Art + Design: Art & Design Images
This is by no means comprehensive, but we wanted to provide a space to highlight resources and materials that can inform a broad understanding of the field of art and social practice.
Searching for Artworks
Don't forget that when looking for very contemporary artworks, it is often helpful to search for artist websites and galleries. You can use resumes and bibliographies from articles and books to find out which galleries have exhibited a particular artist.
Art & Design Journals' Websites
- Eye MagazineThe International Review of Graphic Design
Many Art & Design magazines are making more images and articles available online. Magazine websites often post information job openings, exhibtions, and happenings that might not appear in their print editions. Here's a list of some of the most useful ones:
- I.D.The Industrial Design Magazine
- LayersThe How-To Magazine for everything Adobe.
- AfterallFocus on contemporary art work
- Art in AmericaCritical analysis of historical and contemporary art
Multimedia Resources
- Ubu WebCompletely free open-access source for all types of avant-garde artistic expression from conceptual writing to performance, video art, and experimental sound pieces.
- Encyclopedia of New MediaProvides listings and work for a number of contemporary video, performance and installation artists.
- Walker Art ChannelLectures and Artists' talk from the Minneapolis-based museum.
- Tate Online ArchveCollection of talks given at the Tate.
Web Resources
- Library Guide: ImagesWant images to spruce up your presentation? Need a scientific illustration for your research paper?
This guide is focused on finding, and ethically using images, as well as image collections that are openly licensed for nonprofit/educational use. - Library Guide: How toGuides and tutorials from your library!
- Access CeramicsA growing collection of images of contemporary ceramics by recognized artists.
- American Craft CouncilClick on the Artists link to find artworks, crafts and artists.
- Art Resources from the Mid-20th Century: Digitized Highlights from the Collections of Hilla Rebay and Juliana ForceThis collection contains digitized versions of key selections from the personal libraries of two women who helped shape the mid-century New York art world— Hilla Rebay at the Guggenheim (then the Museum of Non-Objective Painting) and Juliana Force at the Whitney.
- ArtStorThe ARTstor Digital Library, a non-profit resource, consists of images in art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences.
- The British Museum Online CollectionWith more than 2 million records, the database is based on the British Museum's collection management tool, which was created for the Museum to store information for its own use, and is there full of specialised terms, abbreviations and shorthand.
- Cartoon Image Database (Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum : OSU)Scanned images from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Collection at OSU.
- CLAROSCLAROS provides simultaneous searching of major university and museum collections for images of ancient Greek and Roman art.
- Contemporary Jewish MuseumA non-collecting museum dedicated to the exhibition of art related to contemporary Jewish culture and the arts. Current and past exhibits are online.
- EuropeanaEuropeana is a single access point to millions of books, paintings, films, museum objects and archival records that have been digitised throughout Europe.
- Fashion History TimelineIs a project by Fashion Institute of Technology's History of Art Department. The Timeline offers scholarly contributions to the public knowledge of the history of fashion and design.
- Federal Theatre Project Poster, Costume and Set Design Slide CollectionImages of posters, set designs, and costumes from the Federal Theatre Project run from 1935-1939 as part of the WPA. A product of the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC).
- Image Library of the Memory of the NetherlandsThe Memory of the Netherlands provides access to images from the museums, archives, and libraries of the Netherlands.
- Kunst Historisches Museum Wien Digital MuseumWebsite dedicated to discovering the objects and masterpieces of their online collections.
- LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) Image LibraryBrowsable and searchable database of LACMA's high resolution images.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline of Art HistoryImages of art and design throughout history, presented in timeline format.
- Musée du Louvre Atlas Database of ExhibitsThe Atlas database covers all the works exhibited in the museum, some 30,000 items. Internet users, like museum visitors, will find the usual explanatory texts that accompany museum exhibits, compiled under the authority of the museum curators.
- Museum of Modern ArtBrowse or search the MoMA collections.
- Museum of Online Museums (MoOM)Web directory of online museums, collections, exhibits, and galleries ranging from "high" art to the mundane.
- National Museum of African ArtWebsite for the National Museum of African Art provides access to current and past exhibitions as well as the permanent collections.
- NYPL Digital LibraryAccess to hundreds of thousands of images crossing many disciplines with an emphasis on manuscripts, posters, prints and photographs.
- Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) Slide LibraryOver 11,000 images of outdoor advertising and slide presentations of OAAA. From Duke University Digital Collections.
- Paintings of Paul Cezannean interactive online catalogue raisonné of all known paintings by the artist. It was compiled under the direction of Walter Feilchenfeldt, Jayne Warman and David Nash.
- Photographic Portraits of American Artists4,700 digital images portraying American artists of the 20th century. The photographs were taken by Peter A. Juley & Son.
- Public Catalogue FoundationThe PCF has partnered with the BBC to create Your Paintings, a unique website showcasing the entire collection of publicly owned oil paintings across the United Kingdom. Your Paintings Tagger, a pioneering crowd-sourcing exercise, will enable Your Paintings to be fully searchable
- Rijksmuseum CollectionSearch the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) Collection and use their "Rijksstudio" tool to save and create your own collection of images.
- Ross Archive of African ImagesA searchable database of ove 5,000 images of African art published before 1921. The images are extensively catalogued.
- Smithsonian Institution : Collections Search CenterSearch over six million records with 536,000 images, video and sound files and other resources from the Smithsonian's museums, archives, and libraries.
- Victoria & Albert Museum Image CollectionsSearch over 1 million image and object records relating to objects in the Victoria & Albert collections.
- Visual Arts Data ServiceA collection of over 100,000 images for use in teaching art and design, provided by the University of the Creative Arts, Surrey.
- World ImagesA database of over 50,000 images including many areas of imagery (art, architecture, science, etc.).
- Zandra Rhodes Fashion ArchiveThe digital collection includes photographs and information about over 500 dresses and garments selected from the designer’s private archive in London, including pieces worn by icons such as Princess Diana, Jackie Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, and Diana Ross.