Publishing - Images - Images and Visual Resource Collections - Research guides at University of Toronto

Images for Publication

Obtaining images for publication purposes will require high resolution, digital images of 300-600 ppi (pixels per inch) and permission to print from copyright owners of the image. Price or fee will vary depending on whether the image is b/w or colour, place of publication and distribution plans (print runs and location of distribution - Europe, North America or Global). Some sites listed have high resolution images available. You will need to contact owner of site to obtain permission for publishing or use in your thesis. Using images for teaching or course assignments does not require permission, it fall under fair dealing in Canada.

ADA (Archive of Digital Art) - (formerly Database of Virtual Art)
Archive of over 8000 computer-generated and digitally generated images, dating back to the 1970s. Entries also include published literature and exhibitions for artists where relevant.
Alinari Archives
Founded in Florence in 1852, Fratelli Alinari is the oldest firm in the world working in the field of photography, the image and communication.
The birth of photography and the story of the Firm go hand in hand in their development and growth, as attested to by the immense Alinari owned fund of 4.000.000 photographs, collected in the Alinari Archives.
Art Resources, New York
Art UK
The website aims to make images of all publicly owned art in the UK available, and already has more than 200,000 images from over 3000 collections. As well as straightforward searches, you can also search by region. As of early 2019, there is very good coverage of oil paintings. Works on paper are still being added and a start was made on sculpture this year.
British Printed Images to 1700
Thousands of prints and book illustrations from early modern Britain, in fully searchable form.
Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture
The Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture collects and creates electronic resources for study and research of the decorative arts, with a particular focus on Early America. Included are electronic texts and journals, image databases, and information on organizations, museums and research facilities. Made possible by the Chipstone Foundation, the site was created and is maintained at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries.
Digital South Asian Images
This collection of images is based on six collections. The American Institute of Indian Studies which includes over 125,000 photographs of sculpture, terracotta, painting, architecture and numismatics. The Government College of Arts and Crafts from the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chennai) is a collection of photographs dated from the mid-1800s. The Keagle Photograph Library, Hensley Photo Collection and Bond Photograph Library all contain World War II photographs taken by American service personnel. The Oriental and India Office Collections is currently being prepared for the database.
Europeana
Digital images of over 10 million objects from collections throughout the European Union, including art works, museum objects and books. These include items originating outside Europe, e.g. East Asian art. Images and descriptions are provided by the home institutions rather than Europeana itself, so quality varies. Descriptions are in the language of the contributing institution, though a translation tool is provided. Confusingly, this is separate from the menu of languages for the site as a whole. Europeana is divided into many collections, including art history.
Frick Museum: Digital Image Collection
The Frick Digital Image Archive is an online resource that provides public access to the research collections of the library, museum images from the Frick Collection, and historical documents, photographs, and movies from the Frick Family archives. Digital file types include high resolution images, pdf documents, and video.
Getty Images
Stock photo agency where you can purchase images for publication, commercial purposes.
Getty Open Content Program
Includes images from the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, plus many other images of art works from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. More images of material from the Getty are being constantly added, and at some point this will include images from the Getty Conservation Institute.
Himalayan Art Resources
Over 60,000 images of art works, mainly religious, from Tibet, Nepal, Kashmir and adjacent regions. Includes painting, sculpture and textiles. PNG image files are large. Can be converted to tiff format. Obtain permission for publishing and using in thesis.
Mary Evans Picture Collection, UK
Mary Evans Picture Library licences images for commercial use in books, newspapers, magazines, adverts, web sites and all manner of other media.
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All rights protected. Right to use: The acquisition of any image as a result of an on-line search on the MEPL website, confers no right to use it. This right is conferred only when an order is placed and fee agreed with MEPL for high resolution images which are supplied on-line, via CD-ROM or on photographic transparency, in which case the relevant Terms and Conditions for picture supply apply.
New York Public Library
Scala Archives- Art and Culture
The Wallace Collection
Images from the Wallace Collection are available from the Picture Library for reproduction in publications, film, television and other media. The Collection charges for supplying photographic material as well as charging a reproduction fee if the image is used.