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Amazon launches Amazon Art marketplace
- hesslau 13y agoquick question: does anyone know of a service that serves free (as in »free beer«) art (paintings, photography, illustrations etc.) to download in high resolution so you can print them yourself?
- GotAnyMegadeth 13y agopiratebay?
- mapleoin 13y agoWikipedia? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Van_Gogh_Self-Portrait_with_Straw_Hat_1887-Metropolitan.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Van_Gogh_...
- rorrr2 13y agoGoogle images is great for that. Search by keywords, then set the minimum resolution under "Search Tools". 8 megapixels should be enough for a good print. 20 megapixels - for huge ones.
- tagawa 13y agoMaybe this: http://www.fromoldbooks.org/ http://www.fromoldbooks.org/ ? Might not be as high resolution as you'd like but still an interesting collection of art from old books.
- contingencies 13y agoNot a unified one, however most museums have decent interfaces to their collections these days. I would highly recommend the Met Museum in New York's catalog, for instance. Some produce limited resolutions or force you to decode some kind of image-slicing, but in general you can get super high resolution copies for free that would be suitable for personal use.
- jedahan 13y agoAnd if you want an api to the met museums art... I made http://scrapi.org http://scrapi.org . Full disclosure: I work there.
- shadeless 13y agoIf you're into Japanese art check out John Resig's Ukiyo-e, some images have pretty high resolution: http://ukiyo-e.org/ http://ukiyo-e.org/
- z-factor 13y agogallerix.ru has a lot of relatively hires art: http://gallerix.ru/album/Museums http://gallerix.ru/album/Museums
- AsymetricCom 13y agoInternet is still kind of free. Just don't tell anyone that you're doing this.
- adregan 13y agoI wonder what the Artsy (http://artsy.net/ http://artsy.net/) folks think of this? I won't speak to the quality of art on the Amazon site as I browsed rather shallowly and don't have anything nice to say. Rather I will comment on the presentation. This is certainly a time when Amazon's one size fits all store presentation falls flat. There is a whole field of expertise involving the presentation of art, and they haven't done a great job of making it look appealing. Then again, maybe it's appropriate that a search for Warhol paintings share a layout with a search for Campbell's soup: Warhol: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D6685299011&field-keywords=warhol&rh=n%3A6685299011%2Ck%3Awarhol http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D6685299011... Soup: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_hi_4?rh=n%3A16310101%2Cn%3A6461478011%2Cn%3A6464939011%2Cn%3A16319621%2Ck%3Acampbell%27s+soup&keywords=campbell%27s+soup&ie=UTF8&qid=1375789406 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_hi_4?rh=n%3A16310101%2Cn%3A64... Edit: adding a link to Arsty for those who are unfamiliar.
- loceng 13y agoI want to agree, but I can't help but not find their current layout to fit perfectly with what and how people will experience the Amazon shopping experience. If people are reviewing / analyzing art to potentially buy / see how much they like it, they aren't going to be in a mindset to take in the whole viewing area - they will be focused on the bounds of the art, else they will shop differently and perhaps not be able to appreciate the art if and once they had it on their own wall - because unless they live in an art gallery, there will be other living things around them, and so they would need to focus on the art within the same scope of view.
- ippisl 13y agoMaybe their strategy is to build generic stores, but let affiliates do customizations ?
- 7952 13y agoOther sites tend to make "viewing" part of the experience, and I'm guessing this doesn't actually lead to sales most of the time. Anyway the best way to view a painting is in person. Making the commercial aspect of buying art just like any other purchase is appealing to me (instead of a mediated experience). I think the benefit of this is similar to the buy it now button on eBay; its for people who just want to buy and don't want to mess about. For expensive art this is just going to be a friendlier alternative to auction. For cheaper stuff it could make buying original art like any other purchase. For that you need a good returns policy that every one trusts. Who is better than Amazon for that?
- waxjar 13y agoOne of those annoying pages that breaks the back button. Hate that.
- GravityWell 13y agoBack button seems to work as expected for me in Chrome. And I'm grateful the site doesn't use an annoying carrousel. I find those things garish.
- jdmitch 13y agoThis seems pretty incredible, unless there is something not entirely straightforward about who has actually made them. $1200-$2000 for an original limited edition Salvador Dali or Marc Chagall print, seems like a steal. Maybe I just don't know much about how less rare artworks of well-known artists tend to be priced though...
- justincormack 13y agoPrints are cheap. These are not signed, "signed on plate" means the engraving plate was signed but that does not mean the print was supervised by the artist so they are semi mass produced. But even signed prints by moderately well known artists are cheap as they are very unfashionable.
- lmm 13y ago>even signed prints by moderately well known artists are cheap as they are very unfashionable. Sounds like it's a good time to buy them then?
- justincormack 13y agoIf you like them. Art is not a good investment.
- xmmx 13y agoWhy are reproductions so expensive? Why is this item (http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Comedy-Inferno-Canto-Minotaur/dp/B00E1WFQRA/ref=sr_1_59?s=art&ie=UTF8&qid=1375791725&sr=1-59&keywords=dali http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Comedy-Inferno-Canto-Minotaur/d...) so much more expensive than this one (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Salvador-Dali-DIVINE-COMEDY-INFERNO-12-Color-Woodcut-The-Minotaur-/121042259120?pt=Art_Prints&hash=item1c2eae4cb0 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Salvador-Dali-DIVINE-COMEDY-INFERNO-...) even though neither are originals?
- smackfu 13y agoThe expensive one is signed in the bottom right, and also has some kind of red block print in the middle bottom. It says it is a woodblock print, so these are the "originals". But print pricing is very dependent on external factors. An artist may produce 100 prints when he starts, but then when he gets famous (or after his peak when he needs $$$), someone gets him to create another 5000 prints from those same blocks. Both sets may look identical, but if someone can identify something that proves yours is 1 of 100 rather than 1 of 5000, it is much more valuable. Also, as a practical matter, Dali prints are very often faked, so buying it from a real gallery who can provide a provenance is for the best. Given all that, the details given on the Amazon Art page for this print are completely insufficient for anyone who is going to spend that much on a print. I would not buy one at a tenth that price without seeing it in person.
- coldcode 13y agoThe number of $10,000+ art pieces is crazy.
- anarchitect 13y agoI've worked for a string of online art retailers and publishers over the the last decade, and I'm a bit baffled by this move by Amazon. I just don't think it's a very good way to browse for art. That said, if you know specifically what you want, it's a pretty good way to connect with galleries.
- VLM 13y agoMy guess is "soon" we'll have a 500 dpi full color e-ink kindle to admire rentable art. And perhaps a giant e-ink kindle to hang on the wall for exactly that purpose. One of my long term "in my infinite spare time" projects has been to build a nice small (well, what passes for small now...) HDTV size digital picture frame and rotate artwork on it. I figure if I can keep the capital cost under a couple hundred bucks (no problemo) and power consumption under a hundred watts (aka about $100/yr, also Probably no problem) then I'll do it. This is all well within my ability to do it, other than spare time. I don't want a COTS digital pix frame because the API (if any) sucks and you can't buy one bigger than roughly a postcard whereas I want "big artwork" sized. Also I want high res. Another interesting idea about "real art" is most TV user interfaces have the lamest most uncool backgrounds and "artwork" I've ever seen. I'd like a nice piece of real art instead. A big digital clearinghouse would help.
- anarchitect 13y agoThe geek in me agrees, the art collector in me doesn't. For me at least, the moment you display "art" on screens, its significance is diluted. When it's not "permanent" it feels like decoration or worse, a screensaver. Having said this, some of those in the art establishment have the same point of view about a recent project I was involved in which brought art from the UK's public collections onto 22,000 billboards across the country. Whatever gets art in front of people can only be a good thing.
- systemtrigger 13y agoYou could use Flickr's API to acquire the images. Filter on interestingness, favorite tag and size. If it is only for your personal use, there are no limitations -- otherwise filter on license.
- fatjokes 13y agoThe only thing I discovered after browsing through that site is that I am too poor to own art.
- myth_drannon 13y agoEtsy has more choices and much cheaper
- JulianMorrison 13y agoYou're too poor to own art whose primary defining characteristic as art is that it's too expensive for poor people to own.
- fatjokes 13y agoLink to poor people art please? (And please don't let it be Homer Simpson art---i.e. garbage smashed together. And I don't count digital prints as art.)
- reverend_gonzo 13y agoCheck ebay, check etsy, search google for specific types of art if you know what kind of stuff you're looking for. Art in other (poorer) countries is also far cheaper than art in first world nations. Of course, well known artists will command serious prices, but for every well known artist, there dozens of other lesser-known artists with comparable quality and styles that you can get a lot cheaper. Or commission your own art if there's something specific you're looking for. Once again, if you're looking for something down by a specific person, you're going to pay for that brand, but if there's a styler you're looking for, you should be able to find someone to do it for a lot less.
- josephjrobison 13y agoCompletely agree. If you know where to look and know what you like, there are tons of lesser known artists that can very well be just as good as every other artist. I saw a good post on Quora [1] that recommends you look at University student art shows as a really good tactic. I happen to know a lot of artists sell their art on eBay and not every one of those sells for the price that same artist would sell the piece for at an art show. [1] https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-strategies-for-buying-art-affordably https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-strategies-for-buying-ar...
- ececconi 13y agoIf anything, I think this really allows me to see how much art costs. For example, I find it amazing that I can search through Salvador Dali's works and buy one of his sketches. I probably won't but I can think of a lot of people who would.
- kwx 13y agoAny idea how to approach / sell on here? I'd love to try to get my works up.
- spoiledtechie 13y agoSeriously??? Is this a joke? http://www.amazon.com/Crease-Constellation-2/dp/B00E67R24U/ref=sr_1_74?s=collectibles&ie=UTF8&qid=1375798205&sr=1-74&keywords=sculpture http://www.amazon.com/Crease-Constellation-2/dp/B00E67R24U/r...
- prawn 13y agoPersonally, I like it. Maybe don't visit a contemporary art gallery. You might find it frustrating.
- jedahan 13y agoProbably not easy to cast aluminum to look like crumpled paper. Probably takes as much time and effort as a week working on a web app.
- JonnieCache 13y agoIt's cast directly from the paper. It sounds complicated. http://www.nesculpture.com/html/specialty.htm http://www.nesculpture.com/html/specialty.htm
- smackfu 13y agoThis one is pretty neat: http://www.selbyfleetwoodgallery.com/artwork/raptor/5 http://www.selbyfleetwoodgallery.com/artwork/raptor/5 A bronze casting of an origami bird.
- mturmon 13y agoDid you see the material? It's cast aluminum. Here's one that seems perfect for the study of some aerospace engineer: http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Planes/dp/B00E67R8MQ/ref=art_owfa_5 http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Planes/dp/B00E67R8MQ/ref=art_owf...
- jh3 13y agoThis is art. To some people it seems like a joke. There is not much else to discuss here since it is all very subjective.
- simonsarris 13y agoI've only looked over their painting selection, but I have seen far nicer works go for far less at Skinner's and Sotheby's auctions (in and near Boston). If this site jives your interest at all, I highly recommend looking through an art auction catalog. You can find GORGEOUS 18th and 19th century pieces for excellent prices (Less than $2000) at many auctions. Here's a Skinner's online catalog: http://issuu.com/skinnerinc/docs/2655b_paintings/1 http://issuu.com/skinnerinc/docs/2655b_paintings/1 (It's worth noting that everyone likes different things, and its entirely possible I am unimpressed with Amazon's offering because its different than most of my aesthetic expectations, and not because the art Amazon is offering is unimpressive.)
- ramblerman 13y agoI just don't get it, 20k for pieces like this: http://www.amazon.com/Firecracker/dp/B00E70BZ3K/ref=sr_1_22?s=art&ie=UTF8&qid=1375797976&sr=1-22&keywords=pop+art http://www.amazon.com/Firecracker/dp/B00E70BZ3K/ref=sr_1_22?... I wonder if people would appraise it quite as highly without context, and the painter's life story.
- TylerE 13y agoRelatively famous artist (in his circle), and dead almost 20 years. With a work like that it's at least as much of an investment.
- apalmer 13y agoArt is a racket. Not art as the human endeavor of expression, or art as the appreciation of beauty. Art as a business is ABSOLUTELY a racket in the same way that dutch tulips were a racket once upon a time. Nothing wrong with that at all in my book.
- marban 13y agofor the most part, art is a system that society affords itself to observe itself.
- apalmer 13y agoPlease explain what that statement means, serious not snarky.
- smacktoward 13y agoArt is a racket because everything is a racket.
- masterzora 13y agoHow so?
- k-mcgrady 13y ago
- cocoflunchy 13y agoI'd like to do an affiliate sale on this one... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DV8CMCM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00DV8CMCM&linkCode=as2&tag=cocoflunchy-20 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DV8CMCM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... Even with the lowest rate of 4%, that would be $194,000 in my pocket. (disclaimer: affiliate link)
- libria 13y agoTsk, had it in my cart and was about to place my order but it wasn't eligible for Prime 2nd day shipping =(.
- icpmacdo 13y agoWould something like this actually be painted by Andy Warhol? http://www.amazon.com/Muhammed-Ali-II-180/dp/B00E6HWXRG/ref=sr_1_20?s=art&ie=UTF8&qid=1375798670&sr=1-20&keywords=warhol http://www.amazon.com/Muhammed-Ali-II-180/dp/B00E6HWXRG/ref=...
- GeneralMayhem 13y agoNo, because that's a screenprint, not a painting. Snark aside, I would think there are fairly stringent quality controls on making sure that everything listed (and priced!) as an original actually is. Amazon's not going to mess around with their reputation when people are shelling out five (or six, or seven, or...) figures for Warhols.
- jonathanjaeger 13y agoI'm a fan of society6 -- sure it's not expensive art, but you can buy some pretty cool stretched canvasses for $85-$150 depending on the size you want. Of course you're also getting printed somewhat mass-manufactured stuff instead of one-of-a-kind pieces.
- BashiBazouk 13y agoI really wish they would separate Archival Ink-Jets from the rest of traditional printmaking. As someone who runs these printers professionally (trade show , not fine art) and does classic printmaking, I just don't respect the output the same way. There is craft in printmaking, and in some methods a limitation on total number of prints possible. Ink jets are mainly making sure your printer is color calibrated and doing a little color correction while doing a run. Archival Ink-Jets should be another category priced somewhere between mass produced posters and original art. It's especially a problem at art and wine festivals...
- BigBalli 13y agoI think it's still quite amazing what they're trying to do. This will also strongly reinforce their perceived value as "secure & legit". I mean, $1M+ Warhol on Amazon?! This is big! http://amzn.to/1ctu0w2 http://amzn.to/1ctu0w2 Am I the only one excited/seeing the potential?
- salgernon 13y ago<ramble> Art is so completely subjective. In a house I bought, we found a painting by an artist named Marshall Merritt - we see his paintings being sold for $10k - very similar in size and composition. But when we had it appraised, the appraiser told us $300. Go figure. Aside from a portrait of my wife, my favorite art purchases have been from Robert Tinney, who did the covers for Byte Magazine from the early 80s. He sells his "limited edition prints" directly. But the point is not that it is an investment, but that I actually just really find pleasure in his work. His is the only art that I've bought online - and only then because I already had a copy of the work in question as a magazine cover! </ramble> I notice that the Amazon works are all sold and shipped by individual galleries. I wouldn't be surprised if you could purchase directly from them for considerably less than via Amazon.
- awongh 13y agoit's funny that this might be Amazon's solution to s similar set of problems that Paul Graham wrote about here: http://paulgraham.com/bronze.html http://paulgraham.com/bronze.html I wonder if the art market can really be disrupted in this way, or if there's something intrinsic about buying art in a gallery that makes it "unamazonable"... (who orders a $10,000 painting online?)
- kirpekar 13y agoFake reviews? http://www.amazon.com/LEnfant-tasse-portrait-Jean-Monet/dp/B00E2PAN0Q/ref=sr_1_2?s=art&ie=UTF8&qid=1375812833&sr=1-2 http://www.amazon.com/LEnfant-tasse-portrait-Jean-Monet/dp/B...
- sliverstorm 13y agoQuick tangential question - What's the best way to shop for nature photography prints? Most of these sorts of dedicated art stores seem to exclude nature photography.
- chestnut-tree 13y agoHave you seen http://www.art.com http://www.art.com or http://www.art.co.uk http://www.art.co.uk? They have a photography section, including "collections" from National Geographic
- sliverstorm 13y agoHonestly? Yes, I'd seen them, but I passed them by quickly for the same reason I ignore other "perfect" domains like "www.books.com" or "www.photography.com". I will take another look.
- minighost 13y agoI sell my nature photography: mikewiacek.com :-) Drop me a note and I'll give you a hackernews price :-)
- e12e 13y agoYou might also want to take a look at http://photo.net http://photo.net -- not everyone sells prints directly on the site, but it is a great way to discover photographers.
- stfu 13y agoI was hoping pg would weigh in on the discussion. Didn't he first start out with trying to convince galleries to start online shops?
- josephjrobison 13y agoHave any of you ever purchased fine art or original art online? How was your experience? I feel like there's a huge gap between people who buy art and those are online. Namely, a lot of the collectors and old money art buyers who decorate their mansions tend to have their own system and contacts for buying art. Of course that's all changing, but I feel like a big chunk of the market (50-75 year old women) are generally not buying art online.
- niels_olson 13y agoFor anyone who thinks they might ever own art, first, I highly recommend it. I love art. I don't even know why. But it makes me happy. I think what it comes down to is pride and satisfaction that in some way, my society has makers, one of whom made this thing to put it in the world, ultimately. That's the only reason it was made. Art is art. And everything else, is everything else. Second, read Don Thompson's The Twelve Million Dollar Stuffed Shark.* He's an economist who took a deep dive into the very dysfunctional world of expensive art. What he leaves you with is a better understanding of the situation: screw investment. Saatchi buys art because he loves art. Yes, he's built a fortune on it, but he also has the largest collection of undisplayed art, and it's estimated the average value of any piece in his collection may be no more than the world-wide average. But he plays his role well, and his role, an ad man, integrates very well with the scene. If you want art, buy it. But I recommend buying local. Art is the ultimate buy-local situation. My brother is an artist. That's as local as it gets. And his is the best art I own. I'm starting to realize a little of Saatchi's situation: if you want to show, really show, those favorite pieces, then you have to give them a lot of wall space. Which means a lot of stuff, good stuff, ends up in crates. You realize you're willing to sell it just because it breaks your heart for it to not be shown. But you'll be damned before you let it hang on a wall where it wouldn't be appreciated at all. If you don't know many artists (if it wasn't for my brother's inside access, I would know none), I think this Amazon Fine Art thing is a fine place to start. Check the under $200 category. There's some really great pieces in there. The other things are craigslist and gallery mailing lists. Sign up. You'll learn if your city tends to do openings on Wednesdays, Thursdays, etc. The whole scene tends to get into sync. Meet some artists. If you have something particular, a desk, a portrait, I don't know many artists who are unwilling to work on commission. Guaranteed money is hard to come by in the art world. ---------- *http://www.amazon.com/The-Million-Stuffed-Shark-Contemporary/dp/0230620590 http://www.amazon.com/The-Million-Stuffed-Shark-Contemporary...
- itomatik 13y agoFWIW, the most expensive one ($975k) is Helen Frankenthaler's Adirondacks, 1992 http://www.amazon.com/Adirondacks/dp/B00EBQ4B0Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=art&ie=UTF8&qid=1375842276&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Adirondacks/dp/B00EBQ4B0Y/ref=sr_1_1?s...