Finding Art, Architecture and Design Images

Last updated: 03 April 2008
Published in: Finding and using digital media
Tags: finding images

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Summary

A list of internet links to art, architecture and design images

Introduction

This is one of several short documents providing assistance in finding images on the Web. For a general introduction to image searching we recommend you first read JISC Digital Media’s Finding Images Online.

There are many images of art works available on the Internet: both reproductions of historical or contemporary art works and, increasingly, works created directly for digital display. There are also many resources for architectural and design images.

Pre-Twentieth century art

Works by well-known pre-Twentieth century artists are not hard to find, either from the galleries that hold them, or from sites put together by enthusiasts. However, it can sometimes be a challenge to find large, high-quality reproductions of these works. Galleries will generally limit the size or quality of the images they offer online, to protect against unauthorised publication. Images available via personal ‘online galleries’ are often either photographed within the galleries (without a tripod) or are scanned from published art books (often infringing copyright in the process). So while they are can be larger than the official images available from gallery sites, they can also be of much poorer quality, with inaccurate representation of colour and interference patterns created from scanning printed pages.

Twentieth and twenty-first century art

Modern and contemporary art can be more difficult to find than art history’s masterworks, since much of it is still within copyright (e.g. Picasso or Damien Hirst). Where such work is made available, it is frequently an infringement of copyright and should be regarded with some suspicion if not from an official site or with some evidence of copyright permission.

Architecture

Taking photographs of buildings does not usually pose copyright issues, but bear in mind that the person who took the photograph will have a copyright in their image. There are several good sources for architectural images listed in the table below, separately and among the commercial and aggregated image collections.

Images of architecture will also often appear in stock or community photo collections or in collections of historical images. For help in finding these, see JISC Digital Media’s advice on Finding stock images and Finding historical images.

Design

Images of design objects can be found among the image collections (see table below) and in stock or historical photo collections (see links in previous section). If they are commercial products, images may be available on manufacturers’ or retailers’ Web sites. If images of high fashion, it may also be worth looking at current events sources (see JISC Digital Media’s advice on Finding current events images. You should note that some design items will enjoy copyright, design right or trademark protection, which may limit the use you can make of images of them.

Online galleries

The table below provides links to gallery and museum directories (e.g. Art Guide, 24hourmuseum), several high-profile online gallery collections (e.g. Tate and the Louvre) and some of the larger personal galleries available online. Contemporary artists and illustrators are increasingly using the Internet as a means of marketing their work. Sometimes they are represented on the Web sites of commercial galleries, but increasingly they are setting up their own sites. Search engines are often the easiest way to locate works by contemporary artists, although the Directories of Contemporary Art Galleries can provide a way into some of these sites.

Aggregated collections

As well as making works available on their own Web sites, many galleries and art museums also provide their works to large online collections for commercial or educational purposes. It is possible to find and purchase reproductions of individual works from services like Art Resource, or to subscribe to collections like Scran, Bridgeman or ARTstor. The AHDS Visual Arts service hosts many art and design collections, most of which are freely available for use within education. Large aggregated databases like RLG Cultural Materials and the OAIster Project also include many art works, although sometimes you will need to click through to the contributing collection to view the works at their largest or best. These trends (towards aggregation and commercialisation) are likely to grow.

Web directories

In addition to gallery directories and online collections, it is worth exploring art history directories, like Intute: Arts and Humanities or the substantial Art History Resources on the Web. In additional to the galleries and databases, these directories will often point to articles or resources devoted to particular artists, cultures, genres or media.

Last updated: 03 April 2008
Published in: Finding and using digital media
Tags: finding images

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