Museums & Libraries Offer Free Coloring Books

Museums & Libraries Offer Free Downloadable Coloring Books The Getty The Smithsonian University of Minnesota New York Botanic Garden Folger Shakespeare Library

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'Lion of the Sea,' from the Wangensteen Historical Library at the University of Minnesota. Courtesy the University of Minnesota

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Cleary & Co., 'Catalogue,' (1902). Courtesy New York Botanic Garden

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Illustration by John Austen for a 1922 edition of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet.' Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library

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Phillip Otto Runge, 'Times of Day' (1805). Courtesy The Getty Research Institute

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Oswald Herzog, 'Plastik; Sinfonie des Lebens' (1921). Courtesy the Smithsonian Libraries

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After Detroit-based art gallery Library Street Collective teamed up with local restaurants and organizations to provide free dinners and a limited edition coloring book to kids in need during the coronavirus pandemic, dozens of museums and libraries are now releasing unique coloring books based on their famous collections. As the coronavirus outbreak has led to quarantine and self-isolation policies, these free, downloadable coloring pages add to an ongoing list of “social distancing” activities.

Since 2016, the New York Academy of Medicine invited libraries, cultural institutions and archives around the world to provide printable PDF pages based on their collections. In light of the current situation, more than 100 organizations have joined this project, including the New York Botanical Garden, the Smithsonian and the University of Oxford. Some highlights include The Getty’s coloring book, which is divided into themes of beauty, longing, strength and death, along with the University of Minnesota’s pages featuring unicorns, sea lions and dragons drawn from its library archive.

View pages from select museums and libraries above and check out the coloring books for yourself under the hashtag #ColorOurCollections.

In other news, StolenSpace Gallery is launching virtual reality exhibitions of Yoon Hyup and Aches Dub’s artworks.

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