Overview

AskART.com is an online database containing over 52,000 American artists from the early 16th-Century through the present. Criteria for artist inclusion are that the artist was born in the United States, spent a significant part of their career here, or although briefly in residence, created work of ongoing interest to Americans.

Askart welcomes collectors, gallery owners, researchers, appraisers, museum and library personnel, artists, insurers, scholars, art aficionados -- anyone with an interest in American two and three-dimensional original fine art. They offer biographical information about American artists as well as book and periodical references, along with auction records and images. Over 5,000 Museums and dealers that specialize in American artists are also referenced. As a member of AskART, one has complete access to information about the artists’ biographies, auction records, financial graphics, magazine ads pre-1998, and images.

AskART is a privately held corporation dedicated to the creation and maintenance of the world’s most comprehensive centralized database of American artists. In this capacity the company does not buy, sell, auction, or inventory artworks, or act as representative for any artists. The founders, investors, and staff are committed to offering to the public this educational and professional resource. They provide digital images, biographical documentation, book references, auction data, and the opportunity to engage in open forum dialogue on the subject of American artists.

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Mission

Content features painters, sculptors, and illustrators ranging from early American artists to modern urban expressionists. AskART trail-blazed computerized tracking, forecasting, and indexing models for those artists who have received some financial standing for their work.

Additionally, we maintain the hope that through efforts and the unique opportunities provided by Internet site, no American artist need be forgotten as an individual or a professional, regardless of financial success.

It is the goal of AskART to facilitate the exchange of art and information pertaining to the subject. AskART anticipates that their work will better enable art historians and scholars to define and analyze trends, make heretofore unrecognized connections, and establish reputations for those artists who, for whatever reason, may have eluded fame or fortune in their day.

AskART embraces the details and challenges of the ever-growing field of art historical data, and are committed to the professional and ethical standards of all recognized artist, dealer, educational, and museum organizations, and shall endeavor to act as stewards for American artists.

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History and Staff

The story of AskART begins with Roger Dunbier, Ph.D. (1934-1998), son of Augustus William Dunbier, a successful Nebraska artist. Dr. Dunbier earned his doctorate in Economic Geography from Oxford University. In the early 1960s, he became interested in computers and databases. Employment included working for a major Arizona bank as a research programmer mapping real estate values. This focus on comparables led to his role as co-developer of the first computerized Multiple-Listing program (MLS), now used by real estate firms nationwide.

In the early 1970s, Dr. Dunbier began accumulating the extensive data that was the origin of AskART’s content. In 1983, he collaborated with programmer Chuck Lefebvre, who became AskART’s Technical Director through 2005.

After Dr. Dunbier's unexpected death in 1998, the company partnered with George Collins, (Stanford ’68) a San Francisco financial advisor, art collector and Dunbier friend, to become President and CEO in order to transform the previous publishing company onto the Internet space.

Co-founder Lonnie Dunbier, married to Roger Dunbier from 1991, has been a museum professional and art author. From Scottsdale, Arizona, she managed the research and customer service operations for the company's growing user base, and in 2006 became a consultant to the company as a Research Director.

As AskART's popularity grew, Tea Cerkvenik joined the company as COO to handle daily operations, new site features and site improvements. Before joining AskART, Tea co-founded an e-business consulting firm after serving as a consultant for several Fortune 500 companies on major e-commerce and information system implementations.

AskART is rounded out by programming and IT experts, and customer service professionals, many whom have experience as collectors, former gallery owners, appraisers, and researchers.