printing
instructionsInstitute of Fine Arts
1 East 78th Street (Duke House)
New York, NY 10075
NYU mail code 9801
212-992-5810 voice
212-992-5807 fax
The Slide Library, study room, Photographic Archive, and main staff offices
are located in the basement (B-level) of the Duke House. The Photographer’s
office and copystands are located in the sub-basement (G-level) of the same
building.
[click here to contact the Visual Resources Staff]
Hours [return
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Slide Library and Offices
Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Closed Saturday and Sunday.
The collections are professionally staffed during the hours listed above. The Slide Library is in a restricted access area; entry is by permission of the staff. The slide and photograph study room is open to IFA students and faculty during all regular building hours; both copystands are similarly accessible. Access to the collections is restricted to current IFA students and faculty, after presentation of a valid IFA ID. Visiting scholars may use the collections for research purposes during staffed hours, as seating permits. Visiting scholars must make an appointment; please call or e-mail for more information.
Please remember that eating, drinking, smoking, and cell phone use are strictly prohibited anywhere in the Visual Resources Collections!
Holdings [return to top]
The collections are comprised of approximately 2.5 million images, in every format practiced during the last century. Included are approximately 750,000 black and white photographs, 250,000 lantern slides (and the negatives from which they were made), 500,000 35mm slides, about 10,000 postcards, and a variety of other archival materials covering the full range of the pedagogy of art history. The collections are divided into the Slide Library, the Photographic Archives, off-site holdings, and on-line collections and resources.
The Slide Library includes both 35mm and lantern slides. All lantern slide negatives and positive transparencies are housed on the basement and sub-basement levels of the Duke House, and are available to IFA students and faculty for presentation and research purposes, subject to the conditions listed above. Light boxes, enlargers, lupes, and other equipment to make viewing easier are available at all times.
The Photographic Archives includes black and white prints, off-prints, postcards, other opaque materials, and negatives—everything from glass plates to 35mm film negatives. These materials are kept in the basement and sub-basement levels of the Duke House. Many are in locked cabinets or spaces also used for offices or other purposes; please make an appointment with the Manager for orientation and access. Some of the highlights of the Photographic Archives include the Gernsheim Corpus (a collection of images of drawings, arranged by artist’s name), the Illustrated Bartsch (photographs of prints as listed in Bartsch, arranged by subject matter and manually cross-referenced into 625 loose-leaf volumes), and DIAL (the Decimal Index to Art of the Low Countries).
Many of the Institute’s black and white photographs are housed off-site in specific departments at the Metropolitan Museum. Access to these collections is by appointment only; arrangements can be made through the Manager:
The Walker Evans Portfolio. One of only 17 known copies, the Walker Evans Portfolio is comprised of more than 400 black and white prints of African sculpture. The Portfolio was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art to accompany a landmark exhibition there in the 1930’s. It is now in the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas department.
The James Stubblebine and Richard Offner Collections. Collected by renowned scholars, these images reproduce mostly Italian, mostly Renaissance art. These collections are now within the Robert Lehman Collection.
The Walter Cook Archives. Although Prof. Cook’s personal photographs remain in the IFA’s Photographic Archive, his collected images of Spanish manuscripts and Medieval art are currently held in the Medieval Art department.
On-line collections and resources change with each semester, depending on the curriculum. The Visual Resources Collections staff provides Online Course Reserves as requested by faculty, and works closely with the Library staff to provide access to the best and most interesting online image resources.
Images held in the IFA’s collections are for research and classroom projection
only, and will not be released for reproduction, duplication, or distribution
in any secondary format. Questions concerning copyright or fair use should be
referred to the Manager
or to the Institute’s Director.
Services [return to top]
The Visual Resources Collections provides a variety of services to the IFA community. Information about photography (both analog and digital), seminar slide photography, technical support, equipment loans, and many other services are available. The staff is eager to assist with any imaging project. We are the central image and imaging technologies resource at the Institute.
All classrooms in the Duke and Chan Houses are equipped with two carousel projectors; most classrooms have sound and lighting systems similar to those found in theaters. Other presentation equipment available includes overhead, film, and data projectors; flip charts; dry marker boards; video and DVD players, monitors, and projectors. Data and video projectors should be reserved at least one week in advance of use; in class technical support is available by request. Contact the Educational Technologies assistants for help.
One-on-one instruction in copystand use is provided by the Photographer, by appointment, as her schedule permits. One-on-one instruction in scanning and PowerPoint use is provided by the Educational Technologies assistants, by appointment, as their schedules permit. Please contact them directly for further information. An online Powerpoint Manual is available here [714 KB PDF file].
Access to other visual resources collections, both within and beyond NYU, is possible through special arrangement or by letter. Contact the Manager for details in both cases.
Other Sites of Particular Interest
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Photographs and Panoramas of Christo and Jean's Claude's 'The Gates' taken by the IFA's photogrpaher Nita Lee Roberts. Quicktime player is required [connect]
Highly Recommended: Manhattan Timeformations uses interactive models and animations to show the relationships between Manhattan’s skyscrapers and geological formations, landfill and transportation infrastructures, zoning laws, and real estate cycles.
Highly Recommended: The Amiens Cathedral Project allows on-line exploration of the building. This is an ongoing project of Columbia University’s Digital Design Lab and Art History and Archaeology Departments.
Of professional interest: The Visual Resources Association web page includes information valuable to continued research in visual documentation, including copyright issues and data standards. Information about imaging and copyright is summarized on a web site maintained by the University of Washington/Seattle, Web Resources Related to Digital Imaging & Copyright. NYU maintains on-line copyright and photocopying guidelines through Information Technology Services (ITS).
Research resource: The
Timeline of Art History
Now featuring art history through 1800 A.D.
The Timeline of Art History is a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration
of the history of art from around the world, as illustrated especially by The
Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection. The Museum's curatorial, conservation,
and educational staff--perhaps the largest single corps of art experts anywhere
in the world--research and write the Timeline, which is an invaluable reference
and research tool for students, educators, scholars, and anyone interested in
the study of art history and related subjects. Please log on at http://www.metmuseum.org/toah.
Research resource: The
Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection
The Indiana University Digital Library Program's groundbreaking digital collection
of 14,500 color images of everyday
life in the middle of the twentieth century. Taken by amateur photographer Charles
Weever Cushman between 1938 and
1969, the images document an amazing cross-section of American and international
subjects, from inner-city storefronts and industrial landscapes to candid portraits.
Research resource: Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance
Research resource: Arts of the Islamic World
Selected Museums on the Web: [return to top]
- The Frick
Museum
- Gallery
Guide Online
- The Metropolitan
Museum of Art
- The Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston
- The Museum
of Modern Art
- National Gallery
of Art, Washington
- Neue
Galerie
- Oriental
Institute Photographic Archives
- WebMuseum,
Paris’ Leonardo da Vinci site. The IFA Visual Resources Collections
includes more than 300 images of Mona Lisa as she relates to popular culture.