Providing proof of the power of SEO and the interesting connections the internet can sometimes produce, I was contacted by Rebecca from a site called Artsy after her research into Henri Rousseau resulted in her finding my interview with Ogata Takaomi which features a brief mention of Rousseau’s work from which Ogata drew inspiration for his film The Hungry Lion.

Since Indievisual is a site focused on Japanese indie filmmakers, I actually did not feel linking to Artsy on the site itself as an additional resource as per Rebecca’s kind request was within Indievisual’s brand mission. However, I certainly think they are worth mentioning in a special blog post since propagating the links between our sites could only be mutually beneficial. And in fact, I had found an image of Rousseau’s ‘The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope’ on their Henri Rosseau page first before selecting the National Gallery of Art link for its inclusion of a detailed explanation about the painting. But revisiting their Henri Rosseau page, it’s clear Artsy is not just a top-notch source for artwork imagery, but also information about the artists, the galleries from which the images are sourced, related artists either by style or time period, showings of artists’ works and much more. Their mission is to create an online platform for both the appreciation and further discovery of classic and contemporary art. It’s even possible to build a collection of favorite images or even the artwork themselves through their partnership with galleries, museums, and institutions which allows art collectors to find for-sale work and make direct inquiries.

In a way, both our sites having taken different paths to achieve something similar: a further appreciation of artistic works and the people who make them. If your interest in art extends beyond cinema, Artsy is worth bookmarking. Thank you Rebecca for bringing your site to my attention.

Image from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off  (Paramount Pictures)