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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 Brown University. The list is annotated and includes notes when images are freely available: https://sites.google.com/a/brown.edu/resources-in-art-and-architecture-on-the-web/image-resources/image-resources-vendors-museums-etc

 

3.

University of Colorado, Boulder:

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 Washington DC)
https://images.nga.gov/en/page/show_home_page.html

LACMA unrestricted images collection:
http://www.lacma.org/image-library

The Walters Art  Museum
http://art.thewalters.org/

The British Museum Free Non-Commercial Use Images:
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 Creative Commons, Open Content, & Public Domain images tab of my Image Resources research guide at: http://guides.library.ucla.edu/content.php?pid=126509&sid=4342604.

 

 

6

Currier Museum of Art: A quick resource guide for fair use images here: http://currierartlibrary.wordpress.com/databases/image-collections/ 

 

7.

Art Institute of Chicago Ryerson and Burnham Libraries. Another great resource for digital images

http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/mqc

 

8.

Getty Open Content Program: High resolution images of works from the Getty Museum and Getty Research Institute that are in the public domain and may be used freely.

 The Getty Research Institute recently added 5,400 images to the Open Content Program.

http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/5400-images-from-getty-research-institutes-special-collections-now-available-as-open-content/

 

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:

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Brooklyn Museum

Victoria & Albert

Amsterdam Rijksmuseum

 

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

1130 State Street

Santa Barbara, CA 93101

(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.