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Art Images

Whether an artist is seeking to inform her/himself of the work of peers or predecessors, or a scholar is pursuing a line of historic inquiry, research in art would go nowhere quickly without access to images. This page presents a number of library and online resources for locating art images. The resources below are designed to provide you with an actual digital image of an artwork or a citation to find a reproduction of an artwork in a book.

For additional help or consultation with a librarian, please contact the Architecture and Allied Arts Library subject specialist for fine art, art history and arts and administration Cara List

ONLINE ART IMAGE SOURCES

 

Practical and Legal Information

The resources in this section are not themselves image sources. These pages provide useful information on copyright, licensing and other issues associated with using images.
  • Artists' Rights Society This organization protects intellectual property rights for over 30,000 visual artists and visual artists' estates by helping image users to obtain permission for use.
  • Copyright & Art Issues created by Christine Sundt, this page is for the advanced student of copyright and images.
  • Copyright and Image Management created by Georgia Harper, this page provides an excellent explanation of copyright, fair use and permission for the average image user.
  • Finding Images on the Web This helpful page, created by the art librarian at Boston University, provides information and links to other informative pages about how to find images on the web, where to find them, and what you may (or may not) do with them.

Image Captioning and Citation

  • College Art Association Style Guidelines The College Art Association, publisher of the Art Journaland the Art Bulletin uses the Chicago Style for text, but if you scroll half way down this page you'll find their guidelines for labeling reproductions of artworks.
  • Digital Art Support This site from Cadmus Professional Publications provides excellent standards for the quality of digital images included with scholarly papers. These are the standards that the College Art Association uses.

Gateway Sites

The websites listed in this section are not, themselves, image databases, but are directories of image sites. Some of the image sites listed in these directories have a fairly narrow focus, either on a particular artist or group of artists, or on a particular collection of artworks.

General Art Image Databases

The following resources are searchable image databases. Some of these are part of the University of Oregon Libraries' collections and some are available on the free web. Highly useful sites are listed in bold face. It is worth noting that information found on sites located on the free web should always be double checked. Some sites provide citations for the textual information attached to images.

  • Artchive  The Artchive is a biographical dictionary, bibliography and image database for over 200 of the most famous artists. It also provides several illustrated essays on such broad topics as abstract expressionism or women artists. Some images are hosted by the Artchive and some are located elsewhere on the web. Image quality is generally high.
  • Artcyclopedia  This site is actually a digital reproduction index to the websites of museums and galleries around the world. The site has indexed approximately 80,000 works of art by 7,000 artists, which are searchable by artist\'s name, title of work, or museum. Since the images are on the individual museum sites, copyright and usage rights vary. Understandably there is also variation in the presentation and quality of images and in the amount of documentation accompanying the image.
  • artnet  artnet is a subscription service providing information on auction and sale prices as well as sales information on art for a huge network of galleries from around the world. If you do not subscribe, images available for sale in galleries are available. As a result, these pages are best for contemporary artists. In German.
  • Art Serve  This site was created and is maintained by Michael Greenhalgh, professor of art history at the Australian National University. It currently contains over 165,000 images mainly of art and architecture from the Mediterranean basin, though the range is growing. The site functions best as a directory rather than a search engine. Using the search box produces a mixture of different types of results from images to other types of art history documents. It is also regrettable that many of the images are clearly amature photography and color quality is often poor. The copyright holder waives rights for educational/non-profit uses.
  • ARTstor (UO only)   ARTstor is a non-profit initiative to create a searchable repository of digital images that can be used to enhance art historical reasearch and education. The database currently contains over half a million images, mostly of artm cultural objects, and architecture, though it also includes historical photographs. ARTstor is actively expanding and making every effort to improve weak areas in the collection such as 20th century art. A Student Quick Guide provides assistance with using the Offline Image Viewer and saving image groups.
  • AskART: The Artists Bluebook   AskART is really a full service directory of American artists, museums, dealers, auction houses and more. However, the artists' directory which contains bibliographies, biographical sketches and other information also frequently contains images of the artist's work. There is no guarantee that images will be included, but for most prominent contemporary artists and many historic artists some images are included.
  • Google Image Search   Google allows you to do a keyword search including the artist's name and/or title of the work of art. Keep in mind that results may vary considerably in quality and authority.
  • Grove Dictionary of Art Image Link Search (UO only)  The Grove allows users to search the image links selected to illustrate articles in the Grove's Dictionary of Art Online. Links are to images located at hundreds of international museum and gallery websites.
  • The Web Gallery of Art is a searchable database of over 15,000 European paintings and sculptures from the 12th century to the time of the French Revolution. As a scholarly resource this is one of the best available on the free web. Many extra features and high quality images.

UO Digital Collections on Art and Architecture

These collections are created here in the UO Libraries and feature art and architecture image collections that are particularly pertinent to the University and the state of Oregon. The UO Libraries Digital Collections homepage provides access to all of our digital image collections.
  • UO Libraries Art and Architecture Image Collection (UO only)  This image collection supports instruction at the University of Oregon with images of art and architecture used in the classroom. Though not all classes using images in teaching have been digitized, this database is growing all the time. Both searchable and browsable.
  • Artists books at the A&AA Library COMING SOON!
  • Building Oregon: Architecture of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest provides over 16,000 images and documentation about the architectural heritage of the Pacific Northwest with special emphasis on Oregon’s built environment.
  • The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (UO Only) Many, though not yet all of the permanent collection of the JSMA are featured in this database, a collaborative effort between the JSMA and the UO Libraries
  • Mongolian Altai Inventory Image Collection  The image collection presents approximately 1,500 images supporting the Archaeology and Landscape in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia website created by Esther Jacobson-TepferEsther Jacobson-Tepfer, Maude Kerns Professor Emeritus, Department of Art History and James E. Meacham, Director, InfoGraphics Lab, Department of Geography.
  • Oregon Percent for Art  Since 1975, Oregon's Percent for Art Program has insured that 1% of the direct costs of construction in new or remodeled state buildings is spent on works of art. This collection is a collaboration between the UO Libraries and the Oregon Arts Commission, which oversees the Program.

Museum Collections

  • CAMIO: Catalog of Art Museum Images Online  CAMIO provides high-quality art images from around the world which have been contributed and described by leading museums. All rights have been cleared for educational use. Every work in CAMIO is represented by at least one high-resolution image and a description. Many have additional views of the work, sound, video and curatorial notes.
  • Joconde: Catalogue des Collections des Musees de France is a digital repository for the collections of French museums. Select "recherche simple" from the home page and make sure to check the "avec image" box when you search on an artists name. You may also chose "recherche par listes" to search by subject or theme. In French.
  • The National Gallery of Art   Take tours of selected groups of art works or search the collection by artist's name or title of work.
  • The Virtual Museum of Canada The image gallery contains thousands of digital reproductions of works of art held by Canada's museums.

Specialized Art Image Databases

  • Biblioteca Ambrosiana: The Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, Italy offers this inventory/catalog of its collection of over 12,000 drawings by European artists active from the fourteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Searchable, detailed information is avalable with each image. Reproduction rights belong to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana though you may print or email images for personal or academic use.
  • Artists Index to Artwork Inventory, ArtScene   ArtScene, a monthly magazine published since 1982, is a guide to fine art galleries and museums in Southern California. The web version includes an image search feature that indexes and links to images of works by artists who have had gallery or museum exhibits in Southern California. The database is surprisingly extensive, and yet also has some big holes. ArtScene is a particularly good source for locating work by emerging artists. Downloading for personal/educational use is permitted. All images on the site have digital watermarks.
  • Corsair: The Online Research Resource of the Pierpont Morgan Library   Corsair provides access to more than 20,000 images from the library's famed collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts.

REPRODUCTION INDEXES

Reproduction Indexes are reference resources that index the reproductions of works of art used to illustrate books. Generally speaking, the author of a reproduction index will select a bibliography of well illustrated books that together, thoroughly cover a particular subject or medium and then index and cross reference each illustration to artist, title of the artwork and sometimes subject. Once you have mastered the use of one of these resources, the others will be easy to learn.

Special Media

Architecture

  • Teague, Edward. World Architecture Index : A Guide to Illustrations.New York: Greenwood Press, 1991. AAA Ref NA202 .T4 1991
    contains site, architect and work indexes. Reproductions are further defined as being plates, drawings, figures, elevations, sections, exterior views, or interior views. Black and white or color illustrations are distinguished.

Painting

  • Cahill, James. An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings: T'ang, Sung, and Yüan. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1980. AAA Ref ND1043.3 .C3
    This index is organized by dynasty and then split into sections of known artists and anonymous paintings. Reproductions are indexed from books in Chinese, Japanese and English. Brief biographical information is included.
  • Havlice, Patricia Pate. World Painting Index. 2 vols. Metuchen, NJ : Scarecrow Press, 1977. AAA Ref ND45 .H38
  • Havlice, Patricia Pate. World Painting Index: First Supplement 1973-1980. 2 vols. Metuchen, NJ : Scarecrow Press, 1982. AAA Ref. ND45 .H38 Suppl. 1
  • Havlice, Patricia Pate. World Painting Index: Second Supplement 1980-1989. 2 volumes. Metuchen, NJ : Scarecrow Press, 1995.AAA Ref. ND45 .H38 Suppl. 2
  • Havilice, Patricia Pate. World Painting Index: Third Supplement 1990-1999. 2 vols. Lanham, MD : Scarecrow Press, 2003. AAA Ref ND45 .H38 Suppl. 3.
    Probably one of the most useful reference works for finding reproductions of paintings. However, as this work attempts to index reproductions by all world painters through history, there are shortfalls. Emphasis is given to European and U.S. painters, and even these are not handled in great depth. Far and Middle Eastern, African, Australian and Latin American artists receive short shrift. Unfortunately, the last new supplement covered images printed between 1980 and 1989, so recent paintings are also not represented here.
  • Korwin, Yala. Index to Two-Dimensional Art Works. 2 vols. Metuchen NJ : Scarecrow Press, 1981. AAA Ref. N 7525.K67
    Though this resource is out of date for both contemporary art and recent publications, it may be very useful. Indexing all two dimensional, non-editioned work in color, it provides a subject/title index. Titles are listed alphabetically and subjects are followed by a list of "see also" titles. In the artist index works are followed by a collection abbreviation in parentheses and a reference to the bibliography of almost 300 books published between 1960 and 1977.
  • Laing, Ellen J. An Index to Reproductions of Paintings by Twentieth-Century Chinese Artists. Eugene: Asian Studies Program, University of Oregon, 1984. AAA Ref. ND 1045.L35 1984
    Indexes reproductions of paintings in Chinese, Japanese and western language books.
  • Monro, Isabel S. and Kate M. Munro. Index to Reproductions of American Paintings. New York: Wilson, 1948. AAA Ref. ND 205.M57
  • Monro, Isabel S. and Kate M. Munro. Index to Reproductions of American Paintings: First Supplement. New York: Wilson, 1964. AAA Ref. ND 205.M57 Suppl.
    If you are interested in an American painter who worked before 1960, this resource has much greater depth than the World Painting Index. Artists who would be too obscure for the WPI do appear here. Sadly the last supplement was published in 1964.
  • Smith, Lyn Wall and Nancy Dustin Wall Moure. Index to Reproductions of American Paintings. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1977. AAA Ref. ND 205.S575
    This is a good follow up to the Index to Reproductions of American Paintings, indexing reproductions of American paintings in publications from 1960 through 1977. It contains a genre index as well as the artist index.

Photography

  • Moss, Martha. Photography Books Index : A Subject Guide to Photo Anthologies. Metuchen, NJ : The Scarecrow Press, 1980. AAA Ref TR 199 .M67
  • Moss, Martha. Photography Books Index II : A Subject Guide to Photo Anthologies. Metuchen, NJ : The Scarecrow Press, 1985. AAA Ref TR199 .M67 1985
    The rather short lists of indexed books used for these two volumes puts some distinct limits on the extent to which this resource can be used, but the subject indexes are quite specific. Indexed by photographer, and by subject.
  • Parry, Pamela Jeffcott. Photography Index : A guide to Reproductions. Westport, CT : Greenwood Press, 1979 AAA Ref TR199 .P3
    Unfortunately this resource is twenty years out of date, but for historical photographs it is perfectly adequate. The bibliography includes approximately eighty books in English, and the indexes are by photographer and by subject/title. Photography covered includes documentary, journalistic, and artistic.

Prints

  • Bryce, Betty Kelly. American Printmakers 1946 -- 1996 : An Index to Reproductions and Biocritical Information. Lanham, MD : Scarecrow Press, 1999. AAA Ref 508 .B76 1999
  • Williams, Lynn Barstis. American Printmakers 1880 -- 1946 : An Index to Reproductions and Biocritical Information. Metuchin, NJ : Scarecrow Press, 1993.
    Both volumes contain a printmaker index and a subject index. Each printmaker entry references biographical information as well as listing works.
  • Parry, Pamela J. and Kathe Chipman. Print Index: A Guide to Reproductions. Westport, CT : Greenwood Press, 1983.
    This guide to locating works by 2100 printmakers contains an artist and a subject/title index. Artists' names and dates are followed by works, medium and a reference.

Sculpture

  • Clapp, Jane. Sculpture Index. 3 volumes. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1970. AAA Ref NB 36.C55
    This massive two part work splits world sculpture into "Europe and the contemporary Middle East" (v. 1) and "The Americas, Orient, Africa, Pacific and classical world" (v. 2) a single index includes headings for artists names, titles of works, subjects and other descriptors such as dynasty or geographic name. Unfortunately there has been no new edition since the original publication in 1970.

Special Subjects

American Art

  • Monro, Isabel S. and Kate M. Munro. Index to Reproductions of American Paintings. New York: Wilson, 1948. AAA Ref. ND 205.M57
  • Monro, Isabel S. and Kate M. Munro. Index to Reproductions of American Paintings: First Supplement. New York: Wilson, 1964.AAA Ref. ND 205.M57 Suppl.
    If you are interested in an American painter who worked before 1960, this resource has much greater depth than the World Painting Index. Artists who would be too obscure for the WPI do appear here. Sadly the last supplement was published in 1964.
  • Smith, Lyn Wall and Nancy Dustin Wall Moure. Index to Reproductions of American Paintings. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1977. AAA Ref. ND 205.S575
    This is a good follow up to the Index to Reproductions of American Paintings, indexing reproductions of American paintings in publications from 1960 through 1977. contains a genre index as well as the artist index.

Asian Art

  • Cahill, James. An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings : T'ang, Sung, and Yüan. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1980. AAA Ref ND1043.3 .C3
    This index is organized by dynasty and then split into sections of known artists and anonymous paintings. Reproductions are indexed from books in Chinese, Japanese and English. Brief biographical information is included.
  • Laing, Ellen J. An Index to Reproductions of Paintings by Twentieth-Century Chinese Artists. Eugene: Asian Studies Program, University of Oregon, 1984.AAA Ref. ND 1045.L35 1984
    Indexes reproductions of paintings in Chinese, Japanese and western language books.

Mythological/Classical Themes

  • Rochelle, Mercedes. Mythological and Classical World Art Index: a locator of paintings, sculptures, frescoes, manuscript illuminations, sketches, woodcuts, and engravings executed 1200 B.C. to A.D. 1900, with a directory of institutions holding them. London: McFarland, 1991. AAA Ref. N 7760.R63 1991
    With classical works the artist and the title of the piece are rarely known, so the approach used in this resource is different than that of other reproduction indexes. This resource is organized by subject, followed by a description of the work, the location and the reference.

INVENTORIES AND OBJECT LOCATORS

  • The Inventories of American Painting & Sculpture Catalogis the result of two projects: the Inventory of American Paintings Executed before 1914, and the Inventory of American Sculpture. The result is a database containing information on over 335,000 works of art by American artists. You may search with six different keyword types or by all combined. Records provide basic information describing the work of art as well as its ownership, bibliographic references and information about reproductions.
  • Eskind, Andrew H., ed. Index to American Photographic Collections. 3rd ed. New York : G.K. Hall & Co., 1995.AAA Ref TR 12 .E85 1996
    This resource contains two cross-referenced indexes. The collections listing arranges major museum or institutional collections of photography by state. Each entry includes basic information about the collection and a list of the photographers included. The photographer index is an alphabetic listing of photographers\' names followed by the entry number of the collection.
  • Rochelle, Mercedes. Mythological and Classical World Art Index: a locator of paintings, sculptures, frescoes, manuscript illuminations, sketches, woodcuts, and engravings executed 1200 B.C. to A.D. 1900, with a directory of institutions holding them. London: McFarland, 1991. AAA Ref. N 7760.R63 1991
    With classical works the artist and the title of the piece are rarely known, so the approach used in this resource is different than that of other reproduction indexes. This resource is organized by subject, followed by a description of the work, the location and the reference.
  • Wright, Christopher. The World's Master Paintings: From the Early Renaissance to the Present Day.London: Routledge, 1992. AAA Ref. ND 40.W75 1992 2 vols.
    This resource is a finding guide to more than 120,000 paintings that are in publicly accessible collections. Also provides very brief biographical information for artists included.
Maintained by: Cara List clist@uoregon.edu
Last Modified: 10/22/2009