Google Expands ART PROJECT; 30k+ Works Available to View
By: James T Harding Apr. 03, 2012
Google today announced a major global expansion of the Art Project, signing new partnerships with 151 partners in 40 countries.
From now on, with a few simple clicks of their fingers, art lovers will be able to discover not just paintings, but also sculpture, street art, and photographs. Creations from a wide variety of cultures and civilizations are represented, including Brazilian street graffiti, Islamic decorative arts and ancient African rock art.
The project has expanded dramatically. More than 30,000 objects are available to view in high resolution, up from 1,000 in the first version. Street View images now cover 46 museums, with more on the way.
"The Art Project is going global, thanks to our new partners from around the entire world." said Amit Sood, Head of Art Project, Google. "It’s no longer just about the Indian student wanting to visit Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is now also about the American student wanting to visit the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi.”
A wide range of institutions, large and small, traditional art museums as well as less traditional settings for great art, are represented in the expanded Art Project. In the United States alone, the project has expanded beyond the initial group of four museums, which included The Frick Collection, to represent 29 partners-ranging from large institutions to university galleries-in 16 cities.
Comments Ian Wardropper, Director of The Frick Collection, "We were deeply honored to be included in the initial group of international museums to launch the Art Project in 2011. This expanded version of the site allows us to represent the Frick's strong holdingsin the areas of decorative arts and sculpture as well as the newest addition to our famed house-museum, the Portico Gallery, through an updated virtual tour. Additionally, our participation in the project coincides with a dramatic increase in our own interactive Web content, and we are thrilled that through this collaboration our offerings will be enjoyed by a larger audience."
More than 30,000 artworks are featured in high resolution. Some have been photographed in extraordinary detail using super high resolution or ‘gigapixel’ photo capturing technology, enabling the viewer to study details of the brushwork and patina beyond that possible with the naked eye.
Nelson Mattos, VP Engineering for Google said: "Google is committed to bringing all types of culture online and making it accessible. The Art Project demonstrates how the Internet helps spread knowledge."
The Art Project illustrates Google’s commitment to bringing culture online and making it accessible the widest possible audience. Under the auspices of the Cultural Institute, Google is producing high resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, digitizing the archives of famous figures such as Nelson Mandela, and creating 3D models of 18th century French cities.
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