Artsy (website)

Artsy
Genre
Founded2 March 2009 Edit this on Wikidata
FounderCarter Cleveland
Headquarters
New York City
,
United States
Key people
  • Mike Steib, CEO
  • Carter Cleveland, founder, and executive chairman
  • Sebastian Cwilich, co-founder and former president and COO
  • Devang Thakkar, former VP of Marketplace and Head of Auctions
  • Wendi Murdoch, co-founder and board director
  • Dasha Zhukova, co-founder and investor
Websitewww.artsy.net

Artsy, formally known as Art.sy Inc is a New York City based online art brokerage.[1] Its main business is developing and hosting website for numerous galleries as well as selling art for them.[2] It utilizes a search engine and database to draw connections and map relationships among works of art.[3]

The brokerage was founded by Carter Cleveland, a Princeton University computer science graduate.[4] It is currently led by Jeffrey Yin, who was appointed CEO in June 2024.[5]

History

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ARTSY Headquarters (35063018534)

Carter Cleveland, the son of an art historian,[6] founded Artsy during his senior year at Princeton University and worked on the site from his dorm room.[7] Cleveland's goal was for the site to serve as a place where users could discover art online.[8]  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![9]  A year later, the team demoed Artsy at the Beyeler Foundation at Art Basel (June 15, 2011).[10][11]

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.[12]

In 2019, it was reported that in 2018 the data for 1,070,000 accounts were stolen from Artsy.[13] 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.[14]

Corporate affairs

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Financials

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Since launching, Artsy has raised a total of $100 million from individuals in the worlds of art, tech, and media.[15][16][2]

Products (website and app)

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Artsy currently features over 1,000,000 works by 100,000 artists on its site through partnered galleries.[17][18] As of March 2018, Artsy averaged 2.3 million unique visitors each month.[19]

The Art Genome Project

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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."[20]  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."[21][22] [23] These categories ranged from color and period to "Technique: Documentary Photography" and "Group Portrait."[21][22]  The Art Genome Project aimed to help users uncover works of art based on personal taste and preference to facilitate the discovery of art.[20][21][22] As of 2020 the AGP was on hold for restructuring.

Reception

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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."[11]

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.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Razumovskaya, Olga (July 18, 2017). "Artsy Draws $50 Million in Funding". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Online art marketplace Artsy raises $50M at $275M valuation to double down on auctions". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  3. ^ Chad Hanna, James. "The Power of Suggestion". www.blouinartinfo.com. BLOUINARTINFO. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
  4. ^ Miller, M.H. (June 14, 2011). "Point, Click, Collect: Art.sy Brings the Art World Online… Again". START-UPS. The New York Observer. ISSN 1052-2948. LCCN sn88099997. OCLC 1010541123. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  5. ^ Cassady, Daniel (June 17, 2024). "Artsy CFO Jeffrey Yin Moves into Chief Executive Role". ARTnews.com. Retrieved July 5, 2024.
  6. ^ Shnayerson, Michael (March 15, 2018). "Artsy's Wendi Murdoch Just Wants to Sell You a Painting". Town & Country (published April 2018). ISSN 0040-9952. LCCN 57039998. OCLC 760318372. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  7. ^ Allison, Chelsea (November 28, 2011). "New Deal: Art.sy's Innovative Online Take on Contemporary Art Sales". Vogue. ISSN 0042-8000. LCCN 08036997. OCLC 812147634. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
  8. ^ Wallis, Stephen (June–July 2011). "Who is Art.sy?". Art in America. ISSN 0004-3214. LCCN 14011738. OCLC 818946839.
  9. ^ "Yahoo! Disrupts TechCrunch". ycorpblog.com. May 26, 2010.
  10. ^ "Dasha Zhukova's Art.sy Site Launches to Celeb-Packed Crowd". blogs.artinfo.com. June 15, 2011. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
  11. ^ a b Mufti, Shahan (November 23, 2011). "Art.sy's 'Genome' Predicts What Paintings You Will Like". Wired. ISSN 1078-3148. LCCN 94659076. OCLC 24479723. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  12. ^ Frommer, Dan. "Eric Schmidt, Wendi Murdoch, And Other Huge Names Are Betting On Art.sy To Shake Up The Art Market". Business Insider. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  13. ^ Williams, Chris (February 11, 2019). "Artsy Alerts Users of Data-Security Breach; Report Claims Hacked Information for Sale". The Register. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  14. ^ Greenburger, Alex (February 14, 2019). "Artsy Alerts Users of Data-Security Breach; Report Claims Hacked Information for Sale". ARTnews. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  15. ^ Voien, Guelda (February 6, 2017). "As Online Art Auction Space Shrinks, Is Artsy the Heir Apparent?". Observer. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  16. ^ Schonfeld, Erick (November 3, 2011). "Art.sy Raises $6 Million Series A From Peter Thiel, Thrive Capital, Wendi Murdoch And Dasha Zhukova". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
  17. ^ Goel, Vindu (October 28, 2015). "Purchasing Fine Art Is Increasingly Just a Click Away". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  18. ^ Hamilton, Anita (May 25, 2012). "Fine Art for Everyone: Five Cutting-Edge Sites for Collectors and Newbies Alike". Time.
  19. ^ Schuetz, Molly (March 27, 2018). "New York's Artsy Is Making It Even Easier to Buy Art Online". Bloomberg News. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  20. ^ a b De Leon, Don Michael Acelar (March 29, 2012). "THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE ONLINE ART DATABASE MAPS CONNECTIONS BETWEEN WORKS". www.psfk.com. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
  21. ^ a b c Wolfe, Alexandra (March 1, 2012). "Buying Art on the Internet". Departures. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
  22. ^ a b c Jeffries, Adrianne (March 23, 2012). "A Peek at Art.sy's Much-Anticipated Beta". betabeat.com.
  23. ^ Ryzik, Melena (October 8, 2012). "Online, a Genome Project for the World of Art". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 5, 2024.
  24. ^ Hamilton, Anita (June 4, 2012). "Works for Me". Time. Archived from the original on May 25, 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
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