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Collection Online Guide and FAQs
With our redesigned Collection Online, there are many ways you can enjoy our collection virtually. The CMA’s Collection Online has entries for more than 68,000 artworks, most with high-resolution images, and several including videos, in-depth descriptions, 3-D models, and more. This guide can help you start your search. See below for search tips and frequently asked questions. If you cannot find the answer to your question here, please email help.website@clevelandart.org.
Collection Search
The search bar has an autocomplete feature that can help you find exactly what you’re looking for, whether you’re searching for an artist, an artwork, an accession number, or a key word. You can also use the “Limit by” feature to specify what field you want your search term to be in (i.e., title, artist’s name, description).
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You can filter your results using some of the filter options available. You can see results in the collection highlights, open-access artworks, art with videos, art that’s currently on view, or objects in 3-D. You can also use one of the popular filters or filter by art in specific exhibitions. These buttons also act as pre-populated searches, allowing you to browse the collection and find something that interests you.
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The popular filters are also visible in the "Explore themes" carousel.
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Once you’ve made a search, you can organize your results in either list view or grid view (which is the default). You can also sort your results by relevance, accession date, title, or creation date.
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You might also notice that some images are designated as a “Cover record.” This means that this object is part of a set. If you click on the “Cover record” banner, it will take you to a filtered search that will show you all the objects in that set.
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If the capabilities of the standard collection search aren’t sufficient for your needs, you can use the advanced search. The advanced search has several specific fields that allow you to find exactly what you’re looking for.
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Artwork Detail Page
When you click on an artwork from the collection search, you are taken to its art detail page.
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The art detail page is split into two halves. The left half is focused on the image of the artwork you selected and offers many different ways to view the image: zoom in, zoom out, and expand the image. If the artwork you selected has 3-D photogrammetry, you can view it in 3-D. For some artworks, you can also explore additional views or see conservation images that show the process of conserving the artwork. Artworks with conservation images are accompanied by a detailed conservation statement.
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While the left side of the art detail page is focused on the image, the right side of the page is focused on information and scholarship about the artwork. This section contains up to 36 fields of metadata that can include fields like artist biography, provenance, or citation.
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If you click on any of these underlined categories, you’re taken to a collection search page that filters for artworks within that category. For example, if you click on the "Location" link, you can see all objects that are in that gallery.
This side clearly states if the artwork you’re looking at is open access. If it is, you have several different options to download the image or information in the way that best suits your needs.
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If you scroll down further on the page, you find any videos associated with the artwork, the “See Also” section, and “Visually Similar Artworks.” The “See Also” section shows you some categories the artwork falls in (like the collection, the department, the type of artwork) and takes you to a filtered search where you can explore all the artworks in that category.
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Finally, at the bottom of the page, you see content on the main site that is related to the artwork, like magazine articles, exhibitions, or videos. These will all take you back to the main part of the website.
Frequently Asked Questions about Search and Advanced Search
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Relevance: All search results default to sorting by relevance. This means that the artworks with the most citations and information appear automatically at the top of the search results.
Accession Date: Old–New: An accession number is how the museum labels artworks that are a part of the collection. Typically, the accession number starts with the year that the artwork entered the collection. Use this filter to sort results so the oldest accession numbers appear at the top of the list and the most recent accession numbers appear at the bottom of the list.
Accession Date: New–Old: An accession number is how the museum labels artworks that are a part of the collection. Typically, the accession number starts with the year that the artwork entered the collection. Use this filter to sort results so the most recent accession numbers appear at the top of the list and the oldest accession numbers appear at the bottom of the list.
Title: A–Z: Use this filter to sort results alphabetically by title.
Title: Z–A: Use this filter to sort results reverse-alphabetically by title.
Date: Old–New: Use this filter to sort results so that oldest artworks appear at the top of the list and newest artworks appear at the bottom of the list.
Date: New–Old: Use this filter to sort results so that newest artworks appear at the top of the list and oldest artworks appear at the bottom of the list.
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Exhibitions: Select this drop down to see all current exhibitions at the CMA. Select one exhibition from the list to see all CMA-owned artworks on-view in that specific exhibition.
Popular: Select this drop down to see some popular prepopulated searches including CMA artworks on loan around the world, female artists, recent acquisitions, and African American artists. This list is frequently updated with new, relevant searches.
Highlights: Selecting this button shows only collection highlights. These artworks are hand-selected by curators and represent every collection area. Curators regularly update their selections.
Open Access: Open access content (images, data, software, and documentation) is content that the CMA publishes digitally online, free of charge, and without copyright and licensing restrictions. Select this button to show only artworks that are a part of CMA’s open access collection. These artworks can be downloaded in both high-resolution JPG and TIF formats and used for commercial and noncommercial purposes.
With videos: For several years, the CMA has produced video content meant specifically to view on the CMA's museum-wide app, ArtLens, and that connects to the collection. These videos include interviews with curators, artists, and other creative professionals discussing themes within a specific artwork or artistic process. Select this button to show only artworks with videos.
On View: Select this button to see only artworks that are on-view at the museum.
In 3-D: A selection of artworks in the CMA’s collection have been photographed using a process called photogrammetry. This involves taking thousands of photos from many angles in order to generate a 3-D model. Select this button to see all artworks with 3-D models to explore.
On the main search page, click the “Sort: Relevance” (default) drop down menu and select “Sort: New–Old.” In the search results, you will see the entire collection listed by newest to oldest.
Read more about the extensive research the museum has conducted related to Nazi-era provenance.
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Some artworks are composed of multiple parts, like a tea set which might include multiple cups, plates, and saucers. By selecting the “Include Object Parts” filter on advanced search, you are ensuring that all objects and the parts they might be comprised of appear in the search results. For the tea set example, searching with this filter displays the main or cover image of the entire tea set in addition to images for all its individually accessioned cups, saucers, plates, or other parts.
Yes, you can see the CMA’s objects on loan at other institutions. To search for artworks on loan, from the main search page select the “Popular” dropdown and then select the “On Loan” filter.
While nearly all the artworks in the CMA’s collection have images, there are still some that have yet to be photographed. The CMA has an efficient and streamlined process for ensuring all artworks are photographed when accessioned into the collection.
After selecting whichever filters you prefer to achieve the desired search results, you can copy the entire URL and share it. All the selected filters will remain active.