About
Dictionary of Australian Artists Online
What is it about?
Dynamic and scholarly, the Dictionary of Australian Artists Online (DAAO) provides biographical data, contextual information, commentary and links to images databases. Presenting authoritative, contemporary information the Dictionary of Australian Artists Online facilitates, promotes and encourages scholarship on Australian artists.
With commentary, a publishing system and links to the databases of Australia's major cultural institutions, the Dictionary of Australian Artists Online will deliver rich search functions and fresh scholarship. Relatively unexplored areas such as relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous art will be enabled through the Dictionary of Australian Artists Online.
A framework of open access intellectual property rights is an underlying principle of the DAAO
With approximately 7,000 biographies of Australian artists already, the DAAO will grow with public and academic support. You may not find people like eX de Medici or Mandy Martin right away, but you will find people like George Raper or Emily Kngwarreye.
What kind of information will I find?
The DAAO is about artists’ lives, not just their work. Categories of information we are collecting about each artist include language, associated people and period of practice to list just a few; along with biographical summaries.
The DAAO will allow for advanced contextual and categorical searches; for example you may search for an artist who lived in Ballarat, was also employed as a policeman and whose work is held in your State Library collection.
If you are looking for information on an Australian artist, why not register for updates so we can inform you of recently added biographies.
Who is the site for?
The site has been developed in response to the expressed needs of academics, students, curators, librarians, historians, art researchers and art lovers. Other audiences have expressed interest in using and contributing to the DAAO including journalists, media producers, collectors and auction houses.
Where are these biographies from?
The DAAO’s foundation biographies come from:
— The Dictionary of Australian Artists: painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870, edited by Joan Kerr
— Heritage: The National Women's Art Book, also edited by Joan Kerr
— Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert: A Biographical Dictionary, by Vivien Johnson
— and batches of biographies from collecting institutions and fine arts academics.
Born digital biographies are now being added by:
— The Storylines Project, College of Fine Arts, UNSW
— Our partner organisations including the National Gallery of Australia and the Queensland Art Gallery
— Commercial galleries
— Academics and Postgraduate researchers
— Artists and art lovers.
Will more biographies be added?
Yes, we invite both new biographies and new data to existing biographies. Academics, researchers, students and the general public, in fact anyone who has information on an Australian artist, can submit a biography to the site, and subject to editorial protocols it will be published.
Who qualifies as an Australian Artist?
An Australian artist is defined
as a person, living or dead, who:
— has a body of artistic work
— considers themselves to be an artist
— is considered by others to be an artist
— is a resident or citizen or is known as an Australian.
How is it funded?
The Australian Research Council awarded two Linkage Infrastructure Equipment Facilities grants in 2005 and 2007 to establish the DAAO. Open and free access is a goal of the project.