Artsy (website)

History

Carter Cleveland, the son of an art historian, founded Artsy during his senior year at Princeton University and worked on the site from his dorm room. Cleveland's goal was for the site to serve as a place where users could discover art online. 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! A year later, the team demoed Artsy at the Beyeler Foundation at Art Basel (June 15, 2011).

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.

In 2019, it was reported that in 2018 the data for 1,070,000 accounts were stolen from Artsy. 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.

Corporate affairs

Financials

Since launching, Artsy has raised a total of $100 million from individuals in the worlds of art, tech, and media.

Products (website and app)

Artsy currently features over 1,000,000 works by 100,000 artists on its site through partnered galleries. As of March 2018, Artsy averaged 2.3 million unique visitors each month.

The Art Genome Project

Main article: 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." 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." 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.

Reception

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.

References

References

1. Razumovskaya, Olga. (2017-07-18). "Artsy Draws $50 Million in Funding". Wall Street Journal.
2. (July 18, 2017). "Online art marketplace Artsy raises $50M at $275M valuation to double down on auctions".
3. Chad Hanna, James. "The Power of Suggestion". [[Louise Blouin Media.
4. Miller, M.H.. (June 14, 2011). "Point, Click, Collect: Art.sy Brings the Art World Online… Again". [[The New York Observer]].
5. Cassady, Daniel. (2024-06-17). "Artsy CFO Jeffrey Yin Moves into Chief Executive Role".
6. Shnayerson, Michael. (March 15, 2018). "Artsy's Wendi Murdoch Just Wants to Sell You a Painting".
7. Allison, Chelsea. (November 28, 2011). "New Deal: Art.sy's Innovative Online Take on Contemporary Art Sales".
8. Wallis, Stephen. (June–July 2011). "Who is Art.sy?".
9. (May 26, 2010). "Yahoo! Disrupts TechCrunch".
10. (June 15, 2011). "Dasha Zhukova's Art.sy Site Launches to Celeb-Packed Crowd".
11. Mufti, Shahan. (November 23, 2011). "Art.sy's 'Genome' Predicts What Paintings You Will Like".
12. Frommer, Dan. "Eric Schmidt, Wendi Murdoch, And Other Huge Names Are Betting On Art.sy To Shake Up The Art Market".
13. Williams, Chris. (February 11, 2019). "Artsy Alerts Users of Data-Security Breach; Report Claims Hacked Information for Sale". [[The Register]].
14. Greenburger, Alex. (February 14, 2019). "Artsy Alerts Users of Data-Security Breach; Report Claims Hacked Information for Sale". [[ARTnews]].
15. Voien, Guelda. (February 6, 2017). "As Online Art Auction Space Shrinks, Is Artsy the Heir Apparent?". [[The New York Observer.
16. Schonfeld, Erick. (November 3, 2011). "Art.sy Raises $6 Million Series A From Peter Thiel, Thrive Capital, Wendi Murdoch And Dasha Zhukova".
17. Goel, Vindu. (October 28, 2015). "Purchasing Fine Art Is Increasingly Just a Click Away". [[The New York Times]].
18. Hamilton, Anita. (May 25, 2012). "Fine Art for Everyone: Five Cutting-Edge Sites for Collectors and Newbies Alike".
19. Schuetz, Molly. (March 27, 2018). "New York's Artsy Is Making It Even Easier to Buy Art Online".
20. De Leon, Don Michael Acelar. (March 29, 2012). "THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE ONLINE ART DATABASE MAPS CONNECTIONS BETWEEN WORKS".
21. Wolfe, Alexandra. (March 1, 2012). "Buying Art on the Internet".
22. Jeffries, Adrianne. (March 23, 2012). "A Peek at Art.sy's Much-Anticipated Beta".
23. Ryzik, Melena. (2012-10-08). "Online, a Genome Project for the World of Art". The New York Times.
24. Hamilton, Anita. (June 4, 2012). "Works for Me". Time.