diff --git a/backend/app/api/__init__.py b/backend/app/api/__init__.py
index b68e475..ad1251f 100644
--- a/backend/app/api/__init__.py
+++ b/backend/app/api/__init__.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ api_bp.add_url_rule("/health", view_func=health.get_health, methods=["GET"])
 def all_blueprints() -> list[Blueprint]:
     from .aliases import aliases_bp
     from .allowlist import allowlist_bp
+    from .artist import artist_bp
     from .gallery import gallery_bp
     from .import_admin import import_admin_bp
     from .ml_admin import ml_admin_bp
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ def all_blueprints() -> list[Blueprint]:
         api_bp,
         gallery_bp,
         tags_bp,
+        artist_bp,
         showcase_bp,
         settings_bp,
         import_admin_bp,
diff --git a/backend/app/api/artist.py b/backend/app/api/artist.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b755e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/api/artist.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+"""Artist API: overview aggregates + paged images."""
+
+from quart import Blueprint, jsonify, request
+
+from ..extensions import get_session
+from ..services.artist_service import ArtistService
+
+artist_bp = Blueprint("artist", __name__, url_prefix="/api/artist")
+
+
+@artist_bp.route("/<slug>", methods=["GET"])
+async def overview(slug: str):
+    async with get_session() as session:
+        svc = ArtistService(session)
+        data = await svc.overview(slug)
+    if data is None:
+        return jsonify({"error": "artist not found"}), 404
+    return jsonify(data)
+
+
+@artist_bp.route("/<slug>/images", methods=["GET"])
+async def images(slug: str):
+    cursor = request.args.get("cursor") or None
+    try:
+        limit = int(request.args.get("limit", "60"))
+    except ValueError:
+        return jsonify({"error": "limit must be an integer"}), 400
+    async with get_session() as session:
+        svc = ArtistService(session)
+        try:
+            page = await svc.images(slug, cursor=cursor, limit=limit)
+        except ValueError as exc:
+            return jsonify({"error": str(exc)}), 400
+    if page is None:
+        return jsonify({"error": "artist not found"}), 404
+    return jsonify({"images": page.images, "next_cursor": page.next_cursor})
diff --git a/backend/app/services/artist_service.py b/backend/app/services/artist_service.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9aeaa8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/services/artist_service.py
@@ -0,0 +1,199 @@
+"""Artist overview + paged images.
+
+Images are linked to an artist through the provenance chain
+Source(artist_id) -> ImageProvenance(source_id) -> ImageRecord. DISTINCT
+guards against an image having several provenance rows for one artist.
+Dates come from Post.post_date via ImageProvenance.post_id.
+"""
+
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+
+from sqlalchemy import and_, func, or_, select
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
+
+from ..models import (
+    Artist,
+    ImageProvenance,
+    ImageRecord,
+    Post,
+    Source,
+    Tag,
+)
+from ..models.tag import image_tag
+from .gallery_service import decode_cursor, encode_cursor, thumbnail_url
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class ArtistImagesPage:
+    images: list[dict]
+    next_cursor: str | None
+
+
+class ArtistService:
+    def __init__(self, session: AsyncSession):
+        self.session = session
+
+    async def _artist_by_slug(self, slug: str) -> Artist | None:
+        return (
+            await self.session.execute(
+                select(Artist).where(Artist.slug == slug)
+            )
+        ).scalar_one_or_none()
+
+    async def overview(self, slug: str) -> dict | None:
+        artist = await self._artist_by_slug(slug)
+        if artist is None:
+            return None
+        aid = artist.id
+
+        img_join = (
+            select(ImageRecord.id)
+            .join(ImageProvenance, ImageProvenance.image_record_id == ImageRecord.id)
+            .join(Source, Source.id == ImageProvenance.source_id)
+            .where(Source.artist_id == aid)
+        )
+        image_count = (
+            await self.session.execute(
+                select(func.count(func.distinct(ImageRecord.id)))
+                .select_from(ImageRecord)
+                .join(ImageProvenance, ImageProvenance.image_record_id == ImageRecord.id)
+                .join(Source, Source.id == ImageProvenance.source_id)
+                .where(Source.artist_id == aid)
+            )
+        ).scalar_one()
+
+        date_row = (
+            await self.session.execute(
+                select(func.min(Post.post_date), func.max(Post.post_date))
+                .select_from(Post)
+                .join(ImageProvenance, ImageProvenance.post_id == Post.id)
+                .join(Source, Source.id == ImageProvenance.source_id)
+                .where(Source.artist_id == aid)
+            )
+        ).first()
+        dmin, dmax = date_row if date_row else (None, None)
+
+        cooccurring = (
+            await self.session.execute(
+                select(
+                    Tag.id, Tag.name, Tag.kind,
+                    func.count(image_tag.c.image_record_id).label("cnt"),
+                )
+                .select_from(Tag)
+                .join(image_tag, image_tag.c.tag_id == Tag.id)
+                .where(image_tag.c.image_record_id.in_(img_join))
+                .group_by(Tag.id, Tag.name, Tag.kind)
+                .order_by(func.count(image_tag.c.image_record_id).desc())
+                .limit(20)
+            )
+        ).all()
+
+        sources = (
+            await self.session.execute(
+                select(
+                    Source.id, Source.platform, Source.url,
+                    func.count(func.distinct(ImageProvenance.image_record_id)).label("cnt"),
+                )
+                .select_from(Source)
+                .outerjoin(ImageProvenance, ImageProvenance.source_id == Source.id)
+                .where(Source.artist_id == aid)
+                .group_by(Source.id, Source.platform, Source.url)
+                .order_by(Source.id)
+            )
+        ).all()
+
+        month = func.date_trunc("month", Post.post_date).label("m")
+        activity = (
+            await self.session.execute(
+                select(month, func.count(func.distinct(ImageProvenance.image_record_id)))
+                .select_from(Post)
+                .join(ImageProvenance, ImageProvenance.post_id == Post.id)
+                .join(Source, Source.id == ImageProvenance.source_id)
+                .where(and_(Source.artist_id == aid, Post.post_date.isnot(None)))
+                .group_by(month)
+                .order_by(month)
+            )
+        ).all()
+
+        return {
+            "id": artist.id,
+            "name": artist.name,
+            "slug": artist.slug,
+            "image_count": int(image_count),
+            "date_range": {
+                "min": dmin.isoformat() if dmin else None,
+                "max": dmax.isoformat() if dmax else None,
+            },
+            "cooccurring_tags": [
+                {
+                    "id": tid,
+                    "name": name,
+                    "kind": kind.value if hasattr(kind, "value") else kind,
+                    "count": int(cnt),
+                }
+                for tid, name, kind, cnt in cooccurring
+            ],
+            "sources": [
+                {
+                    "id": sid,
+                    "platform": platform,
+                    "url": url,
+                    "image_count": int(cnt),
+                }
+                for sid, platform, url, cnt in sources
+            ],
+            "activity": [
+                {"month": m.isoformat(), "count": int(cnt)}
+                for m, cnt in activity
+            ],
+        }
+
+    async def images(
+        self, slug: str, cursor: str | None, limit: int = 60
+    ) -> ArtistImagesPage | None:
+        if limit < 1 or limit > 200:
+            raise ValueError("limit must be between 1 and 200")
+        artist = await self._artist_by_slug(slug)
+        if artist is None:
+            return None
+
+        stmt = (
+            select(ImageRecord)
+            .join(ImageProvenance, ImageProvenance.image_record_id == ImageRecord.id)
+            .join(Source, Source.id == ImageProvenance.source_id)
+            .where(Source.artist_id == artist.id)
+            .distinct()
+        )
+        if cursor:
+            cur_ts, cur_id = decode_cursor(cursor)
+            stmt = stmt.where(
+                or_(
+                    ImageRecord.created_at < cur_ts,
+                    and_(ImageRecord.created_at == cur_ts, ImageRecord.id < cur_id),
+                )
+            )
+        stmt = stmt.order_by(
+            ImageRecord.created_at.desc(), ImageRecord.id.desc()
+        ).limit(limit + 1)
+        rows = (await self.session.execute(stmt)).scalars().all()
+
+        next_cursor = None
+        if len(rows) > limit:
+            last = rows[limit - 1]
+            next_cursor = encode_cursor(last.created_at, last.id)
+            rows = rows[:limit]
+
+        return ArtistImagesPage(
+            images=[
+                {
+                    "id": r.id,
+                    "sha256": r.sha256,
+                    "mime": r.mime,
+                    "width": r.width,
+                    "height": r.height,
+                    "thumbnail_url": thumbnail_url(r.sha256, r.mime),
+                }
+                for r in rows
+            ],
+            next_cursor=next_cursor,
+        )
diff --git a/tests/test_api_artist.py b/tests/test_api_artist.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..599093f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_api_artist.py
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import pytest
+
+from backend.app import create_app
+from backend.app.models import Artist
+
+pytestmark = pytest.mark.integration
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+async def client():
+    app = create_app()
+    async with app.test_client() as c:
+        yield c
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_artist_404(client):
+    resp = await client.get("/api/artist/nope")
+    assert resp.status_code == 404
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_artist_overview_ok(client, db):
+    db.add(Artist(name="Mira", slug="mira"))
+    await db.flush()
+    await db.commit()
+    resp = await client.get("/api/artist/mira")
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+    body = await resp.get_json()
+    assert body["name"] == "Mira"
+    assert body["image_count"] == 0
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_artist_images_404(client):
+    resp = await client.get("/api/artist/nope/images")
+    assert resp.status_code == 404
diff --git a/tests/test_artist_service.py b/tests/test_artist_service.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7853ff0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_artist_service.py
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+from datetime import UTC, datetime
+
+import pytest
+
+from backend.app.models import (
+    Artist, ImageProvenance, ImageRecord, Post, Source, Tag, TagKind,
+)
+from backend.app.models.tag import image_tag
+from backend.app.services.artist_service import ArtistService
+
+pytestmark = pytest.mark.integration
+
+
+async def _fixture(db):
+    artist = Artist(name="Nadia", slug="nadia")
+    db.add(artist)
+    await db.flush()
+    src = Source(artist_id=artist.id, platform="web", url="http://x")
+    db.add(src)
+    await db.flush()
+    post = Post(
+        source_id=src.id, external_post_id="p1",
+        post_date=datetime(2026, 3, 1, tzinfo=UTC),
+    )
+    db.add(post)
+    await db.flush()
+    img = ImageRecord(
+        path="/images/a/1.jpg", sha256="a" + "0" * 63,
+        size_bytes=1, mime="image/jpeg", width=4, height=8,
+        origin="downloaded", integrity_status="unknown",
+    )
+    db.add(img)
+    await db.flush()
+    db.add(ImageProvenance(
+        image_record_id=img.id, post_id=post.id, source_id=src.id))
+    tag = Tag(name="forest", kind=TagKind.general)
+    db.add(tag)
+    await db.flush()
+    await db.execute(image_tag.insert().values(
+        image_record_id=img.id, tag_id=tag.id, source="manual"))
+    await db.flush()
+    return artist, src, img
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_overview_aggregates(db):
+    artist, src, img = await _fixture(db)
+    svc = ArtistService(db)
+    ov = await svc.overview("nadia")
+    assert ov["name"] == "Nadia"
+    assert ov["image_count"] == 1
+    assert ov["date_range"]["min"].startswith("2026-03-01")
+    assert ov["date_range"]["max"].startswith("2026-03-01")
+    assert any(t["name"] == "forest" for t in ov["cooccurring_tags"])
+    assert ov["sources"][0]["image_count"] == 1
+    assert ov["activity"][0]["count"] == 1
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_overview_unknown_slug_returns_none(db):
+    svc = ArtistService(db)
+    assert await svc.overview("ghost") is None
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_paged_images(db):
+    artist, src, img = await _fixture(db)
+    svc = ArtistService(db)
+    page = await svc.images("nadia", cursor=None, limit=10)
+    assert page is not None
+    assert len(page.images) == 1
+    assert page.images[0]["thumbnail_url"].startswith("/images/thumbs/")
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_paged_images_unknown_slug_none(db):
+    svc = ArtistService(db)
+    assert await svc.images("ghost", cursor=None, limit=10) is None