From Library Journal
Twentieth-century modern art, artists, and art movements are the focus of this well-composed CD-ROM. Organized alphabetically, chronologically, and by keyword and extensive cross references, the Dictionary comprises 2500 signed entries and 3500 good-quality images. Bibliographic references accompany most entries. Authors are museum curators and art critics, most from institutions in France. Painting, sculpture, drawing, and photography are the featured arts, while references to film, design, and performing arts are few. While the scope of the disc is clearly intended to be international, Western art and artists dominate. African, East Asian, and Australian artists are fairly well represented; however, coverage of Latin American art is thin. Entries for influential institutions, movements, publications, and historians (Bauhaus, Situationist International, The Blind Man, and Meyer Schapiro, respectively) will be particularly useful. Nineteenth-century precedents generally do not have entries, nor, oddly enough, does Modernism itself. Installation is straightforward, and the interface is coherent overall (with a notable exception: the menu titles Dictionary and Navigation appear reversed; they should be renamed). Image quality is quite good without heavy demand for computer memory. Audio and video clips are appropriately selective. Note-taking and slide show editing tools are included (though these features often go unused). It would be helpful if icon functions were made more explicit (or if their textual glosses were more visible). I'd also suggest the addition of an index to artworks. The Bottom Line: As an illustrated dictionary, this work compares well to the printed Artspeak and Artspoke (both by Robert Atkins, Abbeville). Keyword searching gives this a slight edge over print products. Recommended for public and academic libraries and those generally interested in modern art.AJenny Tobias, Reference, Museum of Modern Art, New YorkCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Wonderful full-color images of important twentieth-century works of art are the highlight of this new CD-ROM dictionary. Information on movements, galleries, collectors, and critics is also included. With more than 2,500 entries of varying lengths and 3,500 high-quality illustrations, as well as video and audio sequences, word searching, and hypertext links within the dictionary, teachers, students, and art lovers will use this enjoyable resource to increase their understanding of modern art.To search the program, the user clicks on an alphabetical index. We chose H and then selected Haring, Keith from the next menu that appeared. That menu can be navigated by entering terms in a search box, as well as scrolling up and down. The entry on Haring is a single page and consists of brief text, a bibliographical reference, and an image of one of his works, Untitled (2557), which can be enlarged. Other entries are longer--that for Pierre Bonnard, for example, is five pages and has images of seven paintings as well as a photograph of the artist. Buttons at the bottom of the window provide several options, including viewing text or illustrations only (useful for longer entries), accessing a notebook utility, and activating hyperlinks to other entries. From Haring, we clicked on the hyperlink for Basquiat. This opened a Search Results window showing 11 occurrences in the program for entries that mention Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as a Preview window with an image of his painting Slave Auction. By clicking on boldface terms in the list of occurrences, we were able to change the image in the Preview window and, from those images, make our way to relevant entries. Besides the hyperlinks to other relevant entries, the entire text is hyperlinked. Clicking on any word leads to a Search window displaying a list of occurrences of that word.There is also a Word search, available from the Navigation menu. Entering Basquiat as a search term took us again to the list of occurrences and the image of Slave Auction. A third way to navigate the program is by browsing the images.There are 60 audio clips of artists' voices, as well as some videos of kinetic and video art. Users can create picture albums, notebooks, and portfolios of entries as well as bookmarks. Because of copyright considerations, pictures cannot be printed. Quicktime for Windows is provided to view multimedia presentations. (Unfortunately, if Quicktime is already installed on the PC, it must be uninstalled to prevent problems.) Because menus and tool bars are hidden, the extensive User's Guide is a must. The guide is available with audio onscreen, but printing it out (all 18 pages) will probably be more helpful. The Web site [http://www.wwnorton.com/thames] for this product also has useful guidelines and FAQs.There is a wealth of data here, though some users may be frustrated by the hidden menus. The program is not really an outstanding reference source, but it's enjoyable to browse and would be useful to enhance small modern art collections or for personal libraries.

Art Newspaper
Invaluable.

Times Higher Educational Supplement
A staggering bargain . . . dazzling in its interactive ingenuity.

Book Description
The most comprehensive international multimedia resource on the art of our time. Here is all the information that art lovers, teachers, and students will ever need on the twentieth century's artists, movements, galleries, collectors, and critics, available in an accessible, comprehensive, and highly sophisticated CD-ROM. More than 2500 entries cover every aspect of twentieth-century art worldwide, from such early giants as Picasso, Mondrian, and Duchamp, and the classic "isms" of Cubism, Futurism, and Surrealism, to contemporary artists like Cindy Sherman, Rachel Whiteread, and Jeff Koons, and new forms of expression such as Land Art, Body Art, and Installation Art. Over 3500 high-quality images--many in high-resolution zoom--including painting, sculpture, photography, archive documents, architecture, and video art. Audios of artists' voices and videos of kinetic and video art bring works and their creators to life. Beautifully designed, highly sophisticated, yet easy to use. Incorporates a multitude of hypertext cross-references and fully searchable text. Create, name, and save picture albums, notebooks, and session records. Bookmark entries and individual pages for future use. Browse chronological or random slide shows of all the pictures. CD-ROM for Windows and Macintosh; Minimum specifications: Windows MPC2 486DX, 8Mb RAM of which 5Mb free for the program, 4 Mb free hard disc space, 256 color VGA monitor (thousands of colors recommended), sound card and speakers, x2 speed CD drive, Windows 3.1X or higher, Windows 95 Macintosh LC475 or higher, 8Mb RAM of which 5Mb free for the program, 4Mb free hard disc space, 256 color monitor (thousands of colors recommended), x2 speed CD drive, system 7.1 or higher.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The most comprehensive international multimedia resource on the art of our time. Here is all the information that art lovers, teachers, and students will ever need on the twentieth century's artists, movements, galleries, collectors, and critics, available in an accessible, comprehensive, and highly sophisticated CD-ROM. More than 2500 entries cover every aspect of twentieth-century art worldwide, from such early giants as Picasso, Mondrian, and Duchamp, and the classic "isms" of Cubism, Futurism, and Surrealism, to contemporary artists like Cindy Sherman, Rachel Whiteread, and Jeff Koons, and new forms of expression such as Land Art, Body Art, and Installation Art. Over 3500 high-quality images--many in high-resolution zoom--including painting, sculpture, photography, archive documents, architecture, and video art. Audios of artists' voices and videos of kinetic and video art bring works and their creators to life. Beautifully designed, highly sophisticated, yet easy to use. Incorporates a multitude of hypertext cross-references and fully searchable text. Create, name, and save picture albums, notebooks, and session records. Bookmark entries and individual pages for future use. Browse chronological or random slide shows of all the pictures.

CD-ROM for Windows and Macintosh; Minimum specifications: Windows MPC2 486DX, 8Mb RAM of which 5Mb free for the program, 4 Mb free hard disc space, 256 color VGA monitor (thousands of colors recommended), sound card and speakers, x2 speed CD drive, Windows 3.1X or higher, Windows 95 Macintosh LC475 or higher, 8Mb RAM of which 5Mb free for the program, 4Mb free hard disc space, 256 color monitor (thousands of colors recommended), x2 speed CD drive, system 7.1 or higher.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal