A serious problem with the digitization of early art journals
Arts: Search
Review
Arts + Architecture Profiles
Design Abstracts Retrospective
A serious problem with the digitization of early art journals
In order to increase the usefulness of the journals we are digitizing for the Arts: Search Review project, we are now adding biographical data on all artists whose work is discussed or illustrated in the journals.
We have just completed adding biographical data to nearly 16,000 pages of The Studio / International Studio for the years 1893-1910, and are currently proof-reading The Studio / International Studio for the years 1911-1922, for which we will also be adding biographical data.
We have discovered that a staggering of the names given in The Studio / International Studio are misspelt and many others are identified only by their surname or by the surname and initial letter(s) for their first name(s). We calculate that between 7-10% of the names in The Studio / International Studio, particularly in the years up to 1910, were misspelt, and something like 20-25% of the names were incomplete. This problem appears not to be be confined to The Studio / International Studio but applies to all early art journals we have digitized. This, of course, severely limits the returns on any searches and reduces the value of digitization
The biographical data we are adding includes :
a. The correct and full name of an artist
b. Their gender
c. Dates and place of birth and death,
d. Nationality
e. Areas of artistic activity
In the case of over 60% of the artists we have included a detailed profile.
We are also adding numerous Internet links. These are to additional sources of biographical information, images, and archival records. In the case of The Studio for the years 1893-1910 we have added approximately 25,000 such links. These links are only to web sites that we are reasonably confident are fixed, i.e., where the URLs are not likely to change in the foreseeable future, including those for art museums, e.g., the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and MoMA and the National Academy of Art Museum, New York, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museo Nacional del Prado; Artcyclopedia; the recently launched BBC – Your Paintings; AskArt; Wikipedia; Dictionary of National Biography; Deutsche Biographie; Artist Biographies; Oxford Grove Art; Modernist Journals Project; Kunstindeks Danmark; Swiss Index to Art Research (SIK ISEA); Konstnärslexikonett Amanda; YouTube; etc.
Arts + Architecture Profiles, the biographical file in Arts: Search, now includes data on nearly 28,000 artists, architects and designers active between the 1880s and the late twentieth century
We have just digitized two more titles for Arts: Search Review:
L'Artista Moderno. Rivista illustrata d'arte applicata (Turin, 1904-1922)
The Artist (London, 1896-1901). These will be proof-read next and should be fully searchable by December 2013 or January 2104.
L'Artista Moderno. Rivista illustrata d'arte applicata is exceptionally rare. There are no known runs of this decorative arts journal outside Italy. It is not included in the holdings of the National Art Library at the Victoria & Albert Museum. or in the collection of the Library of Congress.
We are currently digitizing Art et Decoration (Paris) for the years 1911-1922
For details of all the titles we have or will be digitizing for the Arts: Search Review project see: http://www.arts-search.com/review.html
Best wishes
Chris
Chris Mees
Editor – Arts: Search
Design Research Publications . Poundsford . Vicarage Lane . Burwash . East Sussex . England TN19 7JS
T: +44 1435 883950
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W: http://www.arts-search.com
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