The
photoarchive was formed to document and locate works of Western
art. Today more than one million study photographs and reproductions
are housed in artist files, many of which record works of art rarely,
if ever, reproduced in published sources. Photographs are acquired
through purchase, gift, and depository participation by museums,
collectors, and researchers, and through subscriptions to the Gernsheim
Corpus Photographicum (drawings in European and American collections)
and the Courtauld Institute Photographic Survey (paintings and sculpture
in British collections). The collection covers works of art in the
Western tradition, with the most extensive holdings in eight national
schools:
- American
- British
- Dutch
- Flemish/Belgian
- French
- German
- Italian
- Spanish
Documentation and Access
The photoarchive contains study mounts with photographs
and extensive documentation on the history of a work of art, as
well as a "supply" category of photographs providing only
basic information. The Library attempts to maintain reasonably current
information on changes of attribution and location and often relies
on its scholarly readership to provide such information. The photoarchive is indexed by artist name, subject, and collection. Records for artists represented in the
photoarchive are also available through FRESCO. In the near future,
the photoarchive will offer online access to its negatives; see
the Digital Project for Endangered Negatives (Pforzheimer/NYT,
2004-07) and Digital Project for Endangered Sansoni and Cooper Negatives
(ARTstor, 2005-07) projects for more information.
Negative Collection
Approximately 60,000 prints in the photoarchive were
made from Library negatives that resulted from the photo expeditions
sponsored by Helen Clay Frick in the United States and abroad between
1920 and 1967, and the purchase of negatives from A. C. Cooper, Foster,
and Burton in England and Sansoni in Italy. The Library's photograph
service provides prints from these negatives at cost.
For more information, see Reprographics.
Online Tour of the Photoarchive
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Launch the PowerPoint tour in your browser by clicking on the photograph to the left (or bookmark this link). Use the buttons on the bottom of the browser windows to navigate in full frame or to remove the outline. |
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Use the Outline button to see a list of topics to browse. |
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Use the Slide Show button to see a full screen PowerPoint slide show. |
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