This image is provided under a royalty-free license by Ikonographia / Roberto Bigano.

By purchasing and downloading this file, you are granted the following rights  :

You May

• Use the image in print and digital media (books, magazines, websites, videos, educational materials, presentations, and advertisements).

• Use the image in editorial, corporate, or client work, including commissioned projects.

• Modify, crop, or combine the image with other elements for creative use.

• Create photographic prints for personal or internal company use only (display, offices, presentations).

You May Not

• Resell, redistribute, sublicense, or share the image file in any form that allows third-party access.

• Use the image in products for resale (prints, posters, merchandise, NFTs, templates, stock collections) without a separate extended license.

• Claim authorship of the image or remove copyright attribution.

Copyright: © Ikonographia / Roberto Bigano. All rights reserved.

Many of the architectural works documented in the Ikonographia Archive are in the public domain — meaning the original buildings, sculptures, and historic designs are free from copyright restrictions. However, the photographic images in this archive are original works created and owned by Ikonographia  and are protected under copyright.

Most uses — including editorial, corporate, educational, and advertising applications — are covered by our standard royalty-free license. However, when an image is used as the primary visual element of a product intended for resale — such as puzzles, posters, prints, calendars, packaging, merchandise, or collectible items — this constitutes product use and requires a separate merchandising license.

A merchandising license grants rights to reproduce the specific photographic image on commercial products for resale under defined terms, including product category, print run, territory, and duration of use. This licensing applies only to the photographic reproduction itself, not to the underlying public-domain subject depicted in the image.

For example, a company wishing to use an image to create a branded puzzle or illustration poster would require a merchandising license. Please contact us for tailored terms and pricing.

Ikonographia Visual Archives publishes historical visual material as part of a curated editorial and research project dedicated to 20th-century visual culture.

Whenever possible, works are selected on the basis of public-domain status, particularly early commercial advertising, printed ephemera, and photographic material historically not protected by copyright or no longer under active protection.

Any visible text reproduced or transcribed appears as part of the original artifact as visible in the reproduced material and is presented for historical, scholarly, and documentary purposes, with attribution provided whenever known.

Ikonographia acts in good faith and welcomes dialogue should any rights holder believe material has been included in error.

Ikonographia publishes historical visual material as part of a curated, scholarly archive dedicated to 20th-century visual culture.

1. Nature of the works
The materials presented (advertisements, printed layouts, photographs, ephemera) are reproduced as historical artifacts. Any visible text is reproduced or transcribed as it appears in the original object, as part of the artifact itself.

2. Public domain assessment
Whenever possible, Ikonographia relies on works believed to be in the public domain, particularly:

• Works published before 1929
• Advertisements published between 1929–1963 that lack an individual copyright notice and/or renewal
• Commercial ephemera historically not protected by copyright

Known exceptions (e.g. Disney, Norman Rockwell, active estates) are intentionally excluded.

3. Attribution and provenance
Sources, authors, publications, and dates are cited whenever known. Transcriptions preserve original spelling, punctuation, and layout where meaningful.

4. Editorial context
Materials are presented with historical commentary, scholarly captions, and curatorial framing. Ikonographia does not present these materials as contemporary advertising, endorsements, or standalone literary works.

5. Good-faith policy
If a rights holder believes material has been used in error, Ikonographia will review the claim in good faith and, where appropriate, correct, contextualize, or remove the material.

Under United States copyright law, magazines published before 1964 were required to renew copyright after 28 years in order to remain protected. Publications whose copyright was not renewed entered the public domain in full, including editorial content, advertisements, and illustrations.

Additionally, all U.S. works published before 1930 are now in the public domain, with later years entering the public domain on a rolling basis after 95 years from first publication. Many influential American magazines of the early twentieth century—including fashion, design, and cinema periodicals—therefore fall wholly or partially into the public domain due to expiration or non-renewal of copyright.

In the United States, advertisements are independent copyrighted works, legally separate from the magazines in which they were published. Each advertisement required its own copyright notice and renewal in order to remain protected. Advertisements published before 1964 that lack an individual copyright notice, or whose copyright was not renewed after the initial 28-year term, entered the public domain regardless of the copyright status of the surrounding editorial content.

As a result, the vast majority of early twentieth-century American advertising is in the public domain due to non-renewal, with notable exceptions limited to a small number of rights-conscious publishers and estates.

Under United States copyright law, works created by officers or employees of the U.S. federal government as part of their official duties are not protected by copyright and are therefore in the public domain. Such works may be freely used, reproduced, adapted, and republished without permission or licensing fees.

This status applies regardless of artistic merit or authorship and includes photographs, films, reports, and other materials produced under federal commission.

A notable example is Ansel Adams’s documentation of the Manzanar War Relocation Center, produced in 1943–44 under contract with the U.S. government. While Adams’s personal and commercial work remains copyrighted, the Manzanar photographs are public domain due to their federal origin. The same principle applies to the extensive photographic output of the Farm Security Administration (FSA), including works by Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Russell Lee, Gordon Parks, and others.

About Ikonographia reproductions of U.S. government works

While the underlying images are public domain, Ikonographia’s files are the result of independent photographic and post-production work, not simple mechanical reproductions.

For example, in the case of the Manzanar archive:

• Original large-format negatives were accessed in high-resolution digital form

• Period reference prints by Ansel Adams were examined for tonal intent

• Source positives were inverted and re-processed to restore historically accurate contrast

• Extensive manual retouching corrected physical degradation (scratches, dust, artifacts)

• Final tonal and chromatic adjustments were made to match the visual character of period prints

The resulting files are new, high-resolution photographic interpretations, optimized for large-format reproduction and faithful to the historical originals.
Licensing applies only to this independent photographic work, not to the underlying public-domain images themselves.

Works published or made available to the public in the UK before 1 January 1969.

The copyright expires 70 years after the first publication.
The copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death if the work is a photograph.

Please see this flowchart by the National Archives.

Typographical arrangement of published editions.
In the UK, copyright in the actual typographical layout of the published editions only lasts 25 years from the end of the year it was published. More info in the next tab.

Exceptions: Works under Crown-Copyright. Please see the “Crown Copyright” tab.

The 1988 UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act states the duration of copyright as:

Typographical arrangement of published editions.
In the UK, copyright in the actual typographical layout of the published editions only lasts 25 years from the end of the year it was published. In other words, reproducing the magazines by scanning them would not pose any problem. Source at gov.uk, see 2.V.

A typographical arrangement refers to the way a published edition is visually laid out, e.g., columns of text on the page, where illustrations are inserted, etc. Source, see “Typographical arrangements”.
This category includes magazines, newspapers, books, booklets, brochures, flyers, and posters.

In the case of republishing individual articles and illustrations (with different designs), the copyright expires after 70 years from the author’s death. Source.

In Practice
There is no copyright in the typographical arrangement of any edition published in the UK for the first time before 1 June 1957. It was first introduced under the 1956 Copyright Act and continued in The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (the CDPA).

The CDPA defines a published edition as ‘a published edition of the whole or any part of one or more literary, dramatic or musical works’: artistic works are not protected.
The duration of the typographical right is 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published. Source.

Other sources:
UK National Archives
The UK Copyright Service.
Paul Burness

Please notice that any advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of the Legal Services Act 2007.

Ikonographia takes copyright matters seriously. Therefore, don’t hesitate to contact us if you think you are the copyright owner. If you are right, we will work with you to find a solution you agree with or permanently take the relevant part of the website’s content.

Crown copyright covers all works that are “prepared or published by or under the direction or control of Her Majesty or any government department.”
With few variations, it’s also valid in the Commonwealth countries. Wikipedia.

If the work was first made available to the public before 1 January 1969, the copyright expires 50 years after the first publication.

Please see this flowchart by the National Archives.

The copyright for illustrations, photographs, and texts expires 70 years after the author’s death.
The copyright of magazines and periodicals (Collective work)  expires 50 years after the first publication.
This is particularly valid for the actual typographical layout of the published editions. In other words, reproducing the magazines by scanning them would not pose any problem.

“Collective Work” is a work of several authors assembled and published under the direction of one natural or legal person who owns the copyright in the work as a whole. Magazines fall into this category.

There were several international agreements governing copyright, such as “The Universal Copyright Convention” (UCC) adopted in Geneva in 1952 and the “TRIPS Agreement” negotiated between 1989 and 1990 and administered by the WTO.

The European Union has its copyright law applicable within the EU. As a result, copyright law is largely harmonized in the Union, although country to country, significant differences exist.
This means it is challenging to determine if a “Collective Work” is still under copyright.

Please notice that any advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of the Legal Services Act 2007.

Ikonographia takes copyright matters seriously. Therefore, don’t hesitate to contact us if you think you are the copyright owner. If you are right, we will work with you to find a solution that you agree with or permanently take the relevant part of the website’s content.

About  “Codice dei Beni Culturali e del Paesaggio.”

Institutional image rights may apply when reproductions are made under the authority, access, or control of a museum or public institution managing a cultural asset, even when the original work is in the public domain. Independent photographic rights, instead, arise from the creation of an original photograph made autonomously, using one’s own equipment and creative choices. In such cases, the license concerns the photograph itself—its authorship, execution, and visual interpretation—and is distinct from any administrative permissions related to the physical artwork or site.

The administrative regulations governing image reproduction by museums and public institutions apply when images are produced under their authority, access conditions, or contractual control. The photographic works published by Ikonographia are created independently, without institutional commissions, exclusive access, or delegated reproduction rights. As such, licensing concerns the original photographic work—its authorship, execution, and visual interpretation—and does not derive from, nor substitute, institutional permissions related to the management of the physical cultural asset.

Accordingly, Ikonographia licenses concern the photographic work as an original creative output, not the underlying cultural asset itself.

Great institutions certify if the work showcased on their sites are under Public Domain or not. However, as seen in the previous chapter, in general, this “status” is referred to as their country.

Of course, in some cases, you can be sure that content is definitely in Public Domain in any country. An example is the iconic Van Gogh’s Self Portrait kept at the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam. The museum put that work in Public Domain and can be used without restrictions worldwide.

Here a list of the most important Institutions with digital archives in the Public Domain.

The Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library, offers free universal access to books, movies & music, and 406 billion archived web pages. However, not all the works are in Public Domain as some contents can be used only for Fair Use.
For example, Hollywood Magazine from January to December 1936. To be sure, check in the “Show More” section, and you may find the “Possible copyright status” where the Library of Congress has determined that this item is not in copyright.

The Library of Congress and The New York Public Library Digital Collections made available hundreds of thousands of images with an average very high reproduction quality.

The Nation Archives Catalog keeps over 90 million digital files of the US Government that, by law, are in Public Domain, no matter the publication date.

The Metropolitan Museum, with 406.000 images of public-domain works in its collection available under Creative Commons Zero (CC0).

The Getty makes available, without charge, all available digital images to which the Getty holds the rights or is in the Public Domain to be used for any purpose. No permission is required.

The Rijksmuseum is a Dutch national library based in Amsterdam with a unique collection of works of arts, prints, and magazines in the Public Domain.

Gallica, the digital dept. of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, made available millions of documents, books, and magazines, mostly french, including several years of Vogue Paris. They have a different policy about their Public Domain works as downloading them they ask you to agree their policy that doesn’t allow any kind of use that may directly bring revenues!

Sorry for no citing many other Sources. Hundreds of millions of resources are available, often free on the Web. The problem is finding, sorting out, aggregate, putting in a contest, and, when necessary, digitally restoring them; this is where Ikonographia stands for.

Unless otherwise specified, public-domain images on Ikonographia are freely viewable and, in many cases, downloadable at web resolution.

We charge a moderate fee only for high-resolution, professionally prepared files.

Ikonographia does not operate as an automated image repository. Maintaining the archive involves substantial costs, and the site is deliberately kept free of advertising. The files offered for sale are not simple scans: they are high-quality digital reproductions, restorations, or original photographic works, produced through time-consuming, professional workflows.

In many cases, images are reproduced directly from original printed material. For example, seamless double-page spreads require precise alignment, color correction, reconstruction of gutters, and restoration of aging paper and ink—work that cannot be automated and must be done manually.

This is particularly true for publications such as Flair and Portfolio, now in the public domain. To reproduce these magazines at high resolution, the originals must often be carefully unbound, a process that permanently alters or destroys the physical object. In the case of Portfolio, whose bindings were reinforced with heavy industrial glue, unbinding is exceptionally complex and frequently results in inevitable loss or damage to margins, requiring meticulous digital reconstruction. These magazines are also rare and costly—individual issues can exceed $1,000—which makes such work both technically demanding and economically prohibitive for most institutions.

In other cases, Ikonographia works from existing public-domain digital archives. For instance, the photographer Toni Frissell donated her archive to the Library of Congress as public domain. Preparing curated stories from this material requires reviewing tens of thousands of images, downloading very large raw scans, selecting a small curated set, performing extensive restoration, visual harmonization, and scholarly contextualization before publication.

What is offered for sale, therefore, is not the public-domain work itself, but the high-resolution digital file resulting from Ikonographia’s independent labor: restoration, selection, interpretation, and presentation.

Charging for these files allows the archive to remain sustainable while offering material at a level of quality, coherence, and reliability that cannot be achieved through bulk digitization alone.

rightsstatements.org is a non-profit organization that determines if an item is under copyright, partial copyright, or public domain in the United States.
Where possible, we’ll add their logo to the pages/pictures.
The same copyright status may not be valid for other countries.

Site’s home page
No copyright – United States