The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library today launched its latest online research tool, the Production Art Database. The database contains records for more than 5,300 items from the library’s collection, including motion picture costume and production design drawings, animation art, storyboards and paintings. Nearly half of the records include images, making this an invaluable online resource for researchers interested in motion picture design.
posted by Trurl on Jul 2, 2011 - 7 comments

Iconographie ouvrages anciens is a collection of historic animal illustrations that date as far back as the 16th Century, courtesy of the library at Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Lyon. [more inside]
posted by Ufez Jones on Jan 26, 2011 - 10 comments

Staggering Cache Of Picassos Turns Up In France. A retired French electrician and his wife say they stashed hundreds of never-before-seen works [in French at Libération, who broke the story] estimated to be worth at least $80 million in their garage. The works are believed to be authentic, but it's not quite clear how they came to be in the couple's possession.
posted by nickyskye on Nov 29, 2010 - 66 comments

"...it's probably extra easy to trace my life & interests through these galleries. They start out in Kansas (most of the early non-Lawrence/ KC ones were sent to me either by people ordering copies of my zine or by a few pals of mine who had run away to CA), and as I move around in life the bands & venues change accordingly: Kansas, Ohio, Washington DC, Kansas again, Arizona."
The Jason Willis Flyer Collection, 1981-2006
posted by nomadicink on Oct 3, 2010 - 4 comments

"This is a blog documenting a project that will span exactly one year, from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. On each of those 365 days, I will photograph or draw (and occasionally paint) one collection. Most of the collections are real and exist in my home or studio; those I will photograph. Some are imagined; those I will draw or (occasionally) paint."
posted by gman on Aug 18, 2010 - 11 comments

MoMA has acquired the @ symbol into its collection, and provides a short history on @ to accompany the announcement. [more inside]
posted by emilyd22222 on Mar 22, 2010 - 107 comments

What Should Museums Throw Out? At a time when controversial moves by major art museums are making the public more aware than ever of how museums collect or discard objects, the University College of London's museum invites visitors to play curator in the exhibit Disposal, viewing some white-elephant objects and determining their fate. The museum also just wrapped up another innovative exhibit on objects and point of vew, Object Retrieval, in which one object was explored and responded to by a rolling team of contributors from varying displines, 24 hours a day, for one week.
posted by Miko on Oct 22, 2009 - 22 comments

Ephemera Assemblyman a weblog. Personal favorites: Film Poster Paintings from Ghana :: Magician Souvenir Programs :: Abraham Lincoln Political Cartoons :: (The Art of) Spanish Rolling Papers :: Tickets from Political Conventions. Much more to be explored.
posted by Ufez Jones on Aug 28, 2009 - 18 comments

The Merkel brothers are the grandsons of steam car makers and sons of an African art collector, and each have carried forward the love of collecting and an interest in cars from the previous generations. Henry Merkel is a recognized White expert, who continues to share knowledge of his family's productions and his knowledge of White steam cars has been published. Ben Merkel focused on collecting Checkered Cabs, and has has a love for peaceful rural junkyards. The youngest grandson of Walter White is Tom Merkel, and his love for collecting old cars outstrips his brothers by miles (print view). Somewhere in the Cuyama Valley, just outside of Los Padres National Forest land is his "car garden," which is also where the snowman that once adorned Santa Claus Lane now resides. His other love is 91+ year old cabin, which he indicates is "Santa Barbara's oldest cabin!" and a "Folk Art Magic Museum!" on the signs around the property, but which the Forest Service wants to tear down. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Apr 21, 2009 - 6 comments

I Love My Life The Way It Is. A collection-in-progress of unscratched scratch-off lottery tickets, the project is the brainchild of Ali Alvarez, who hopes to collect at least 8000 tickets, enough to fill a 12x12 room from floor to ceiling. Alvarez is soliciting donations of unscratched tickets from volunteers around the world, and has posted pictures of some of the ones received so far. The idea of an unscratched lottery ticket makes some people "a little crazy," but Alvarez hopes the collection will cause people to explore the ideas of "getting your hopes high, dreaming, escaping, and then usually being let down." Via.
posted by amyms on Jun 14, 2008 - 75 comments

This is James Savage's spare room, which contains one hundred Apple computers. He has more than 150 in his house and all of them are working perfectly, from an Apple II+ and a Lisa to the latest MacBook Pro. (One entrant among many in Gizmodo's Best Computer Rig contest.)
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Oct 4, 2007 - 53 comments

Mutatoes is a photographic collection by artist Uli Westphal of non-standard fruits and vegetables found at Berlin groceries and farmers' markets. The distorted, the discolored, the bumpy, the stumpy, the coiled and the conjoined all get star treatment. (Flash site)
posted by hydrophonic on Jul 27, 2007 - 21 comments

Esquire sends out 250 napkins to writers across America - from prolific novelists to those finishing off first works. Nearly a hundred respond back - from sex to frustration, poetry to twisted liaisons, even a mini book and plans for murder.
posted by divabat on Feb 27, 2007 - 22 comments

Inspired by a convention in 1999, First Day covers, and his grandfather's autograph collection, Jeremy Adolphson sends off 4x6 index cards to various artists with return postage, hoping for a doodle. 5 years on, he has sixty-five galleries (some NSFW) worth of art to share.
posted by divabat on Aug 29, 2006 - 9 comments

Igor Sergeev has been collecting full, unopened cigarette packs from all over the world since 1976. His site now features over 21,000 photos, arranged in alphabetical order by brand name. Some are fascinating simply for the way they differ from what we're used to seeing at the 7-11; others are straight-up nine kinds of awesome.
posted by Gator on Mar 20, 2006 - 38 comments

Dime Novels and Penny Dreadfuls.
posted by hama7 on Dec 6, 2003 - 7 comments

The Book of Roofs is a site to take your time with. Originally an art installation, the web site is a look at the concept of roofs - anthropological, biological, spiritual, metaphysical, social and political - in a collection of "roof tiles" consisting of short articles, personal narratives, mythological references, quotes, historic events, video and photographs, all related to the concept of shelter. If you feel so moved you can even contribute your own tile. Flash and sound
posted by taz on Oct 8, 2003 - 2 comments

Sure, Scarlett O'Hara Barbie is lovely, and yeah, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz Barbie is cute, but for my money, it's hard to beat Marge Simpson Barbie, Medusa Barbie, or Dominatrix Barbie. The full collection, located here, clearly owes a debt to Todd Haynes, and the Barbie Liberation Army, but is still worth a chuckle.
posted by jonson on Jun 21, 2003 - 7 comments

The Smithsonian offers an online sampling of its Collection of Aeronautic Sheet Music. From the introduction: "...widespread fascination with flight has inspired an enormous output of historical drawings, paintings, advertisements and illustrations for publications. Some of the most colorful illustrations are those which adorn sheet music. In the Bella Landauer collection, you can find illustrations that range from the bizarre to the commonplace, from the humorous to the mundane. But most are colorful and interesting."
The collection is divided into categories such as "Ballooning", "Biplanes", and "Flying Machines". I love this one from 1914, called "A Hundred Years From Now".
posted by taz on Nov 12, 2002 - 9 comments

validation: (nytimes) the guggenheim has purchased two pieces of online art for its collection for a reported $10-15K each. most interesting to me was that the "valuation of nonphysical art" hoo-ha is surprisingly brief. the art world may finally understand that art concepts, not art objects are valuable.
posted by patricking on Feb 18, 2002 - 23 comments