Open Access FAQs

Open Access content (images, data, software, and documentation) is content that the CMA publishes digitally online, free of charge, and without copyright and licensing restrictions. For more information about Open Access, visit the Creative Commons [3]website for an  overview.

At the Cleveland Museum of Art, Open Access means the public now has the ability to  share, collaborate, remix, and reuse images of public-domain artworks from the CMA’s world-renowned collection of art for commercial and noncommercial purposes. This includes over half of the museum's collection. The exact number changes frequently as new works enter the public domain. Visit the museum's Collection Online [4] for a current count of Open Access works. In addition, portions of collection information (metadata) for more than 63,000 artworks, both in the public domain and those works with copyright or other restrictions, are now available. 

Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization based in the United States, makes legal tools to help entities like the CMA legally share knowledge and creativity to build a more accessible and innovative world. Among Creative Commons’s key contributions are a suite of licenses and public domain designations, as well as a community of experts and practitioners who support Open Access initiatives. Learn more about Creative Commons [5].  

The CMA’s Open Access initiative is offered under  Creative Commons Zero [6] (CC0).  CC0 is a public-domain dedication tool that, when applied to content, relinquishes all copyright and related rights that the dedicator may have in a work. CC0 content may be used free-of-charge for both commercial and noncommercial purposes without the prior consent or permission of the CMA, including copying, modification, distribution, or performance. The CMA uses CC0 for two categories of content. The first is content in which the CMA owns all rights, such as some of the content its employees create. The second is content that the CMA digitizes and reasonably believes is in the worldwide public domain.  

For information about Creative Commons Zero, please consult the Creative Commons  Summary [7],  FAQs [8] , and  Legal Text [9].  

Look for the icon with Creative Commons Zero (CC0) on CMA websites and affiliates, along with seeking out the designation embedded in the image or dataset as metadata.  

Above: Screen capture showing Open Access Icon on the CMA’s Collection Online.

Above: Screen capture showing Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designated objects “In 3D” within the filtered Collections Search. 

Above: Screen capture showing Open Access and 3D icons on the CMA’s Collection Online. 

Above: Screen capture showing the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation on the CMA’s public API.

Above: Screen capture showing Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation on an exported CSV file from the CMA’s GitHub Repository.

Images, data, software, and documentation offered with Creative Commons Zero can be used in any application, from art making, education, digital media projects, scholarly research and publication to data science – all without fee or restriction.  

Works designated as Creative Commons (CC0) do not require attribution or citation. Copyrighted content, content with proprietary rights, or that is otherwise restricted for limited non-commercial, educational, and personal uses should be cited including the URL "www.clevelandart.org [10]" in addition to all copyright and other proprietary notices contained on the materials. Citation of the CMA’s CC0 or restricted content does not imply endorsement by the CMA, nor does it grant permission to use the CMA’s trademarks without prior approval.   

You may wish to cite images and data from the CMA's collections for educational and scholarly, or other publication purposes. Consult the CMA collection online or metadata associated with an object via the application programming interface [1](API) or data from the GitHub Repository [1] for information that can be used for citations.  

There are a variety of citation formats, but consider including: 

Artist. Title. Date (year). Medium. Dimensions. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Credit Line. Accession Number. URL from  www.clevelandart.org/ 

Please Note: 

A Credit Line features of the name of individual or a group of contributors have been the source or donor of an artwork in the collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art.  

An Accession Number is the CMA's official inventory number of record that is an artwork’s unique identifier in the collection. This number is helpful for identifying a work especially for study, research and publication purposes. 

• If the CMA has not yet created a digitized image or data of the artwork. 
• If the artwork is under copyright or has other restrictions from the artist, donor, or lender. 
• If the artwork is not fully owned by the CMA.  

Images of the CMA’s objects under copyright or with other restrictions may be available through Image and Data Services [11] and the request form [12]. For 3D image requests please describe details regarding requested file formats in the "other" text box on the form. A processing fee of $75 applies for image services. Additional fees may also apply depending on the type and nature of the request.  

Image sizes available for artworks with CCO:

2D

• JPEG 1: Variable, 600/900/1200 dpi (depending on master)
• JPEG 2: 3400px at longest side, 300 dpi
• TIF: 900px at longest side, 300 dpi

3D

• COLLADA: .DAE
• glTF: GL T
• OBJ: .OBJ 
• STL: StereoLithogrpahy .STL

Collection Online Object Page

On the Collection Online you may select a download of the page as a PDF for reference and research purposes.

Users interested in access to portions of metadata dedicated to the public domain with CC0 can access over 61,000 records via the CMA’s public application program interface [1](API). No key or token is required for access. Documentation regarding fields, departments, and data types is available through the API as well. Portions of metadata are made available for all digital images of public domain artworks whose underlying work is in the public domain including a URL to corresponding image file. Artworks in the CMA’s collection which may have copyright or other restrictions have portions of metadata with CC0, but no image file is supplied by CMA due restrictions.

Please Note: Alternative views of artworks in the CMA’s permanent collection are taken for conservation purposes or other reasons. They are not available for download. Only the primary view that represents the artwork is available for download in JPEG and TIFF format.

Users can also access the CMA's collection data via a GitHub Repository [1]. Detailed documentation is available here along with the data formatted in .JSON and .CSV. Please note that the CMA does not support pull requests. Data is refreshed at a weekly rate, so please check often for the latest revisions.

CC0 CMA collection data and images are also available from Internet Archive, [13] Wikimedia Commons [14], and Wikidata [15].

The CMA's images, data, software and documentation designated as CC0 will not be issued under separate or individual agreements. Consult CMA's Image and Data Services [11].  

Download and use the version of the image or data offered under the CMA's Open Access with Creative Commons Zero [6] (CC0) in accordance with the CMA's Terms and Conditions [16]. For other requests, consult the CMA's Image and Data Services [11].  

The CMA would be grateful to receive a copy of your print publication reproducing Open Access images with Creative Commons Zero [6] (CC0) images and data, but this is not a requirement.  

Print copies can be mailed to: 
The Cleveland Museum of Art 
Ingalls Library and Museum Archives 
11150 East Boulevard  
Cleveland, Ohio 44106 

Please send links to electronic resources or e-book information via the Ingalls Library and Museum Archives Contact  form [17].  

Yes, open access images can be found in the ArtLens App [18] and on the ArtLens Wall [19]. Explore open access highlights on view in the ArtLens Wall theme "Open Access Highlights." Dock your device at the ArtLens Wall and favorite artworks by selecting the "heart" icon. Artworks will save to the "You" section of the app. Then, use the app's wayfinding technology to locate the artworks in the galleries.

Take the ArtLens App "Open Access Highlights" tour to see select open access artworks on view from across departments.

Select from Open Access images with 3D models on CMA's Collection Online [20]. Different 3D model file formats may be downloaded through partner platforms Internet Archive [21], Sketchfab [22], and Wikimedia Commons [23]. Follow the download instructions for each respective platform.