Research Guide to Art

This research guide provides information relevant to basic design (ART 100) and art appreciation (ART 105), although many of the resources listed should also be useful to students in more specialized art classes.

• Introduction/How to Search
• Reference Resources (Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, eBooks, Etc.)
• Online Databases
• Web Sites

Indicates title is an ebook

Introduction/How to Search

Librarians do not simply buy materials and randomly put them onto the shelves. Each new item is classified -meaning it is examined carefully and assigned a number to make sure that materials on the same subject are shelved together. Pima College 's Library uses the Library of Congress classification system, as does the University of Arizona . This system assigns each subject a combination of letters and numbers, then uses these letters and numbers to arrange materials on the shelves. (For more information see How to Read a Call Number .)

The following table shows how some basic subject headings in art are classified. Clicking on any of these subject headings will start a search for the subject in the Library catalog.

Reference Resources

This section lists a few art reference tools. Not all the print resources listed are available at all campus libraries. Check the Library catalog to verify the availability of titles.

• Bleiberg, Edward, ed.  Arts and Humanities Through the Eras. 5 vols.  Detroit: Gale, 2005. Profiling milestones and movements in the arts, literature, music, and religion from a specific period, each volume in this five-volume set helps students and researchers understand the various disciplines of the humanities in relation to each other, as well as to history and culture. One of the nine chapters is devoted to the visual arts.
• The Book of Art . New York : Grolier, 1976. Call no.: ND1150 .B66 1976. Provides an historical overview particularly suited to art appreciation. v. 1. How to look at art. Origins of Western art. Italian art to 1800.--v. 2. Flemish and Dutch art. German and Spanish art to 1900. French art from 1350 to 1850. British and North American art to 1900.- v. 3. Impressionists and post-impressionists. Modern art. Chinese and Japanese art.
• Chilvers, Ian, Harold Osborne, and Dennis Farr. The Oxford Dictionary of Art . New York : Oxford University Press, 2004. Call no.: N33.O93 2004.Useful “ready reference” containing over 3,000 entries on art and artists, including a chronology. Note that this title is also available in Oxford Reference Online (see listing in the Online Databases section for further information).
• Cumming, Robert. Art: A Field Guide . 1st American ed. New York : Knopf, 2001. Call no.: N31 .C86 2001. Useful art handbook in three sections: painters; explanation of the symbols and stories of Western art; and definitions of artistic tecniques, media, tooks, movements and styles.
• Evans, Poppy. Graphic Designer's Ultimate Resource Directory . Cincinnati , Ohio : North Light Books, 1999. Call no.: NC999 .E825 1999. Provides directory information for sources for illustrators, paper supplies, professional designer organizations, studio equipment, supply vendors, etc.
• Havlice, Patricia Pate. Index to Artistic Biography . Metuchen. N.J.: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 1973. Call no.: N40 .H38. This reference book (and a supplement published in 1981) serves as an index to published biographical information on artists.
• Jacobson, R. E. The Manual of Photography: Photographic and Digital Imaging . 9th ed. Boston , Mass. : Focal Press, 2000. Call no.: TR145 .M315 2000. Provides technical information on imaging systems, fundamentals of light and vision, photographic light sources, cameras, and similar topics.
• Martin, Judy. The Encyclopedia of Printmaking Techniques . Philadelphia : Running Press, 1993. Call no.: NE850 .M375 1993. Heavily illustrated reference with sections on linocut, woodcut, screen printing, mezzotint, etching, lithogrpahy, intaglio printing, monoprints, and other techniques.
• McDarrah, Fred W., and Gloria S. McDarrah. The Photography Encyclopedia . New York : Schirmer Books, 1999. Call no.: TR9 .M39 1999. A dictionary arrangement with brief definitions of photographic terms, as well as biographies on important photographers and a timeline of photography. Also includes sections on awards, galleries and museums, magazines, booksellers, manufacturers, films, and books.
• M.E. Sharpe Inc. Lives and Works in the Arts : From the Renaissance to the 20th Century . Library reference ed. 9 vols. Armonk , N.Y. : Sharpe Reference, 1997. Call no.: NX449.5 .L58 1997. This set surveys the lives and works of European and American writers, artists, and composers from the Renaissance into the twentieth century.
• Myers, Bernard Samuel, and David Eggenberger. Encyclopedia of World Art . 16 vols. New York : McGraw-Hill, 1959. Call no.: N31 .E4833. A multi-volume encyclopedia devoted to all of the representational arts: architecture, sculpture, and painting. Each volume contains extensive plates grouped together at the end of the volume.
• Ochoa, George, Melinda Corey, and H.W. Wilson Company. The Wilson Chronology of the Arts . New York : H.W. Wilson Co., 1998. Call no.: N5306 .O26 1998. This is a chronological listing of developments in the creative arts, including architecture, decorative arts, film, graphic arts, painting, drawing, photography and sculpture.
• Osborne, Harold. The Oxford Companion to the Decorative Arts . Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1975. Call no.: NK30 .O93. Covers crafts such as leather-working, ceramics, textiles, costume, wood-working, metal-working, glass-making, etc. Dictionary arrangement with longer articles on major topics.
• Plowman, John. The Encyclopedia of Sculpting Techniques . Philadelphia : Running Press, 1995. Call no.: NB1170 .P566 1995. Highly illustrated guide to materials, techniques and themes.
• R.R. Bowker Company, and American Federation of Arts. American Art Directory . New York : Jaques Cattell Press R. R. Bowker, 1952- . Call no.: N 40 A512. This directory is published annually (e.g., 2007-08). It provides directory information on art organizations, schools, museums (here and abroad), art magazines, and similar topics.
• Stroebel, Leslie D., and Richard D. Zakia. The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography . 3rd ed. Boston , Mass. : Focal Press, 1993. Call no.: TR9 .F6 1993. This is a helpful dictionary of terms arranged alphabetically that also contains some 200 brief biographical entries.
• Turner, Jane. The Dictionary of Art . 34 vols. New York : Grove's Dictionaries, 1996, 2002.Call no.: N31 .D5. This is the comprehensive encyclopedic resource in the arts, including artists, patrons and collectors, cities and sites, countries and cultures, art forms, materials, and techniques. The index in volume 34 is essential to make the best use of this encyclopedia. Note that the Dictionary of Art is also available online as Grove Art Online (see the Online Databases section for further information).
• Walker, John Albert. Glossary of Art, Architecture & Design since 1945 . 3rd ed. Boston , Mass. : G.K. Hall, 1992.Call no.: N34 .W34 1992. A dictionary of art terms. Note that there are no page numbers. Instead, each entry is numbered. Some biographical information is included in the articles, and can be accessed via the index at the end of the book.
• West, Shearer. The Bulfinch Guide to Art History: A Comprehensive Survey and Dictionary of Western Art and Architecture . 1st North American ed. Boston , Mass. : Little Brown and Co., 1996. Call no.: N380 .B78 1996. Handbook with broad essays (e.g., women as artists and subjects, art and the renaissance in Italy ) as well as an A-Z dictionary of art terms and biographies.

Online Databases

Unless otherwise indicated, the databases below are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week with a student ID or a faculty/staff Library card.

• The principal online database for art is Grove Art Online, which replicates the content of Turner's Dictionary of Art (noted above), and includes annual updates. The 34 volumes of the print set translate to over 45,000 articles, some 30,000 links to color images, and over 100,000 images available in the Bridgeman Art Library . Articles in Grove Art Online also contain scholarly bibliographies.
• A useful database for images in the fine arts is  ARTstor .  Areas covered include architecture, painting, photography, sculpture, decorative arts and design, as well as archeological and anthropological objects, and visual and material culture more generally. The database contains some 300,000 images and related data, and is expected to grow to 500,000 images by 2006.
• Oxford Reference Online  provides access to eight Oxford titles in the arts:A Dictionary of Architecture, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, The Oxford Dictionary of Art (noted above),A Dictionary of Modern Design, The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance, A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art, andThe Oxford Companion to Western Art.
• Providing articles from a variety of sources (mostly magazines and newspapers), SIRS Renaissance provides “current perspectives on the arts,” and includes a glossary of the arts, sections on the visual and performing arts, multimedia, and architecture and design.
• Research Library from ProQuest provides access to a wide range of popular academic subjects and includes over 3,850 titles, with more than 2,620 in full-text with access to thousands of scholarly publications.
• Academic Search Premier contains indexing for more than 8,100 journals, with full text for nearly 4,500 of those titles.
• MasterFILE Premier contains full text for nearly 1,730 popular periodicals covering general reference, business, health, education, general science, multicultural issues and much more.
• For biographical information on better known artists, you can use Wilson Biographies Plus Illustrated , which contains biographies and obituaries on over 111,000 famous individuals.

Web Sites

There are thousands of web sites devoted to art. We've listed a small number of high-quality sites that contain links to additional sites.

• Artcyclopedia. 1999. Web site. Available at: http://www.artcyclopedia.com/ . Accessed on: Aug. 15, 2007. This site allows users to search by artist, artwork, or museum. It also has links to art movements and the ability to browse by subject, movement, nationality, etc.
• Art History Network. 1996. Web site. Available at: http://www.arthistory.net/ . Accessed on: Aug. 15, 2007. This web site features links to journals and magazines, images and virtual tours, general resources, organizations, jobs, discussion groups and chat, and a bookstore. There are also links to artists and civilizations.
• Delahunt, Michael, M.F.A. Artlex Art Dictionary. 1996. Web site. Available at: http://www.artlex.com . Accessed on: Aug. 15, 2007. This web site provides short definitions of terms in art production, criticism, history, aesthetics, and education, as well as longer articles which are listed in the "shortcuts" section on the home page.
• The Great Buildings Collection. Web site. Available at: http://www.greatbuildings.com/ . Accessed on: Aug. 15, 2007. This site is about more than just buildings. It provides the ability to search for architects, places, and buildings, and includes photographic images, architectural drawings, 3D models, and links to other architecture sites.
• Leggat, Robert. A History of Photography: From Its Beginnings Till the 1920s. 1992. Web site. Available at: http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/ . Accessed on: Aug. 15, 2007. This site "is not designed to be a course on the history of photography as much as a resource to dip into." It includes information on significant photographic processes and over 100 important photographers.
• Metropolitan Museum of Art. Timeline of Art History. 2000. Web site. Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm . Accessed on: Aug. 15, 2007. Provides 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." The web site covers prehistory to 1800 A.D., and intends to increase coverage to the present day by the fall of 2004.
• Photo.Net. 2000. Web site. Available at: http://www.photo.net/ . Accessed on: Aug. 15, 2007. Photo.net is one of the most popular web sites devoted to photography, with some 680,000 gallery photos, articles related to travel and photography, and links to other photography websites.
• Sculptor.Org: A Comprehensive Resource for Sculptors. 1996. Web site. Available at: http://www.sculptor.org/ . Accessed on: Aug. 15, 2007. Sculptor.org contains links to schools, biographies, associations, services, supplies, and more.
• Witcombe, Chris. Art History Resources on the Web. 1995. Web site. Available at: http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html . Accessed on: Aug. 15, 2007. This site is a web directory with links to art history resources. Information is arranged by period, type and school of art, and country. The site is developed and maintained by a professor of art history at Sweet Briar College .