A comment, from MarkCC in Austin, on The New York Times website, following Roberta Smith’s review of van Gogh Up Close at the Philadelphia Art Museum:
Fabulous! Where’s the app? I probably won’t make it to Philly to see the exhibition but if it was an app it would be the next best thing. I could see the paintings on my flat screen, I could zoom in on them almost as close as I want. I’d even be willing to pay an “admission” price.
You see a lot of uninformed and sometimes stupid comments on the web, following many articles and reviews, and this occasion was no exception. Take a look at the comments for yourself.
But MarkCC — from more than 1,400 miles away, afterall — has a point. PaulCommetX also chimed in with this:
How sad it is that painting and sculpture are still in the dark ages when it comes to the internet. We should be able to “rent” art on iTunes or Amazon – the works displayed on large HD flat screens in great detail. It’s ironic that we can enjoy music in the most technologically advanced way but the visual arts are closed to us except for mousy little pictures that do no justice to the original works.
I looked on the Philadelphia Museum website to see what is available. There’s a good range of programs, and a place for discussion of the exhibit, but that’s about it.
I’m going to get to Philadelphia to see this exhibit, but I wish Mark CC could access the catalogue, or something, with an app. I went to Amazon to see if the catalogue is available on Kindle — nope.  How about the Barnes and Noble Nook? Nope.
I know museums are stretched, but here’s a case where reaching out to the public via technology could really have been worth it.