Getting My Google On

I had quite a surprise this morning as I drove into the Berkshires... I stopped to pick up a copy of The Berkshire Eagle, only to find my smiling face on the front cover--above the fold!

Photo by Ben Garver, The Berkshire Eagle. All rights reserved.

That's me and my colleague Thomas Mesquita, who helped bring Norman Rockwell Museum from the physical galleries to the online Google Art Project. The Museum's section of the high-resolution art database went live on Tuesday, and it came out really nice. Here you can see a selection of some of Rockwell's earliest work from our collection, with the opportunity to get incredibly close to the artwork online (our docents can relax!). The site actually allows you to zoom in and maneuver around each artwork featured, which offers the chance to view incredible detail that you most likely would not have the opportunity to see. Other sites have uploaded extremely large gigapixel images, and it is just amazing to be able to get that close to the works of such artists as Vincent Van Gogh or Georges Seurat.

The Berkshire Eagle article includes an interview with Norman Rockwell Museum Director/CEO Laurie Norton Moffatt, who attended the global launch of Google Art Project at Paris' Musée d'Orsay (one of my favorite museums!)  earlier this week . From the article, she states: "As popular and visited as our museum is, we know not everyone will be able to visit or even know who Rockwell is. This brings us great exposure and allows many more people to know his work."

We have a few other high-profile press requests coming in, but for the moment I am basking in the glow of making the cover of the almighty Eagle... although the article laid out right next to the photo announced "Major drug suspect caught"-- unrelated... I assure you!

Links:

"Rockwell goes high-tech with Google Art Project," Berkshire Eagle, April 5, 2012

www.googleartproject.com/collection/norman-rockwell-museum

"The Art of Google"