PG was impressed by the attitude manifested by Rijksmuseum, a world-famous art museum in Amsterdam, towards public use of copies of its artwork.
Per prior posts on TPV, some museums go to great length to prevent individuals from taking photographs or otherwise using copies of their art (even though copyright protection has long expired) without written consent, which can be very difficult/impossible for an average person to obtain.
In a section of its website called Rijks Studio, the museum provides downloadable high-resolution images of artwork in its collection. You can create your own collection of famous paintings online. The museum also encourages you to download their artworks and use them to make your own creations. You can even sell your creations to the public.
The museum holds contests to recognize some of the best uses of the works in the Rijks Studio. Here’s a video highlighting the ten finalists in 2017.
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I know some of the works that would make a cover for a story about a stolen Degas, a minor work in an easier location to steal from than a major museum.
So I look in the easy places to look, when one like this comes up.
I just don’t have the right photo – high res because I need a small part of the painting – yet. It’s on the list of many things.
The only thing they need now is to let you browse without having to create an account, to see if you want to – because they have something you would like to download.
These multiplying accounts which then turn out to be useless seem to drive all of capitalism.
I’d like to see if they have some Degas examples without having to do more than search.
You’ve left me puzzled as I didn’t find anywhere that was asking me to create an account or hand over my email but my search did show that they have 13 works by Degas:
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/search?p=1&ps=12&f.principalMakers.name.sort=Edgar%20Degas&st=Objects&ii=0
I found the site a bit confusing though and could only find these by doing a search. When I tried to browse through “More Artists” they did not appear and it looked like a better description would be “some of our artists”.
Thanks. Somehow I missed it. Very full site, and I didn’t find a place to search. My bad.
But you’ve saved me the search – and they don’t have one of the ones I’m looking for – one of the works with dancers.
I have to admit that, given the full range of Degas’ works their selection was a little disappointing (though this is often the case with museums and famous artists, especially more recent ones where much of their output is in private hands – though I don’t know whether this is actually the case for Degas).
Good for them.
And for the other museums doing the same, like the CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART.
https://medium.com/cma-thinker/introducing-open-access-at-the-cma-for-the-benefit-of-all-the-people-forever-d3cd81964616
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January 23:
“Beginning immediately, as many as 30,000 images of public-domain artworks in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s (CMA) collection will be available to all as part of our Open Access program. In addition, metadata relevant to more than 61,000 works are available without restriction, whether the works themselves are in the public domain or under copyright. To make this initiative feasible, the museum has partnered with Creative Commons, a global nonprofit organization that makes possible the sharing and reuse of creativity and knowledge.
This is a logical and exciting outgrowth of the CMA’s inclusive mission “to create transformative experiences through art, for the benefit of all the people forever.” The time is right to firmly bring our mission into the 21st century. “
Good for Cleveland.
If you have to rely on selling posters in the gift shop to keep the museum going, perhaps you don’t have enough donations to continue in the museum business.
Maybe the online pics will drive poster sales. 🙂