Artsy (website)

File:ARTSY Headquarters (35063018534).jpg

Carter Cleveland, the son of an art historian,{{Cite magazine|last=Shnayerson|first=Michael|date=March 15, 2018|title=Artsy's Wendi Murdoch Just Wants to Sell You a Painting|url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a18929591/wendi-murdoch-interview-artsy/|magazine=Town & Country|language=en-US|publication-date=April 2018|issn=0040-9952|lccn=57039998|oclc=760318372|access-date=May 9, 2019}} founded Artsy during his senior year at Princeton University and worked on the site from his dorm room.{{cite magazine|last=Allison|first=Chelsea|title=New Deal: Art.sy's Innovative Online Take on Contemporary Art Sales|url=http://www.vogue.com/culture/article/new-deal-artsys-innovative-online-take-on-contemporary-art-sales/#1|access-date=August 31, 2012|magazine=Vogue|lccn=08036997|issn=0042-8000|oclc=812147634|date=November 28, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120918232825/http://www.vogue.com/culture/article/new-deal-artsys-innovative-online-take-on-contemporary-art-sales/#1|archive-date=September 18, 2012}} Cleveland's goal was for the site to serve as a place where users could discover art online.{{cite magazine|last=Wallis|first=Stephen|title=Who is Art.sy?|magazine=Art in America|date=June–July 2011|lccn=14011738|issn=0004-3214|oclc=818946839|language=en-US}}  In May 2010, Artsy participated in the New York City conference, TechCrunch Disrupt, where they competed in the Startup Battlefield and received the Yahoo! Rookie Award!{{cite web|title=Yahoo! Disrupts TechCrunch|url=http://ycorpblog.com/2010/05/26/tcdisrupt/|website=ycorpblog.com|date=May 26, 2010}}  A year later, the team demoed Artsy at the Beyeler Foundation at Art Basel (June 15, 2011).{{cite web|title=Dasha Zhukova's Art.sy Site Launches to Celeb-Packed Crowd|url=http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2011/06/15/dasha-zhukovas-art-sy-site-launches-to-celeb-packed-crowd/|website=blogs.artinfo.com|date=June 15, 2011|url-status=dead|access-date=August 31, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120820104318/http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2011/06/15/dasha-zhukovas-art-sy-site-launches-to-celeb-packed-crowd/|archive-date=August 20, 2012}}{{cite magazine|last=Mufti|first=Shahan|title=Art.sy's 'Genome' Predicts What Paintings You Will Like|url=https://www.wired.com/2011/11/mf-artsy/|magazine=Wired|date=November 23, 2011|language=en-US|lccn=94659076|issn=1078-3148|oclc=24479723|access-date=March 9, 2020}}

In November 2011, Artsy closed a round of financing from Eric Schmidt, Wendi Deng Murdoch, Dasha Zhukova, Larry Gagosian, Jim Breyer, Joshua Kushner, Jack Dorsey, Chris Dixon, and Dave Morin.{{Cite web |last=Frommer |first=Dan |title=Eric Schmidt, Wendi Murdoch, And Other Huge Names Are Betting On Art.sy To Shake Up The Art Market |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/artsy-funding-2010-11 |access-date=2024-03-25 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}

In 2019, it was reported that in 2018 the data for 1,070,000 accounts were stolen from Artsy.{{cite web |title=Artsy Alerts Users of Data-Security Breach; Report Claims Hacked Information for Sale |first=Chris |last=Williams |date=February 11, 2019 |publisher=The Register |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/11/620_million_hacked_accounts_dark_web/ |access-date=May 26, 2020}} The information included the name, email address, location, IP address and password SHA-512 hashed with a salt. The passwords were not stored in cleartext, but an email from Artsy encouraged users to change their passwords.{{cite web |title=Artsy Alerts Users of Data-Security Breach; Report Claims Hacked Information for Sale |first=Alex |last=Greenburger |date=February 14, 2019 |publisher=ARTnews |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/artsy-data-stolen-security-incident-11904/ |access-date=May 26, 2020}}

Since launching, Artsy has raised a total of $100 million from individuals in the worlds of art, tech, and media.{{cite news|last=Voien|first=Guelda|date=February 6, 2017|title=As Online Art Auction Space Shrinks, Is Artsy the Heir Apparent?|language=en-US|work=Observer|url=https://observer.com/2017/02/as-online-art-auction-space-shrinks-is-artsy-the-heir-apparent/|access-date=March 7, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2011/11/03/art-sy-6-million-thiel-thrive-murdoch-zhukova/|title=Art.sy Raises $6 Million Series A From Peter Thiel, Thrive Capital, Wendi Murdoch And Dasha Zhukova|last=Schonfeld|first=Erick|date=November 3, 2011|website=TechCrunch|access-date=August 31, 2012}}

Artsy currently features over 1,000,000 works by 100,000 artists on its site through partnered galleries.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/arts/design/purchasing-fine-art-is-increasingly-just-a-click-away.html|title=Purchasing Fine Art Is Increasingly Just a Click Away|last=Goel|first=Vindu|date=October 28, 2015|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=July 25, 2016|issn=0362-4331}}{{cite magazine|url=https://entertainment.time.com/2012/05/25/fine-art-for-everyone-five-cutting-edge-sites-for-collectors-and-newbies-alike/|title=Fine Art for Everyone: Five Cutting-Edge Sites for Collectors and Newbies Alike|last=Hamilton|first=Anita|date=May 25, 2012|magazine=Time}} As of March 2018, Artsy averaged 2.3 million unique visitors each month.{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-27/new-york-s-artsy-is-making-it-even-easier-to-buy-art-online|title=New York's Artsy Is Making It Even Easier to Buy Art Online|last=Schuetz|first=Molly|date=March 27, 2018|website=Bloomberg News|access-date=March 9, 2020}}

{{Main|The Art Genome Project}}

When Artsy launched in October 2011, its main product was The Art Genome Project — "an ongoing study of the characteristics that distinguish and connect works of art."{{cite web|url=http://www.psfk.com/2012/03/largest-online-art-database.html|title=THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE ONLINE ART DATABASE MAPS CONNECTIONS BETWEEN WORKS|last=De Leon|first=Don Michael Acelar|date=March 29, 2012|website=www.psfk.com|access-date=August 31, 2012}}  A collaboration between art historians and engineers, and led by art historian Matthew Israel, The Art Genome Project drew upon art-historical scholarship and artificial intelligence to assign values to artwork based on eventually as many as 1211 characteristics or "genes."{{cite magazine|url=https://www.departures.com/art-culture/art-design/buying-art-internet|title=Buying Art on the Internet|last=Wolfe|first=Alexandra|date=March 1, 2012|magazine=Departures|access-date=August 31, 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://betabeat.com/2012/03/art-sy-launches-much-anticipated-beta/|title=A Peek at Art.sy's Much-Anticipated Beta|last=Jeffries|first=Adrianne|date=March 23, 2012|website=betabeat.com}} {{Cite news |last=Ryzik |first=Melena |date=2012-10-08 |title=Online, a Genome Project for the World of Art |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/arts/design/artsy-is-mapping-the-world-of-art-on-the-web.html |access-date=2024-07-05 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} These categories ranged from color and period to "Technique: Documentary Photography" and "Group Portrait."  The Art Genome Project aimed to help users uncover works of art based on personal taste and preference to facilitate the discovery of art. As of 2020 the AGP was on hold for restructuring.

According to Wired, Artsy "has the potential to introduce each buyer to a wide range of artists and artworks, all of them related in some way and—this is key—most of them unknown and otherwise inaccessible to any but the most knowledgeable connoisseurs."

Critics of Art.sy label The Art Genome Project forced and artificial and point to the difficulty of representing the full experience of art online.{{cite news|last=Hamilton|first=Anita|title=Works for Me|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2115626,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525021904/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2115626,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 25, 2012|access-date=31 August 2012|newspaper=Time|date=June 4, 2012}}

• Artmo
• Artnet
• Saatchi Art

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{Official website}}
• [https://artsy.github.io/open-source/ Artsy Open Source] on GitHub Pages
• [https://www.artsy.net/categories/ The Art Genome Project]

{{Authority control}}

Category:Online databases

Category:Online marketplaces of the United States