Bridgeman Art Library
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The Bridgeman Art Library, based in London, England and elsewhere, provides one of the largest archives for reproductions of works of art in the world. Founded in 1972 by Harriet Bridgeman, the goal of the library is to cover the entire history of humanity's relationship with art. The Bridgeman Art Library cooperates with many art galleries and museums to gather images.
[edit] The library today
The Bridgeman Art Library is a company that represents museums, art collections and artists throughout the world by providing a central source of fine art for image users. It has offices in London, New York, Paris, and Berlin.
The company's aim is to make these images accessible for users on a commercial basis; each one has been catalogued with full picture data and key-worded to make searching easy, even for those with little art knowledge. A full research service is also provided whereby expert researchers can select images to your requirements. Fine art is just one of the sources of images; design antiques, maps, architecture, furniture, glass, ceramics, anthropological artefacts and many others also feature in the collection. Once an image is chosen, they arrange watertight reproduction licensing simply and quickly, and offer free advice on how to clear artist’s copyright if additional permission is needed. At the end of the process half the reproduction fee is returned to the owner of the work being reproduced, to help maintain the world’s great art and make it accessible. They work with the owners to create high quality reproductions of their works, using the latest technology to create images that are easy to work with and accurately catalogued.
Over 500 new images are added to the archive each week and museums represented include such renowned names as the British Museum and the British Library, the National Galleries of Scotland, Sweden and South Africa, the Hamburg Kunsthalle, and the Barnes Foundation in Pennsylvania.
[edit] Legal issues
The company was involved in the United States District Court case Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp., where it was determined that exact photographic copies of two-dimensional works in the public domain cannot be copyrighted — even if making the image takes considerable effort — because the resulting works lack originality. The results of the case do not necessarily reflect views on copyrightability outside of the U.S.
