I have a fascination with image collections, which are great fodder for generative art and wallpaper / screensavers. Shoutout Minneapolis College of Art and Design for making a collection of classic lithograph posters available as a complete Zip collection (via Flickr).
Today, more and more cultural institutions have started to offer free art resources to the public through online archives. From high-quality reproductions of antique photographs to museum-approved art books, these complimentary materials promote and exhibit the endless possibilities of Internet learning. Recently, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) has opted to contribute to this downloadable, digitized phenomenon with Art of the Poster 1880-1918, a curated collection of posters from the “Golden Age” of graphic design.
Featuring over 200 printed works, Art of the Poster 1880-1918 presents a look at lithography’s rise in popularity during La Belle Époque. It was during this time that artists like Alphonse Mucha, Jules Chéret, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec popularized the art form, which gained public prominence thanks to new methods of production.
The only downer is that the licensing seems a little inconsistent, although most I’ve looked at are Creative Commons 2.0, which is pretty permissive.