5 Minutes with… Harriet Bridgeman

More than half a century ago, long before ‘digital assets’ and ‘image licensing’ became industry jargon, Harriet Bridgeman spotted a gap in the cultural landscape and decided it was time for a quiet revolution.

It’s the early '70s, and frustrated by the logistical nightmare of sourcing images for her weekly arts magazine, young Harriet had a radical idea: what if there were a central archive of art images – accessible, high-quality, and fair to the artists and institutions behind them? It was this idea that blossomed into Bridgeman Images – a project that would reshape the visual economy of art publishing forever.

As Bridgeman Images celebrates over 50 years, Harriet reflects on the early hurdles – from sceptical museum directors to analogue tech – and the global platform it has since become. Institutions across the world still rely on the archive today, and even Getty and Corbis once sought Harriet’s advice before launching.

Today, Harriet speaks candidly about the impact of AI, copyright erosion, and the complex future of digital image culture. Remaining clear-eyed and unwaveringly dedicated to supporting young artists, she continues to be a force quietly shaping the next era of visual heritage.

LBB> You founded Bridgeman Images over 50 years ago. What do you remember most vividly about those early days and what motivated you to take that leap?

Harriet> I founded Bridgeman Images because I was editing a weekly illustrated magazine and having great difficulty in getting the illustrations on time. Colour photography was nowhere near as good as it is now, and as one museum director once said to me, it is better that a painting is reproduced in black and white rather than in poor imitation of the original colour.

Even national museums at that point were just beginning to organise staff photographers and very few provincial museums had their own photographer, hence there had been a struggle to get the illustrations for my magazine quickly, if at all. It was also very difficult for picture researchers to source images, for example front covers for books, since there was no central archive to which they could go and you really needed to see a selection of images before choosing the right image for the project.

A lot of museums and other institutions had no illustrated catalogues of their collections so it was a catch-22 situation. This, and the fact that museums were not making any money from the reproduction rights to their paintings and were obviously unable to deaccession their paintings to raise funds, motivated me to suggest we took over the marketing of their rights to their paintings, to give them an income.

LBB> This idea of centralising art image rights and making them more accessible was revolutionary in the '70s. What was the biggest hurdle in getting the art world on board?

Harriet> Initially, there was slight concern about my suggestion because it was new, and change is always difficult for people, but it was encouraging that most of the museum directors I met described it as a win-win situation. It was certainly before museums were made to think both commercial and academic could sit side by side.

LBB> How did your background in publishing and editorial work help shape the way you envisioned and structured Bridgeman Images?

Harriet> With regards to structure, I never produced a business plan, I just knew there was a need for a central archive for images and that museums were missing the opportunity to make some extra money to support their collections.

I was helped initially by going into partnership with A. C. Cooper, who were the Queen’s official photographers. They had many great contacts and the first organisation to support our initiative was the Corporation and Citizens of the City of London, which included the Guildhall Art Gallery and Library, and the Barbican Museum and Art Gallery. Our very first contract was on impressive parchment with a big red seal from the Corporation and Citizens of the City of London! This brought back memories of Dick Whittington.

I, too, had a wide number of contacts from my own publishing work, so in some ways, it was the perfect partnership. We broke the partnership relatively soon because it became obvious that A. C. Cooper, as commissioned photographers, were not really in a position to add to a library but it was an amicable separation and a good thing to have done at the time.

LBB> The archive has grown into one of the most respected resources for art, culture, and history. What do you think has been the key to its longevity and global relevance?

Harriet> I think the main point is there was nothing like it before and there has been no proper substitute since. Although general stock libraries such as Getty and Corbis were started subsequently, both of them came to me for advice before they opened up. I think people also appreciate the fact that we are helping to support the arts. We share up to 50% of our revenue as royalties, and over the years we have given back more than £75m to the institutions we represent.

We represent a number of artists who understandably find it difficult to market their work as well as create it, and there has been an increasing recognition amongst book designers that contemporary images can sell a book in some ways rather better than a traditional image. We now hold book cover awards which attract a lot of talent and we have a very good stable of contemporary artists. We have offices in five countries and we also have distributors around the world, ensuring that we have the best reach possible for our clients and the organisations we represent, which can help to maximise their income.

LBB> Over the decades, you’ve witnessed huge shifts in technology - from analogue to digital, print to online licensing. What was the most transformative moment for the business in that evolution?

Harriet> When I started the library we only had typewriters, not even word processors, there was only telex, no fax or any of the other facilities offered by the digital world.

For us, the greatest step forward was to be among the first to take advantage of the progress being made technically. I was fortunate enough to meet Stephen Ginn at the time, who was advising the National Portrait Gallery and others, and he used our library as an experiment to see if it was easy to digitise a painting.

At first he said there was too much content in the average painting and it would lead to too much pixilation, which would be detrimental to its reproduction. He persevered, as did others, and we now have this remarkably different world in which images are digitised by everyone, including children with their mobile telephones!

LBB> You’ve championed artist rights through initiatives like the Artists' Collecting Society. Why is that area of advocacy so important to you personally?

Harriet> To answer the question simply, there would be no art without artists.

On the whole, artists have a difficult time making ends meet, so any support that we can give them, particularly when they have just left art school, is very important to me. Wearing my Artists’ Collecting Society hat, we are a not-for-profit community interest company, so any surplus money we make is fed back into the artistic community, and we offer support via residencies, bursaries, studio prizes, etc.

LBB> Bridgeman Images isn’t just about accessibility, it’s also about preserving cultural heritage. How do you approach that balance between business and legacy?

Harriet> However one looks at art, there are only a limited number of masterpieces, recognised around the world. We make sure these are all represented by the library and the fact that we have images from institutions such as the British Library, the Royal Collection and national collections around the world helps with this.

Apart from the iconic images, we ensure we have a good representation of virtually every important period in art. Admittedly, this has been helped over the years with requests from many different clients and to that extent, the library has been built up on need. We represent such a broad spectrum of museums, collections, historic houses and other organisations. We also represent 75 national and royal collections from 18 countries.

LBB> You were awarded a CBE for services to the arts. How did it feel to have your work recognised in that way, and what does 'service to the arts' mean to you?

Harriet> I was both honoured and surprised to be given a CBE but in fact it’s not just a personal recognition, it also signifies the work that has been done over a long period of time by the excellent people who have worked for me, most of whom were/are art historians.

Another reason why I am grateful to the business is because it allowed me to employ many burgeoning art historians over the years, as art history is not an easy area in which to gain a foothold.

LBB> Looking back on your career, what are you most proud of? And is there anything you wish you’d done differently?

Harriet> There is nothing I wish I had done differently. I am very grateful for such a fulfilling life which allowed me to travel all around the world, meeting people involved with the arts or running museums. My work has been my play!

LBB> Bridgeman Images continues to evolve today. What’s next for the business, and what excites you about the future of image licensing and digital culture?

Harriet> It’s difficult not to feel despondent about the future, because the image world has gone through almost a bigger change than when digitalisation was introduced.

Many museums are now open source and also allow visitors to photograph their paintings, hence there is a much greater prevalence of the unlawful reproduction of images at a low resolution, resulting in many more copyright infringements and poor quality reproductions.

The rapid development of AI platforms only adds to this concern but AI also has its positives – we are using it to improve our search functionality on our website, help with cataloguing and to streamline repetitive jobs. I am sure that our improved search will allow many more users to access correct images more easily and make them aware of the unparalleled scope of our collection.

LBB> Finally, if you could sit down with any artist from history for a conversation – who would it be, and what would you ask them?

Harriet> I would like to cheat on this question! I would like to suggest three artists – William Blake, because I am fascinated by his philosophy, his mind and his poetry, and I also think he is a very good artist.

Secondly, Stanley Spencer, whom I met briefly when I was at school and whose estate we now represent. His work is always very personal and having met both his daughters and heard of their rather extraordinary upbringing, it makes it even more interesting for me.

Lastly, having been to Mexico a few times, I am fascinated by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, who were pioneers of their time and were superb exponents of their art.