Hundreds of Free Art E-Books

[Nutella]

If anyone missed out on The Human Machine it's still available (for now), along with a great selection of older texts, at Matthew Kinsey's Classical Workshop:

http://classicalworkshop.com/?page_id=179

Just to help out anyone who's confused about that link, the site has moved to here: http://matthewkinsey.com/reference-library-3/ . Just click on Anatomy, and download away!

[Xorovikz]

Thank you briggsy
I'd like to know a thing, I know I can download these 2 Bridgman books that you posted, but I saw this book "Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life", which is some kind of compilation of Bridgman books, for download in a blog, do you know if it's legal to download it?

That's it thank you

[briggsy@ashtons]

That one may not be available legally, Xorovikz, but take a look at my next post.

[briggsy@ashtons]

HathiTrust Digital Library is currently putting online a huge amount of material digitized by Google. Especially interesting are many recent publications by the US National Gallery, which I gather are considered to be in the Public Domain on the basis of being US federal government documents (see http://www.hathitrust.org/faq#RightsCodes ). Some of the most interesting titles I've found so far are:


LIFE DRAWING

Bridgman, George B., The book of a hundred hands [1971 edn]
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015014103017 (16.5 MB)

Vanderpoel, Jophn H., - The human figure[1908 edn].
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/pst.000057937434 (38 MB)

Leonardo da Vinci on the human body : the anatomical, physiological, and embryological drawings of Leonardo da Vinci /
with translations, emendations and a biographical introd.... [1952 edn]
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015046946243 (156 MB)

Bradbury, Charles Earl. 1949. Anatomy and construction of the human figure.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015013186658 (55.5 MB)

Bement, Alon, 1921. Figure construction; a brief treatise on drawing the human figure.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc1.ar62701959 (33.5 MB)


COLOUR

Parrish, Maxwell and Guérin, Jules, 1910. Water colour rendering-suggestions.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015007261848 (20 MB)

Cleland, T. M. 1921. A practical description of the Munsell color system [3rd edn, 1937]
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015037837617 (5 MB)

Guptill, Arthur L., 1935. Color in sketching and rendering,
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015009248579 (178 MB)

Feller, Robert L. (ed.), 1986. Artists' pigments : a handbook of their history and characteristics .
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.32106007869669 Vol 1 (65 MB)
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.32106012004195 Vol 2 (50.5 MB)
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.32106014957564 Vol 3 (69 MB)

Minnaert, Marcel G.J., 1954. The nature of light & colour in the open air.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015065972997 (38 MB)

Birren, Faber, 1961. Creative color.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015006329927 (32.5 MB)


EXHIBITION CATALOGUES

Hirschauer,Gretchen A., 2009. Luis Meléndez : master of the Spanish still life.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015080866711 (81.5 MB)

Grasselli, Margaret M., 2003 - Colorful impressions : the printmaking revolution in eighteenth-century France.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015057596234 (105 MB)

Hornung, Erik, and Bryan, Betsy M. 2002. The quest for immortality : treasures of ancient Egypt.
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/004267958 (131 MB)

Tongiorgi Tomasi, Lucia, 2002. The flowering of Florence : botanical art for the Medici.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015047464204 (57 MB)

Joannides, Paul, 1996. Michelangelo and his influence : drawings from Windsor Castle.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015041000780 (107 MB)

Prelinger, Elizabeth, 1992 Käthe Kollwitz.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015028482092 (82 MB)

Mahon, Denis, 1992. Guercino : master painter of the Baroque.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015028450222 (64.5 MB)

Buitron-Oliver, Diana, 1992. The Greek miracle : classical sculpture from the dawn of democracy : the fifth century B.C.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015032749635 (45 MB)

Wheelock, Arthur K., 1990. Anthony van Dyck.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015019812125 (167 MB)

Schneider, Cynthia P., 1990. Rembrandt's landscapes : drawings and prints.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015018499114 (104 MB)

Macandrew, Hugh, 1990. Old master drawings from the National Gallery of Scotland.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015018877871 (60 MB)

Chotner, Deborah, 1989. John Twachtman : Connecticut landscapes.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015017732267 (54 MB)

Sweeney, Jane, 1987. Master drawings from the Armand Hammer collection.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015017044887 (43 MB)

DeGrazia, Diane, 1984. Correggio and his legacy: sixteenth-century Emilian drawings.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015017050991 (145 MB)

Williams, Eunice, 1978. Drawings by Fragonard in North American collections.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015034008758 (42.5 MB)

Slatkin., R.S., 1973. François Boucher in North American collections: 100 drawings.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015015849816 (54 MB)

(+ many more)


EDIT: You can still read the books online, but the trick below no longer works. Sorry if you were too late!

The links take you to a page where you can examine each book a page at a time, but I've found an unmarked way of downloading the whole book as a pdf. Create a link consisting of

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/i/imgsrv/imgsrv/pdf?id= followed by the last part of the link to the book

For example the download link for the Bridgman Book of a Hundred Hands is:

h**p://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/i/imgsrv/imgsrv/pdf?id=mdp.39015014103017

You can also get this link quickly by copying the "1-page PDF" link on left side of the page and removing the last part.

Paste the link into a download manager such as Orbit, or set your browser to download pdfs (Tools>Options>Applications in Firefox) and then click. (Don't just click the link or it may take forever to load).

There are many more art books than the one's I've listed, but let us know if you come across anything you find especially interesting.

[beggargirl]

Just to help out anyone who's confused about that link, the site has moved to here: http://matthewkinsey.com/reference-library-3/ . Just click on Anatomy, and download away!

Hey. I'm getting McAfee warnings that this file is not safe to download. Does anyone have a copy or know where I can find a safe download?

[mrd33ds]

jus printed out the loomis book =) now time to study.

thanks!

[mrd33ds]

oh mAN, i didnt even see ur new posts updates! AWESOME

[bhanu]

A lot of links here seem to be broken in here... :/
But thanks for all the books

[briggsy@ashtons]

You can still read the HathiTrust books online, but the trick for downloading them no longer works. Anything else, bhanu?

[bhanu]

THank you very much for the prompt reply dear sir.
Yes I did try to download the pdfs from the hathi library, and it did not work. So I will just read them online. Atleast the scans are of high quality.

But this book
Norman Rockwell: My Adventures as an Illustrator is also not available.
I think books which have been put on those sharing sites are down. I know there arent many so it ok.

Anyways I know its a nag to keep asking people, especially You again and again to upload them. So its upto you if you wanna or not, and thanks again for putting up all these books/links.

[bhanu]

THE NEW YEAR OFF TO A GREAT START!!!!
Illustration magazine has made their older issues available to read online. ARCHIVES!!!!
!!!
awesome of them to do this. HELL YEAH!!!!


http://www.illustration-magazine.com/archive.html

[Cory Hinman]

Really, big thanks, Bhanu, but I SO did not need to find this at 4:00am...

[Flake]

Nice find Bhanu! That's my lunchtime reading sorted for about two months. :E

Maybe post a link to these in Art Discussion or the Lounge? I'm sure a lot of people who never read this board would love to see these.

[CRYPT]

thanks briggsy and plz reupload norman rockwell books

[bhanu]

Ok flake let me do that. I will make a thread in the art discussion forum.
Edit- theres already a hundreds free art book thread in lounge, will paste the link there.

[surus]

@ bahnu: How to open the illustration mag - pages in bigger resolution? I only come to view the thumbnailed pages. :-(

[benway]

Wow !! I'm a bit late to the game, but this October post is new to me!! Thanks David !! This is one of the most amazing resources on these forums. If somebody were to index your brain somehow.....it would be a very very long index.

[MusicMetalHead]

how do you download from the archive.org ones? For some reason I can't get it to work.

[briggsy@ashtons]

If you just want the pdf, you can usually right-click and "save link as" (or equivalent) on the "PDF" link on the book's main page. However if the link says "PDF (Google.com)", you need to click on the "All files: HTTP" and find the pdf link there. A very few books don't have a pdf version.

[MusicMetalHead]

wow! what a great resource. this is a long shot, but does anyone know if any of these books have audio recordings? would love to listen to something while drawing.

I think some of them do. If you click read online its got an audio option in the top right. Don't know if its available for all. Might just be a text to audio converter though, like the infamous microsoft sam. soi soi soi soi soi

[MusicMetalHead]

My computer is gay. I have to wait ten twenty minutes while the pdf loads, and then once its fully loaded, then I can right click and download. Got a few good anatomy books so far. Not going to do anything to serious yet. Still trying to grasp the basics. Just using them to augment my figure drawing, then once I get better at that, then I'll start doing some serious anatomy stuff.

[Hito_O]

Wow nice collection of ebook !
Thanks a lot

[Shapter]

Thanks! This is great!
I'm going to read on my screen until my eyes start to melt with my skull!

[vendy satria]

thanks a lot mate. that helped

[MidnightIllustration]

I'd somehow missed this thread. Many thanks for compiling it - it'll take a while to take it all in!

[Goliath]

can anybody who has downloaded most of them zip them into one single download?

[MusicMetalHead]

can anybody who has downloaded most of them zip them into one single download?

That would be a download ranging into the many hundreds of Gigabytes, if not coming close to a Terebyte. It would make even the fastest internet weep.

[Uranio]

Wow ! This thread is great !

[Dizon]

Bhanu! Thanks for that Illustration Magazine link.

Is it possible to save the pages as jpgs?

[briggsy@ashtons]

The Metropolitan Museum of Art now has 368 art catalogs and books online for free download as pdfs.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...e?searchtype=F

Here are a dozen to give an idea of how good many of them are. There are also some great catalogs of world and ancient art. Apart from the free pdfs there are also some great catalogues for sale as physical books.

American Impressionism and Realism: The Painting of Modern Life, 1885-1915
Weinberg, H. Barbara, Doreen Bolger, and David Park Curry (1994), 399 pp.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...Life_1885_1915

American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School
Avery, Kevin J., Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, John K. Howat, Doreen Bolger Burke, and Catherine Hoover Voorsanger
(1987), 367 pp.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...n_River_School

Daumier Drawings
Ives, Colta, Margret Stuffmann, and Martin Sonnabend, (1992), 282 pp.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...umier_Drawings

Degas: The Artist's Mind
Reff, Theodore (1976), 354 pp.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...e_Artists_Mind

Georges Seurat, 1859–1891
Herbert, Robert L., Françoise Cachin, Anne Distel, Susan Alyson Stein, and Gary Tinterow, (1991), 462 pp.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...9%E2%80%931891

Painting in Renaissance Siena, 1420–1500
Christiansen, Keith, Laurence B. Kanter, and Carl Brandon Strehlke (1988), 401 pp.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...iena_1420_1500

Peter Paul Rubens: The Drawings
Logan, Anne-Marie, and Michiel C. Plomp (2005), 346 pp.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...s_The_Drawings

Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch
Tinterow, Gary, ed., and Philip Conisbee, (1999), 610 pp.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...ge_of_an_Epoch

Romanticism and the School of Nature: Nineteenth-Century Drawings and Paintings from the Karen B. Cohen Collection
Ives, Colta, with Elizabeth E. Barker (2000), 264 pp.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...he_Karen_B_Coh

The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry
Husband, Timothy Bates, with an essay by Margaret Lawson (2008), 390 pp.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...ce_Duc_de_Berr

Velázquez
Domínguez Ortiz, Antonio, Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, and Julíán Gállego (1989), 298 pp.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...ions/Velazquez

Vermeer and the Delft School
Liedtke, Walter A., Michiel C. Plomp, and Axel Rüger, (2001), 642 pp.
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/me...e_Delft_School