Visual artist at Muzéo: exploration, creativity, challenges

The iconographer, at the crossroads of history, art and technology, plays an essential role in the research and use of iconographic images. The iconographer is an image and documentation professional. Their role is to find works that already exist. They are particularly well represented in the communications, publishing and advertising sectors. 

Three issues are at the heart of their work: finding an image, illustration or work, obtaining distribution rights in accordance with artists' property rights and managing the quality of a collection or catalogue that enables them to exploit their resources.

Image research requires a solid general knowledge, given the wide range of subjects, some of them highly specialised, for which it is imperative to quickly find the most relevant visualisation to illustrate an idea or concept. It's essential to master the complex world of image banks and iconology, to know where to look, and sometimes to adopt creative approaches.

First of all, the immense diversity of the subjects covered is a fascinating aspect of the work. In a single day, research can range from contemporary, artistic views of a city like Paris, to the specific world of a 15th-century Italian painter to create an imposing 3-metre-high fresco, to the search for pop art images.

Flexibility is an essential quality in this business. Muzéo's iconographers can work alone, composing and researching works of art for hotel layouts, or supporting a graphic designer in the search for a set of iconography to create a Muzéo work. 

The effectiveness of the Muzéo team in providing relevant answers to a multitude of subjects proposed by clients. This requires close collaboration with specialist partners, sometimes unknown to the general public, but whose expertise is crucial in the field. Over the years, Muzéo has built up relationships of trust with its partners in France. 

Last but not least, Muzéo's work as an iconographer has an essential aesthetic dimension, which means we have to constantly maintain our knowledge of images, illustrations and art. Devoting time to reading articles, history, current art, exchanging ideas with colleagues in the creative team, as well as observing the latest photographic trends. This helps to nurture a unique visual culture and its sources of inspiration.

Finally, the job of iconographer at Muzéo has an essential aesthetic dimension, which means that you have to constantly maintain your knowledge of images, illustration and art. Devoting time to reading articles, history, current art, exchanging ideas with colleagues in the creative team, as well as observing the latest photographic trends. This helps to nurture a unique visual culture and its sources. 

At Muzéo, art consultancy projects are rooted in meaning. In this respect, the iconographer is essential to the successful completion of the projects. It is the iconographer who links the works together. In this way, the art collection designed specifically for the hotel in collaboration with the interior designer can offer a unique experience to the hotel's various guests.

Very few decoration companies have an iconographer. As a result, Muzéo's customers have access to remarkable catalogues of images, portraits, illustrations, works of art, etc. of the highest quality. 

Muzéo negotiates the rates for access to images for its customers, offering special conditions. 

Muzéo's customers can count on the assurance of legal clarification, which is vital for copyright, which is constantly changing and complex to understand. This guarantee is invaluable. 

Finally, the iconographer works with the team of experienced graphic designers right from the creation phase of the project, guaranteeing that all the images proposed will be printed in high definition and for which the rights have been negotiated beforehand.

The hot topic on everyone's lips is artificial intelligence! It is proving to be a prodigious tool for image enthusiasts, opening up absolutely startling new horizons. As iconographers, we need to take an interest in this technological advance. 

For the time being, it remains complex to anticipate the future, as there are many legal, technical, quality and creative constraints. However, it is essential to perceive the future of image-generating artificial intelligence as an exceptional resource that Muzéo knows and will know how to take advantage of in the months and years to come to push back the limits even further. 

More generally, the world of images on the internet is in the throes of change. The rise of open content under a free licence offers remarkable prospects and is a particularly exciting movement, provided we know how to take advantage of it. 

Indeed, the gradual deterioration in the quality of online images is making visual research more difficult over time. It is vital to recognise the power of photographic agencies and specialist image banks, which carry out a colossal amount of indexing work. Their content is extremely rich, and they represent very important partners, resources that should be exploited with discernment.

It's important to salute a movement that is gaining increasing momentum in the ecosystem of digital sources and images: open-content collections. 

They have been developing rapidly for the last fifteen years. Open-content collections streamline exchanges and make images that have fallen into the public domain highly accessible. These heritage collections can more easily be reinterpreted creatively, acquiring a real value in terms of use and sharing, with a view to making art accessible to all.

On the other hand, the profession of iconographer will become increasingly rare, because in a world of images and arts like ours (with constant exposure via social networks, for example) we have inevitably acquired skills in the distribution, research, purchase and administration of images. On the other hand, the iconographer will remain indispensable in his or her field, which is natively multidisciplinary: that of editorial arbitration at the crossroads of graphic design, legal and administrative management, documentation, data processing and aesthetic sense.

We live in a world where images play a central role. The cultural dimension of the image, its evocative power, the codes it conveys and its ability to overturn them all make the field of images a fascinating labyrinth.