LibGuides: Art: Researching a Work of Art

Researching a Work of Art

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:

the artist
the style
the time period
the museum that owns the work, or other works by the artist

Resources for Researching Works of Art

OneSearch
Description: OneSearch is a tool that cross searches much of the content our databases and other online sources. You can search across many collections in one search box simplifying the resource discovery process.
Time Period: 1600 to Present
Sources:
Subject Headings: Art & Architecture, Business, Education, English & Linguistics, General, Health, History, Humanities, Music, News, Philosophy & Religion, Psychology, Science, Social Sciences, Technology
Primary Materials: Abstracts, Citations, Government Documents, Journal Articles, Books
WorldCat
Use the interlibrary loan links to request a copy of the book.
Description: WorldCat is the collected catalog of materials (such as books) owned more than 54,000 libraries worldwide. Great for exhaustive searches for books on a topic. Look for the "Request via interlibrary loan" link in WorldCat records to borrow items from other libraries using Interlibrary Loan. Use the "Check OneSearch" link in the record to see if we have book first.
Time Period: Antiquity-present
Sources: over 43,000 libraries
Subject Headings: Art & Architecture, Business, Education, English & Linguistics, General, Health, History, Humanities, Law, Mobile, Music, Philosophy & Religion, Psychology, Science, Social Sciences, Technology (Books, etc.)
Primary Materials: Books, videos, computer software, music, etc.

AskArt
Check the "book references" section for the artist, then search for the books in CardCat or WorldCat. Check the museum websites listed in the "museum references" section for information on the artist.

Oxford Art Online
Encyclopedic entries on artists, styles, eras, and more.
Description: Oxford Art Online contains background information on art. It allows you to cross search five Oxford art titles as well as subject guides, timelines, and resources for educators.
Time Period:
Sources: 5
Subject Headings: Art & Architecture
Primary Materials: Encyclopedia Articles
Oxford Reference Online
Several art and biographical resources (different from Oxford Art Online).
Description: Searchable and browsable collection of highly trusted reference books. Dictionaries and encyclopedias in Oxford Reference Online include general works, foreign-language works, and specialized subject works in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences.
Time Period: Current
Sources: over 200 dictionaries and encyclopedias
Subject Headings: Art & Architecture, English & Linguistics, General, History, Humanities, Philosophy & Religion, Psychology (General)
Art Full Text
Articles published 1984-present.
Description: Art Index Full Text, a key database for art, provides full text articles from more than 300 titles. Of the 600 titles indexed, 280 are peer reviewed. The database also covers subjects such as interior design, costume design, architecture and landscape architecture. Art Index Full Text indexes titles back to 1984 and contains the full text of articles beginning in 1994.
Time Period: 1984 to present
Sources: Indexes more than 600 titles and contains full text articles from more than 300 periodicals.
Subject Headings: Art & Architecture, Humanities, Mobile
Primary Materials: Abstracts, Citations, Dissertation and Theses, Journal Articles, Magazine Articles, Reviews, Trade Publications
Art Index Retrospective
Articles published 1929-1984.
Description: Major index in the field of art, covering journals published from 1929-1984. See Art Index for journals published 1985-present.
For concurrent use of Art Index and Art Index Retrospective, open Art Index Retrospective, Click on Choose Database above the search box and select Art Full Text.
Time Period: 1929 to1984
Sources: Indexes over 600 journals.
Subject Headings: Art & Architecture, Humanities, Mobile
Primary Materials: Abstracts, Citations, Journal Articles, Magazine Articles, Reviews, Trade Publications
Number of Simultaneous Users: 4
JSTOR
Full text of articles in scholarly journals.
Description: JSTOR allows you to search across approximately 2,000 journal titles from more than 50 disciplines. It contains complete backfiles of scholarly journals starting with the first issues, many of which date back from the 1800s. Although the majority of titles do not have the most recent 3 to 5 years available in full text, there are some which have the current issues available.

Note: Additional content has been permanently added to JSTOR, including archived journal collections and primary resources. Searches performed using the databases page link will include results from the additional sources, as will the link above.

Time Period: 19th century to present
Sources: Provides the full text for approximately 2,000 journals.
Subject Headings: Art & Architecture, Business, Education, English & Linguistics, General, Health, History, Humanities, Law, Mobile, Music, Philosophy & Religion, Psychology, Science, Social Sciences, Technology
Primary Materials: Citations, Journal Articles, Reviews
Project MUSE
Full text of articles in scholarly journals.
Description: Project Muse is a full text database of journals in disciplines such as art, literature, history, political science, and economics. Some full text will come from JSTOR, in PDF format.
Time Period: 1993 to present
Sources: Indexes more than 300 journals.
Subject Headings: Art & Architecture, English & Linguistics, History, Humanities, Philosophy & Religion, Psychology
Primary Materials: Books/e-books, Citations, Journal Articles

Researching Art Works in the Ball State Art Museum Collection

Check the art museum's collection in the DMR for information on the exhibitions or publications the artwork has appeared in. If the art work appeared in an exhibition, search CardCat or WorldCat for an exhibition catalog for the show.
The Ball State Art Museum catalog (copies in Bracken Library and the Architecture Library) has information about many works in the museum: European and American Paintings and Sculpture: Selected Works
See the David Owsley Museum of Art Subject Guide for more information.

Museum Web Sites

Museum websites are a great source of information on artworks in their collections.

Look for "collections" pages on museum sites.
Consult art dictionaries or books to find out who owns an artwork.
You may also use the Google image search to discover if a museum owns the artwork.

Once you know if a museum owns the art work, look for books on the museum's collection in CardCat or WorldCat.

Sample Searches

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: b ooks 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: O neSearch, 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.