Online Resources

 

 

*FirstSearch: Precise, full-featured searching of WorldCat. Includes access to a variety of OCLC databases including ArticleFirst, WorldCat Dissertations and Ebooks.
WorldCat: Search library collections across the world. 

Art Discovery Group Catalogue: Focused search within WorldCat on art historical literature found in art libraries worldwide

*Benezit Dictionary of Artists: Standard resource for artist biographies, exhibition histories, auction records, and signatures. 

*Grove Art Online: aka The Dictionary of Art. Standard resource for artists, patrons, movements, places, and periods, including bibliographies and images. 
Artists' Biographies Research Guide: Biographical resource suggestions provided by the Getty Research Institute.

Art History Research Net Guide No.1: Resource list of websites containing biographical information on designers, architects, craftspeople, painters, sculptors, and other creators.

Dictionary of Art Historians: Biographical entries for historians of Western art. 

Getty Union List of Artists Names (ULAN): An evolving vocabulary provided by the Getty Research Institute used to identify an artist's name (and variances of his or her name), nationality, role, and related people. 

National Museum of Women in the Arts - Artist Profiles: Biographical information for over 1,000 national and international women artists.

Native American Artist Resource Collection Online: Contains selected biographical information for nearly 25,000 Native American artists. More information is provided for artists affiliated with the Heard Museum through exhibitions or programs. See their About section for more info.
Women Artist Index: Biographical information on 20th-century women artists in the Archive of Women Artists Research & Exhibitions.

*Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms: Definitions for various visual art terms relatd to materials, techniques, and defining styles and movements.

*Encyclopedia of Aesthetics: Major concepts, thinkers, and debates regarding meaning, uses, and value of all art.

*Oxford Art Online: Standard and authoritative art reference resource.

*Oxford Companion to Western Art: Comprehensive overview of artists, movements, patronage, theory, and scientific research on materials and techniques within the scope of Western Art.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: Essays on various topics ranging from Andean textiles to American women sculptors and a timeline to explore art and culture by time period or location. Based on object in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

IFAR Catalogues Raisonnés Database: Identify published catalogue raisonnés and catalogues in preparataion. Catalogue raisonnés are used for study of an artist's oeuvre and for researching the provenance and attribution of artworks.

Print Council of America's Index to Print Catalogue Raisonnés: Identify published catalogue raisonnés related to European and American prints, print publishers, drawings, and photographs. Also covers Japanese prints and photographs.

 

African Art Resources on the Web: A subject guide from the National Museum of African Art's Warren M. Robbins Library.

Africa South of the Sahara - Selected Internet Resources: An annotated directory of online resources on Africa from Stanford University Libraries.

Arts and Life in Africa: Encyclopedic essays and extensive bibliography regarding African arts and culture. The project is hosted by the University of Iowa Stanley Museum.

Ross Archive of African Images (RAAI): Database of African art images and accompanying historical data published between 1590 and 1920.

 

African American Visual Artists Database: A bibliographic database for artists from Africa and of the African Diaspora who have lived, worked, studies, or exhibited in the U.S., Canada, and the Carribean. The database is now defunct, but is accessible from archived webpages through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

American Watercolors - Research Resources from the Philadelphia Museum of Art: A subject guide from the Philadelphia Museum of Art Library with biblographies, a chronology of the American watercolor movement, online resources, and catalogues of the American Watercolor Society, New York Water Color Society, New York Water Color Club, Philadelphia Water Color Club, Pennsylvania Society of Minature Painters, Boston Water Color Society, and Boston Water Color Club.

Archives of American Art: A repository of letters, scrapbooks, financial records, oral histories and other primary sources focused on the past 200 years of American art. Many collections are online.

Colonial Virginia Portraits: An interactive database of portraits with a documented history in Virginia or featuring colonial Virginian subjects before circa 1776. Includes a bibliography. 

Women Artist Archives National Directory (WAAND): A directory from Rutgers University of archival collections for artists active in the US since 1945.

 

Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI): A wide range of dissertation/theses, maps, bibliographies, drawings and photographs, and links to other resources focused on Mesoamerican studies. FAMSI is now hosted by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Mesoweb: Photographs, publications, and links to other online resources regarding ancient Mexican and Central American cultures with an emphasis on the Maya.

National Museum of the American Indian: Educational materials from the Smithsonian Museum. See also: subject guide from the library.

Visual Resources Catalog of Native American Artistis (VIRCONA): A database of Native North American artists represented in the slide collection of University of New Mexico's Bunting Visual Resources Library. Includes biographical information and a thumbnail illustration for each artwork by a named Native American artist practicing in both traditional and contemporary modes.

 

Asia Art Archive: Digital archive repository for Asia Art Archive's projects with various artists, instutions, and art spaces.

Huntington Archive of Buddhist and Asian Art: Archive of nearly 300,000 original slides and photographys of art and architecture throughout Asia with a major focus on Buddhism. Online exhibitions, educational resources, and links to other institutions are included.

National Museum of Asian Art: Scholarly online publications from Freer | Sackler.

 

Attic Vase Inscription Database: A searchable database of Henry R. Immerwahr's Corpus of Attic Vase Inscriptions. Includes a bibliography and texts on alphabets and phonology of the Attic dialect.

Classical Art Research Centre (University of Oxford): Resources include the Beazley Archive Pottery Database and other databases, dictionary, bibliography, and archival documents. 

 

Art of Renaissance Europe: A Resource for Educators: An online book with lesson plans and activities that explore Renaissance themes, techniques, and artists from objects within the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection.

Bauhaus: Building the New Artist: Produced in conjunction with the Getty's exhibition, Bauhaus Beginnings. This online exhibition provides an overview of Bauhaus history, teachers and curriculum. 

Database of Salon Artists: Searchable record of Paris Salon entries from 1827 to 1850.

Digital Cicognara: An in-progress initiative to digitize the private book collection of Count Leopold Cicognara (1767–1834), which includes foundational works in art and archaeology from the 15th to 19th centuries.

Gallica: The digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Spanish Artists From the 4th to 20th Century: A Critical Dictionary: A searchable database of more than 5,000 Spanish artists.

 

Aga Khan Documentation Center: Repository of primary resources to support the research of art, architecture, urbanism, and landscape design in Muslim societies. Includes Archnet, a digital humanities project which brings together a collection of archives, online publications, drawings, and photographs.

Discover Islamic Art: Database of objects and monuments from the Discover Islamic Art virtual museum and the Explore Islamic Art Collections project.

FIHIRST: Union catalogue of manuscripts from the Islamicate world.

 

Documents of Latin American and Latino Art: A digital archive and publications project of the International Center for the Arts of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Documents focus primarily on 20th-century Latin American art and artists from Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Latino USA.

Handbook of Latin American Studies: A database from the Library of Congress that provides scholarly assessment of publications related to Latin America from the 1930s to the present.

 

 

Handbook of Texas: Encyclopedia for Texas history.  Includes entries on artists and art institutions.

Portal to Texas History: Rare, historical, and primary source material from or about Texas. Includes access to digitized catalogs and installation images from the DMA Exhibition Records collection (1903–1984).

Texas Artists: Paintings, Sculpture, and Works on Paper: Digitized paintings, sculptures, and works on paper that are held by participating Texas institutions, including the Dallas Museum of Art.

Texas Talks Art: A weekly series in 2021 that pairs a Texas-based artist or artist collective with a Texas-based curator to discuss their current work and practice. View past talks and register for upcoming talks.

 

*Artnet: Browse by gallery, auction house, and artist. Contains biographical information.

*AskArt: Contains biographical information.

*Invaluable: Browse by gallery, auction house, and artist.

Artsy: Contains biographical information.

 

Abstracts of International Conservation Literature: Research database managed by the Getty containing abstracts related to preservation and conservation of material cultural heritage.

Bibliographic Database of the Conservation Information Network: Authoritative bibliographic resource for the conservation, preservation, and restoration of cultural property.

CAMEO: Conservation and Art Materials Encyclopedia Online: Resource developed by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston that includes chemical, physical, visual, and analytical information on historic and contemporary materials.

 

Art History Research Net Research Guide No.2: Full-text access to digitized, free to access periodicals related to architecture, art, crafts, and design.

Chronicling America: Database from the Library of Congress featuring digitized American newspapers (1789–1963).  Also includes the US Newspaper Directory which covers American newspapers published from 1690 to the present.

Dallas Museum of Art Exhibition Records collection: DMA exhibition catalogs and installation images (1903–1983) hosted by the Portal to Texas History.

Digital Public Library of America: Repository for digitized materials from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions across America.

Europeana: Repository for digitized materials from European galleries, libraries, archives, and museums.

Frick Digital Collections: Images, archival documentation, and books from the Photoarchive, Frick Art Reference Library, and Archives.

Gallica: Digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Getty Publications Virtual Library: Online access to over 300 Getty publications.

Getty Research Portal: Art history publications, rare books, and related literature from institutions worldwide.

HathiTrust: Collaborative repository of materials from research institutions around the world.

International Advertising & Design Database: Full-text access to periodicals related to advertising and design.

Internet Archive: Digital library with free access to books, video, audio, websites, images and software. Register for a free account to access and borrow various exhibition catalogs and art titles in the Open Library.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications: Full-text access to out-of-print publications, including Bulletin and Journal issues from the past five decades.

National Gallery of Art Backlist: Downloadable titles from the NGA.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Catalogues: Online access to Guggenheim Museum publications through the Internet Archive.

USModernist Library: Digitized issues of major 20th-century architecture magazines. Includes biographical information of major architects.

 

*Artstor: An authoritative, extensive image database with helpful tools to help you organize images and use them for papers and presentations.

Joconde: Images from major French public and private museum collections.

Paul Mellon Centre Photographic Archive Collections: Database of over 10,000 photos of British paintings, sculpture, architecture, and the decorative arts. Also contains helpful collection use videos.

PHAROS: International Consortium of Art Images: Photo archive collections from 14 European and North American art historical institutions.

 

*IFAR Art Law & Cultural Property Database: Legislation related to export and ownership of cultural property for various countries, as well as case law (primarily US) and statutes.

Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America: Primary source material on American art collectors, dealers, agents, and advisors.

Getty Provenance Index: Archival inventories from private collections in France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain from 1520 to 1880; sales catalogs covering auction and dealer sales in Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia from 1650 to 1945; and stock books for Goupil & Cie (later Boussod, Valadon & Cie) in Paris from 1846 to 1919 and M. Knoedler & Co. in New York from 1872 to 1970.

IFAR Provenance Guide: Guide on conducting provenance research and links to important archives, databases, and other online resources.

Montias Database of 17th-Century Dutch Art Inventories: Information from 1,280 inventories of goods (paintings, prints, sculptures, furniture, etc.) owned by people living in 17th-century Amsterdam.

Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal Project: Registry provided by the American Alliance of Museums featuring almost 30,000 objects in US museums that changed hands in continental Europe during the Nazi era (1933–1945).

Wildenstein Plattner Institute - Digital Archives: Primary sources and research materials compiled by the Wildenstein Institute for the writing of catalogues raisonnés on major French artists of the 18th and early 20th centuries. Digitized materials include scholarly papers, correspondence, and research notes, as well as dossiers on works of art, unique stock books of 19th and early 20th century art European dealers, thousands of international annotated sales and exhibition catalogues, and photographs of works of art. Access to more Wildenstein Plattner Institute collection are forthcoming.

Wildenstein Plattner Institute - Sales Catalogues Database:  Searchable collection of 11,000+ digitized sales catalogues dating pre-1945 provided by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute. International in scope with emphasis on London and Paris. 

 

*Chicago Manual of Style Online: Online Chicago Manual of Style.

How to do Things with Pictures: A Guide to Writing in Art History: An online Harvard University publication focused on writing about art.

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): A free style guide for Chicago Manual of Style.