Website Wednesday: More Pictures

OK, I’m on a picture kick but you have got to see this site:

http://smarthistory.org/

It is the best, most comprehensive site I have ever seen on art history. Not only do you get to see the paintings but you get detailed audio reviews of them in context with their time periods, biographies of the artists with primary source material (ex: letter from Theo Van Gogh to Vincent), detailed information on various museums where these painting are housed and so much more.

From the site: This site is being developed by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker as a dynamic enhancement (or even substitute) for the static traditional Western art history textbook. And: In Smarthistory, we have aimed for reliable content and a delivery model that is entertaining and occasionally even playful. Our podcasts and screen-casts are spontaneous conversations about works of art where we are not afraid to disagree with each other or art history orthodoxy

Click the round button at the bottom of the right column on the home page for a link to: For the Very Beginner. Click the link on the bottom of this page, Getty video: Looking at Paintings, for an excellent video explaining how to look at paintings.

This site won 2009 Webby for best education website; a deserved win.

Once again, this is a site worthy of a lot of return visits.

This is going to be a short Website Wednesday since in a few minutes TCM is beginning a day of the old (and I mean old, 1930s) classic Hollywood mystery series featuring different studio actors playing the detective Philo Vance. Any mystery lover knows that Vance, created by S.S. Van Dine, is an icon of mystery lore. (Although I do think Van Dine is pretty unreadable.) Today, all the “series” detectives have to be fast paced but these were written and filmed in the time before TV and film, back when movies had a lot of talking. I guess all the media excitement came from the radio.

I never thought I would see these movies. (Probably because I haven’t checked to see if Netflix rents them.) Kudos to TCM for showing them. I’m psyched. I’ve set the recorder but I’m nervous that Verizon may fail me so I’ll try to see a few before work. I’m not expecting Oscar-worthy material but like the pig who could sing - who cared that he sung off key.