You might think the internet has everything you need—but when it comes to art and design images, that’s not quite true. Online collections often show only a limited view of an artist’s work, and image quality is usually low to keep websites fast.
For deeper research and high-quality images, turn to resources like exhibition catalogs, catalogues raisonnés, and monographs. If you need a high-resolution image for a paper or presentation, your best bet is the library catalog—and a scanner.
Searching for images is different than searching for books or articles.
Most library resources (like books and articles) are made up of words, so you can search using words.
Images don’t work the same way—you can’t “read” an image the way you read a book.
Images use descriptions (called metadata) instead of full text.
Metadata includes things like:
Title
Creator
Technical details
Brief descriptions
This means you’re often searching only a small amount of text to find an image.
But image collections still ask you to search with keywords.
So, you need to think differently when searching for images.
✅ Always use filters
Narrow down by date, format, collection, rights, etc.
✅ Be flexible with keywords
Try synonyms and related terms
Think broadly: If “car” doesn’t work, try “automobile” or “vehicle”
✅ Consider how you’ll use the image
Are you using it for a presentation, paper, design project?
Think about image size, quality, and copyright or reuse rights
An academic project to make the highly influential design work of Archigram (1961-1974) available for free online.
A website devoted to digitizing the influential Arts & Architecture magazine. A&A brought West Coast modernism into the mainstream from the 1940s-1960s. Note that Simpson Library also has print copies of A&A's complete run.
Docomomo is a non-profit organization dedicated to the documentation and conservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the modern movement.
The Marcel Breuer Digital Archive represents a collaborative effort headed by Syracuse University Libraries to digitize over 70,000 drawings, photographs, letters and other materials related to the career of Marcel Breuer, one of the most influential architects and furniture designers of the twentieth century.
Detailed descriptions of archival collections held in California libraries, museums, and archives, including the personal papers of many influential California architects.
Archives and Museums
The work of more than 200 historically significant San Francisco Bay Area architects and firms are represented in their collections. These include drawings, plans, specifications, photographs, audio-tapes, personal papers, business records, furniture, art, models, and artifacts.
Los Angeles-based museum and artist residency program located in the iconic Schindler-Chase House.
San Francisco gallery focused on architecture, design, and urban planning.
San Francisco's unique, annual festival of architecture and design, featuring lectures, tours, and exhibitions every September.
San Francisco-based member-supported think tank focused on urban planning and advocacy.
Note that many image databases linked elsewhere might include open-access and/or public domain images and often are able to be filtered accordingly. The following are resources that primarily feature images licensed for reuse and/or that are in the public domain.
The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America's libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. Licenses vary across collections.
Discover inspiring cultural heritage from European museums, galleries, libraries and archives. Licenses vary across collections.
The key goal of The Commons is to share hidden treasures from the world's public photography archives. Licenses vary.
Flickr is an image hosting service and video hosting service. Browse images by license using the advanced search.
A collection of tens of millions freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.
Art Institute of Chicago Collection (Chicago, Illinois, United States)
J. Paul Getty Museum Collection (Los Angeles, California, United States)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection (Los Angeles, California, United States)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection (New York City, New York, United States)
The Morgan Library & Museum Collection (New York City, New York, United States)
Museum of Modern Art Collection (New York City, New York, United States)
National Gallery of Art Collection (Washington D.C., United States)
Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington D.C., United States)
Images Online is the Picture library of the British Library, the national library of the United Kingdom.
The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world.
An open access conglomeration of libraries and archives across Europe.
Florida Memory is a digital outreach program providing free online access to select archival resources from collections housed in the State Library and Archives of Florida.
Florida State University's Digital Library and Research Repository. Provides online access to thousands of unique manuscripts, photographs, pamphlets, books and maps, and other materials from across the FSU campus libraries and beyond.
A global archival offering of defining cultural moments, places and iconic personalities from the historical to the present-day.
Official Flickr photostream.
Hosted by Google.
Explore 678,922 items digitized from The New York Public Library's collections.
The permanent collection of photography at the Smithsonian American Art Museum was established in 1983, when the National Endowment for the Arts transferred more than 1,500 photographs by American photographers who had received NEA grants.
Images Online is the Picture library of the British Library, the national library of the United Kingdom.
The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world.
An open access conglomeration of libraries and archives across Europe.
Florida Memory is a digital outreach program providing free online access to select archival resources from collections housed in the State Library and Archives of Florida.
Florida State University's Digital Library and Research Repository. Provides online access to thousands of unique manuscripts, photographs, pamphlets, books and maps, and other materials from across the FSU campus libraries and beyond.
A global archival offering of defining cultural moments, places and iconic personalities from the historical to the present-day.
Official Flickr photostream.
Hosted by Google.
Explore 678,922 items digitized from The New York Public Library's collections.
The permanent collection of photography at the Smithsonian American Art Museum was established in 1983, when the National Endowment for the Arts transferred more than 1,500 photographs by American photographers who had received NEA grants.
