artbull-images-and-permissions

Images & Permissions (artbull-images-and-permissions)

This is the skill that most distinguishes art-history publishing. The Art Bulletin requires illustrations, and it is the author's responsibility to obtain and pay for reproduction permissions and photography. Clearance is slow and expensive, so start it the moment the key images are known — in parallel with the writing, not after. At submission, images go in one Word file (max 20 images, ≤ 10 MB); high-resolution files are supplied promptly on acceptance.

When to trigger

• As soon as you know which works the argument depends on (start clearance now)
• Building the illustration list, captions, and credit lines
• Deciding fair use vs. paid permission for each figure
• Preparing high-resolution files after acceptance
• A budget or deadline threatens whether a key image can be reproduced

The permissions workflow

1. List the figures the argument requires. Distinguish essential (the argument fails without them) from supporting; keep within the ~20-illustration limit and let the argument drive the list.
2. Identify the rights holder for the actual reproduction. A public-domain work can still have a copyrighted photograph: clear rights with the copyright holder (artist/estate, museum, or rights agency such as Art Resource, Bridgeman, Scala, ARS) — not with the book the scan came from.
3. Decide fair use vs. permission per figure. It is the author's responsibility to determine fair use; the CAA Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts is the field reference. When in doubt, seek permission.
4. Secure the right license scope. Get world rights, print + electronic, all editions where possible; mismatched scope (e.g., print-only) causes problems at production and for the online and open-access versions.
5. Source publication-quality files. Prefer open-access museum downloads and IIIF where the rights allow; otherwise commission or license a press-quality file (commonly 300 dpi at print size, TIFF for photographs, vector for plans/diagrams — confirm specs at acceptance).
6. Write captions and credit lines correctly. Artist, italicized title, date, medium, dimensions (inches then centimeters), collection and location, and the required credit/copyright line in parentheses — using the exact wording the rights holder mandates.
7. Keep a permissions log. Per figure: rights holder, contact, fee, license scope, date granted, credit-line wording, and file source. This is your evidence at production.

Budget & timeline reality

• Fees range from free (open access / public domain) to hundreds of dollars per image; living artists' estates can be restrictive and slow. Budget money and months.
• If a key image cannot be cleared or afforded, the argument may need to lean on a different, clearable work — decide this early, not at proof stage.

Anti-patterns

• Leaving permissions until acceptance — the classic, paper-delaying mistake
• Clearing rights from the source book rather than the actual copyright holder
• Assuming a public-domain object means the photograph is rights-free
• Licensing the wrong scope (print-only) and breaking the online / open-access edition
• Low-resolution or manipulated files that misrepresent the object
• Captions missing the mandated credit line wording

Worked vignette: a figure program that nearly sank a paper

Suppose a study turns on a modern painting whose estate is represented by a rights society — the one indispensable image is the most restricted and expensive, the estate slow, electronic rights billed apart. The author starts clearance at once, requests world rights, print + electronic, all editions up front, and confirms detail crops fall under the same license — first, because the argument cannot survive substituting it.

Clearance decision aid (per figure)

Question	Yes path	No / unsure path
Is the work public-domain?	Free — but the photograph may be separately copyrighted	Living artist/estate: expect a permission and a fee
Photo's rights holder identifiable?	Clear with them (museum, ARS, Bridgeman)	Never clear from the source book

Pipeline pressure point (hedge where uncertain)

• "The argument's key image is unclearable." Decide early whether the reading can lean on a clearable work, never at proof stage; this pipeline is the long pole of art-historical production (confirm illustration caps against the journal's current submission guidelines).

Output format

【Figure list】essential vs supporting (count ≤ 20)
【Per figure】rights holder · fair use or permission · license scope · fee · file source
【Captions/credit lines】full + mandated wording? [Y/N]
【High-res plan】formats/resolution staged for acceptance? [Y/N]
【Permissions log】started and complete? [Y/N]
【Risk】any decisive image unclearable/unaffordable? fallback?
【Next】artbull-structure-and-exposition

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — image sources, rights agencies, fair-use code, resolution/format guidance
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — author-responsibility-for-permissions and illustration-file policy