The Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon (AKL) , [Artists of the World], is the successor to the traditional Thieme-Becker and Vollmer standard reference works on art history. It has been published since 1991. Long a standard work in its own right, the AKL is intentionally not limited to the "grand masters", but includes artists from all over the world and throughout the ages from antiquity to the present. It not only contains painters, sculptors and graphic designers, but gives equal weight to architects, designers, photographers, calligraphers, craftsmen and many other artistic professions.