Leave a Review Art Authority for iPad
Disapointing at times and sluggish.
It's an expensive app to start with. Pics probably look nice on small iPhone 3G/3GS screen, but large bright iPad screen needs so much more. The resolution of some of particularly the contemporary art, is unforgivably low for the price paid and one would be better off just doing a Google search for a better version of the photograph. For the price, the low res pics make it a poor quite frankly.Show lessThatjim007
Good app. But..
I'm an art lover and this app is comprehensive and a delight to use. I would rate this app as an easy 5 star if it had the story of each painting which informs you of the story the artist was trying to portray - just as if you had the guided tour in your ears if you were actually in a museum. Maybe the developer will introduce this functionality in a future release.Show lessScottie2309
Art Authority
Fantastic. I fumbled around for a while, (very briefly) and then things started falling into place. Yeah, there are some very up to date things I couldn't find, but then some of the things I was looking for might not be fine art. It pulls stuff in from a variety of sources. It's a guided tour of the history of art. I wish I had something like this when I was in high school. Would have blown my teacher's mind. The only bad thing I can say is that NOBODY will ever be able to look at all that this app has access to. I can't even guess how long it took to find all the sources that it can search for you. I say search, but it will retreive images faster than you can study them, so maybe search is not the word. Excellent! PeteShow lessPete the bard
One of the best iPad apps! Just wonderful.
Wow! This is just amazing and one of the few game-changing apps in the App Store. Even if you have only a minimal interest in art there is such a large amount of content here that you are likely to find things of interest, even if you only really like a couple of mainstream artists. Really showcases what the iPad is all about.
I was a bit concerned at the comments about slow loading of images but basically they just chug away adding to the list of artworks quite rapidly. It doesn't slow down the experience at all, and IMHO it is quite a nice experience watching an artist's life work unravel before you.
Anyway, in my top three favourite iPad apps even though I'm not particular any arty type.
Definitely thoroughly recommended.Show lessStuarteee
Great but a tad slow
This is a really beautiful app, and does what it says in the description. The downloads can be frustratingly slow though if you don't happen to have a fast Internet connection. I wouldn't recommend this app for those planning to run it via 3G.Wisp101
Ummm...photography?
It is not controversial to refer to Henri Cartier-Bresson as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. But because he's a photographer, he doesn't get mentioned? As far as I could tell, there isn't a single photographer represented here, which is extraordinarily disappointing. I can only assume it'll be updated with a photo section soon. Otherwise, why not just rename it the painting and sculpture authority?
Otherwise, the app isn't bad and can be quite useful as a reference, despite some lo-res images. It'd be nice to be able to bookmark specific artists and pieces, and perhaps even create your own slideshow based upon those bookmarks.Show lessngaffney
Disappointing...
I was hoping to love this app. Unfortunately, there are many problems.
For starters, the quality of the scans is often poor (and highly variable). Many look great. Some look grainy without zooming. The Norman Rockwells are awful. The one's where Art Authority uses other website's scans are the worst culprets, but there are some clunkers by this app as well.
The volume of pieces is quite variable. Van Gogh brings up over 600 images. Monet brings up 50. I would have expected a few hundred. Also (being Canadian), I was eager to look up the works of the Group of Seven. Most only have a few works in the catalog (poor quality as well) the rest are not even present.
Other things that would be nice is setting images aside as "Favorites". Also, the same artists are present under multiple folders. That's fine. But, when you look (download and save) 600+ Van Goghs, all the Van Gogh folders should be marked as viewed (the content is the same). So if you click on a different Van Gogh folder the files don't have to re-download (also, listing him as Van Gogh, Vincent and Gogh, Vincent Van? Really?)
Needs a lot of work. Some artists need more material, others need the material rescanned. It would look great on a tiny little iphone, but not the ipad.
Not worth $10...Show lessRaymond23
Soso collection, poor image quality
For any museum goers, getting this app may look like a no brainer, but be aware that it differs little from the browsing experience since there is little info on either the artists or the styles, and some of the image qualities are extremely poor, even without the zoom.dotunfolded
Just one problem
A great app apart from one problem; you can't search for a specific painting. If, for instance, I wanted to look at van Gogh's sunflowers, I would have to search for van Gogh and then wait while it downloaded dozens of paintings before it got to the one I wanted. Have I missed something because it seems a big problem to me.Show lessRon mills
Well-organized but could be improved...
What I appreciate about this program is that it organizes the artists by period or by artist, and you really get a sense of the similar works being done at the time around the world from other accomplished masters. In that sense, the program presents an experience you will never get at any museum.
What I think can be improved upon is access to more information about the painting and the artist. When I click the weblink of the painting within a gallery, it brings me to the wikipedia page of the movement itself rather than the painting or the artist. I have to manually do the search on my own outside the program if I want to know more.
I would also appreciate higher resolution files of the paintings. I understand you have to keep it low for the smoothness of the experience, but please give users an option to view a higher res version if a particular painting intrigues them.Show lessTimDLR
