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Art History Research Guide

Contents:

Indexes to journal articles
General Art and Art History Resources
Specific Periods, Styles, or Techniques
Artist and Artwork Information
Museums
Image Resources
Books
 

See also the guide to Folk Art & World Art
St. Kate's Art & Art History Department home page


General Art and Art History Resources

Atlas of World Art     Ref  G 1046 .E1 O9 2004
Uses maps to present art from prehistory through the present, showing how artistic developments were influenced by location and culture

Bloomsbury Guide to Art
Available on Credo Reference.  Also see Credo's other Art sources.

The Dictionary of Art, 34 vols.      Ref  N 31 .D5 1996
Comprehensive art encyclopedia, international in scope. It covers all the visual arts from prehistory to the present, including Western and non-Western art

Encyclopedia of World Art, 16 vols.      Ref   N 31 .E533
While older than the Dictionary of Art, this set has many color plates

Oxford Dictionary of Art
Available on Oxford Reference Online.  Also see Oxford's other Art & Architecture sources

Timeline of Art History
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Timeline is "a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world"

Voice of the Shuttle
A web resource for research in the humanities. There are sections on Architecture, Art (Modern and Contemporary), Art History, and Photography

 
Art History Resources on the Web
ArtSource
BUBL Link: The Arts
The History of Art Virtual Library
Intute: Visual Arts
The Mother of All Art History Links Pages
Several sites with comprehensive lists of art and art history links
 

Art and Art History of Specific Periods, Styles, or Techniques

Modern and Contemporary Art | Earlier Periods | Religious Art | Symbols in Art
Sculpture | Architecture | Photography and Graphic Arts

These are just a few of our reference books--browse the shelves for others

Modern and Contemporary Art

1913 Armory Show
"Lauded as one of the most influential events in the history of American art, the Armory Show has a mythic legacy." This site presents a virtual tour of the show, along with commentary and essays.

Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art  2 vols.
Ref  N 6538 .M4 C664 2002

A Dictionary of Modern Design
Available on Oxford Reference Online

A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art
Available on Oxford Reference Online

Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Art
Rer  N 6490 .O94 1988

Earlier Periods

Baroque Art: A Topical Dictionary
Ref  N 6415 .B3 E18 1996

The Grove Encyclopedia of Classical Art and Architecture  2 vols.
Ref  N 5610 .G76 2007

Medieval Art: A Topical Dictionary
Ref  N 7850 .R67 1996
Focuses on Christian pictorial art, especially the subjects, symbols and themes of early Christian, western medieval, and Byzantine art

Renaissance Art: A Topical Dictionary
Ref  N 6370 .E27 1987

Religious Art

The Dent Dictionary of Symbols in Christian Art
Ref  N 7825 .S68 1994

Oxford Companion to Christian Art and Architecture
Ref  N 7830 .M87 1996

Symbols in Art

Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography  2 vols.
Ref  N 7560 .E53 1998

Illustrated Dictionary of Symbols in Eastern and Western Art
Ref  N 7740 .H35 1994

Sculpture

Encyclopedia of Sculpture Techniques
Ref  NB 1170 .M55 2005

Sculpture  4 vols.
Ref  NB 60 .S38130 1996
Coverage from early Greek, Roman, and Etruscan sculpture to the twentieth century

Architecture

A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Available on Oxford Reference Online

The Elements of Style: A Practical Encyclopedia of Interior Architectural Details from 1485 to the Present revised edition
Ref  NA 2850 .E44 1996

Encyclopedia of American Architecture 2nd edition
Ref  NA 705 .P3 1995

Thames & Hudson Dictionary of 20th Century Architecture
Available on Credo Reference

Photography and Graphic Arts

Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Photography  3 vols.
Ref  TR 642 .E5 2006

The Photography Encyclopedia
Ref  TR 9 .M39 1999

Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers
Available on Credo Reference

Typography
Ref  Z 250 .A2 F76 1998


Artist and Artwork Information

Artcyclopedia--the Fine Art Database
Search or browse a database of over 8000 artists

AskART.com
Information about 120,000 artists, including biographies (available free every Friday), books and journal articles about them, museums owning their work and a few images.

Biographical Dictionary of Artists
Available on Credo Reference

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists
Available on Oxford Reference Online

Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists
Ref  N 6512 .C854 1994

Dictionary of Women Artists 2 vols.
Ref  N 8354 .D53 1997
This set has entries for women artists in Europe, America, and Australia from the Middle Ages to the present, plus essays about training and work opportunities of women artists. It concentrates on painting and sculpture, but also covers printmaking, textiles, ceramics, and metalwork.

Latin American and Caribbean Artists of the Modern Era
Ref  N 6502.4 .S45 2003

Macmillan Biographical Encyclopedia of Photographic Artists & Innovators
Ref  TR 139 .B767 1983

North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century
Ref  N 6503 .N67 1995

Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists
Available on Oxford Reference Online

Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975
Ref  N 6536 .W56 1999

Women Artists of Color
Ref  N 8354 .W656 1999


Museums

Virtual Library Museums Pages
An online directory of museum home pages around the world supported by the International Council of Museums

Museums in the Metro Area
Goldstein Museum of Design
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Minnesota Museum of American Art
Museum of Russian Art
Walker Art Center
Weisman Art Museum

ArtsConnectEd
A joint project of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Walker Art Center, ArtsConnectEd is an art education resource for teachers, parents, and students


Image Resources

Artchive
View web images of more than 2000 works of art from over 200 different artists

Art Images for College Teaching (AICT)
Images are arranged into 5 broad categories: Ancient, Medieval Era, Renaissance & Baroque, 18th-20th Century, and Non-Western

Bridgeman Art Library Archive
Not the complete Bridgeman archive, but a large part of it--over 16,000 images

SILS Art Image Browser
From the Univ. of Michigan, a database of art, architectural, and museum object images

Web Gallery of Art
A virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism and Romanticism periods (1100-1850)


Books

Books in CLICnet, the Library's online catalog, are assigned subjects based on the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH).

Browsing shelf areas relevant to your topic can be a useful strategy. Books in the Reference and Circulating collections are shelved in general categories using the Library of Congress system. Below is a brief listing of some of the shelf locations in the field of art.

N

Visual arts (general)

NA Architecture
NB Sculpture
NC Drawing. Design. Illustration.
ND Painting
NE Print media
NK Decorative arts. Applied arts. Decoration and ornament. Including antiques in general.
NX Arts in general, including works dealing with two or more fine arts media.
TR Photography


For assistance with any of the resources in this guide, or for help doing research in art and art history, contact:
Deborah Kloiber, Reference Librarian