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In addition to the websites listed below, most museums have instructive online exhibitions.
Architecture
- Elements of Architecture
- Definitions and illustrations of architectural elements.
- R. Buckminster Fuller Digital Collection
- Contains audio and video materials. You must register, but registration is free.
Art History
- Smarthistory
- "This site is being developed by Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker as a dynamic enhancement (or even substitute) for the static Western art history textbook." Includes images, audio-guides, and videos.
- Heilbrunn timeline of art history
- "The Timeline of art history is a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world, as illustrated especially by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection."
Artists
Check museum sites for images and information about individual artists.
- Art Project (Google)
- Virtual visits of some of the worl'd major museums.
- Cellblock Visions
- Outsider art from inmates in prisons.
- Vincent Van Gogh: The Letters
- Includes 902 letters from and to Van Gogh.
Arts and Crafts Movement
- Greene and Greene Virtual Archive
- Two architects of the California Arts and Crafts Movement.
- A New and Native Beauty: The Art and Craft of Greene and Greene
- Two leaders of the California Arts and Crafts Movement.
Book Arts
- Blue Heron Press Collection: Artist's Books
- Includes chapbooks, elaborate covers and spines, alphabet books, and other illustrated works.
- Costen Children's Library: Book Exhibits
- Themes book exhibits of contemporary and historical children's books.
- Picturing Words: The Power of Book Illustration
- "Explore the power of pictures through these examples from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ collections in science, history, and art."
- Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books
- Contains a collection of decorative bindings, a glossary, and guide to the elements.
Ceramics
- Ceramics Today
- Articles as well as links to other ceramic sites.
Design
- Design Museum
- A London museum of contemporary design.
- Design USA:Contemporary Innovation
- Showcases the winners of the National Design Awards. There are five themes: Craft, Experience, Technology, Materials, and Methods.
- Multiple Choice: From Sample to Product
- "..examines sampling formats from the collections of Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and Smithsonian Institution Libraries, which illustrate a vast selection of available design options and make the connection between samples and final products."
- Museum of Arts & Design
- "...dedicated to the collection and exhibition of contemporary objects created in media such as clay, glass, wood, metal, and fiber."
General Sites
- Archives of American Art
- "Since 1954, the Archives has collected roughly 16 million letters, photographs, diaries, oral history interviews, sketches, scrapbooks, business records, and other documents that support the study of the history of the visual arts in America."
- Art Babble
- Videos on art.
- Art History Resources on the Web
- A large collection of links to other sites.
- Art Links on the Worldwide Web
- Large collection of links to other sites.
- Under Cover: Artists' Sketchbooks
- "The Fogg Art Museum owns an unusually large collection of about 150 sketchbooks, ranging in date from the eighteenth to the twentieth century."
Museum Studies
- Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills
- This report seeks to "support museums and public libraries in envisioning and defining their roles as institutions of learning in the 21st century." It includes case studies of projects at different institutions. There is also a self-assessment tool.
Photography
- Center for Creative Photography Digital Collections
- This center at the University of Arizona includes the archives of Ansel Adams, Harry Callahan, Edward Weston, and other well recognized 20th century photographers.
- Smithsonian Photography Initiative
- Access to more than 13 million images, a blog, and interactive educational programs.
Sculpture
- International Sculpture Center
- A comprehensive case for sculptors. Includes Sculpture Magazine.
Technical Information
- CAMEO: Conservation and Art Material Encyclopedia Online
- "...contains chemical, physical, visual, and analytical information on over 10,000 historic and contemporary materials used in the production and conservation of artistic, architectural, archaeological, and anthropological materials."
Textile Arts
- AllSewn Up: Millinery, Dressmaking, Clothing and Costume
- Books from 1907-1940 include the history of clothing, styles, of dress, and design and construction.
- The Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestries
- Tapestries from the Art Institute if Chicago.
- Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection
- Includes textiles from a variety of places, techniques, and time periods.
- Henry Art Gallery
- "The Henry Art Gallery’s Costume and Textile Collection provides a resource for studying the construction and design of fiber-based objects, their relationship to other art forms, and their historical and cultural role in the societies that produced them."
- The Textile Museum
- Includes several online exhibits.
Video Art
- Perpetual Art Machine
- " Perpetual Art Machine is a community for video artists, curators, writers, theorisst, educators, collectors, and enthusiasts...[and] an on line gallery and database of video art...[and] a traveling video installation. "
Ken Orenic
Reference Librarian
630.942.2338
orenick@cod.edu
April 2010
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