The image economy: introduction

Scholarly publications in art history are fundamentally dependent on high-quality images for effectivedocumentation and argument. Copyright law, permission procedures and fees, and the labor-intensive processes of color separation andhigh-quality printing have long formed obstacles to cost-effective and timely publication. As of yet, these challenges have not beenmitigated by the advent of digital image (re)production. Initial prospects of easier, cheaper, and global circulation of images,expectations of fee reductions and widening fair use practices, and hopes of de facto deregulation of copyright restrictions havefaded. It is a paradox of the digital revolution that it has never been easier to produce and circulate a reproductive image, andnever harder to publish one.

Scholars and editors consistently identified mounting costs of permissions to reproduce images and escalatingcosts of printing them as constraining factors in the publishing of scholarly books with the kinds of illustrations required for clearcommunication in art history. Authors, publishers, librarians, and owners of copyrighted works of art and reproductive images alsoregistered considerable confusion about copyright law and fair use. Some publishers, copyright owners, distributors, and users ofimages have begun to devise solutions posed by the current image economy.