Public Domain Artwork
*Curation by the Nook Prints
Public Domain Artwork
*Curation by the Nook Prints
When an artist creates a piece of creative work, that work is immediately granted a copyright to them. In general, copyright protection lasts the lifetime of the artist plus an additional 70 years after their death. Which means that during that time, the artist, or their family, own the exclusive rights to the work, and if anyone else wants to use it, show it, print it, etc they need to gain some form of permission from the copyright owner first, often this permission includes a usage fee.
AFTER this period expires, meaning the creator has died and 70 years have passed since their death, the copyrights on their creative work are terminated and the item passes into the “Public Domain”. Meaning that anyone can use it freely without having to seek permission, or pay usage fees to the original creator.
Artists can also CHOOSE to place their work into the Public Domain right away if they so desire. (This is how websites like Unsplash work).
Another term that has been newly created to designate those creative works that no longer have any copyrights assigned to them is CC0 (Creative Commons Zero).
The legal system is a bit of a tangle over the term “Public Domain” with some jurisdictions recognizing differing rules for how and when rights are automatically removed or granted from a creative work. The term CC0 was created to help solve this problem by giving creators a more universal way to waive all their copyrights. (You can read more about CC0 here)
What all that means for you is this: if a work is in fact 100% in the public domain, and you obtained it from a public domain source, then it is in fact legal to print, sell, or do whatever you would like with the work.
What you’ll find in each of the collections are low res image preview files of the images that I’ve curated. Clicking on any of the files will then take you directly to the drive link where that image is available for a free high-resolution digital download.
Tips For Printing Public Domain Artwork
If you plan to print your images and not just use them digitally, here are a few general tips:
A way to ensure your image will print properly is to look look at the pixel dimensions on your digital download, then consult this handy guide I’ll link to here, to see how big you can print that file. Some common ones are:
8×10 – Best Quality 2400 x 3000 / Minimum Required 1000 x 1250
11×14 – Best Quality 3300 x 4200 / Minimum Required 1375 x 1750
16×20 – Best Quality 4800 x 6000 / Minimum Required 2000 x 2500
A final test I always do before printing is to zoom into the image and view it at 100%. When I do that I want to be able to see either clearly see the brush strokes on the painting, or the texture of the original surface. What I don’t want is to just see blurry a bunch of blurry pixels.
If you find yourself needing to print something using the minimum pixel dimensions required, try to print your image on textured paper instead of plain glossy paper. The texture in the paper will help hide the lower pixel quality, where as glossy paper will amplify it.
Because we’re using images that are often scans from museum archives and have not been updated and altered for ease of printing, be aware that some file may need to be cropped in a bit to clean up the edges. Especially if you don’t plan to use a mat in your frame.
Lastly, be sure that your printer of choice regularly calibrates their printing machines. Places that print images as a random added service often don’t calibrate their machines as often as a professional print shop does. I like to go to my local professional print shop, or order my print from a professional print shop online for this reason. Going through a professional print shop will also usually give you the option to print on other various types of paper as well.