Bridgeman Art Library

Last updated
Bridgeman Art Library
Established1972
LocationNew York, London, Paris, Berlin
Type Picture library
Website www.BridgemanImages.com

The Bridgeman Art Library, based in New York, London, Paris and Berlin, provides one of the largest archives for reproductions of works of art in the world. Founded in 1972 by Harriet Bridgeman, the Bridgeman Art Library cooperates with many art galleries and museums to gather images [1] and footage for licensing.

Contents

History

Harriet Bridgeman was hired at 23 by Sir John Rothenstein to launch a UK version of the Italian journal I Maestri del Colore. She discovered that gathering pictures of artworks was complicated and launched Bridgeman Art Library in 1972. [2]

In 1998, the company was involved in the case Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp. , in which the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled 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. [3] During the Royal Academy's 1998 exhibition Art Treasures of England: the Regional Collections, 98% of the pieces exhibited came from Bridgeman Art Library. [2]

In 2007, Harriet Bridgeman restructured the company to pave the way for her succession. [4] In 2012, Bridgeman Art Library started to represent the British Council Collection. [5] In April 2015, Bridgeman Art Library acquired the French photo archives company Rue des Archives. [6]

Activities

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 and photography for image users (300,000 artworks and 750,000 historical photographs). Each one has been catalogued with full picture data and keyworded to simplify the search process. [2] A full research service is also provided whereby expert researchers can select images to the customer's requirements. In addition to fine art, designs, antiques, maps, architecture, furniture, art glass, ceramics, anthropological artefacts- and many other media are featured in the collection.

Bridgeman also provides customers with reproduction licensing and offers advice on how to clear artist's copyright, if additional permission is needed. [2] Copyright holders receive remuneration in the form of half the reproduction fee paid by the customer. As well as supplying images to consumers, Bridgeman works with copyright holders to create high quality reproductions of artists' works using the latest imaging technology. These reproductions can be ordered through various Web sites and apps such as Art Authority. Over 500 new images are added to the Bridgeman archive each week. Museums represented in the archive include the British Museum; the British Library; the National Galleries of Scotland, Sweden and South Africa; the Hamburg Kunsthalle; and the Barnes Foundation.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art museum</span> Building or space for the exhibition of art

An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although primarily concerned with visual art, art museums are often used as a venue for other cultural exchanges and artistic activities, such as lectures, jewelry, performance arts, music concerts, or poetry readings. Art museums also frequently host themed temporary exhibitions, which often include items on loan from other collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alludo</span> Software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario

Cascade Parent Limited, doing business as Alludo, is a Canadian software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, specializing in graphics processing. Formerly called the Corel Corporation, the company is known for producing software titles such as CorelDRAW, and for acquiring AfterShot Pro, PaintShop Pro, Painter, Video Studio and WordPerfect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Galleries Scotland</span> Network of art galleries in Scotland

National Galleries Scotland is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the National Collections of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clip art</span> Graphic illustrations created for reuse by others

Clip art is a type of graphic art. Pieces are pre-made images used to illustrate any medium. Today, clip art is used extensively and comes in many forms, both electronic and printed. However, most clip art today is created, distributed, and used in a digital form. Since its inception, clip art has evolved to include a wide variety of content, file formats, illustration styles, and licensing restrictions. It is generally composed exclusively of illustrations, and does not include stock photography.

Reproduction fees are charged by image collections for the right to reproduce images in publications. This is not the same as a copyright fee, but is charged separately, as is the cost of the provision of the image. It can be charged where an image is out of copyright, and reflects the possession of the image by a collection.

Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion that is often called romantic originality. The validity of "originality" as an operational concept has been questioned. For example, there is no clear boundary between "derivative" and "inspired by" or "in the tradition of."

APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in Australia and New Zealand. The two organisations work together to license public performances and administer performance, communication and reproduction rights on behalf of their members, who are creators of musical works, aiming to ensure fair payments to members and to defend their rights under the Australian Copyright Act (1968).

Stephen Finer is a London-based artist, active since the 1980s.

Artstor is a nonprofit organization that builds and distributes the Digital Library, an online resource of more than 2.5 million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences, and Shared Shelf, a Web-based cataloging and image management software service that allows institutions to catalog, edit, store, and share local collections.

The threshold of originality is a concept in copyright law that is used to assess whether a particular work can be copyrighted. It is used to distinguish works that are sufficiently original to warrant copyright protection from those that are not. In this context, "originality" refers to "coming from someone as the originator/author", rather than "never having occurred or existed before".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet Bridgeman</span> British art historian

Victoria Harriet Lucy Bridgeman, Viscountess Bridgeman is the founder of the Bridgeman Art Library, a for-profit company that provides a large collection of fine art images and the Artists' Collecting Society, a not-for-profit Community Interest Company dedicated to the collection of the Artists’ Resale Right and copyright on behalf of artists and artists’ estates in both the UK and the EEA.

In Germany, photo rights or "Bildrechte" are the copyrights that are attached to the "author" of the photograph and are specified in the "Law for Copyright and similar Protection". These rights deal with rights of reproduction, distribution, modification, attribution, and prohibitions against illegal modification or reproduction. The ownership rights of a picture are treated under the broader "art copyright laws". Furthermore, if a museum or gallery owns a work of art or a photograph, they are permitted to make their own stipulations as to the selling of illustrations and reproductions of their property. This relates to the German legal concept of the right of owner to undisturbed possession. Wolf Vostell said: "Copyrights are like human rights".

In the context of a copyright discussion, Bridgeman refers to Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copyfraud</span> False copyright claims to public-domain content

A copyfraud is a false copyright claim by an individual or institution with respect to content that is in the public domain. Such claims are unlawful, at least under US and Australian copyright law, because material that is not copyrighted is free for all to use, modify and reproduce. Copyfraud also includes overreaching claims by publishers, museums and others, as where a legitimate copyright owner knowingly, or with constructive knowledge, claims rights beyond what the law allows.

The Web Gallery of Art (WGA) is a virtual art gallery website. It displays historic European visual art, mainly from the Baroque, Gothic and Renaissance periods, available for educational and personal use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freedom of panorama</span> Permissive provision in copyright laws

Freedom of panorama (FOP) is a provision in the copyright laws of various jurisdictions that permits taking photographs and video footage and creating other images of buildings and sometimes sculptures and other art works which are permanently located in a public place, without infringing on any copyright that may otherwise subsist in such works, and the publishing of such images. Panorama freedom statutes or case law limit the right of the copyright owner to take action for breach of copyright against the creators and distributors of such images. It is an exception to the normal rule that the copyright owner has the exclusive right to authorize the creation and distribution of derivative works.

<i>Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.</i> U.S. legal case on copyright originality

Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp., 36 F. Supp. 2d 191, was a decision by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, which ruled that exact photographic copies of public domain images could not be protected by copyright in the United States because the copies lack originality. Even though accurate reproductions might require a great deal of skill, experience, and effort, the key element to determine whether a work is copyrightable under US law is originality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Portrait Gallery and Wikimedia Foundation copyright dispute</span> 2009 legal dispute

In July 2009, lawyers representing the National Portrait Gallery of London (NPG) sent an email letter warning of possible legal action for alleged copyright infringement to Derrick Coetzee, an editor/administrator of the free content multimedia repository Wikimedia Commons, hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grundy Art Gallery</span> Art museum in Lancashire, England

The Grundy is an art gallery located in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. Its eclectic programme consists of regional historic to recent contemporary art exhibitions. Opened in 1911, it is owned and operated by Blackpool Council.

References

  1. "Museums and the Web 2001 : Exhibit". archimuse.com. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Walsh, John (2012-04-13). "Harriet Bridgeman: The first lady of fine art". The Independent. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  3. "Bridgeman Art Library, Ltd. v. Corel Corp., 25 F. Supp. 2d 421 (S.D.N.Y. 1998)". Justia Law. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  4. "Changes at the top for The Bridgeman Art Library". www.targetwire.com. 31 July 2007. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  5. "British Council Collection and the Bridgeman Art Library | All news | Blog | British Council − Visual Arts". visualarts.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  6. Puech, Michel. "L'agence photo Rue des Archives vendue a la Bridgman Art Library". Mediapart (in French). Retrieved 2023-12-05.