Discoveries in Photoarchive

January 16, 2019

Image Grid List View
Screenshot of the web-based tool for digital image manipulation and organization.
ARIES: ARt Image Exploration Space
The Digital Art History Lab is proud to present ARIES, an innovative and intuitive web-based platform that allows art historians to work with digital images easily and effectively.
Painting detail of two figures seated at a table in front of a large wall map
Reading List: New Perspectives on Vermeer
In celebration of Johannes Vermeer’s 390th birthday this month, explore a recommended reading list from the Frick Art Reference Library on the artist’s life and work by Eugénie Fortier, Acting Storage and Retrieval Lead. All the resources on this list were published within the last two decades, speaking to the Dutch artist’s continuing legacy nearly four hundred years later.
Long, triangular abstract painting with texts.
Forgotten Folk Songs

In 1932 Juliana Force, the director of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, commissioned Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975) to create a series of eight murals for the library of the museum. While six panels from this series survive, two ceiling panels are unlocated. It is feared that they have been destroyed.

Illustration from Athanasius Kircher's “Ars magna lucis et umbrae” of 1646.
"Technological Revolutions and Art History": Four-Part Symposium Weighs Urgent Questions in the Field

Co-sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art and the Frick Art Reference Library, this upcoming four-part symposium examines the connections between science, technology, and art history. Read more for a preview of the important topics under consideration, including what technological advances might benefit the study of art in the near future.

Two women and a man at a desk holding books and marking a map with pencils and rulers
One Hundred Years at the Library: Monuments Men and Women
Stephen J. Bury, Andrew W. Mellon Chief Librarian, explores one of the most fascinating eras in the Frick Art Reference Library’s hundred-year history. A photograph from the 1940s sheds light on the creation of maps at the library during World War II, which were made to prevent the destruction of at-risk cultural sites and works of art in war areas.
Group portrait of twenty-four people standing in a garden.
The Future of Photoarchives

In late January 2013, the representatives of fourteen photoarchives based in Europe and the United States met for two days to discuss future plans for their collections.

A photographer taking a photo of a portrait in a richly decorated room, with two others assisting.
Photoarchive Centennial Project: Carrying the Library's Founding Collection Forward
As part of the preparations for its centennial celebrations in 2022, the Frick Art Reference Library is partnering with Global Art Access to digitize 100 paintings in private collections that were first captured by photographers hired by the Frick from the 1920s to the 1960s.
Two book covers on a shelf, one featuring a painting of a dog and the other a sculpture of a cat
Reading List: National Pet Day
The Frick Art Reference Library celebrates all our furry friends this National Pet Day! Discover recommended reads about cats and dogs, plus images of unexpected domestic animals from our digital collections and archival photos of the Frick family’s pets.
A view into a large study room featuring round tables and skylights.
Art Historical Connections: The Hague and New York Meet Again
Library staff member scanning an archival photo at a workstation with lights and an overhead camera
"Technological Revolutions and Art History": The Ethical Challenges of Digitization
The 2020–21 symposium “Technological Revolutions and Art History” explores current topics in digital art history. For a deeper dive into the major themes of access and bias, Ellen Prokop, former Digital Art History Lead, interviews Luciano Johnson, Associate Chief Librarian for Preservation, Imaging, and Creative Services, and Dr. Stephen Bury, Andrew W. Mellon Chief Librarian.