A New Approach in Art History: Counting Artworks
Scientist publishes a unique e-catalog and reports about his quantitative approach.
Brussels, Belgium, November 24, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Where to find the indefinite number of artworks with the iconography of Venus, created from the Middle Ages to Modern Times? How many Italian artists were inspired by the beautiful goddess...or their wife, daughter or mistress? Maybe the new huge Internet portal Europeana on European cultural heritage will be able to tell later, but presently there is a unique source for this challenging development in art history: The Iconography of Venus - Volume 1 'The Italian Venus' by K. Bender, published on Lulu.com, the premier marketplace for digital content on the Internet.
Mr. K. Bender used his leisure time to compile 1840 artworks (sculptures, reliefs, paintings, frescos, drawings, prints and illustrations) made by 649 identified Italian artists. Each artwork is meticulously described by date of creation, artists' name, title(s), type, support and size of the artwork, owner or latest auction, information sources. The catalogue is a topical one: each artwork gets an entry under one of the 18 main topics selected to describe the rich iconography of Venus. An index of Artists, a Directory of Owners and a list of some 350 bibliographical references conclude this unique catalog. The author got encouraging comments from art historians about his approach.
Mr. Bender says: "For the first time the topic and time distribution of these artworks could be analyzed on the basis of a fair sample. A side result is the application, never previously done in art history, of an empirical law well known as Lotka's law in informetrics: 60% of all artists created only ONE Venus-artwork. This phenomenon of human creativity is explained as 'success breeds success'. I am now compiling, using the same methodology, the catalog of the artworks created by French artists. It will be most interesting to compare this 'French Venus' with her Italian sister."
The catalog can be downloaded or can be ordered in a paperback version or in a hardbound version on Lulu.com: http://stores.lulu.com/benderk
Two short papers on the quantitative analysis can also be found on this address and can be downloaded for free.
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K. Bender is the pen-name of a retired academic in hard sciences. His aim is to compose a comprehensive data base of the Iconography of Venus from the Middle Ages to Modern Times as a useful tool for museum curators and auctioneers, and for advanced analysis by art historians and sociologists. The publication of Volume 2 "The French Venus" is scheduled for February 2009. Volume 3 "The Venus of the Low Countries" will follow in 2010, Volume 4 "The Venus of other European Countries" in 2011.
Mr. K. Bender used his leisure time to compile 1840 artworks (sculptures, reliefs, paintings, frescos, drawings, prints and illustrations) made by 649 identified Italian artists. Each artwork is meticulously described by date of creation, artists' name, title(s), type, support and size of the artwork, owner or latest auction, information sources. The catalogue is a topical one: each artwork gets an entry under one of the 18 main topics selected to describe the rich iconography of Venus. An index of Artists, a Directory of Owners and a list of some 350 bibliographical references conclude this unique catalog. The author got encouraging comments from art historians about his approach.
Mr. Bender says: "For the first time the topic and time distribution of these artworks could be analyzed on the basis of a fair sample. A side result is the application, never previously done in art history, of an empirical law well known as Lotka's law in informetrics: 60% of all artists created only ONE Venus-artwork. This phenomenon of human creativity is explained as 'success breeds success'. I am now compiling, using the same methodology, the catalog of the artworks created by French artists. It will be most interesting to compare this 'French Venus' with her Italian sister."
The catalog can be downloaded or can be ordered in a paperback version or in a hardbound version on Lulu.com: http://stores.lulu.com/benderk
Two short papers on the quantitative analysis can also be found on this address and can be downloaded for free.
###
K. Bender is the pen-name of a retired academic in hard sciences. His aim is to compose a comprehensive data base of the Iconography of Venus from the Middle Ages to Modern Times as a useful tool for museum curators and auctioneers, and for advanced analysis by art historians and sociologists. The publication of Volume 2 "The French Venus" is scheduled for February 2009. Volume 3 "The Venus of the Low Countries" will follow in 2010, Volume 4 "The Venus of other European Countries" in 2011.
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Karel Bender
+32486221686
stores.lulu.com/benderk
+32486221686
stores.lulu.com/benderk
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