Find Images

Image Search Tips

Search tips!

Don't end your search at Google Images - but it can be a good starting point.
Use a library image database.
- These will have high-quality images that will look good in your presentations, and come from verifiable sources.
Which museum or collections own the artwork you're studying?
- You can sometimes find this information in Wikipedia. Use it wisely!
- Look at the museum's website.
  - Look for pages or links like "image collections," "online collections," or "digital library"
Search artist's name and the phrase "catalogue raisonné" in SCAD Libraries.
- Catalogues raisonnés are comprehensive listings of all known works by an artist, and might include images or tell you which museum or collection owns the work.

The following online image resources are free and publicly accessible:

Sites offer copyright-free images or open license images for reuse.

Getty Open Content
Public domain art images from Getty collections.
NGA Images (National Gallery of Art)
Includes 20,000+ open access digital images, available free of charge for download and use.
Pexels
Free stock images and video browsable by color and collection.
Pixabay
1.9+ million royalty-free stock images with the ability to discover images by category and color.
Unsplash
Over a million high-resolution images to search and browse, from animals to textures to fashion.
Wikimedia Commons
Millions of high-resolution images of art, architecture, design, and more.
Yale University Digital Commons
Images from several museums and collections. Item records indicate when an image is public domain and available for open access and fee-free use.
Creative Commons
Through the use of CC licenses, millions of people around the world have made their photos, videos, writing, music, and other creative content available for any member of the public to use.

Freeimages
Exchange for using and contributing free stock images.
MorgueFile Free Photos
Public image archive for creative work
Raw Pixel
Royalty-free stock images as well as high resolution public domain images available for creative reuse.

JSTOR
Database containing full-text articles from scholarly journals and images from institutions around the world covering a variety of subjects.

JSTOR includes digitized articles from back issues of academic journals as well as book chapters, ebooks, abstracts, and primary sources from the humanities and social sciences. For help using JSTOR, search SCAD Libraries' FAQ, or use the chat feature to contact library staff.
Digital Image Database
Image database maintained by the SCAD Visual Resources Center. DID contains a custom array of digitized images for the SCAD community.

The Digital Image Database (DID) contains images from prehistory through the twenty-first century in a wide range of topic categories covering all majors at SCAD. Searches can also be conducted by location, material, media, artistic movements, or artist name. In addition to published work, DID also contains student and faculty work. For help with the SCAD Digital Images Database, search SCAD Libraries' FAQ, or use the chat feature to contact library staff.

Looking for more historical costume and dress? Many museums display these items online, including:

WGSN
Trend forecasting platform that provides industry and trade show reports as well as trends, forecasting, consumer profiles, and market intelligence across the following sector channels: Fashion, Beauty, Interiors, Consumer Tech, and City by City.

WGSN - How-To
Learn how to create or re-activate a WGSN personal account in order to access the full array of WGSN features.

Smithsonian Open Access
Download and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s nearly 3 million 2D and 3D digital collection items for free!