Development status Active | Type Reference, education | |
Original author(s) Operating system Size 122 MB (iPad), 5.2 MB (Mac), 2.2 MB (iPhone) | ||
Art Authority is a media viewing software application for Apple's iOS and Macintosh. It provides a virtual museum interface in which users can access a large collection of classic western paintings and sculptures by over a thousand artists. It is a top selling application. A special K12 edition for the iPad displays only age-appropriate images.
Contents
Development
Art Authority is created and maintained by Open Door Networks and Project A. A partnership with Bridgeman Art Library to enable users to order reproductions of works from the app was announced on May 30, 2012 and implemented as Prints on Demand on September 25, 2012.
A key aspect of Art Authority is its database of 100,000 works of art, over 1500 artists and over 900 museums and other art locations. This database is utilized by apps such as Art Alert, The Art Channel on Apple TV and Web sites such as the Art Authority community site.
The app was upgraded for the iPad (3rd generation) retina display concurrently with the release of that iPad, and included on a number of "Best retina-ready app" lists. "Exploring Art with Art Authority," an e-book companion to the Art Authority app line, available through the iBookstore, was introduced on April 18, 2012.
Access to videos for many of the app's major works was added in December, 2013.
Usage
The iPad version of the app has been used, among other places, in Seton Hill University art history classes since 2010.
Promotion
Art Authority was one of seven "amazing applications" shown by senior VP Phil Schiller in Apple's January 19, 2012 education-focused special event at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The K12 version was selected as one of five "Real-World Learning" apps by Apple on June 25, 2015, at which time Apple also made available a free iBook-based set of "Lesson Ideas" for the app.