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:
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
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.
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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.