted by librarians, artists,
and art historians. This site is selective rather than
comprehensive.
The
Guggenheim
Museum has branches to house its interesting and varied
collections and exhibits in New York, Bilbao, Venice, Berlin and Las
Vegas.
Beginning
in 1998, the Guggenheim began developing projects specifically for its
website. This effort became the basis for a more ambitious project currently taking shape
and known as the Guggenheim Virtual Museum.
A new
twist to the world of art has risen with the introduction of digital
art. A number of artists now use the technology of computer graphics
to create computer art. That has evolved into both online exhibitions
of digital art and websites dedicated to digital displays.
A
juried competition, coordinated by Maria Economou of the United
Kingdom, chose the "Best of the Web" in 1999. Winner of the
Best Online Exhibition: Guggenheim Museum's Cyberatlas exhibition.
Best
Overall Site: Walker Art
Center. Kati Geber wrote that "the Walker Art Center's site
is one of the online resources that is definitely a different
approach! "
The
six-month online "salon" hosted by the Walker Art Center (in
association with a number of other institutions) explores the
similarities and differences between "old" art practices and
"new" digital work.
Norbert
Kanter writes, "I wonder how they do it, to manage so many online
media art activities. But again it's a perfect use of the medium--
challenging people to change ideas, projects and opinions.... The
extensive use of links from text to image information is
remarkable."
For
those wishing to explore this new art world, Digital
Art Source has 16 departments of curated, specially selected
resources; and for a comprehensive list of digital art sites, see
Yahoo's page on Computer
Generated Art.
It’s
now possible to order framed or unframed reproductions of art works
online. Art
Com, a commercial site, has over 100,000 prints for sale, many for
as low as US$10.00. Every month they have new, featured
exhibitions. They also do custom framing, and they have an art
auction.
At
one time, in order to enjoy great works of art, one had to travel to a
famous gallery or museum or buy expensive coffee table book collections.
Now it's possible to enjoy works of art from all over the world on
your computer screen. The experience is well worth the time
spent.
As
Pablo Picasso once said, "There are painters who transform the
sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who, with the help of their
art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the
sun."
