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Art History & Criticism
Background Information
If you are researching a particular artist or genre of art, it is important to know the appropriate time period. If you do not know the time period, start with one of the background or biographical resources listed below.
ArtLex - A Dictionary of Visual Art
Free Website: http://www.artlex.com/
"You will find definitions of more than 3,300 terms here, along with thousands of images, pronunciation notes, great quotations, and links to other resources on the Web."
The Bulfinch Guide to Art History :
A Comprehensive Survey and Dictionary of Western Art and Architecture
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N380 .B78 1996
Dictionary of Art
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N31 .D5 1996
The Dictionary of Symbols in Western Art
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N7740 .C29 1995
Dictionnaire polyglotte des termes d'art et d'arch-eologie
Location: JPL Reference N33 .R42 1977
A "polyglot" dictionary--translations of art and archaeology terms from French to English, German, Italian.
Includes an index to translate E-G-I to French.
Encyclopedia of World Art
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N31 .E4833
15 volumes, plus 2 supplements.
Fine Arts: A Bibliographic Guide to Basic Reference Works, Histories, and Handbooks
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N7425 .E47 1990
Oxford Companion to Art
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N33 .O9
The Oxford Dictionary of Art
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N33 .O93 1988
Location: Downtown Library, Reference N33 .O93 1997
SYMBOLS.com
Free Website: http://www.symbols.com/
This website "contains more than 2,500 Western signs, arranged into 54 groups according to their graphic characteristics. In 1,600 articles their histories, uses, and meanings are thoroughly discussed."
A Visual Dictionary of Art
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N33 .V56 1974
The "textbook companion" websites below also provide background information:
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Books
Books and Materials at the UTSA Library
UCAT, UTSA Library Online Catalog
Search UCAT to locate books, journal titles (not articles), government documents, maps and multimedia materials available at the UTSA Library. Read the Search Tips to learn how to conduct a better search.
UCAT Basic Searches
| Find Items By |
Search Examples |
| find items by expert keyword |
picasso AND criticism
art and "Latin America" |
| find items by artist |
warhol andy
michelangelo |
| find items by LC Subject Heading |
art criticism |
| find items by book or journal title |
artforum international
companion to art theory |
Books and Materials Elsewhere
- Want to find books and journal holdings in other libraries?
Check the Catalogs list to search other library catalogs
- Need to use another library?
TexShare Cards
- Want the UTSA Library to obtain materials for you?
Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
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Databases & Article Searching
- Some databases provide full-text or full-image of articles.
- Some databases provide citations or abstracts only.
If you find articles in a citation-only database, search UCAT to see if the library owns or subscribes to the journal you need.
If the UTSA Library does not subscribe to the journal you need, either in print or an online format:
Art Full Text (UTSA subscription)
Selectively indexes and abstracts fine arts-related articles from more than 370 periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins published throughout the world. Includes full text coverage from more than 90 publications back to January 1997, abstracting as far back as 1994, and indexing as far back as 1984. Covers articles published from 1984-current. Full Text/Full Image
Art Index Retrospective (UTSA subscription)
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N1 .A78
Covers articles published from 1929-1984. Citations Only
ARTbibliographies Modern (UTSA subscription)
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N1 .A1 L64 (1969-1979)
Indexes and abstracts current literature of modern art, photography, and design from more than 500 art journals, museum bulletins, exhibition catalogs, and books. Covers all aspects of modern and contemporary art including performance art and installation art, video art, computer and electronic art, body art, theater arts, crafts, jewelry, illustration and more as well as the traditional fine arts of painting, printmaking, sculpture, and drawing. Updated twice a year. Citations Only
ARTstor (UTSA subscription)
Provides access to a digital library of approximately 550,000 images covering primarily art, architecture, and archeology from prehistory to the present day. Images can also be found that are useful for anthropology, history, and cultural studies, among others. Image collections are derived from collaborations with museums, libraries, photographic archives, publishers, slide libraries, and individual scholars. Software tools support viewing and analyzing images through features such as zooming and panning. The database also allows printing and downloading of images for student presentations and papers. Updated regularly. Full Image
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals (UTSA subscription)
Indexes more than 2,000 US and foreign journals in architecture, historic preservation, archaeology, city planning, and interior design. Coverage includes articles back to the 1930s, with selective coverage dating back to the 1860s. Updated daily. Citations Only
Bibliography of the History of Art (UTSA subscription)
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N7510 .B5 1995-1998
Covers European and American art from late antiquity to the preset. Indexes and abstracts art-related books, conference proceedings and dissertations, exhibition and dealer's catalogs, and articles from more than 2,500 periodicals. Updated quarterly. Citations Only
Chicano Database (UTSA subscription)
Selectively indexes materials, including more than 125 journals, on Mexican-American topics and about Chicanos from 1967 to the present. From 1992 on includes the broader Latino experience of Puerto Ricans,
Cuban Americans, and Central American immigrants. Updated quarterly. Citations Only
DAAI: Design and Applied Arts Index (UTSA subscription)
Covers a wealth of research topics in design--from architecture to packaging, marketing to advertising, photography to typography, metalworking to multimedia, and industrial design to interior design. Indexes and abstracts more than 130,000 research articles, reports, reviews, and news items from over 500 design and craft journals and newspapers. Also provides information on more than 50,000 designers, craftspeople, studios, workshops, and firms. The database's subfiles include an international directory of educational institutions that offer courses in design and craft and an international directory of design and craft periodicals. Coverage is from 1973 to the present. Updated frequently. Citations Only
Grove Art Online (UTSA subscription)
A comprehensive art reference resource, it is an excellent starting place for biographies of artists, architects, patrons, collectors, writers and scholars, as well as definitions, bibliographies, and encyclopedic entries concerning almost any art-related topic. Coverage includes the fine arts (painting, sculpture, and architecture) and the decorative arts (ceramics, textiles, jewelry, interior design, furniture, glass, metalwork, etc.). Provides access to the entire text of the 34-volume Dictionary of Art and The Oxford Companion to Western Art, plus newly-commissioned articles, more than 1,500 images, and links to an additional 40,000 images on museum and gallery websites. Updated quarterly. Full Text
JSTOR (UTSA subscription)
Provides full image access to a comprehensive archive of nearly 800 scholarly journals. Almost 40 subject areas are represented in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. New subjects and titles are added regularly. Full Image
MAC: Modern Arts Criticism
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N6485.3 .M63
Contains selected critiques of works and bibliographies for each entry. Look in the cumulative index in the most current volume for a listing of included artists.
Project Muse (UTSA subscription)
Provides the searchable full text and full images of approximately 250 journals published by scholarly presses, including Johns Hopkins University Press. Subject areas include math, science, humanities, and social sciences. Provides links to back issues of 29 journals archived in the JSTOR collection. Full Image
RILA: International Repertory of the Literature of Art
Location: JPL Stacks N7510 .R16 1975-1979, 1981-1982
Twentieth-century Artists on Art:
An Index to Writings, Statements, and Interviews by Artists, Architects, and Designers
Location: JPL Reference Stacks NX456 .R59 1996
Web of Science (UTSA subscription)
Indexes and abstracts articles in more than 8,400 journals from 1975 to the present in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Of particular interest for Art History students is the Arts & Humanities Citation Index part of Web of Science. May be used to identify frequently cited authors on art-related topics. Citations only with some full text linking
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Reproductions
Artcyclopedia
Free Website: http://artcyclopedia.com/
"...provide(s) references to sites on the World Wide Web where artists' works can be viewed online." Most of the artists represented specialize in painting or sculpture, although other mediums are represented where possible.
Index to Reproductions of American Paintings Appearing in Over 400 Books Mostly Published Since 1960
Location: JPL Reference Stacks ND205 .S575
Index to Reproductions of European Paintings: A Guide to Pictures in More Than 300 Books
Location: JPL Reference Stacks ND45 .M6
Museums
Most museums have their own websites and frequently display a few of their works of art online. Use a web search engine like Google or AltaVista and search for the name of the work of art or artist in quotes.
For example:
"Turning the Stake"
"Thomas Eakins"
Sculpture Index
Location: JPL Reference Stacks NB36 .C55
Volume 1 covers Europe and the Contemporary Middle East. Volume 2 covers the Americas, the Orient, Africa, the Pacific Area, and the Classical World.
Visual Arts Data Service
Free Website: http://www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/
A digital library of more than 100,000 images based at the Farnham Campus of The University College for the Creative Arts in England. Heavily weighted toward British art, architecture, and design, the collection also contains works held in museums and other institutions in the UK from Africa, Asia, and Continental Europe, as well as modern and contemporary Latin American art.
WebMuseum
Free Website: http://metalab.unc.edu/wm/
Images of representative works from nearly all time periods. Browse by artist or particular theme in the Famous Paintings Collections.
World Painting Index
Location: JPL Reference Stacks ND45 .H38
Identifies sources that have published reproductions of paintings. The index consists of four parts: a numbered bibliography of sources, a listing by title of works by unknown artists, a listing of known painters and their works, and a listing by title of paintings giving the painters name. 2 volumes--covers books and catalogs published between 1940 and early 1975. 2 volume supplement--covers 1973-1980.
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Biographical Information
Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Kunstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N40 .T4 1970
Also known as the Thieme/Becker, this is a standard biographical source. Thirty-seven volumes.
Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs, et graveurs
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N40 .B47 1976
Covers all manner of artists from 5 B.C. Contains some facsimiles of artists' signatures.
Dictionary of Women Artists
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N8354 .D53 1997 v.1-2
Dictionary of Women Artists:
An International Dictionary of Women Artists Born Before 1900
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N43 .P47 1985
Index to Artistic Biography
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N40 .H38
2 vol. plus supplement, lists known works that contain biographies.
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Free Website: http://www.nmwa.org
Go into their online Library and Research Center to search their catalog of research materials.
Union List of Artist Names (ULAN)
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N40 .U54 1994
Free Website: http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/ulan/index.html
Four volumes. Lists the most accepted spelling and form of artists' names worldwide. Provides bibliographies representing the most frequently-cited sources of artist names and biographic information used by the nine projects contributing data to the ULAN.
The World's Master Paintings:
From the Early Renaissance to the Present Day
Location: JPL Reference Stacks ND40 .W75 1991
Two volumes. Contains short biographies of painters and complete lists of their paintings, lists important collections and their locations, and provides short bibliographies of other works to consult. Covers the Western tradition only.
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Art & Museum Directories
Art Museums of the World
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N410 .A78 1987
Two volumes.
International Directory of Arts
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N50 .I6 1997/98
Three volumes. 23rd edition.
Museums
Most art museums now have their own web sites. Use a web search engine like Google or AltaVista and search for the name of the museum in quotes.
For example:
"San Antonio Museum of Art"
"Guggenheim Museum"
The Official Museum Directory
Location: JPL Reference Stacks AM10 .A2 O4
From the American Association of Museums.
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Art Catalogs
Christie's International
Free Website: http://www.christies.com/
Sotheby's
Free Website: http://www.sothebys.com/
The Worldwide Art Catalogue Bulletin
Location: JPL Current Periodicals and Newspapers
Location: JPL Stacks N1 .W67 (1986 and first 3 issues from 1987)
The Worldwide Bibliography of Art Exhibition Catalogues, 1963-1987
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N4396 .W67 1992
Three volumes.
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Further Research
Art information and the internet : how to find it, how to use it
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N59 .J66 1999
Art Information: research methods and resources
Location: JPL Reference Stacks N85 .J64 1990
Art History Resources on the Web
Free Website: http://witcombe.bcpw.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html
Maintained by Chris Witcombe, Professor of Art History, Sweet Briar College, Virginia.
The History of Art Virtual Library
Free Website: http://www.chart.ac.uk/vlib/
"...a collection of links relating to Art History and computer applications in Art History. The site is sponsored by CHArt, the Computers and History of Art Group. We aim to list sites relevant both to people with a general interest in the subject and to students and scholars of Art History."
World Wide Arts Resources
Free Website: http://www.wwar.com/
Covers arts information and culture on the Internet.
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