Artists are special Contacts, or special views of Contacts. An Artist may also be listed in Contacts, with all their contact information. In fact, when you create an Artist you are creating a Contact with special properties. You have the option to see the Artist also in Contacts by un-checking the Inactive as Contact property for the Artist. Think of it this way: when you want to see the Contact and all business-related information about the person, view the Artist in Contacts; when you want to see the information relative to the Artist as Artist, view the Artist in Artists. When you are viewing an Artist, you can easily access the Contact view by clicking on the Artist Name label and selecting Open Contact Detail View: (Artist name).

In the main section of the Artist you can set the name values, Year of Birth, Year of Death, Nationality, and Artist Code. Artist Code is a code you may (or may not) use to distinguish between Artists; an Artist Code may be used to build Artwork Registration Numbers.

Just as Voltaire distinguishes between Individual and Organization Contacts, Voltaire distinguishes between Individual Artists and Artist Collaborations. Collaborations are like Organizations to which you can add Individual Artists. Below Artist Code you'll find the Collaboration or Individual Artist label. use the Add button (+) to link the Artist to a Collaboration, if this is an Individual Artist, or add Individual Artists, if this is a Collaboration.

The Details & Notes section is where you can set the Inactive as Contact property, and enter general Notes.

The Biography section is where you can enter textual biographic information.

The Exhibition History section allows you to add Exhibition History Lines. Click the Add button (+) to add an Exhibition History Line; Exhibition History Lines can be edited directly. Click the Edit button (^) to edit a line. Click the Remove button (-) to remove a line.

The Bibliography section allows you to enter Bibliographic Citations. Click the Add button (+) to add a Bibliographic Citation; this will open a new window with fields for you to fill in about the Citation. Click the Edit button (^) to edit a Citation. Click the Remove button (-) to remove a Citation.

The Sets & Metadata section shows what Sets the Artist belongs to, along with some other technical details.