Art History Basic Resources
“There's a need for art that connects us to each other. You go far enough back in any culture,
and you find these rituals, these ways of bringing people together. I think that connectedness
is so important to us. It always has been, you know; the rituals tell us that."
Gerry Riggs, Former Curator, UCCS Gallery of Contemporary Art
General Resources Dictionaries and Encyclopedias Artists Museums Images Methodology/Writing about Art Specialized Resources
ArtCyclopedia http://www.artcyclopedia.com/
A guide to artist's [especially painters and sculptors] works that can be viewed on the internet. Contains a
searchable database of art by artist, title of artwork, or location. Also contains brief definitions and explanations of
artistic styles and movements.
Art History N5300 .S923 1995
Marilyn Stokstad, in collaboration with David Cateforis, comprehensive two volume synopsis of the history of art.
Coverage begins with prehistory and
prehistoric art in Europe and ends with the international avant-garde since
1945.
Art Resources @ UTexas
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/fal/artresources.html
Art History Resources @ UC Berkeley
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ARTH/arthistresources.html
Art History Resources on the Web http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html
Designed by Professor Christopher Whitcombe of Sweet Briar College, this site links to other online resources for the
study of art history. Art is arranged by time period or location.
Art Source http://www.ilpi.com/artsource/welcome.html
A gathering point for online resources on art and architecture. The content is diverse and includes pointers to
resources around the net as well as original materials submitted by librarians, artists, and art historians, etc. This
site is intended to be selective, rather than comprehensive.
Fine Arts: A Bibliographic Guide to Basic Reference Works, Histories and Handbooks.
Donald L. Ehresmann, 3rd Edition. Reference Z5931 .E47 1990
Divided into reference works covering periodical articles and books published 1830 to 1988 and histories and
handbooks covering books published 1875 to 1988.
Guide to the Literature of Art History Reference N380 .A67 1980 and Reference Z5931 .M374 2005 N380
Bibliography addressing subject research in the field of art history. Divided into four parts: general reference sources,
materials for the study of art history, literature media, and serials.
Mother of All Art and Art History Links http://art-design.umich.edu/mother/
Created by the University of Michigan's School of Art and Design, the web page provides links to research resources,
art schools and museums, online exhibitions, art and art history programs, artists in new media, etc.
Research Resources in Art History: A
Brief Guide @ UC Berkeley
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ARTH/researchresources.html
Timeline of Art History http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm
The Timeline of Art History is a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around
the world as illustrated especially by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection. Each timeline page includes
representative art from the Museum's collection, a chart of time periods, a map of the region, an overview, and a list of key events.
The timelines, accompanied by world and regional maps, provide a linear outline of art history, and allow one to compare and contrast
art around the globe at any time in history.
DICTIONARIES AND ENCYCLOPEDIAS
Art and Architecture Thesaurus (Getty Art
History Information Program)
Reference
Z695.1.A7 A76 1990 and
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/
Covers terminology for art and architecture of the Western world from antiquity to the present. In addition, fields within art and architecture
are defined.
Provides a controlled vocabulary (subject headings) for art and
architecture.
ArtLex Art Dictionary http://www.artlex.com/
Definitions for more than 3,600 terms used in discussing art / visual culture, along with thousands of supporting
images, pronunciation notes, quotations and cross-references.
Praeger Encyclopedia of Art
Reference N33 .P68
A history of
world art with 4,000 alphabetically arranged entries, 5,000 fully integrated
illustrations, and over 3,000
biographies. Articles are complemented by information on periods, styles, schools, and movements.
HINT. Be aware that many artists may be listed under variant forms of their name,
Breugel, Jan Peeter
Breughel, Jan Peeter
Bruegel, Jan Peeter
also many different names for their works, viz Mona Lisa also known as La Joconda.
There are many comprehensive websites on well-known artists. For example,
Leonardo da Vinci http://www.mos.org/leonardo/
Index to Artistic Biography
Reference N40 .H38 and supplement
Artist's name, dates, nationality, media, and a references to books which
hold pertinent biographical information. The
work is cross-referenced for
alternative names and variant spellings. Latest supplement 2002.
Almost all museums and galleries now have a web presence. Search directly under the name of the institution.
Louvre http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home_flash.jsp?bmLocale=en
Allows the direct online consultation of 35,000 works of art exhibited in the Louvre. Online visitors can access the
basic information displayed on labels accompanying works in the museum, together with authoritative commentary
and analysis by the curators and staff. Visitors can carry out simple or advanced searches by keyword, artist, title,
inventory number, medium, technique, department or room. Recent acquisitions are also highlighted.
Google’s image search is often the fastest way to locate an image. Put the artist or work in "quotation marks" for
best results.
ARTstor http://www.artstor.org/
A repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images and related data and the tools to actively use those images.
Art Images for College Teaching http://arthist.cla.umn.edu/aict/html/
This collection of images is a personal, non-profit project of its author, art historian and visual resources curator Allan
T. Kohl. AICT is intended primarily to disseminate images of art and architectural works in the public domain on a
free-access, free-use basis to all levels of the educational community, as well as to the public at large. The images
displayed on this site have been photographed by the author.
Index To Reproductions Of European Paintings. Isabel Stevenson Monro and Kate M. Monro.
Reference ND45 .M6
A guide to pictures by European artists that are reproduced in 328 books. The paintings are entered under name,
distinctive title, and occasionally subject.
Web Gallery of Art http://www.wga.hu/index.html
The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the
Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods (1100-1850), currently containing over 14.500 reproductions.
Commentaries on pictures, biographies of artists are available.
WebMuseum Paris http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/
WebMuseum is an online collection of images ranging from European Gothic to Twentieth Century to Japanese art
and architecture. WebMuseum is a collaborative work of its visitors contributing to expand and improve the
WebMuseum. The site provides an online resource to items available in art museums around the world.
METHODOLOGY / WRITING ABOUT ART
Art Information And The Internet Reference N59 .J66 1999
Lois Swan Jones. Suggestions for finding credible information sources on the web.
Art Information : Research Methods and Resources Reference N85 .J64
Lois Swan Jones. Guide was created for people involved in the arts. Provides a description of most of the major
sources for art research and explains how
to use them.
A Short Guide to Writing About Art.
Sylvan
Barnet Reference N7476 .B37 2005
Sample essays
by students, professors, and scholars in the discipline of art history. The
purpose of this book is to
help students write about art. The emphasis is on seeing and saying and presenting what is seen effectively in
writing.
Writing About Art, Henry M. Sayre. Reference N7476 .S29 2006
An upbeat guide designed to prove that anyone can write about art once they know how to start and how to look. The
author teaches the reader how to look at the work and breaks down the components: composition, and color,
perspective, etc.
Writing About Visual Art. David Carrier Reference N7476 .C378 2003
A history of writing about art at all levels offers evidence that these writings create communities of learners and
increase visual acuity for the
reader. Many examples of writing about art from all time periods.
An online database that keeps you informed about the current art market. Includes information on how to buy, sell, or
research fine art online. As well as an auction price database and information on current art auctions.
Atlas of Western Art History Oversize G1046.E64 S7 1992
Maps and photographs provide a comprehensive overview of Western art from the ancient world through to modern
times.
The World Atlas of Archaeology
Oversize
G1046.E15 W6 1985
Study of archaeology ranging from Prehistoric Europe to the Modern Period.
Focuses on excavation, surveying,
conservation, limits of excavation, archeography and archeometry, publication and data banks, artifacts, cultural
systems, spatiality, and cultural heritage in the field of
archaeology.
Library of Congress Classification
HINT: you may expand each section at the following website