Sources for Images
The following list is compiled from responses to a request for names of websites that offer free digital images to be used for educational (non-commercial) purposes.
The responses are from members of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) Listserv, October 23, 2013. The contributions have been slightly edited, and there are some duplications. As one contributor noted in #9 below, read the fine print to
make sure the image is indeed “free”: “One thing I always have hesitations about, in these lists we call "free" or "open" image sources, is that when I read the fine print on the museum sites there are often qualifications. Even Creative Commons licenses
depend on the uploader in fact having copyright ownership of what s/he is uploading. There are Picasso paintings on Flickr with the photographer (not Picasso) giving an open access license.”
1.
The Rijksmuseum offers high-res digital downloads free for non-commercial use.
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio
LACMA has about 20,000 high-res digital downloads for any use.
http://collections.lacma.org/
Yale Digital Commons has 250,000 images "without license."
http://discover.odai.yale.edu/ydc/
Wikimedia Commons tries to aggregate a number of institutions' free content.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
The National Gallery of Art offers high-res downloads for non-commercial use.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Almost everything in the Flickr Commons is downloadable.
http://www.flickr.com/commons/
2.
A compilation of sources from
3.
http://cuart.colorado.edu/resources/vrc/find/
(scroll down to the "Find Images Elsewhere on the Web")
4.
NGA Images (National Gallery of Art in
https://images.nga.gov/en/page/show_home_page.html
LACMA unrestricted images collection:
http://www.lacma.org/image-library
The
http://art.thewalters.org/
The
http://www.britishmuseum.org/join_in/using_digital_images/using_digital_images.aspx?asset_id=852454&objectId=581907&partId=1
5.
UCLA : You might also find some use in the
6
7.
Art Institute of
http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/mqc
8.
Getty Open Content Program:
High resolution images of works from the
The Getty Research Institute recently added 5,400 images to the Open Content Program.
9.
Sorry if these are redundant, but my recollection is that the following (plus Yale) were some of the early pioneers in making their images openly available, so I like
to give them a cheer:
Victoria & Albert
CAA (College Art Association) is also keeping a list at
http://www.collegeart.org/ip/ip_image
One thing I always have hesitations about, in these lists we call "free" or "open" image sources, is that when I read the fine print on the museum sites there are often
qualifications. Even Creative Commons licenses depend on the uploader in fact having copyright ownership of what s/he is uploading. There are Picasso paintings on Flickr with the photographer (not Picasso) giving an open access license.
Heather Brodhead
Librarian
Constance & George Fearing Library
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
www.sbma.net
(805) 884-6451
Library open to the public Tue, Wed, Thu 1-5 PM;
Librarian's hours 10-noon; 1-5:30 on those days.