Free Art Books from the Getty Museum

Once again, Richard Byrne at Free Technology for Teachers blog pointed me to a great resource for artists and art lovers. The Getty Museum is making available online and for free some of their past publications.

The Virtual libray is divided into 3 sections:

• J. Paul Getty Museum 
• Getty Conservation Institute 
• Getty Research Institute

Here is a highly subjective selection. I encourage you to go the Getty’s Virtual Library website and browse the collection by yourself.


From the J. Paul Getty Museum

Cézanne in the Studio: Still Life in Watercolors by Carol Armstrong 

Rubens and Brueghel: A Working Friendship by Anne T. Woollett and Ariane van Suchtelen; with contributions by Tiarna Doherty, Mark Leonard, and Jørgen Wadum

Looking at the Landscapes: Courbet and Modernism Edited by Mary Morton, with contributions by David Bomford, Petra ten-Doesschate Chu, Dominique de Font-Réaulx, Paul Galvez, and Klaus Herding

Pierre-Auguste Renoir: La Promenade by John House

Jan Brueghel the Elder: The Entry of the Animals into Noah’s Ark by Arianne Faber Kolb

Courbet and the Modern Landscape by Mary Morton and Charlotte Eyerman, with an essay by Dominique de Font-Réaulx

From the Getty Conservation Institute

This section of the library is more for specialists. However, two more general books caught my attention:

• The Nature of Conservation: A Race Against Time by Philip Ward
• Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice: Edited by Arie Wallert, Erma Hermens, and Marja F. J. Peck

If you are interested in conservation issues, the Getty Conservation Institute offers some very specific publications. For instance:

• Accelerated Aging: Photochemical and Thermal Aspects by Robert L. Feller
• Effects of Light on Materials in Collections: Data on Photoflash and Related Sources by Terry T. Schaeffer
• The Structural Conservation of Panel Paintings, Edited by Kathleen Dardes and Andrea Rothe

From the Getty Research Institute

Art in History/History in Art: Studies in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Culture; Edited by David Freedberg and Jan de Vries


Related resources and articles

1. Read and Download 250+ Art Books from the Getty Museum by Richard Byrne at Free Technology for Teachers.
2. Met Museum full text online publications