Art & Art History
Art & Art History Introduction
This page is designed to aid in research about art related topics. Please contact your subject librarian if you have any questions.
"The Department of Art & Art History is a diverse group of makers and thinkers advancing research and innovation in the visual arts. Our regional, national, and international contributions add to the richness of the CSU land grant mission and honor the power of a liberal arts education as an important part of the fabric of society."
Art & Design Associations
Associations & Societies
- American Association of Museums
- American Institute of Architects
- American Institute of Graphic Arts
- American Society for Aesthetics
- Art History Webmasters Association
- Art Libraries Society of North America
- Association of Art Historians
- College Art Association
- National Art Education Association
- Visual Resources Association
Artists & Designers
Free Website indexing major artists; includes brief biographical sketches and links to artists' works.
Commercial site containing listings for over 1,300 galleries, 36,000 works and 13,000 artists.
Biography and Genealogy MasterIndex (updated biannually)
Comprehensive index to 12 million biographical sketches. Check Morgan Library holdings for individual sources. CSU affiliates only.
Scans 2,700 journals and 1,800 books on a regular basis. A good source to get information on a specific artist. Covers 1984 to the present. CSU affiliates only.
See also a number of print reference sources on artists' biographies listed on the Print Reference Sources page of this guide.
Auction Records
Compilation of online auctions for various auction houses internationally.
A resource site to antiques and collectibles appraisal by the authors of the Kovel series of books.
Major Houses:
Book Dealers
AbeBooks [online used book seller]
Abrams [Harry N. Abrams]
Cambridge University Press North America
Getty [bookstore database including Getty publications]
Oxford University Press [USA site]
Paragon [a book dealer and gallery collecting in Asian Art and Antiques and Asian Studies in general]
Photo-Eye [large retailer of books dealing with photography and photo history]
Powell's Books [online used book seller]
Women's Studio Workshop [artists' book search]
Yale University Press art and architecture
Call Numbers
AM - Museums, Collectors, Collecting. GT - 500-2370 Costume, Fashion N - Visual Arts, Art History NA - Architecture NB - Sculpture NC - Drawing, Design Illustration |
ND - Painting NE - Print Media NK - Decorative Arts NX - Arts in General TR - Photography TT - Arts, Crafts |
College & University Programs
2019 Best Colleges for Art in America. Niche.
Art and Architecture Programs from ArtSource
Peterson's [with links to undergraduate and graduate program listings]
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
Art Online (updates vary)
Online version of the monumental 34 volume print version with encyclopedia-like entries to major periods and themes in the history of art; includes over 41,000 articles, news, and, a hyperlinked alphabetical index. CSU affiliates only.
Art Terms A-Z Tate. Tate (Britian).
Descriptive definitions with examples. Select letter by letter alphabetically.
Glossary of Art Terms (MoMA). MoMA Learning. The Museum of Modern Art. New York City.
Definitions with links to related items for selected terms (links usually go to examples of the genre). Abstract to Zoopraxiscope.
Rex Art. Commercial site with definitions of art terms.
Vocabulary fo Art Terms. Museum of Art. The University of Arizona.
Shorter list of defined terms. Lists elements of art and the principles of design.
See in print in Morgan Library (stacks and/or reference):
- The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. N33 .C53 2001 Morgan
- Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms: A Handbook for the Artist and Art Lover. N33 .R49 1984 Reference
- McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Art. 1969. N33 .M23 Reference [Note: art research covers a lot of eras, and contemporary definitions will be useful when reading older material--books, articles, exhibit catalogs, etc.]
- The Penguin Dictionary of Art and Artists. 7th ed. N31 .M8 1997 Morgan (also 1976 and 1983)
- The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms. N33 .L75 2004 Reference & Morgan
- The Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists. N33 .L353 2000 Reference
Funding, Grants, & Foundations
College Art Association Resources and Opportunities
Grants and fellowships listings; updated regularly and organized alphabetically.
SPIN [Sponsored Programs Information Network]
Grants, scholarships and funding databases; updated annually; coverage begins in 1975.
Image Collections & Search Engines
Art and Culture Online. ArtPromote.
Art images arranged by theme, artists, ethnic/regional, periods/movements, mediums, decorative arts, design arts, type. See also link "About Using Images from the Internet. Links out to collections at museums, associations, etc.
Art Images for College Teaching
Produced by Allan Kohl from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, allows for browsing by title, by topic (by title alphabetically) and by medium (alphabetically).
Free Website maintained by John Malyon, which indexes major artists with brief biographical sketches and links to their works.
Powered by Google with images from over ten major art galleries (as of 2/11); type of image and number varies; expected to grow.
ARTstor (CSU affiliates only). See tabbed page for more information.
A site with over 100,000 images of works in situ, architectural works, paintings and other museum holdings.
An indexed image base that retrieves thumbnails of registered images from a host of sources and ranks them by relevance.
Artwork from multiple collections from around the world. Requires Firefox, Chrome, or Chrome Frame (IE8 does not work)
A search engine indexing over 330 million images freely available on the Web.
Comprehensive database searchable by building name, place name or architect with biographical sketches and sources for further reading.
Free database of architectural images sponsored by and based on the holdings of the UC Berkeley Architecture Slide Library.
Provided by the Surrey Institute of Art & Design and part of the Arts & Humanities Data Service, this project currently allows searching of over fifteen digital image project simultaneously and browsing by major subject area.
Browsable and searchable image bank culled from the over 100,000 slides in the Jacques-Edouard Berger Foundation.
Research Guides
Dissertations Underway in Architectural History
Ongoing and recently completed dissertation in architectural history and related disciplines.
Guide to Researching Art History Online
From Harcourt, a guide to searching, evaluating, and citing art historical information on the Web.
Web
Part of the Smithsonian Institution, carries 13 million documents about American visual arts from the 18th century to the present; includes a reference section to query staff; provides a good starting point for research in American art.
Art History Resources on the Web
Hosted by Sweet Briar College with information and links organized by art period, style, artist, architect, and historical monument.
A commercial site containing listings for over 1,300 galleries, 36,000 works and 13,000 artists.
Art on the Web. Jeffery Howe. Boston College.
A very comprehensive source for accessing thousands of internet resources relating to art and architecture. Provides over 1,200 links to various sites.
A gathering point for networked resources on Art and Architecture; includes pointers to resources and original materials submitted by librarians, artists, and art historians; intended to be selective rather than comprehensive and organized by broad categories such as general resources, architecture resources and more.
Organization that is a statewide nonprofit.
Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA)/International Bibliography of Art. Getty.
Comprehensive database searchable by building name, place name or architect with biographical sketches and sources for further reading.
Mother of All Art History Links Pages
Sponsored by the Art History Dept. at the University of Michigan, the site is indexed by: art history dept. home pages, selective research resources, and image collections & online art.
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a timeline from 20,000 to the present of the history of art.
Contains over 6,000 digital reproductions of European paintings and sculptures created between 1150 and 1750AD with an emphasis on the Renaissance. Many images include links to commentary and artists' biographies.
A popular personal started in 1994 by Nicolas Pioch. Indexes by category. Sections includes essays and reproductions. Articles have hyperlinks to artists, terms, and ideas.
Exploring Abroad. Links to museums around the world by region (starts with most famous).
Provides free database listings for art galleries, museums, exhibitions, art schools, art history, film resources, and individual artists (contemporary and deceased). Searchable by country or time period.
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