Finding Images - Herron Art Library - Art Research Guide - LibGuides at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

ARTstor (now in JSTOR)

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
Artstor (now in JSTOR) provides faculty and students with a complete image resource in a wide array of subjects with the breadth and depth to add context and examine influences beyond the confines of your discipline.

Image Search Engines

Google Image Search
Wikimedia Commons
Media, including images, sounds and videos, that have been uploaded by users, mostly for use on Wikipedia. Most of the content is available under some sort of Creative Commons license and licensing information is clearly provided at the bottom of each piece of media's individual page.
Yahoo Image Search

General Image Databases

Contain a variety of different types of images.

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
Art images, not only for the fine arts but as a general image resource. (Now in JSTOR.)
Grove Art Online This link opens in a new window
Database part of Oxford Art Online.

Google Art Project
A collaboration between Google and 151 art partners from across 40 countries.

Art & Ceramic Image Databases

accessCeramics
A collection of contemporary ceramics images and links to other ceramics resources on the web.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
LACMA offers approximately 20,000 high-resolution digital downloads for any use.
Museum of Modern Art
National Gallery of Art
The NGA Images is a repository of digital images of the collections of the National Gallery of Art. More than 29,000 images are available free of charge for download and use. Images plus a bibliography, exhibition history, provenance and other information.
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum offers high-resolution digital downloads free for non-commercial use.
Walters Art Museum
The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore offers downloadable high quality digital images.

Architecture Image Databases

Aga Khan Visual Archive at MIT
Consists of over 120,000 slides and digital images of architecture, urbanism, and the built environment in the Islamic world.
Ancient World Image Bank
The Ancient World Image Bank is a collaborative effort to distribute and encourage the sharing of free digital imagery for the study of the ancient world.
Archnet
Collection of images from architects, planners, urban designers, landscape architects, conservationists, and scholars, with a focus on Muslim cultures and civilizations.
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago Ryerson and Burnham Libraries' Archival Image and Media Collection contains images from all of the Institute's general archival collection.
Perseus Digital Library
Focused on the history, literature and culture of the Greco-Roman world.

Photography Databases

Getty Images
Employs some of the world's most renowned photographers, artists, photojournalists and creative researchers.

Typography Databases

Counterspace Typography Timeline
Dafont
Archive of freely downloadable fonts.

Digital Collections from Institutions

Most academic libraries, museums, and other cultural organizations have repositories of their collections. Some make materials freely available on-line. There are usually some materials that are only available by visiting an institution in person.

This list is just a sample. Do a Google search if you are interested in an institution not listed her.

American Memory Project (Library of Congress)
Provides free and open access to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.
Cornell University Library's Digital Collections
Collection includes diverse subjects such as architectural photographs, Indonesian art and culture, ornithological illustrations, rare maps, and Renaissance art.
Digital Indy Collections (Indianapolis Public Library)
Includes WWI posters, Indianapolis postcards, and artifacts from the Children's Museum.
Getty Research Institute Special Collections
Images from the Getty Research Institute’s Special Collections, available as open content.
Metropolitan Museum of Art Digital Collections
Expanding access to the Library’s rare and unique materials.
Public Collectors
Collections that are outside of the institutional repository system, submitted by the collectors themselves.
SIRIS
Smithsonian Institution Research Information System; with over 1,700,000 records, SIRIS covers a wide variety of topical subjects, including art and design.
Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) Design Council Image Collection
Contains nearly 3000 fully catalogued images covering a wide range of subjects including tableware, furniture, lighting, toys, domestic appliances, textiles, wallpapers, office equipment, engineering components and machinery.
Yale Digital Commons (LUX)
LUX: Yale Collections Discovery provides a way to search across Yale's collections of art, natural history, books, and maps, as well as photos, audio, and video documenting people, places, and events that form part of Yale's institutional identity and contribution to scholarship.

Citing Images

When searching for images, keep track of as much of this information as possible to help you cite the image later in your papers, presentations, etc. Then you'll apply the appropriate citation style. See below for APA, Chicago, and MLA examples.

Image creator's name (artist, photographer, etc.)
Title of the image
Date the image (or work represented by the image) was created
Date the image was posted online
Date of access (the date you accessed the online image)
Institution (gallery, museum) where the image is located/owned (if applicable)
Website and/or Database name

Be mindful of copyright infringement of images. See this infographic for more information.

For more help with citations see Citation Help.

How to cite images in APA, Chicago, and MLA

APA (7th ed.) citation guide
References list and in-text citation information. (From Simon Fraser University Library)
MLA (9th ed.) citation guide
Works cited and in-text citation information. (From Simon Fraser University Library)
Chicago (17th ed) citation guide
Bibliography and in-text citation information. (From Simon Fraser University Library)