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Advanced Painting/Contemporary Artists
Page Laughlin
Online Catalog
Use the Online Catalog to locate books, microforms, films, and other materials in the Reynolds Library. Use the Basic search tab to search by Author or Title. You can also use the Subject Heading search with an artists name (i.e., Matisse, Henri). Combine keywords or phrases in the Guided Keyword search.
These search terms can be useful in the Guided Keyword search when you are searching for art resources: exhibit?, catalog?, "catalogue raisonne," modern?, and contemp?. When searching, truncation is a useful method. Truncation shortens a word or term to its root and allows you to search once and get back all variations of the word in your results. For example, exhibit? would return results containing: exhibit, exhibits, exhibition, exhibitions, exhibitor, etc...
Art materials have N call numbers and are concentrated on Reynolds 6. This section is divided by medium:
- N - Visual Arts
- NA - Architecture
- NB - Sculpture
- NC - Drawing, Design, Illustration
- ND - Painting
- NE - Print Media
- NK - Decorative Arts
- NX - Arts in General
These broad categories are broken down further by time period, movement, subject or artist:
- ND615 - Painting-Italian Renaissance
- ND1329 C54 - Close, Chuck
- N6465 I4 - Impressionism
- N510-3999- Art museums, galleries
- ND195 - Painting, History, 20th Century
- NA190-1555.5 - Architecture, History
- NX440-632 - History of the Arts
Each book record in the online catalog also contains Library of Congress Subject Headings, which can help you locate books on a similar topic. Click on the subject heading in the online catalog to go to a list of books that share that subject heading. Subject headings can include artist names, buildings, museums, works of art, art movements, time periods, among others. Some examples are:
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) in art
- Performance art
- Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)
- Art and society
- Lichtenstein, Roy, 1923 - Catalogues raisonnes
- Art criticism United States history 20th century
- Public art - New York (State) - New York - Exhibitions
- Modernism (Art)
Reference Resources
Use Reference Resources to get background information on an artist, work of art or concept. Many of these sources include bibliographies which list additional books and journal articles that would be useful for further research on the topic. All Reference materials are shelved on Wilson 4. These are selections from the many available resources:
- The Dictionary of Art (34 vols.) Ref N31 D5 1996 and online (Oxford Art Online)
- Dictionary of Art Terms Ref N33 L75 2004
- Oxford Companion to Western Art Ref N33 O923 2001
- Art and Artists in the 20th Century Ref N33 P74 2000
- Modern Arts Criticism Ref N40 M64 1992
- Artwords: A Glossary of Contemporary Art Theory Ref N71 P32 1997
- Contemporary Artists (2 vols.) Ref N6490 C6567 2001
- Contemporary Masterworks Ref N6490 C65675 1991
- North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century Ref N6503 N67 1999
- American Art: History and Culture Ref N6505 C7 1994b
- Dictionary of Women Artists (2 vols.) Ref N8354 D53 1997
Online Databases
Use electronic databases to find journal articles, book chapters and reviews. The library has over 200 databases for finding journal articles. In the left sidebar, expand the Subject List under Arts and Humanities to find databases relevent to Art History.
Remember, these databases include articles from scholarly journals, magazines and newspapers. If your professor requires that you use scholarly journal articles for your project, take a look at this checklist to see if your articles are appropriate! When in doubt, ASK your professor or a librarian!
Note: The three main art databases (Art Index, BHA, RILA) can be searched simultaneously. When you first access the Art Index database, check the boxes to also select BHA and RILA, and then hit the "Start Searching" button in the top right corner.
Arts Databases
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Art Index
"Provides citations from over 250 publications such as periodicals, yearbooks, museum bulletins, exhibition listings, interviews, and film reviews. Also indexes reproductions of works of art that appear in indexed periodicals. Subjects covered include: advertising art, antiques, archaeology, architecture and architectural history, art history, crafts, decorative arts, folk art, graphic arts, industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture, motion pictures and film, museology, non-western art, painting, photography, pottery, sculpture, television, and textiles."
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Bibliography of the History of Art-BHA
"Covers the current international literature on the history of art in Europe and the New World from late antiquity to the present. Includes both the fine arts (architecture, sculpture, painting, drawing and prints) and decorative and applied arts (popular art, folk art). Indexes and abstracts journals, books, conference proceedings, essays, exhibition catalogues, selected art dealers' catalogues, doctoral dissertations and microform publications."
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Oxford Art Online (Online version of The Dictionary of Art)
"Covers art and culture from prehistory to the 1990s. Its multicultural approach offers detailed analyses of civilizations from Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Pacific. Provides a guide to the visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, drawing, and printmaking, as well as the decorative arts."
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International Repertory of the Literature of Art-RILA
"The International Repertory of the Literature of Art (RILA) is the predecessor of BHA. BHA and RILA together cover literature published since 1973. RILA includes abstracts and indexes on all aspects of European and American art and architecture. European art is covered from late Antiquity (4th c.) to 1989. American art is covered from the European discoveries (16th c.) to 1989. Art reflecting the Western tradition in other parts of the world is also included. All types of publication are covered: books, periodical articles, reviews, conference proceedings, Festschriften, collected essays, exhibition catalogues, museum publications, and doctoral dissertations."
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Web of Science (Arts and Humanities Citation Index)
"Contains three ISI Citation Databases (Sciences, Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences), which together index over 8,000 peer-reviewed journals. It provides bibliographic data, author abstracts, and cited references. Useful for searching databases for articles that cite a known author or work. Citation searching also allows a researcher to use a given work as a subject term in order to identify more recent articles about the same topic."
Full-text, Multi-subject Databases
(index journal, magazine, and newspaper articles)
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Academic Search Premier
"Provides abstracts, indexing, and full-text for journals covering the social sciences, humanities, education, and more."
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JSTOR
"A full-text database of archived issues of academic journals. Since JSTOR is a backfiles project, a typical coverage range is the beginning of a journal until three or five years ago."
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Project MUSE
"Provides access to the full text of over 100 scholarly journals in the arts and humanities and social sciences."
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ProQuest
"Contains articles covering the humanities, social sciences, sciences, and business. Databases include Research Library, Ethnic NewsWatch, and ProQuest Religion."
Image Databases
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CAMIO Image Database
"Covers art and culture from prehistory to the 1990s. Its multicultural approach offers detailed analyses of civilizations from Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Pacific. Provides a guide to the visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, drawing, and printmaking, as well as the decorative arts."
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Images-Oxford Art Online
There are several image databases within Oxford Art Online, including Illustrated Articles, Art Resource, Bridgeman Art Library, and Art Image Links.
Locating a Journal
Find out if the Library subscribes to the journal you need through the Journals page. If we subscribe to the journal, the catalog will display information regarding print and/or electronic versions of the journal. You can also use the "subject browse" feature to view journals by subject area (selected journals only).
The following journals will be the most helpful for locating information on contemporary painters:
Remember, if the Reynolds Library does not have the journal (or book) that you need, request it via Interlibrary Loan.
Current Art periodicals are located in the Periodicals Room, Art Section, alphabetical by title.
Back to topCiting Your Sources
The latest editions of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Turabian) and The Chicago Manual of Style are available in exchange for an ID at the Reference Desk in the Library. Abridged electronic versions of several of the most common citation styles are available online.
Back to topWebsites
After you have consulted books and journal articles, you may also want to use web resources. Take a look at Evaluating Web Resources as you evalute the websites you find. These sites contain reliable information:
- Archives of American Art (Smithsonian)
- Art History Resources on the Web
- Art in the 20th Century
- Art in the Twenty-first Century (PBS)
- Artcyclopedia
- Artdaily.org
- Artlex Art Dictionary
- Artnowonline.com
- Gallery Guide
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Infomine
(Search within Visual & Performing Arts)
- Major Modern and Contemporary Visual Artists (the-artists.org)
- The Artchive
- Voice of the Shuttle
- World Wide Web Virtual Library: History of Art
Need Help?
Good luck in your search! If you are not finding enough information, ASK:
- Kaeley McMahan, Reference, 758-4661, AIM: kaeleymc
- Request a Personal Research Session
- call the Reference Desk for help at ext. 5475