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Over the years, educators, librarians, and researchers at all levels, from secondary schools to graduate programs, have shared with us how they use Artstor in their teaching and research. We’ve gathered some of our favorites here, touching on topics as varied as medicine, ethnic studies, women’s studies, and more.

Would you like to share how you use Artstor? Leave a comment and we’ll follow up!

Unknown photographer. Howard University students picket the National Crime Conference, December 1934. Eyes of the Nation: A Visual History of the United States (Library of Congress)

Washington’s secret city: cultural capital
Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor of Architecture, Tulane University

Race, identity, and experience in American art
Dr. Jennifer Zarro, Tyler School of Art, Temple University

Peter Doig. 100 Years Ago, 2001. 2001. Image and data from California College of the Arts. © 2020 Peter Doig / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London.

The California College of the Arts (CCA) has contributed nearly 8,500 images of international and American contemporary art to the Artstor Digital Library. This contribution provides deeper coverage of postmodern global art in Artstor, an area in high demand in our community.

The Artstor Digital Library is used by educators in 1,900 institutions around the world–and with good reason. Here are just ten ways you can enhance your teaching with Artstor:

1. Take advantage of a wealth of images and primary sources to enhance most subjects.

2. Use with confidence: all images are rights cleared for education and research (and beyond in some cases!).

3. Make and share image groups for assignments and home study.

There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.
— Albert Camus, The Plague, 1948

Dance of Death: Death the Strangler. Alfred Rethel (German, 1816-1859). 1850. Woodcut. Credit: The Cleveland Museum of Art; http://www.clevelandart.org/ CC0

Episode of Yellow Fever in Valencia (Épisode de la fièvre jaune à Valence). José Aparicio. 1804. Credit: Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, N.Y. http://www.artres.com/c/htm/Home.aspx

A procession of flagellants carrying a canopy and a statue of the Virgin Mary through a town. Pieter Tanjé. Etching, with engraving. Credit: Wellcome Collection; https://wellcomecollection.org/ CC BY 4.0.

Explore the full Pandemics and Epidemics image group in Artstor

The rapid rise of the COVID-19 pandemic¹ is a stark reminder that humanity is still susceptible to infectious diseases. Despite the successes of modern medicine, communicable diseases continue to impact our health, our economies, and our communities.

We at Artstor/ITHAKA are so devoted to our canines that we share a dogspotting channel that provides a steady stream of engaging pictures. During the crisis, as we isolate with our pets, the photos and anecdotes have proliferated. In tribute to our best friends who delight and support us during this time, we would like to highlight a few of our furry colleagues. Since this is Artstor, the temptation to call up artistic alter egos is irresistible so we are presenting our companions alongside their kindred spirits in art (perhaps more in essence than in precise likeness). No disrespect intended, since a comparison to a dog is the highest form of praise!

Jean-Siméon Chardin. Self Portrait. 1771. Pastel. Image and data from Erich Lessing Culture and Fine Arts Archives/ART RESOURCE, N.Y.

Archie Cowan. Enzo, in a rare moment, stands still. 2020. Photograph.

Enzo, in a rare moment, stands still was the catalyst (sorry dogs) for this approach. His quizzical, unsparing stare immediately conjured the bespectacled gaze of the great French painter Jean-Siméon Chardin, an artist who, in fact, featured dogs in several works.

In this time of social distancing, it seems like everyone has turned to videoconferencing, from your teachers to your family. But perhaps you don’t want your grandparents to compare the size of your Brooklyn apartment to that of your cousin in Texas, or for your colleagues to see the dishes piling up in your kitchen sink. Open Artstor has you covered! We’ve selected a dozen artistic backgrounds to have you looking your best, including masterpieces by Van Gogh and Monet–download them for free at artstor.org/zoom.

Vincent van Gogh. Wheat Field with Cypresses, 1889. From Open Artstor: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Creative Commons: Free Reuse (CC0)

The Oregon College of Art and Craft has contributed more than 200 images of richly diverse works by faculty members to the Artstor Digital Library. The selection, which dates from 1986 to 2011, includes ceramics, fiber arts, works on paper, paintings, sculpture, installations, photographs and video.

Selected works reveal both creative and technical brilliance with results that are provocative, subversive, whimsical and beautiful.

Christine Clark. Teapot with Pink. 2007. Hand-raised 18 gauge sterling silver with applied concrete to a welded steel wire, with flocking. Image and data from Oregon College of Art and Craft. Photograph Bill Bachhuber.

Christine Clark. Wire Teapot. 2010. 14 to 20 gauge steel wire torch welded, hand woven. Image and data from Oregon College of Art and Craft. Photograph Stephen Funk.

The teapot project, an enduring rite of passage for students in metals is represented by two versions by Christine Clark who headed the department and conceived the project: Teapot with Pink, 2007, and Wire Teapot, 2010.

Honoré Daumier. L’Exposition de 1859: Dire que je vais être…Exposé…1859. Lithograph. Image and data provided by The Phillips Collection.

Missing your favorite museums? Let us reveal them to you remotely. Artstor offers comprehensive coverage of the collections of well over 100 international museums and galleries through various accesses—ranging from fully public, from our community collaborators, as well as Open Artstor collections with works entirely in the public domain—to selections in the Artstor Digital Library that are available to subscribing institutions and their members.

Explore one of our finest museums virtually

Ogata Korin, follower of. Chrysanthemums by a Stream. Late 1700s – early 1800s. One of a pair of folding screens; ink and color on gilded paper. Image and data provided by The Cleveland Museum of Art. CCO 1.0.

In collaboration with The Cleveland Museum of Art and their comprehensive Open Access initiative, Artstor has published an expansive selection of works from this leading repository, freely available to all and with Creative Commons licenses in Open Artstor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. This is part of a new, free initiative to aggregate open museum, library, and archive collections across disciplines on the Artstor platform — already a destination for scholars using visual media. Incorporating more than 10,000 years of history and iconic works from every corner of the globe, this collection includes nearly 29,000 images offering considerable coverage of the museum’s encyclopedic collection — paintings from Nicolas Poussin to Georgia O’Keeffe, precious jewels and scrolls from China, Japanese screens and kimonos, African and Native American ritual attire and objects, pre-Columbian gold, photography, and much more.