Semantico has recently completed and helped launch Oxford University Press’
Benezit Dictionary of Artists, a landmark multi-volume reference in art history. The sophisticated system as designed by Semantico, uses MarkLogic systems to accurately record and power all elements of the site.
Since 1911, Benezit has been the unrivalled, indispensable work of reference for art historians, dealers, librarians, collectors and students. This essential research tool gives not only biographical data, but also a general presentation of an artist’s work, as well as a selection of bibliographical references, museum listings, graphics (including artist signatures, monograms and stamps of sale) and auction records.
This first English edition (2006) is the largest edition ever, with nearly 190,000 entries, comprising over 20,000 pages in 14 volumes. For this edition, older entries were updated and expanded, over 3,000 entries have been completely rewritten and over 2,000 new entries were added.
The new site contains all elements of the printed dictionary suite and is set to become a valuable online reference tool for professionals and amateurs alike.
Features and benefits of the new Benezit site are:
- Comprehensive – over 170,000 artists worldwide.
- Includes over 11,000 examples of artists’ signatures and monograms.
- Includes bibliography, auction records from Art Sales Index (a respected source for such info), exhibition information, historical currency conversion chart to allow for pricing comparison, nationality and occupation information, life details, and longer essays for more prominent artists.
- Includes 2,000 new biographies than previous French edition, and over 3,000 revised entries from the French edition.
For Semantico and Oxford University Press, the launch of Benezit is the latest in a long list of successful completed projects. Stef Tarner, Project Manager, Digital Product Development commented: “As always, Semantico was an extreme pleasure to work with. I appreciate the collaborative interaction when we do enhancement projects to Oxford Art Online and this product wasn’t any different. We successfully launched exactly on schedule and I’m thrilled with how smoothly the project went.”
On the launch of the project, Kandice Rawlings, Associate Editor,
Benezit Dictionary of Artists online said: “We at Oxford University Press are delighted to have shepherded the
Benezit Dictionary of Artists to its new online home. Although it’s long been a highly respected print reference for art researchers, Benezit is now available in a sophisticated searchable format on
Oxford Art Online, alongside
Grove Dictionary of Art, and will no doubt attract new users. As Benezit’s readership and reputation expand, we look forward to making the kinds of improvements that will maintain the dictionary’s relevance and utility, and which are made possible only by its online publication.”
Richard Padley, Managing Director, Semantico added: “
Benezit Dictionary of Artists is a powerful and important reference tool and we’re proud to have created this online portal. This has been an extremely high profile project for Semantico and we are delighted with the positive response we’ve received from Oxford University Press on delivery of the website.”
Benezit Dicitionary of Artists launched late November 2011.
For more information on Oxford University Press, visit:
www.global.oup.com 