There may not be an entire book or article on an artwork, so be sure to search for information on the artist and/or his or her style or time period.
Look for books and articles on:
Museum websites are a great source of information on artworks in their collections.
Once you know if a museum owns the art work, look for books on the museum's collection in CardCat or WorldCat.
Researching Mary Cassatt's Boating Party
Online Biographical Resources
Search: Oxford Art Online for Mary Cassatt
Results: Biography of Mary Cassatt, including a bibliography with Find It @ BALL STATE buttons for finding the books and articles in the University Libraries.
Find Books
Search: OneSearch for Mary Cassatt and click on "Library Catalog" in the Filters menu on the left.
Results: books and some articles.
Search: OneSearch, Advanced Search for Impressionism as a "Subject term."
Results: books and some articles.
Find Articles
Search: Art Full Text for Mary Cassatt.
Results: 309 articles.
Museum Websites
Search: Internet for Mary Cassatt's The Boating Party. Results indicate that it is in the National Gallery of Art.
Search: Internet for National Gallery of Art, then search The Collection on the museum website.
Results: The Boating Party on the museum website. The entry includes both a bibliography of articles and books on the painting and an exhibition history listing exhibition catalogs that include the work.
Books on Museum Collection
Search: OneSearch, Advanced Search for National Gallery of Art as a "Subject term."
Results: 39 titles, including this one on the American artworks at the National Gallery.
Photo credit: Image from the Art History Images Collection in the DMR.