Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access: 61,000 Images from a World-Class Collection

The Cleveland Museum of Art is one of America's most distinguished art museums, holding a collection of more than 65,000 works spanning 6,000 years of art history across every culture and medium. The museum has been a leader in the open access movement, providing free access to over 61,000 high-resolution images from its collection under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) licence, with particular strength in Asian art, medieval European art, and American art.

The Cleveland Museum of Art was founded in 1913 and has grown to become one of the most encyclopaedic art museums in the United States, with a collection that rivals those of much larger institutions in its breadth and quality. The museum's commitment to open access reflects its mission as a public institution dedicated to making its collections as accessible as possible to the broadest possible audience, and the CC0 licence means that the images can be used for any purpose without attribution or licensing fees.

The Asian Art Collection

Asian art is one of the Cleveland Museum's most celebrated strengths, with a collection that is widely regarded as one of the finest in the United States. The Asian art collection covers the full range of Asian artistic traditions, from ancient Chinese bronzes through Japanese paintings, Korean ceramics, Indian sculpture, and Southeast Asian art.

The Chinese art collection is particularly strong, with major works covering every period of Chinese artistic production from the Neolithic through the twentieth century. The collection includes extraordinary examples of Chinese bronzes, ceramics, jade, lacquerware, and painting that document the full range of Chinese artistic achievement across millennia.

The Japanese art collection covers the full range of Japanese artistic traditions, with major works in painting, sculpture, ceramics, lacquerware, metalwork, and textiles. The collection is particularly strong in Japanese painting, with major works in every format including hanging scrolls, folding screens, and albums that document the full range of Japanese painting traditions from the Heian period through the modern era.

The Indian art collection includes major works in sculpture, painting, and decorative arts that document the extraordinary range of Indian artistic production across different periods and religious traditions. The collection is particularly strong in Hindu and Buddhist sculpture, with major works that represent the highest achievements of Indian sculptural art.

The Medieval European Art Collection

Medieval European art is another area of exceptional strength, with a collection that covers the full range of medieval artistic production from the early Christian period through the late Gothic. The collection includes major works in painting, sculpture, ivory, enamel, metalwork, and textiles that document the full range of medieval European artistic achievement.

The Byzantine art in the collection is particularly distinguished, with major works in mosaic, ivory, enamel, and manuscript illumination that represent the highest achievements of Byzantine artistic production. The Byzantine collection is one of the most important in the United States, and the high-resolution images available through the open access program allow detailed study of the specific techniques used by Byzantine artists.

The Romanesque and Gothic sculpture collection includes major works from the major centres of medieval European sculpture, providing access to the full range of medieval sculptural traditions. The collection is particularly strong in architectural sculpture, with major works that document the specific sculptural programs of major medieval churches and cathedrals.

The American Art Collection

American art is covered with particular depth, reflecting the museum's commitment to the art of its own country and region. The American art collection covers the full range of American artistic production from the colonial period through the twentieth century, with major works by virtually every significant American painter and sculptor.

The Hudson River School paintings in the collection are particularly distinguished, with major works by Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, Albert Bierstadt, and other leading figures of the movement that documented the American landscape in the nineteenth century. The Hudson River School collection is one of the most important in the United States, and the high-resolution images available through the open access program allow detailed study of the specific techniques used by these painters.

The American modernism collection covers the full range of American modernist painting and sculpture, with major works by Georgia O'Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, Stuart Davis, and other leading figures of American modernism. The collection documents the full development of American modernism from its origins in the early twentieth century through its transformation into Abstract Expressionism in the 1940s and 1950s.

The Open Access Interface

The Cleveland Museum of Art's online collection search provides an excellent interface for browsing and searching the open access collection. The search allows filtering by culture, period, medium, and other parameters, making it possible to find images relevant to specific research or creative needs.

The ArtLens system developed by the Cleveland Museum is one of the most innovative digital collection interfaces available from any museum, providing a visual search tool that allows users to find works based on visual similarity rather than text description. This visual search capability is particularly useful for artists and designers who are looking for images with specific visual characteristics.

Each work's page includes detailed information about the work's history, provenance, dimensions, and condition, alongside the downloadable image. The download options provide access to images at multiple resolutions, with the highest resolution versions suitable for large-format reproduction and detailed study.

Practical Uses for Artists

For painters studying Asian art traditions, the Cleveland's open access collection provides access to high-resolution images of major works from every Asian artistic tradition, allowing detailed examination of the specific techniques used by Asian painters, ceramicists, and sculptors. The ability to study these works in high resolution is genuinely valuable for artists who want to understand the specific approaches of Asian artistic traditions.

For designers who work with Asian or medieval European decorative traditions, the collection provides an extraordinary range of reference material covering the specific patterns, motifs, and colour combinations that characterise these traditions.

The Bottom Line

The Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access program provides free, unrestricted access to over 61,000 high-resolution images from one of America's most distinguished art collections, with particular strength in Asian art, medieval European art, and American art. For artists, designers, researchers, and educators who need high-quality art imagery from these areas, the Cleveland Museum's open access collection is an essential and genuinely valuable resource.