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iOS 3 can’t install from Safari. You can still download the IPA file, but you’re on your own after that.
Art Authority for iPad
  • Price
    $9.99
  • CategoryReference
  • First releasedApril 3, 2010
  • Versions2 archived
  • Installable2 of 2
  • AvailabilityStill on the App Store
  • SellerOpen Door Networks, Inc.

RequirementsCompatible with iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later.

Customer Ratings

As of December 3, 2024
     
25 Ratings

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"Best iPad Reference App" -- App Store editorial team. Art Authority for iPad transports you to an enthralling, real-world art museum filled with works by over 1500 of the western world's greatest artists, from ancient times to today. 100,000 paintings and sculptures, organized into eight period-specific rooms, each room a gateway to a whole museum's worth of art. Choose an artist by movement or name, and become instantly immersed in an exhibition devoted just to that artist. Search for and compare different artists' works by title, subject or location, or just wander at random and get lost in the art.

"An experience unlike any other" -- The NY Times. Art Authority's works are professionally framed and hung on textured walls, accompanied by title, date and other details. Works are displayed chronologically, with previews of related items providing added context. You can learn about an artist's life and works, or travel beyond the bounds of a traditional museum and view and compare works in a full-screen slideshow or scrolling thumbnail display. You can see and understand the actual size of works through "Art Real Size," and with "Art Like This" you can even view exhibits of similar works.

Does something really catch your eye? Purchase a museum-approved reproduction through 1000Museums and have it sent to your home!

"Visually dazzling" -- MacObserver. There are period overviews, timelines, histories and videos. From the earliest creative pieces to the latest modern and contemporary works, Art Authority provides a stunningly displayed, carefully selected, well organized view of the western art world. It's part world-class art museum, part academic reference library and part digital coffee-table book. It's also part magic. An art musem like no other!

Art Authority features include:

- Access to gigabytes worth of art optimized for quality and download speed through our servers (works still under copyright come from authorized servers) - Early, Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, Impressionist, Modern, Contemporary and American rooms - Dozens of artists per room, listed by movement or nationality - Period overviews, timelines and histories - A searchable index of all 1500+ artists, as well as for each room - Searchable indexes of major titles, subjects and locations - Art Real Size: instantly see and understand the actual size of works - Art Like This: view works similar to the one you're looking at - Art Near Me: search for art based on your location - Shuffle: continuous random display of all art, or by period or genre - Captions with work title, date, location and other details - Hyperlinks provide access to in-depth information on artists, major works and locations - Access to videos on hundreds of works - Full-screen slideshow display, with user-settable transitions, Ken Burns motion effect, music - Gallery-like, scrolling thumbnail view shows how works have evolved over time, aids in comparisons and exploration - Offline access to works previously viewed - Save works to Favorites or the Photos app - Share works through mail and social networks - Search for artists, locations, periods and previously viewed titles directly through the iOS search bar - Purchase framed, museum-approved reproductions from 1000Museums.com

Also available for iPhone, and through Art Channel on Apple TV.

To install apps directly onto this device, it must be jailbroken with AppSync installed.
3.3.8
Requires iOS 3.2+
Non-Retina
October 10, 2010
19.6 MB Install Download
4.1
Requires iOS 3.2+
Non-Retina
20.3 MB Install Download

Chart History

Top Paid · iPad View chart ›
Peaked at #188 (January 14, 2011) · 1 archived capture · Jan 2011
Top Paid · Reference · iPad View chart ›
Peaked at #4 (December 26, 2010) · 28 archived captures · Dec 2010 – Sep 2021
Top Grossing · Reference · iPad View chart ›
Peaked at #71 (August 25, 2021) · 3 archived captures · Jul 2021 – Aug 2021

Ratings Over Time

sampled from 11 archived captures
DateVersionRatingRatingsPrice
April 8, 2010 3.3.2 — 7 $9.99
June 30, 2011 4.3 — 263 $4.99
June 11, 2012 — — 383 $4.99
January 27, 2013 — — 409 $9.99

From archived App Store listing data, captured by the Wayback Machine.

Archived Reviews

8 of 25
Inadequate save and resume.
     
by museum_skeptic · May 13, 2016

One can save individual images to Favorites, but, having downloaded all works by an artist, there is no way to explicitly save this entire group in a personal library that will survive updates. In addition, one wants to be able to reliably pause and resume offline viewing of such groups. The app's cache is not an adequate substitute for these facilities.

Stalls
     
by Stamper700 · January 7, 2014

Update stalls. Does not install. Prior to this update a wonderful resource. Gave it a three. When update fixed an easy five.

Beautiful art app!
     
by BAR112 · March 2, 2025

2025 review: Just rediscovered this awesome art app, which is still working well after all these years. It is an excellent way to view artwork from artists throughout history. Very pleased.

Beautifully inspiring.
     
by artsygeek · December 28, 2013

Art Authority is well worth the price! An art history book would cost 5 times this price and wouldn't have near the quantity of artwork you can view on this app. And, art history books weigh a ton. I was able to watch a shuffled slideshow of impressionists, view several paintings chronologically of an artist I wasn't familiar with and look him up in wikipedia with the tap of a button, while listening to my iPod music all in the comfort of my living room. A couple of the photos are pixelated, but the majority are beautiful. I'm looking forward to viewing more. I also found a list of photos that I can see up close at the museums near me. I like the layout of the app. It is very easy to use. Hope the developers keep adding to this app, but with 1000 artists and 50,000 pieces of art, I'm sure I'll keep busy for awhile. Update: for those giving this a bad review because it won't update, it is an Apple problem with ios 6 that will be resolved. I promptly received an email with this answer when I wrote Art Authority.

Terrible
     
by LMdeA · October 28, 2018

The app does not work, the works don’t download. Tried deleting, reinstalling, and nothing. Waste of time!

Love it, but.....
     
by TW60 · January 3, 2014

The latest update won't install on my iPad 2. It's been hung up for weeks. Fix it, please!

Eurohistorian
     
by Eurohistorian · December 2, 2016

Great update to a great app. Critical videos added to works are very informative. Looks nice on iPad air2. I've had this app since the original iPad. Enjoy it very much.

Love this app!
     
by TryingToLearnIt · February 12, 2017

Great app! Well organized, thousands of images, keeps me interested. They update it from time to time with nice new user features and/or new material.

Period reviews recovered from Apple's customer-review feeds via the Wayback Machine.