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The Met Makes 375k Images Available for Free

nytimes.com

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Re: The Met Makes 375k Images Available for Free

#21

Post by [deleted] »

gregsadetsky wrote: post #19
urda wrote: post #17

Is there a torrent or dump of all the images? I wouldn't mind seeding / helping to keep an archive of all this. This is pretty great!

To scrape, start here http://metmuseum.org/api/collection/collectionlisting?offset... and increase 'offset' by 100. The JSON output contains image URLs. The total number of results is 441048, so finding another endpoint that doesn't enforce a limit of 100 on the 'perPage' argument would be great. --- EDIT: thanks to spitfare, I updated the perPage argument to 100. The site doesn't allow larger values, but that's defi…

[deleted]

Re: The Met Makes 375k Images Available for Free

#22

Post by scosman »

gregsadetsky wrote: post #19
urda wrote: post #17

Is there a torrent or dump of all the images? I wouldn't mind seeding / helping to keep an archive of all this. This is pretty great!

To scrape, start here http://metmuseum.org/api/collection/collectionlisting?offset... and increase 'offset' by 100. The JSON output contains image URLs. The total number of results is 441048, so finding another endpoint that doesn't enforce a limit of 100 on the 'perPage' argument would be great. --- EDIT: thanks to spitfare, I updated the perPage argument to 100. The site doesn't allow larger values, but that's defi…

They published an index on Github. It would likely be a more responsible way to access this versus hammering their API.

https://github.com/metmuseum/openaccess

Re: The Met Makes 375k Images Available for Free

#23

Post by gregsadetsky »

scosman wrote: post #22
gregsadetsky wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To scrape, start here http://metmuseum.org/api/collection/collectionlisting?offset... and increase 'offset' by 100. The JSON output contains image URLs. The total number of results is 441048, so finding another endpoint that doesn't enforce a limit of 100 on the 'perPage' argument would be great. --- EDIT: thanks to spitfare, I updated the perPage argument to 100. The site doesn't allow larger values, but that's defi…

They published an index on Github. It would likely be a more responsible way to access this versus hammering their API. https://github.com/metmuseum/openaccess

Unfortunately, as stated in that repo's readme: `Images are not included and are not part of the dataset.`

The repo doesn't include the images, which is understandable; however, the CSV file doesn't even include links to the images.

Re: The Met Makes 375k Images Available for Free

#24

Post by elorant »

pcurve wrote: post #20

This is a real treat... I can see Van Gogh like this one http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DT1567.jpg in such detail, without having to go to the museum. With my degrading eye sights, this might even be better than going to museum.

Unless you have a really big monitor, like 40" or so, nothing compares to the real thing. I once saw a Rothko and my jaw dropped to the floor. The thing was so imposing, not only the theme was captivating but the sheer size of the picture made it look grandiose in every sense. The same goes for Pollock's artworks, some Picassos and so on.

Re: The Met Makes 375k Images Available for Free

#25

Post by mparlane »

elorant wrote: post #24
pcurve wrote: post #20

This is a real treat... I can see Van Gogh like this one http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DT1567.jpg in such detail, without having to go to the museum. With my degrading eye sights, this might even be better than going to museum.

Unless you have a really big monitor, like 40" or so, nothing compares to the real thing. I once saw a Rothko and my jaw dropped to the floor. The thing was so imposing, not only the theme was captivating but the sheer size of the picture made it look grandiose in every sense. The same goes for Pollock's artworks, some Picassos and so on.

Also hard to see the depth of some of those brush strokes in the flat scan. Some of them are quite thick.

Re: The Met Makes 375k Images Available for Free

#27

Post by squeaky-clean »

elorant wrote: post #24
pcurve wrote: post #20

This is a real treat... I can see Van Gogh like this one http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DT1567.jpg in such detail, without having to go to the museum. With my degrading eye sights, this might even be better than going to museum.

Unless you have a really big monitor, like 40" or so, nothing compares to the real thing. I once saw a Rothko and my jaw dropped to the floor. The thing was so imposing, not only the theme was captivating but the sheer size of the picture made it look grandiose in every sense. The same goes for Pollock's artworks, some Picassos and so on.

I have a friend that works at the Met, and (with management's permission of course) was able to get me into the modern wing during a time it was being renovated. It was just incredible, being able to sit in front of such giant paintings in peace.

If you stand as close as you can to a Rothko (with your knees practically touching the velvet rope barrier), and stare for a while it just completely envelopes your eyes. The colors take over your entire field of vision and you can really get lost in them, and just "feel" the painting. You can't really do that otherwise without someone asking you to please move. The Pollocks were my favorite, but it's all incredible. It definitely became my favorite type of visual art after that and I will always visit the Met and MoMa when in town.

Edit: Unfortunately, seems like none of those are public domain, so only low resolution images are available.

Re: The Met Makes 375k Images Available for Free

#28

Post by theoh »

elorant wrote: post #24
pcurve wrote: post #20

This is a real treat... I can see Van Gogh like this one http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DT1567.jpg in such detail, without having to go to the museum. With my degrading eye sights, this might even be better than going to museum.

Unless you have a really big monitor, like 40" or so, nothing compares to the real thing. I once saw a Rothko and my jaw dropped to the floor. The thing was so imposing, not only the theme was captivating but the sheer size of the picture made it look grandiose in every sense. The same goes for Pollock's artworks, some Picassos and so on.

It's more noteworthy that very small works can be easier to study on screen, and then there's obviously the advantage of a total absence of contention for the physical space directly in front of the print/painting.

Rothko's works are often installed in "environments" like at Tate Modern or in Houston. Many people can experience them at the same time and there's not much to be gained from closing in to six inch viewing distance. They're works of the movie age.

On the other hand, the situation with a Durer print or some other delicate miniature image is really helped by digital distribution. For 3D artifacts, being able to orbit them in a viewer is another good thing that we'll probably see more of. Lightfields, even.

Rothko is an interesting case for digital reproduction because his work is all about aura and atmosphere but, technically, his work is not exactly impossible to fake. Is his work really spiritual or maybe a bit bogus, for that reason of being grandiose and imposing yet also "easy"?

Best argument, I think, in favour of Rothko and the like is the idea that "what's difficult is not to make something, but to put oneself in a state conducive to making." (Brancusi)

How different complex, technical software engineering is to the simplicity of even the most elaborate painting/sculpture...

Re: The Met Makes 375k Images Available for Free

#30

Post by hackuser »

It may seem obvious, but for those who haven't tried it: The effect of high-res great art on a high-res luminescent screen can be magical. It puts all those other desktop backgrounds to shame - instantly revealing how incredible some of these images are. Make one your desktop background.
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