Gathering Information
Students can run a search for artists through any of the official sites from the search engine of their choice or they can make virtual visits to museums where their favourite paintings are on exhibit. A trip to the library makes sense as well; there are many splendid art books. A lovely series named “Eyewitness Art” is a fine place to start; this series deals with impressionism, post-impressionism, other artistic movements, and individual artists. It is published by Dorling Kindersley.
Once students get a taste for a particular artist or artistic ‘school’, they are ready to gather the materials they need. There are many fine websites, including those listed below, where photographs of paintings can be downloaded. Any paintings, one hundred years or older, are legally within the public domain. There are two exceptions: individuals who have designed their own sites sometimes claim copyright, and certain museums (i.e. The National Gallery of London) have copyright laws governing the paintings they have on display. All the slides for the ‘Old Masters’ series are copyright free, and taken from several of these websites.
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Wikipedia has a wealth of information on the artists and their works. There is even an option whereby you can download high resolution pictures.
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Ibiblio is a repository for free information in collaboration with the Center for the Public Domain.
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Artchive: Check out this user-friendly artist's data base.
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This web gallery of art is a must to visit.
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Check out the Timeline of Art History at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
