Art History 2.0 — SmartHistory (found via Art Addict) is an educational website that uses all of the modern accouterments of web technology to teach art history. The site was the 2009 Webby award winner in the education category. It looks like they are just getting started, but I checked out their entry on Bellini’s St. Francis in the Desert, and I learned that most art historians refer to the painting as St. Francis in Ecstasy, and that Henry Frick was a protestant who shied away from catholic paintings, though this one is an exception.
The only criticism I have of the site is that they put the infromation about the paintings in audio clips. I generally find the move to audio and video kind of annoying. If the information was printed out you could scan through the stuff you already know and reread the stuff you don’t. I think the printed word is just a better way to convey information. But I have been noticing this move to audio and video — for instance, a lot of tech help sites now post information in video.
SmartHistory.org: Art History With Slick Presentation
Art History 2.0 — SmartHistory (found via Art Addict) is an educational website that uses all of the modern accouterments of web technology to teach art history. The site was the 2009 Webby award winner in the education category. It looks like they are just getting started, but I checked out their entry on Bellini’s St. Francis in the Desert, and I learned that most art historians refer to the painting as St. Francis in Ecstasy, and that Henry Frick was a protestant who shied away from catholic paintings, though this one is an exception.
The only criticism I have of the site is that they put the infromation about the paintings in audio clips. I generally find the move to audio and video kind of annoying. If the information was printed out you could scan through the stuff you already know and reread the stuff you don’t. I think the printed word is just a better way to convey information. But I have been noticing this move to audio and video — for instance, a lot of tech help sites now post information in video.