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May 13, 1999
Reindeer Company The Art Historian, 2 Vols., ("Ancient to Medieval" and "Renaissance to Modern and Non-Western") The Reindeer Company, 1998. 600 ills. CD-ROM $40.00

 
CrossRef DOI: 10.3202/caa.reviews.1999.35

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The Art Historian CD-ROM set is designed to supplement art history courses. This review addresses questions about function and educational value rather than details of interpretation or information. How does the product enhance learning beyond slide lectures or standard textbooks? How does the CD-ROM take advantage of digital technologies to present art-historical material? Can faculty construct digital lectures from the CD? How easy is the software to use? Scope A comprehensive CD set that paralleled the scope and depth of textbooks would serve the needs of students and instructors. Students could purchase the CD instead and benefit from additional software features. For instructors, an image library geared to survey class lectures would jump start the shift from slides to digital images. The Art Historian partially fulfills these needs. Each CD-ROM contains more than 600 images organized according to such standard stylistic divisions as Greek, Gothic, Baroque, or Asian, but the software omits Northern Renaissance, Rococo, Realism, and Postmodernism. Within periods, coverage varies from twenty-seven prehistory images to 110 works for the Gothic era. Surprisingly, the Mannerism section contains thirty-eight images while Modern Architecture receives a scant four examples. For major sites, breadth dominates depth. For example, the software presents only...